STUDENT ASSESSMENT

America' s schools offer a variety of programs and services for students who need additional assistance, including bilingual education, English as a second language, remedial reading and remedial mathematics, as well as special education and programs for gifted and talented students.

American Indian and Alaska Native students are over-represented in special education programs and disproportionately under-represented in gifted and talented programs. In Alaska, Natives comprised 23 percent of the total student population but 32 percent of all children with disabilities receiving special education during the 1998-99 school year. ⁹ The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development does not collect data on the ethnicity of students in gifted and talented programs, though it is expected to reflect national statistics (see below) .

Identifying Special Students

Reliance on standardized tests is partly responsible for the disproportionate placement of American Indian and Alaska Native students in special education programs (Chinn & Hughes, 1987, in Dodd, Nelson and Sprint, 1995) . Reliance on standardized tests may be responsible for large numbers of "false-positive placements"in special education (Chinn & Hughes, 1987) . The disproportionate placement in special education programs puts American Indians and Alaska Natives at an even higher risk of dropping out, as minorities are more likely to be marginalized in special education classes than in regular classes. Standardized tests also may not identify gifted students who have limited experience and English language skills (Tonemah, 1991) .

Critics of standardized tests blame the testing instruments. The tests are generally geared for white middle-class students and do not account for American Indian/Alaska Native language systems, "which rely on nonverbal communication, undetailed verbal accounts, non-competitiveness, soft speech patterns, and mythology rather than science "(Florey & Tafoya, 1988) . Even tests that rely heavily on nonverbal skills invariably involve "timed tasks that require rapid, organized thought [which is ]incongruent with the Indian concept of a continuous present " (Florey & Tafoya, 1988) . Other American Indian/Alaska Native values, such as interdependence, collective decision-making, and group cohesiveness may not be accounted for in current assessment tools (Florey & Tafoya, 1988) . Standardized tests rarely recognize intertribal differences (Brescia & Fortune, 1989) .

Native Students in Gifted and Talented Programs

Standardized tests are used in many states to identify gifted and talented children. While most states define gifted and talented using multiple criteria, many schools have used only standardized test scores as the single criteria for gifted and talented identification (Tonemah, October 1991) .

Because reliable and up-to-date information on American Indian/Alaska Native students is limited, it is difficult to find recent statistics on the number of students in special programs, including gifted and talented. During the 1993-94 school year, 46.6 million students nationwide were enrolled in all special programs and services in public and private schools. Slightly over 6 percent of these students were in gifted and talented programs (2.9 million students) . ¹⁰

In the early 1990s, 9 percent of the students attending America' s BIA and tribal schools were identified as eligible for gifted and talented programs. Comparable percentages were observed in public schools with high and low Indian student enrollment, however, the percentage of American Indian and Alaska Native students who actually participated in gifted and talented programs was higher in the BIA/tribal schools (Pavel, 1997) .

Tonemah (1991) notes that American Indian/Alaska Natives have a critical need for effective leadership, but the focus of federal and state Native programs "has been to provide remedial education. "He believes the major barrier to Native participation in gifted programs is assessment procedures that are "biased racially, ethnically, and culturally. "

Alternative Methods of Student Assessment

In recent years, many educators have challenged the appropriateness of using achievement, aptitude, and intelligence tests to measure minority students' abilities. Performance-based indicators are now preferred among many educational researchers. Bordeaux (1995) notes that assessments such as student portfolios, projects, interviews, teacher observations, and other performance measures are more culturally relevant to Native Americans. For example, in the Crow way:

As children grew up, adults observed them to determine their knowledge and skill development. Children exhibited different levels of knowledge and skill in tasks such as hunting, running, consensus building, healing, and spiritual leadership. Children who demonstrated superior performance were the ones who later led hunting parties, provided spiritual guidance, served as orators for the people, and performed other necessary tasks for the group. (Bordeaux, 1995) .

Similarly, performance-based assessment directly examines student performance on specific tasks that are important for life (Worthen, 1993) . The increased use of performance-based assessment may help give American Indian and Alaska Native students more legitimate evaluations of their knowledge and skills. Performance-based assessment is also considered a tool for schools using language and culture as integral parts of the total curriculum (Bordeaux, 1995) .

Impact of FAS/FAE on Special Education Programs

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) can have a profound impact on a child ' s educational potential. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, fetal alcohol problems are now the leading cause of mental retardation, ¹¹ however, it is difficult to assess just how many people are affected by FAS or FAE.

The State of Alaska has little data on the numbers of school children diagnosed with alcohol-related disorders. Until 1999, Alaska had little in-state capacity to diagnose Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, though anecdotal information from school teachers indicates the incidence is quite high. ¹² Alaska has an estimated FAS prevalence rate of 1.0 to 1.4 per 1000 live births. ¹³

While some alcohol-affected children are placed in special education programs in their local schools, many do not qualify for special services. ¹⁴ Alcohol-related disabilities include learning disorders, poor social skills, and disruptive behavior (Finlay, 1995). Specific problems can include (among others) attention deficit disorders, speech/language disorders, information processing deficits, poor impulse controls, inability to relate behavior to consequences, poor short-term memory, poor personal boundaries, confusion under pressure, difficulty grasping abstract concepts, inability to manage anger, and poor judgment (McCreight, 1997) .

By the 2002 academic year, the Department of Education and Early Development will begin collecting information on the numbers of students in Alaska schools that may be affected by alcohol-related disorders, and the impact FAS and FAE have on local schools.

⁹ U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs.

¹⁰ U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "School and Staffing Survey, 1993-94."

¹¹ Tineke Bodde Haase, Ed. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, Office of Substance Abuse Prevention. "Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs May Harm the Unborn, "pp. 17. DHHS Publication No. (ADM) 90-1711, printed 1990.

¹² Diane Worley, Program Manager, Office of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. McDowell Group interview, June 15, 2001.

¹³ Alaska Department of Health and Social Services , 1999 Status Update:Alaska' s Response to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, November 1999, p. 9.

¹⁴ Worley interview.

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