2B Wednesday, December 6, 2017 Appeal Tribune
Report: Low grad rates for Native Americans
Experts: Lack of Native American
teachers, resources could be cause
NATALIE PATE SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL
USA TODAY NETWORK
Debbie Austin grew up in the Great Depression, a
"time when it was not a good thing to be an Indian."
Talked down to by teachers, professors and medical
professionals, berated by passersby, Austin thought, "If
we were white, things would have been a lot easier for
us."
But she doesn't want her more than 40 grandchildren
and great-grandchildren to grow up the same way.
"I (don't) want my children to feel bad about them-
selves," Austin said.
Austin and her husband, Warner Austin, are elders
in and founders of the Native American Cross Cultural
Association, based in Salem, which celebrates various
indigenous cultures across North America.
They advocate for more Native American studies
and experiences to be shared in the classroom and en-
courage Native students to pursue their education.
But they are working against myriad obstacles.
Native American students in Oregon are graduating
at lower rates, performing worse on state assessments,
attending fewer days and receiving more suspensions
and expulsions than their peers, according to a report
released by the Oregon Department of Education.
For graduation rates alone, Oregon's Native Amer-
ican students are graduating at about 56 percent, com-
pared to the state's overall four-year graduation rate of
74.8 percent.
“It’s clear from the data that there are significant op-
portunity gaps for American Indian and Alaska Native
students,” said Colt Gill, acting deputy superintendent
for the state.
“The data allow us to see the problem, but it is up to
us to partner with our tribes, communities and districts
to ... better support our American Indian and Alaska
Native students in culturally responsive ways."
Experts believe a few key issues causing these nega-
tive outcomes include the lack of culturally-relative
curriculum, a lack of Native American teachers and
staff in schools, a gap in services available to the fam-
ilies along with additional obstacles many Native
American students face outside of the classroom.
Oregon's Native American students are graduating at about 56 percent, compared to the state's overall four-year graduation
rate of 74.8 percent. MOLLY J. SMITH/STATESMAN JOURNAL
These are the 4-year graduation rates
(in percentages) of Native American (American
Indian/Alaskan Native) students over the past 8
years in Oregon and Salem-Keizer, comparatively.
State
Culture not seen in classrooms
A doctor in Pennsylvania told Debbie Austin in the
late 1970s when she was a young mother, "Don't ever
bring your child here again — You people carry syphilis
and tuberculosis."
Shortly after, a college professor in Oregon told her
the same thing. So did her textbooks.
"Our children need to know that is not true," Austin
said. "They need to know who they are and where they
came from."
Austin argues there needs to be more curriculum
about the Native American experience and more teach-
ers and staff who identify as Native American in
schools.
Shelby Maerz, who works for the Indian Education
Department for Salem-Keizer Public Schools, agreed,
saying students "need to be able to see themselves
throughout the system."
And according to state workers, student outcomes
improve when an effort is made to be more inclusive.
The Tribal Attendance Pilot Project, for example,
has been working to lessen the rate of chronically ab-
sent Native students.
By partnering school districts with the nine federal-
ly-recognized tribes in the state, the program creates
culturally-specific plans and materials designed to the
needs of each community.
Though the chronic absenteeism rate for Native stu-
dents is higher than that of their peers, according to the
report, the rate held steady at 30 percent in the last year
recorded.
The rate of chronically absent non-native students
increased from 17 to 19 percent.
“Despite an unusually harsh winter, the majority of
the schools with Tribal Attendance Pilot Project family
advocates had improvements in their chronic absen-
teeism rates,” said April Campbell, the Indian educa-
tion adviser for the state.
“It’s a good indicator that implementing culturally
relevant programs provides benefits to all students, not
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100%
Highest rate: 65.71%
75
50
25
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2012-13
2011-12
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
*The ODE methodology for calculating 4-year grad rates changed in 2013-14
*2016-17 graduation rates are not yet available/this is the most recent and
the furthest back data available
SOURCE: Oregon Department of Education, USA TODAY
just those from specific student groups,” she said.
There has also been action at the state level to im-
prove representation in course materials.
Senate Bill 13, passed earlier this year, requires the
Oregon Department of Education to develop curricu-
lum exploring the Native American experience and
provide professional development to teachers and ad-
ministrators relating to the curriculum.
Services for some, not all
Native American students in Oregon check the box
"American Indian/Alaska Native" for race/ethnicity
when enrolling in school.
But in order to receive services from the school dis-
tricts, they have to do the additional paperwork re-
quired by the federal government and prove they have
a parent or grandparent who is a member of a tribe in
the United States.
In Salem-Keizer Public Schools, the approximately
700 students who take the additional steps receive vari-
ous services, including weekly study groups, additional
math tutoring, summer school classes, cultural events,
parent classes and a culturally-appropriate graduation
ceremony.
This past year, 56 of the 70 seniors in the program
graduated — an 80 percent graduation rate.
Yet when averaged with dozens of other American
Indian/Alaska Native students who do not receive ser-
vices from the Indian Education Department, the four-
year graduation rate is only 56 percent.
Lillian Govus, a spokeswoman for the district, said
the individual attention is part of what makes the stu-
dents served by the department as successful as they
are.
"The students see Shelby (Maerz), how much she
cares, and they have a sense of value in the schools,"
Govus said. "That's unique."
Austin spoke to the effectiveness of the district's ef-
forts through her great-grandchildren's experiences.
"They love school," she said. "They don't feel bad
about themselves. They wear their hair long and are
proud of who they are."
But there remains a gap in which families who do not
Tips
Continued from Page 1B
sons by fermented grape juice.
You can fairly reliably count on Detroit Lake filling
for Memorial Day weekend, unless there is a drought,
and conversely depend on the water level dropping af-
ter Labor Day weekend. The timing of both being keyed
to the recreation season rather than any meteorological
phenomenon.
Another angling rule of thumb is that winter-run
steelhead fishing on the Oregon Coast begins “around”
Thanksgiving.
“Around” in this case is not a weasel word, given the
volatility of the weather and resulting volume, temper-
ature and clarity of river flows.
Not to mention the sluggish nature of the potential
fishing participants who are in various stages of torpor
from massive food and gravy overdoses during the ex-
tended holiday weekend.
One rule of thumb that has been fairly reliable, and
which has been mentioned in a previous column, is both
arboreal and piscatorial. That is to say relating to trees
fill out additional paperwork do not receive the support
they may need.
"There need to be more services for all our native
students," Maerz said.
More poverty and special needs
While Native American students make up less than
two percent of all Oregon students, many of these stu-
dents are dealing with additional obstacles.
The percentage of Native American students con-
sidered to be economically disadvantaged increased
from 69 percent to 75 percent in the last year, according
to the state's recent report.
That means more than 6,000 Native American stu-
dents statewide qualify for free and reduced lunch due
to family income.
Additionally, 19 percent of Native American stu-
dents receive disability services, compared to 13 per-
cent of non-Native students, according to the report.
These additional obstacles make it harder for Native
students to thrive in school, and even show up.
Leslie Riggs, the education department manager for
the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, sees these
issues playing out in the "simple things."
"Say a child has no breakfast," he said. "Their ability
to learn won't be as good as a child who did."
Riggs said these factors bring students an inability
to pay attention and retain important information.
"Anyone can go to school, but getting someone engaged
is another story," he said.
The Confederated Tribes have made a consorted ef-
fort to have parents and other tribal members in the
classroom as both academic tutors and daily mentors.
This is especially important in districts like Willamina
School District where Native students make up close to
30 percent of the student populations.
"As dismal as they may seem," Riggs said referring
to the report's data, "it is good for us as communities to
(see) how we need to move forward."
Contact Natalie Pate at npate@StatesmanJour-
nal.com, 503-399-6745, or follow her on Twitter
@Nataliempate
or
on
Facebook
at
www.Facebook.com/nataliepatejournalist.
and fish.
It is a fairly reliable rule of thumb that when consis-
tent warm weather — generally around mid-May (and
there’s that not-a-weasel “a” word again) — gets the cot-
tonwoods blooming, it’s time to start checking the shad
counts at the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam on the Co-
lumbia River.
I’d like to take the credit for this rule-of-thumb tip,
but I actually learned it from John, a dedicated shad an-
gler in Redding, California, who called me on a sultry
early summer afternoon to entice me to go with him on
a pre-dusk shad outing on the Sacramento River near
Red Bluff.
The air was hot and heavy, and laden with little puffs
of white drifting from the cottonwood trees. The Sacra-
mento was equally loaded with fish.
As were the riverside bushes … with mosquitoes.
Good times.
There is one rule of thumb about fishing that you can
pretty well bank on, though.
Don’t ever thumb your nose about making a call or
two, and checking the weather and river-level web
sites, before you head out.
Henry Miller is a retired Statesman Journal colum-
nist and outdoor writer. He can be reached via email at
HenryMillerSJ@gmail.com
