“Leadership is essential.
What helps schools improve is not consequences, but good teachers.”
To put it bluntly, American education has failed American Indian, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian children. Starting from the days in the late 1800’s when the United States government forcibly took Native children, as early as age five, from their families, and sent them away to boarding schools, we have consistently failed to acknowledge or realize the true potential of these children as learners and leaders. For far too long, parents were not seen as the primary educators of their children. Parent engagement is critical.
A Native child has the same cognitive ability as any child at birth. Yet, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress for 2007, while 39% of all fourth grade students were proficient in math and 33% were proficient in reading, 25% of American Indians students were proficient in math and just 18% were proficient in reading. For math, American Indian and Alaskan Native students showed no significant score change since 2005 (Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Mathematics 2007 ). For reading, there was no significant change in the average reading score for American Indian and Alaskan Native students compared to all previous assessment years for which data were available (Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Reading 2007 ).
Early success in literacy and mathematics is about more than education. It is about offering children a chance at life. Educators and other social scientists know that if students do not read and understand basic numeracy by fourth grade, a child’s future educational success is at stake. But failure at school is not the only risk; failure to meet basic educational requirements can be a significant factor in a series of life challenges. According to the U.S. Department of Education, for example, 85% of teenagers with juvenile delinquency problems cannot read effectively.