2008 National Indian Education Conference Seattle, Washington Thursday October 23, 2008

1. 2008 National Indian Education Conference Seattle, Washington Thursday October 23, 2008 Session A, (1:00 - 2:30 p.m) Room 603

2. Who You Gonna Call Deb Bordeaux, Principal Isna Wica Owayawa (605) 867-6875 Ted Hamilton, Executive Director Oceti Sakowin Education Consortium (605) 455-2678 Hamilton@gwtc.net Ask QUESTIONS! NOW OF BIE OF US OF EACH OTHER Christopher G Bordeaux, Interim Director Oglala Sioux Tribe Education Department (605) 441-2738 Cgbordeaux@hotmail.com

3. The Past For the past 4 years the Bureau Bureaucracy has been unclear about what to do about Tribal AYP.

4. What we went through • You Can not Work Together • Congressional Delegation Support • We do not have a Process • GAO Study • We don’t have the money • In 2008 developed first draft of Assessment development Checklist

5. First thing to do is to get people together In 2004 we brought together our schools to decide if we wanted to establish our own standards and assessments. This was no small decision. Each school put up $ 5,000 to start the process. Isna Wica Owayawa Porcupine School Wounded Knee District School Little Wound School St. Francis Indian School Enemy Swim Day School Tiospa Zina Tribal School Takini School

6. What does the law say? 25 CFR 36.20 Subpart C: Outlines the BIA responsibility to tribal schools which is: • Assess English and Primary Native Language meeting tribal approval • All curriculum areas will include aspect of Native Culture • Assess student learning styles and provide instruction based on that assessment • Provide at Least 1 field trip per year

7. NCLB Defines • Determines what is taught in the schools (Standards) • Determines how students are assessed (Testing) • Determines if schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) All these issues are directly related to tribal sovereignty in determining quality of education for our children

8. No Child Left Behind: Title I, Subpart 1 ‘‘SEC. 1116. ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT AND LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT. ‘‘(g) SCHOOLS FUNDED BY THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. ‘‘(1) ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS FOR BUREAU FUNDED SCHOOLS. ‘‘(B) WAIVER.—The tribal governing body or school board of a school funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs may waive, in part or in whole, the definition of adequate yearly progress established pursuant to paragraph (A) where such definition is determined by such body or school board to be inappropriate. If such definition is waived, the tribal governing body or school board shall, within 60 days thereafter, submit to the Secretary of Interior a proposal for an alternative definition of adequate yearly progress, consistent with section 1111

9. First Steps • Get Group Together • Review State Accountability Workbook • Decide what changes you want • Write Initial Draft of your own Accountability Workbook • Contact Secretary of Interior through a letter to head of BIE/DPA/Line Officer requesting TA. YOU must define what TA is. • Creating an Alternative Definition means you have to waive sections or all of the accountability workbook

10. State Accountability Workbook BIE and your State Accountability Workbook can be found at: http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html

11. Second Steps • BIE is required to respond in 60 days to initial draft and assign a TA person to assure you get your definition approved. • Work with Consultant to get definition in place

12. Other Steps • Develop Standards if appropriate. You will need to build subject matter expert teams • Develop Assessment if appropriate.Work with a vendor to help you write the assessment keeping in mind DOE guidance.

13. What Our Definition Does • Establishes Native Language Proficiency as a Measure of School Progress (approved?) • Changes Graduation Rate (approved?) • Assures schools are divided into Attendance Centers when appropriate • Develops our own standards and assessments • Establishes a new starting point

14. Approval Language

15. Hurdles We Expect • Defining Peers regarding DOE peer review process • Assuring Money is in place for management of AYP Determinations and Assessment, Development, Maintenance

16. Positive Aspects of Last 4 years • Participants are aware of why NCLB does what it does to our schools • We know our rights under the Act as well as our responsibilities • We “own” our standards and will “own” our test questions • We put responsibility on ourselves, particularly related to Native Language proficency

17. Negative Aspects of last 4 years • Non-Response, or negative response of BIA to process • A great deal of time has been spent on side issues surrounding the SD State accountability workbook and assuring CSI/DCMA/DPA are in compliance (still not). • Lack of communication within the Federal system. • Unclear Responses

18. Money • DOE gets an annual appropriate of 400 million dollars for development of, and maintenance of student accountability systems. • BIE gets 6111 money for this work. • The question is, how far are you willing to hold both yourselves and BIE accountable

19. What all of us need to consider • Tribes have a right and responsibility to determine the education of their children. • The US Government has a fiduciary responsibility to maintain the trust responsibility for the education of native children established in the treaties. • We need to assure annual appropriations at a level that assures compliance with NCLB regulations for tribes.

20. Where are we now • Developing Native Language Oral Proficiency Assessment • Still Waiting on money for Reading, Math and Science • Working with legal council regarding resolution of differences between DPA/OSEC

21. You can find us at • www.osdlc.org