Fact: Indian Schools cannot fill 10% of teaching positions with highly qualified teachers.
It seems that the US Government is violating treaties.
Recalling Arizona and wars and war settlements let us recall the "
Long Walk of the Navajo" in 1864. Navajos were forced to walk up to thirteen miles a day at gunpoint from their reservation in
what is now Arizona to eastern
New Mexico. Some 53 different forced marches occurred between August 1864 and the end of 1866. Today the Navajo are on the largest Rez in the USA. Part
of that Navajo treaty settlement included
a commitment from USA Gov to provide schools
and schooling to the Navajo nation. Perhaps Gov policy is welching on
that deal.
Each year Tribal schools and Bureau of Indian Education schools have 10% of total
teaching positions go unfilled by certified highly qualified teachers throughout the USA.
B.I.E. regulations allow new teachers to bring only six years
experience when placed on salary schedule. Teachers would also find
that the level of placement by College Credits may be less at BIE
schools than at other schools.
So why is this apparent violation of a treaty allowed?
Follow the money… to remedy the teacher vacancy problem would likely
require spending.
How many current teachers in AZ and other states
would decide to teach on the Rez and take a huge salary cut? Clearly not enough.
If you wish to move to AZ consider Kayenta near scenic Monument
Valley, a town of about 5,000 with several teaching vacancies as usual
right now. If you don’t like AZ how about teaching in Pine Ridge, SD
site of the historic Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 and American Indian
Movement protests in 1973. Seems to me protests are needed today over
this Indian Education issue with unfilled teaching vacancies. Apparently
just part of the “Trail of Broken Treaties.”
In his 1931 poem “American Names”, Stephen Vincent Benet coined the
phrase “Bury my heart at Wounded Knee”, seems USA Education commitments
have been buried as well somewhere in Indian Country.
So where is Indian Eduction today?
.. Lots of study and words but little action and few positive results.
Study after study tells us: to improve a school system’s outcomes for students, three factors matter most:
(1) hiring effective teachers and principals; (2) developing teachers and principals continuously; and (3) providing targeted support to ensure every child can benefit from high quality instruction.
Arne Duncan tells us: “The President and I believe the future of Indian Country rests on ensuring that your children receive a high-quality education. Improving academic outcomes for Native American children has never been more important. Unfortunately, too many Native American children are not receiving an education that prepares them for college and career success, too few of them are going to college, and far too many of them drop out of high school.
We need to do better.”
In 2011 the Tuba City district was able
to hire more than 40 international teachers, many from the Philippines,
who held special visas. The influx allowed the schools to reduce class sizes, and
finally be able to replace all long-term substitutes with certified
teachers who are trained in the subjects they teach.
So what will the President and Secretary of Education tell us about the situation in Tuba City, AZ where the Superintendent Harold Begay
filled positions with Highly Qualified Teachers from the Philippines ... only to have the US Gov regulations require them to leave when their visas ran out.
Tuba City schools had shown great improvement.
Check the comments for the 11 vacancies in Kayenta and the data on schools making adequate yearly progress as well as the percent of Indian schools under restructuring after years of low performance.