Culturally Based Education Programs Are Disappearing under NCLB

The former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the US Department of Education during most of President Clinton’s second term David Beaulieu wrote an article in the latest edition of the Journal of Indian Education Volume 45 Number 2 referred to in the August 17, 2006 posting describes and characterizes the number of programs in all school settings that could be described as culturally based education programs. Beaulieu is also the editor of the Journal and the most immediate past president of NIEA. The assessment of culturally based education programs was done in connection a US Department of Education funded contract to study the feasibility of conducting experimental or quasi experimental research to determine the impact of culturally based education upon the academic achievement of Native American students.
http://www.nwrel.org/indianed/cbe/feasibility_2004.pdf

The survey of culturally based education programs included a review of all 145 Administration for Native Americans (ANA) language preservation grants which were culled to identify the 77 instruction related programs as opposed to developmental and planning efforts. All of these programs had 90-100% Native participation. It also included a stratified random and purposeful sample of over 1200 Indian Education Act Formula grant programs and those funded by other sections of the Indian Education Act that identified all the possible culturally related programs

A review of all the programs in the survey indicated that there were 5 types of culturally based education programs and 4 types of programs that are not defined as culturally based. The review indicated that 66% of all programs were not culturally related and that these non-culturally related programs were almost exclusively instruction time added approaches such as summer school, after school, homework assistance, tutorial etc.; Home-school coordination/student incentives; Academic enrichment not culturally related; Attendance improvement and dropout prevention efforts were also among the types of programs being offered.

The survey indicated that there were five distinct types of culturally based education were identified, Culturally Based Instruction (CBI), which was described as teaching academic subject through the Native language, Native Language Instruction (NLI) programs were the Native language is the subject of instruction, Native Studies (NS), Native Cultural Enrichment (NCE), and Culturally Relevant Materials CRM).

The general pattern of these CBE program types indicates that is actually a very small number of programs (164) and that there is a strong relationship between high Native student population density and the power and diversity of culturally based education (CBE) types offered at a single program site. There are more Native language efforts both CBI and NLI and a greater diversity of CBE program types offered at school sites with high Native student population density then at sites with low Native student density.

The article access the statutory basis for culturally based education and in light of the survey indicates that support for culturally based education has been waning as programs have been diminished under NCLB.

In the conclusion of the author states, “The small number of Culturally Based Education programs is discouraging particularly in view of the efforts we have made over the past 33 years since the passage of the Indian Education Act of 1972 to improve both the quality and effectiveness of the education programs of schools educating Native students. Certainly no one can blame the failures of schools to be successful with Native students upon culturally based education approaches as there are truly so few programs.”
Kitchzibiwinnini