Native American Heritage Month, observed each November, serves as a reminder to local educational agencies to examine whether or not current policies, curriculum and more are contributing to ensuring schools are genuinely recognizing, respecting and nurturing Native American students.
To support such efforts, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, ACLU Foundation of Southern California, ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties, and Northern California Indian Development Council released a report that serves as a toolkit to support local and statewide advocacy to improve educational equity for Native American students.
Released in March, Stopping the Flood Waters: A Call to Transform California’s Schools in Support of Native American Students notes that while students’ families, cultures and tribes embrace education as central to their ways of life, LEAs throughout the state often fail to provide them with an equitable and inclusive education.
“Now is an important moment for California. In 2022, the state legislature passed the California Indian Education Act, which created a statewide Native American Studies Model Curriculum and encourages California school districts to form task forces with Tribes to develop locally relevant curriculum in Native American studies and develop strategies to support the academic achievement of Native American students,” the report states. “This legislation creates a small but significant opening for work long championed by Native American educators, to nurture not only academic achievement, but the social, emotional, intellectual, and physical well-being of Native American students. It is an opportunity to center Native American educational practices and expertise in public schools.”
Findings
One challenge identified by the report is “inadequate reporting systems that render thousands of Native American students invisible in the data, making it difficult to document their experiences. Meanwhile, the accountability metrics that do exist reveal alarming educational disparities.”
More accurate identification is critical, especially when California’s 2022–23 school accountability metrics show American Indian/Alaska Native students are reported to have significantly lower assessment scores in English and math in 75 percent of districts; lower graduation rates in 67 percent of districts; are less likely to complete A-G requirements (32 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native do compared to 45 percent of all students); and face higher rates of discipline and school instability.
The exclusion of Native American youth has three primary causes:
First, federal guidelines on the collection of student racial and ethnic data excludes an untold number of Native American students from data reporting under the category “American Indian/Alaska Native,” which “amalgamates the diverse Indigenous peoples of two continents — North America and South America,” according to the report. Second, because many American Indian/Alaska Native students identify as belonging to multiple ethnicities or racial groups, federal data reporting guidelines hide many American Indian/Alaska Native students in other exclusive identity categories.
For instance, a student who has one parent who is Latino and another parent who is affiliated with the Karuk Tribe, and who identifies as Karuk (American Indian/Alaska Native) and Latino, may only be counted as “Hispanic or Latino” or the even less specific, “Two or more races.”
In LEAs, a shift toward inclusive counts could drastically change the perceived makeup of their student body. “For example, our analysis of data received from Temecula Unified School District found that if all students who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native either alone or in combination with other races or ethnicities were counted, the number of American Indian/Alaska Native students was over 13 times higher than the exclusive count,” the report states.
Third, many LEAs make procedural oversights that prevent families from indicating their eligibility to have their unique cultural, language and educational needs met through federal Indian Education programs by not including federal forms used to identify Native American students in annual enrollment packets.
Recommendations
LEAs can take several steps to improve the experience and outcomes of Native American students, but the report noted that “the capacity of local school districts and county offices of education to act effectively also often depends on support from statewide entities, including guidance and training from the California Department of Education, adequate funding, and the passage and enforcement of laws codifying these standards.”
What that in mind, the report includes local and regional considerations aligned to state-level recommendations.
Among the recommendations for LEAs detailed in the report:
- Increase tribal consultation for educational oversight
- Use of culturally and linguistically relevant curriculum in classrooms
- Provide professional development opportunities to improve or increase cultural competency
- Conduct inclusive data counts wherever possible
- Support culturally appropriate school-based mental wellness services for Native American students
- Apply for all available federal “Indian Education” grants to help ensure local Indian Education programs have sufficient resources
- Build more inclusive and welcoming school environment for Native American students
At the state level, the report recommends policymakers:
- Increase tribal consultation for educational oversight
- Require LEAs to use culturally and linguistically relevant Native American Studies curriculum
- Recognize and honor cultural participation as valid education
- Collect inclusive data counts wherever possible
- Train LEAs on best practices to collect data on students eligible for federal Title VI programs while respecting tribal data sovereignty
- Support LEAs in creating, deepening and improving culturally competent professional development opportunities
- Increase the number of Native American students entering colleges and universities
