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State Tribal Education Partnership (STEP) Program: Lessons Learned

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November 24, 2014

State Tribal Education Partnership

(STEP) Program: Lessons Learned

Objectives • Provide an overview of the STEP

program and Department of Education’s proposed changes

• Share key successes and challenges of current STEP programs

• Identify lessons learned and recommendations

Presenters Matthew Campbell Staff Attorney Native American Rights Fund

Annie Smith STEP Manager CTUIR

Joyce McFarland Education Manager Nez Perce Tribe

Lynne Chatfield Director of Supportive Programs Chickasaw Nation Division of Education

Mahgan Miles STEP Project Coordinator Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Department of Education

Quinton Roman Nose TEDNA

Questions

Submit questions to presenters through chat

Overview of the State Tribal Education Partnership (STEP)

Program and Department of Education’s

Proposed Changes

Matthew Campbell , Staff Attorney

Native American Rights Fund

Overview of the State Tribal Education

Partnership (STEP) • The Department’s fiscal year 2012 appropriation included, for the first time,

new funding for TEAs through the STEP pilot program under the Indian

Education Act National Activities Section authority, 20 U.S.C. 7451(a)(4).

• The purpose of these competitive pilot grants were to-

(a) promote increased collaboration between TEAs and State educational

agencies (SEAs) in the administration of certain State-administered

formula grant programs; and

(b) build the capacity of TEAs to conduct certain State-level administrative

functions under those programs for schools located on the tribe’s

reservation.

• Grantees were the Chickasaw Nation and Cheyenne and Arapaho

Tribes; the Nez Perce Tribe; the Navajo Nation; and the Confederated

Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Proposed Changes to the State Tribal Education

Partnership (STEP) The Department has proposed changes that broaden the STEP program.

The main proposed changes are:

• To create two priority areas: a priority for established TEAs

and a priority for limited prior experience TEAs. (each priority

would likely get a grant)

• To include BIE schools and off reservation public schools in

the grant.

• To include Title VII as one of the programs that can be

utilized for the grant. This will likely enhance the relationship

between TEAs and their local school districts.

Proposed Changes to the State Tribal Education

Partnership (STEP) The Department has proposed changes that broaden the STEP program.

Additional proposed changes are:

• To highlight that Local Education Agencies (“LEAs”) and SEAs can authorize TEAs to obtain student data without parental consent forms. This will streamline access to student data so that real time interventions can be applied.

• To allow TEAs to perform LEA or SEA functions, thereby giving more flexibility in the program.

• There are other requirements and changes that the Department proposes and those can be seen at TEDNA’s website here: http://tedna.org/

CTUIR STEP Program

Accomplishments

• Professional Development

– Trainings and workshops

– Monthly PD days

• Educator Assessment and Evaluation

– Pendleton School District Professional Development Plan

– Teacher on Special Assignment to assist with evaluations and observations

Accomplishments

• Technical Assistance – Tribal overview workshops

• Data collection and analysis – NCS was rated an overall grade of 4 on the Oregon

report card out of 5. This is up from a level 2 in 2012-13.

– STAR Reading and Math Assessment

– Track student data including grades, attendance, and behavior

Lessons Learned

• Tribal student data

• Couldn’t get records to track growth

• FERPA release forms within NCS registration packets so STEP has access.

• Having partnership with schools to collect data

Recommendations

• Letters of support from school board and/or school principal, not just the school district superintendent.

• Umatilla STEP partner school

– Sponsored by Pendleton School District

– Nixyaawii Community School has it’s own school board so is separate from PSD.

Nez Perce STEP Project State Tribal Education Partnership

Kamiah and Lapwai School Districts

STEP PARTNERS

STEP Journey Year 1

►9 mos SEA-TEA Prelim Agreement, incl. SEA to

TEA Capacity Bldg & SEA-TEA Co-Admin. Team

►Finalize project design with SEA & LEA partners

►Tribal member’s input on cultural standards

► Align cultural standards with Common

Core Standards of Practice

►1st annual Native Ed. Research Summit

►Final SEA-TEA Agreement

►Start new responsibilities in federal programs* in 2013/14 SY

Year 2

►SEA-TEA co-administration

►Work with three Capacity Builders (federal programs,

culturally-responsive strategies, family

engagement, evaluation)

►Regular dialogue with key stakeholders, incl. Elders

►Form schools teams for: A/ Cultural Pedagogy

(instruction), B/ Family Engagement, C/ Native

Culture & Language (environment, curriculum)

►Administer School Community Index (parent involvement, curriculum of

the home)

►2nd annual Native Ed. Research Summit

Year 3

► Kick into high gear!

► SEA-TEA co-administration

► Continue Capacity Building and Dialogue with

Key Stakeholders

► Implement Action Plans for School Teams & Cohorts

►Work with LEA partners to align cultural standards with curriculum & teacher eval

► 2nd administration of School Community Index

►3rd annual Native Ed. Research Summit

► Project handbook with Education NW

Sustainability

► Commitment to continue SEA-TEA- LEA partnership to improve academic achievement of tribal students by meeting their unique educational & cultural

needs

► Scale up? Impact on Nez Perce STEP pilot on

other Idaho TEA’s

►TEA continue to elevate their role in the education of their tribal

children in public schools

► Leverage for continued funding

*Title I, Part A; Title II, Part A; School Improvement Grants

Summary of Strategies: Meeting the unique educational & cultural needs of AI/AN students to improve Academic Achievement

Nez Perce Education Standards

(align with Idaho Core Standards,

Cultural Pedagogy)

Family Engagement

Native Culture & Language Indicators

(culturally-responsive

environment, curriculum)

Related to •Title I, Part A •Title II, Part A •School Improvement

Related to •Title II, Part A •School Improvement

Related to •Title I, Part A •School Improvement

Commonality of Common Core Nez Perce Pedagogy Standards for Practice

Nez Perce Pedagogy based on survey of Nez Perce tribal members and discussions with Nez Perce Elders and Youth. Consultation with RunningHorse Livingston, M.Ed.

Learning from watching

Community Orientation

Oral History

Learning from mistakes

Personal Sovereignty

Teachers are guides

Experiential Learning

Interpersonal Relationships

Evaluating Mastery

Modeling Concepts

Group Communication

Contextualized Situations

Using Counterexamples

Multiple Ways of Thinking

Teachers help investigate

Using appropriate tools strategically

Allowing student’s knowledge to guide curriculum

Analysis, Discourse

Challenges

Moving toward a unified definition of what culturally-responsive education means for all partners (SEA, TEA, LEA)

“Difference between teaching Culture and teaching Culturally!”

Buy-in that tribal students have “unique educational & cultural needs”

Understanding how STEP connects to federal programs already implemented by school (Title I, Part A; Title II, Part A; School Improvement)

Integration of STEP into the LEA’s efforts to close the achievement gap for tribal students

Finalizing Data Sharing Initially working with a smaller group of LEA

staff and parents to eventually get the buy-in and support of the wider school and community

Lessons Learned

The heart of school turnaround is classroom instruction!

The difference between teaching Culture and teaching Culturally!

Traditional ways of passing on knowledge can be used in public school classroom’s to educate our children

TEA’s are highly capable and uniquely qualified to have an expanded role in school improvement or turnaround in public schools that educate their tribal children

Important to respect the “culture” of the SEA and TEA regarding their requirements for federal and state funding of education

Need to have respectful and critical conversations between SEA-TEA-LEA partners

Recommendations Five year projects. Just starting to strengthen TEA

capacity, show progress with STEP strategies, and gain acceptance of expanded role of TEA (by SEA, LEA) in the education of tribal students.

Innovative approaches to SEA to TEA capacity building. Successful for our project to have a plan for comprehensive capacity building strategies, including onsite SEA capacity builder, consultant on culturally-relevant education, and family engagement and school improvement.

Funding Focus on Public Schools. The STEP pilot acknowledged that 90% of tribal students attend a public school. Other funding sources for BIE schools.

Role of SEA. Maintain the “State-Tribal” partnership and TEA’s assuming role of SEA.

Established TEA. Definition very broad in what constitutes an established TEA for next STEP funding.

Contact Information: Joyce McFarland, Education Manager

Nez Perce Tribe P.O. Box 365, Lapwai, ID 83540

(208) 621-4610 joycem@nezperce.org

Nimiipuune'ewit ~ People's Way of Life

State Tribal Education Partnership (STEP)

The Chickasaw Nation

and Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of

Oklahoma

LYNNE CHATFIELD - PROJECT DIRECTOR

2686

1783

313

978

578

908 33.8%

666 37.35%

77 24.6%

147 33.87%

319 32.62% 150

25.95%

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Ada Byng Roff Stonewall Tishomingo Vanoss

Student Profile Chickasaw Nation STEP

School Districts

Total Enrollment AI/AN Students

43

Serving 2,267 AI/AN Students in six K-12 School Districts

387 243

2,495

310 113 29.2%

213 87.7%

517 20.7%

91 29.4%

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Canton Darlington El Reno Calument

Student Profile Cheyenne & Arapaho STEP

School Districts

Total Enrollment AI/AN Students

Serving 934 AI/AN Students in three K-12 School Districts

Key Successes of the STEP Consortium

• Established MOU’s and open data sharing with six partnering school districts.

• Coordinated curriculum intervention services for identified Native American Students in the areas of reading and math with all six partnering school districts.

• Coordinated a credit recovery program through Odyssey Ware during the summer of 2014 for students lacking enough credits to graduate.

• Provided computer software and library books pertaining to N.A. culture and history in addition to graphing calculators.

• Coordinated services to provide counseling and health care to N.A. students.

• Coordinated efforts to provide families experiencing financial problems with utility services.

• Provided culturally relevant professional development training.

• Coordinated efforts with JOM Directors in order to increase parental involvement at meetings.

Chickasaw Nation STEP Grant Program

Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes STEP Grant Program

• Hosted an administrator’s summit

• Established MOU’s and open data sharing with two of four partnering school districts.

• Provided culturally relevant professional development training.

• Hosted parent orientations at two of the four partnering school districts.

• Hosted and participated in Native American day at all four partnering school districts

Challenges

Not having immediate access to individual student records in order to develop a data base.

Helping the LEAs understand and feel comfortable with the fact that they are authorized to designate the TEAs as agents acting on behalf of the school in order access student data and be in compliance with FERPA regulations

Experiencing changes in the office of Oklahoma State Department of Education Superintendent

Experiencing unexpected change in the transition of state curriculum (mandated changes from PASS to Common Core, then changing again to Oklahoma Academic Standards)

Lack of access to state testing data broken down by race and AI/AN student records

Not having a clear definition of wrap-around services

STEP Grant Program

Contact Information

Lynne Chatfield Director of Supportive Programs

Chickasaw Nation Division of Education lynne.chatfield@chickasaw.net

Phone: 580.421.7711

Mahgan Miles STEP Project Coordinator

Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Department of Education

mmiles@c-a-tribes.org Phone: 405.422.7412

Dwight Pickering Director of Indian Education

Oklahoma State Department of Education

dwight.pickering@sde.ok.gov Phone: 405.522.1591

Bill Vann STEP Project Coordinator

Chickasaw Nation Division of Education bill.vann@chickasaw.net

Phone: 580.421.7711

Q & A

Next Steps

Quinton Roman Nose

TEDNA