Diagrama de Casos de Uso

Marvin Fifield and Lonnie Farmer

American society has been described as a mosaic of culture variance. We seethis in many forms, such as variance in language, customs, traditions, religion, art, ethnic heritage and geographic location. If education is to meet the needs of our young citizens, it must be sensitive to these diverse culture variances in the selection and the utilization of teaching materials, teaching techniques, rewards and/or reinforcements.

One of the most effective means to insure that instruction and methodology do reflect and support important cultural variances is to select and place teachers, administrators and aides from representative minority groups. This is difficult, for seldom can one find, among minorities, a sufficient number of qualified people in the teaching ranks. Furthermore, complications occur due to problems of distribution. Qualified teachers tend to seek employment in the more lucrative, least demanding locations and in areas where they, as individuals, can enjoy a rich and full life. As a result, recruiting, training and placing qualified teachers of Indian descent in isolated areas on Indian reservations present many difficulties.

The need to train indigenous members of minority groups, on site, to be teachers and teacher's aides has been repeatedly stressed by various studies, fact-finding commissions, and numerous final reports of demonstration projects (Hunter, 1974). The teacher corps program represents a national effort directed at this problem (Johnson, 1972).

Two years ago, a Title I demonstration project was started at the Nazlini Boarding School, Chinle Agency on the Navajo reservation. This project, "HELP," was designed to implement the various recommendations of the study commissions stated above. It was the purpose of the project to select, in-service train, and employ two Navajos from the Nazlini community to serve as teacher aides. The project envisioned utilizing Navajo aides in a very different role than simply as teacher helpers. (Pratt, W. and Ramey, J. 1974). (1) The aides were to be assigned to a resource room to provide supplemental, individualized instruction to children with specific language and reading needs. (2) They were to be taught, on site, in an in-service program, through demonstration, coaching and supervision to follow very prescribed instructional formats and procedures. (3) The instructional materials to be used were selected to meet the following criteria: (a) data verifying their effectiveness in teaching language and reading to children must be available, (b) materials must be suitable for individualized and small group instruction, and (c) they must provide precise instructional formats and procedures.

Two Navajo aides were selected from the Nazlini community. Both had completed high school. Both were unmarried girls residing with their families in Nazlini.

The selection of the instructional materials presented a major difficulty. To use aides in the manner described above required that the instructional materials be structured to the point that the aides could follow specific teaching routines without making significant teaching decisions. In this respect, the aides themselves were considered an instructional resource to which a certified teacher could refer children for additional drills and prescribed instructions in language and/or reading. The Distar Reading and Language Program was selected as best meeting the established criteria for the materials. The Distar material provides the needed specificity in instructional format to make it possible for aides to learn the format in a reasonable amount of time. Furthermore, Distar has been successfully used with Indian children by both aides and teachers in regular and special programs. Additional supplemental materials were also identified, e.g., Modifying Reading Behavior by H. Henderson and Merrell Linguistics and Miami Linguistics Readers.

The initial step was to scope and sequence the skills in lessons taught through Distar with NALAP (the 1974 instructional program in reading and language used in the regular classroom). Sequencing these two programs was necessary to insure that the instructions provided in the resource room were supplemental to, and in support of, the instructional program in language and reading provided in the regular classroom.

A major task of the program was to provide the training necessary for the aides to use the material appropriately and effectively. The in-service training, technical assistance and project evaluation were components contracted to the Exceptional Child Center at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.

In-Service Training

A team of specialists in the use and application of the Distar approach was sent from the Exceptional Child Center to Nazlini to conduct the various training sessions with the aides. Each training session covered the following three major factors: (1) Modeling. In this component the Distar specialist modeled the appropriate use of the Distar material, including placement, grouping, instructional format, reinforcers, pacing, hand signals, animation, etc. Each skill the aides were expected to master was modeled at several different levels and in different educational settings. (2) Role Playing. The aides worked with each other through role playing as teacher and students, following the Distar instructional format in language and reading. Role playing was done under the supervision of the specialist. Errors, reinforcements, format, animation, pacing, and hand signals were corrected to the point that competence was demonstrated in each skill by each aide. (3) Demonstration. The final phase of the instructional program required the aides to demonstrate with children their skill in following the format, reinforcing, pacing, etc. At the end of each training session, the aides and the specialists critiqued one another and provided suggestions and recommendations for improvement. During the last day of each training session, the aides taught the entire day under the supervision of the Distar trainer.

The teacher coordinator, Miss Dixie Grimes and the Guidance Counselor, Mr. Hugh Chapin, participated in each training session. Miss Grimes and Mr. Chapin were responsible to see that the program functioned as designed and to provide general monitoring of the aides as they worked in the resource classroom.

Three on-site, in-service workshops were held throughout the year (September, February, and May) at the Nazlini Boarding School. One workshop was held at the Exceptional Child Center in Logan, Utah. The aides and the coordinating teacher traveled to Logan and participated in a four day intensive training program. In addition, each aide recorded on a cassette tape a ½ day series of Distar lessons every two weeks throughout the year. These tapes were sent to the Distar trainer, were then critiqued and reviewed; suggestions and recommendations were re-recorded on the tapes and sent back to the aides.

Participants

The children placed in the program were referred, on a standard referral form, by the regular classroom teacher. They were identified as being in the bottom quarter of the class in reading and language skills. Thus, these students represented the more difficult instructional problems in the school. The project served approximately 50 children throughout the year. Initially 30 children were referred and placed in the program. An additional 20 children were added throughout the year as schedules changed and as children moved in and out of the program and the school. In the resource room the children were assigned to work in small groups. One half hour was spent in language, the other half hour in reading. The children were regrouped throughout the year as their skills increased to insure that the faster students were not being held back by children learning at a slower rate.

Evaluation

The evaluation design of this project consisted of an experimental group (children in the resource room) and a control group (students selected at random from the classrooms of the school). To determine the academic attainment of children in the project, pre and post testing data were obtained. The effectiveness of the program was determined by comparing the pre and post test scores of the control and the experimental groups. Standardized evaluation instruments measured only academic skills. The test instruments included (1) the reading section of the Wide Range Achievement Test, (2) a Criterion Reference Test of Word Recognition Skills and (3) Primary I and Primary II, Form Y and W, of the Stanford Achievement Test. As the number of children assigned to the resource room changed throughout the year, testing data was taken on 27 children in the experimental group and 24 children in the control group. In addition to the objective measures, informal anecdotes and impressions of the aides, teachers and consultants were recorded. Teachers and teacher aide impressions were indicative of the subjective evaluation of the project and its various components.

Conclusions

Table I presents pre and post testing data on the Wide Range Achievement Test for the control in the experimental group. The experimental group made a total gain in reading skills of 7 months during the 7 month period of the project. During this same period of time, the control group gained 6 months in reading skills. Although this improvement is not statistically significant, when one considers pre test scores and the fact that these children are the most difficult reading problems, the difference does appear to be educationally significant.

Table II presents data on the Criterion Referenced Word Recognition Skills. The average gain of students participating in the project was 14 additional word recognition skills, that is, skills which were acquired and successfully demonstrated during the 7 months of the project. During that same period of time, the control group acquired 7 additional word recognition skills. This gain is statistically significant.

The test score data on the Stanford Achievement Test are less conclusive. Two forms of the SAT _{were administered, Primary I and Primary II. Although the two forms}

are not equivalent, in several cases children were pre-tested on Primary I and post tested on Primary II. This procedure was due to the way the test was constructed (i.e. the break between Primary I and II corresponds to first and second grade academic skills). As a result, the "N" for both groups was extremely small. The average gain of the experimental group on the SAT _{was approximately 2 months. The gain for the control}

group was 2.1. The results on the SAT _{were not significant.}

In reviewing the testing results one must keep in mind that children in the experimental group were those having the greatest difficulty in language and reading by classroom teachers. Thus, those in the resource room were working with the most difficult cases. Many of the children had been previously diagnosed as retarded or having specific learning difficulties. Hence, in a regular program without intervention one would not expect any significant change to occur.

Table I

Wide Range Achievement Test

Groups Experimental Group Control Group

(Resource Room) (Regular Student) Pretest

Grade Equivalent .8 N = 27 1.3 N = 24

Posttest

Grade Equivalent 1.5 N = 27 1.9 N = 24

Table II

Criterion Test Word Recognition Skills

Groups Experimental Group Control Group

(Resource Room) (Regular Students)

Pretest Word Recognition 7 N = 27 11 N = 24 Skills Posttest Word Recognition 21 N = 27 18 N = 24 Skills Gain 14 7

In addition to the objective data significant changes were also reported by the teachers and aides on the attitudes of children. Resource children were reported to be more open, more animated and eager to learn. They seemed to have better social interaction skills and more self confidence. These characteristics were all suggestive of an improved self concept. At the beginning of the project, none of the children in the resource room were able to successfully read the available pre-primer books. At the end of the project virtually every child was able to read two or three supplemental readers in the resource room.

Summarization

This project demonstrated that relatively untrained teacher aides could be identified and placed in a training program which would prepare them to provide supplemental instruction to children having difficulty in language and reading. The instructional program was very specific in terms of its use of materials, modeling, drills, monitoring, and reinforcement. The aides that participated in the project were anxious to participate another year and voluntarily expressed their enthusiasm.

Utilizing aides in this capacity appears to have the following advantages:

They can be assigned in much less time than professional staff who must be approved and assigned through the Bureau of Indian Affairs Personnel Office; (2) they are not required to assume additional assignments, therefore their efforts and activities can be directed towards the specific goals of the child; (3) language, culture, and background areas can be overcome. Thus, the cultural variances unique and important to Navajo children can be supported and related to the task of acquiring language and

reading skills. This permits the Navajo child to be better prepared to compete with other children and select far more options as he expands his horizons and makes decisions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eby, Wesley J. et al. "Navajo Area Language Arts Project." Window Rock, Arizona: BIA, Navajo Area Office Division of Education, 1974.

Hunter, William A. (Ed.) Multicultural Education Through Competency Based Teacher Education. Washington, D.C.: the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1974.

Johnson, Charles E. Competencies for Teachers: A Handbook for. Specifying and Organizing Teacher Performance. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1972. Pratt, Wayne T. and Ramey, Joseph H. (Ed.). A Merging Role of the Teacher Aide in Navajo

Education. Window Rock, Arizona: Navajo Area Office of Indian Affairs, Branch of Curriculum and Instruction, 1974.

THE EVOLUTION OF HASKELL INDIAN JUNIOR COLLEGE

(1884-1974)

by

Charles A. O'Brien

This thesis summarizes Haskell's history from 1884-1974, and provides an account of the transition to Junior College status during the years 1968-74. It also attempts to show that the off-reservation boarding school policy of the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been influenced through the years by a changing Federal Indian policy and that compatible with this changing policy, the school has provided the Indian community with a positive program of education throughout its ninety year history.

Haskell opened its doors on September 1, 1884 with an initial enrollment of fourteen students. Today's enrollment has grown to one thousand eighty students. It is one of the largest off-reservation boarding schools maintained by the Federal government for the education of Indian students. Officially designated by Congress as the "United States Industrial Training School" it has from the beginning been known unofficially as "Haskell" in honor of Kansas Congressman Dudley C. Haskell who was helpful in having the school located in Lawrence. In 1890 the name of the school was changed to "Haskell Institute" and would remain so until 1970 when it became "Haskell Indian Junior College."

The off-reservation boarding school exemplified at Haskell dominated the approach to Indian education for the next fifty years. Its philosophy included the removal of Indian students from their home, strict military discipline, a work-study program, an "outing system," and emphasis on the agricultural and industrial arts. The curriculum reflected the national Indian policy of the times which was aimed at destroying tribalism and breaking up reservation lands and allotting them to individuals. By this method the government hoped to solve the Indian problem for all time.

Most of the writing which has been done on Haskell's history has been done by graduate students as part of their degree requirements. Some of the authors had firsthand experience with Indian students in the school setting. A Haskell Institute Press publication produced for the school's Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Celebration contains a brief collection of stories, personal anecdotes, and some early photographs of the school and its activities. The Transition Period, 1968-74 produced several documents of historical importance which are cited in the review of the literature.

Among the Indians of the United States, formal education began with the coming of the whiteman and continues to the present time. The success of this formal education effort for Indians has been held by some to be questionable. Others have held that schooling for American Indians is the only means for Indian preservation. Consequently schools such as Haskell "tended to exemplify modern life in all its reality. "Since the Indian youth could remain in school but a short time his "school must be the life that he would live."

During its early years Haskell was to stress instruction in the English language and training in housework and the industrial arts. In developing a program of' instruction for Haskell students some difficulties were encountered. The Indian, himself, posed a problem. He understood little of the non-Indian concepts of habit, regularity, and time. His identity was tribal rather than individual. He spoke a multiplicity of languages alien to English. Finally, the male Indian was prejudiced by his own culture against manual labor. Another difficulty faced by Haskell during these early years was the fact that industrial education was in its pioneer stage in America. There were as yet neither precedents to follow nor textbooks to use.

In spite of these difficulties encountered in developing industrial training for Indian students at Haskell in these early years, the school was able to establish a course of study which though modified and refined by changing political, social, and educational philosophies has been followed for more than eighty years. Superintendent James Marvin in his first report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs said that every department in the school was emphasizing two goals; how to speak the English language, and how to do any kind of work at hand quickly and well.

In 1894 a change in the general direction of Indian education at Haskell is noted. A normal school department was established to train teachers for reservation schools. At this time, too, all advanced academic grades were departmentalized. Vocal and instrumental music were introduced into the curriculum and a solid or manual .training department was established. The academic department at this time sought to achieve a practical relationship between academic studies and industrial training.

Big time football was introduced at Haskell in 1900 and over the next thirty-five years Haskell teams would play many of the nation's top teams. A matter of great controversy in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Commissioner John Collier forbade a return to "big football" in 1935.

During the period 1903-1921 Haskell was to stress vocational education and pursue its development with unabated zeal. The Bureau of Indian Affairs introduced a new course of study to be used by all of the Indian schools in the United States. It was divided into three divisions: primary — or beginning stage; pre-vocational — or finding stage; and vocational — or fitting stage. From the first it had been Haskell's aim to offer a practical education to its students to fit them to earn a living and become useful and