American Indian Education in Montana – Rising dropout rates. Lagging test scores. A growing sense of apathy and isolation.

Rising dropout rates. Lagging test scores. A growing sense of apathy and isolation.

The state of American Indian education in Montana isn’t good, officials say, and changes are needed. On Friday and Saturday, more than 200 teachers, tribal members and education experts will meet here to develop possible solutions at the first-ever Indian Education Summit.

By SARAH COOKE – Associated Press Writer

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/10/15/montana/a01101504_05.txt

Organized by the Office of Public Instruction, the summit features presentations by nationally renowned Indian education experts and workshops on improving achievement, cutting dropout rates and other issues.

Visits to schools already excelling in Indian education or in teaching non-Indians about tribal culture and history are also planned.

‘‘This has been a long time coming, I’ll tell you,” said Rep. Norma Bixby, D-Lame Deer, who chairs the Montana Advisory Council on Indian Education and sits on the School Renewal Commission.

‘‘We’ve done a lot of work with the state of Montana in trying to improve Indian education … but it was always something the Indians put on. It was always the Indians getting together and trying to create change,” she said. ‘‘Finally, this summit is coming from the Office of Public Instruction.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch hopes to get a blueprint on improving Indian education and implementing the Indian Education for All Act, which requires all Montana students to learn about the unique cultural heritage of American Indians.

‘‘Basically, we want a plan to come out of this summit that will last long after my term as superintendent, because I know if we don’t get started now we will never accomplish that goal,” McCulloch said.

Since standardized testing began in 2001, American Indian scores have lagged far behind those of non-Indian students and shown few signs of improving, according to the Office of Public Instruction.

Indian students also are dropping out of high school at a rate three times greater than their non-Indian classmates. That disparity is even greater in middle school, where Indian students are 12 times more likely to drop out, OPI figures show.

‘‘I think it’s more of like an equity issue,” said Everall Fox, OPI’s Indian education specialist. ‘‘Indian students may not have access to the same education resources as other students across the state might have.”

McCulloch and others also point to a lack of Indian teachers and administrators, a lack of family support and poor language skills.

‘‘If a student can’t read they can’t do math, they can’t do history, they can’t do science, and that contributes to the dropout rate,” McCulloch said.

Montana is home to seven Indian reservations and 12 tribes. Indians make up just over 6 percent of the state population and 11 percent of the public school system, McCulloch said.

‘‘We’re going to need to get something in place so our children aren’t constantly at the bottom of the barrel,” Bixby said.