i
BIA EDUCATION RESEARCH BULLETIN, YEAR 1973
CONTENTS
Vol. 1. No. 1, January 1973
Purposes of the Research Bulletin 1
Thomas R. Hopkins
Academic Achievement of American Indian and Alaskan 2 Native High School Students in Federal and Public Schools
Willard P. Bass
Official Design for the Research Bulletin 9
Udall Gibson
BIA's School Population, FY 1972 10
Alice Hildebrand,
Recent Publications On Indian Education 12
Eugene Leitka
Research and Evaluation Report Series 13
Thomas R. Hopkins
Final 1970 Census Counts of American Indians and Alaska Natives 16 Louis Conger
Vol. 1. No. 2, May 1973
Navajo and Non-Navajo Teachers, A Comparison of Characteristics 18 Thomas R. Hopkins
BIA School Enrollment: Total, 12th Grade & High School Graduates 20 1952-1972
U. S. BIA, Office of Indian Education Programs
The Extent and Significance of Suicide Among 21
American Indians Today Robert J. Havighurst
Teachers Salaries in BIA Schools Compared to Salaries of Teachers 28 in Public Schools Attended by Indian Children (School Year 1970-1971)
Initial Placement Record of Haskell Institute Graduates 30 BIA, Haskell Institute
Estimates of Resident Indian Population and Labor Force Status; by 31 Area and State: March 1972
Louis H. Conger Jr.
Research Priorities 36
Eugene Leitka
Vol, 1, No. 3, September 1973
Teacher Separation and Retention In Bureau Of Indian 37 Affairs Schools
George Letchworth
Biobehavioral Correlates Of Perceptual Cognitive Motor Performance 52 In A Sample Of Southwest Indian Junior High School Students
Joseph David Blanchard
The Methodology Utilized To Show The Education Of The 55 Mississippi Choctaws, 1834-1920
Delton R. Cox
Assessing the Knowledge of Cultures 58
Robert Norris
An Investigation Of The Results Of Study Of Cross-Cultural Informal 63 Educational Experiences Upon Self-Concept Of Native Americans
Leola Sechoya McGilbra Taylor
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PURPOSES OF BIA EDUCATION RESEARCH BULLETIN
The main purpose of any bulletin as the one being developed by the BIA Office of Indian Education Programs is to disseminate information to a wider audience. In this instance, the purpose is to provide educational research information for professional educators involved in the education of Indian children and youth and for Indian communities whose children attend school.
Another aspect of the purpose of the Research Bulletin pertains to the belief that education can be improved via research and evaluation activities that are devoted to a determination of effective practices. Hopefully, practices in the education of Indian children will be improved if information about effective approaches and techniques reach a wider audience. Therefore, the Bulletin will have a major focus on research in education that describes effective practices.
Another purpose of the Bulletin will be to provide a vehicle for educators to use to exchange information. It is a well known fact that literally hundreds of professional educators have performed major and minor research regarding their own interests in working with Indian children. Some of these works have been prepared in the form of theses and dissertations. So, the Bulletin will serve as a communication device for professional educators to use in order to share their findings with an audience greater than the immediate school or the college or university that granted them a masters or doctors degree. Educators are invited to submit an abstract of their thesis or dissertation (or both) for dissemination and for possible inclusion in the Bulletin in a full article.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN FEDERAL AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Willard P. Bass
The impetus for this study came from the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee during hearings held in February, 1965. At that time the Chairman of the Subcommittee asked the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to have a study made of the gain in academic achievement of Indian students in public schools compared to that of Indian students in the same span of time in Federal schools. The Commissioner agreed to initiate such a study beginning with Ninth Grade students and continuing through their graduation.
Numerous studies have been made of academic achievement of American Indian students. Only a few, however, have examined levels of achievement in various types of schools. Notice among these is the extensive study by Coombs (1958) in which it was found that the achievement of Indian students enrolled in public schools was higher on the average than that of Indian students enrolled in Bureau of Indians Affairs (BIA schools. However, since this was not a longitudinal study and initial individual differences were not controlled, differences in group achievement could not be attributed to the educational experiences provided to students by the schools. Although Coombs was careful to point out that differences in socioeconomic backgrounds of the students in the groups being compared may have accounted for the disparity in achievement levels, it became accepted as almost axiomatic, as a result of the findings of the study, that an Indian pupil would make greater academic progress in a public school than in a BIA school.
THE PROBLEM
The major concern of this longitudinal study was to determine whether academic achievement differs significantly for American Indian high school students enrolled in four types of schools: 1) Federal reservation, 2) Federal off-reservation, 3) public on-reservation, and 4) public off-reservation. Other important interests were whether achievement differs by geographic area, grade and sex. In addition, it was the purpose of the study to gather a variety of data on other psychological and sociological variables and to investigate the relationship of some of them to achievement and to each other.
The major independent variables were: school type, grade level, geographic area and sex. The principal dependent variable was academic achievement. Other dependent variables were: self-concept, achievement motivation, value orientation and school interest.
METHOD
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Grade Nine, 28% from Grade Ten, 20% from Grade Eleven, and 18% from Grade Twelve. The sample included all Indian students enrolled in certain schools and a random selection of Indian students from other schools. It was drawn so as to provide representation from five selected BIA administrative areas proportionate to the numbers of students enrolled in Federal schools in those areas. This sample, numbering 3,346 students, was pre-tested in the Fall of 1966. In the spring of 1967, testing sessions were held again in all of the same schools, at which time usable test results were obtained for 2,584 of those who had been pre-tested in the Fall. This group of 2,584 subjects, who were administered both pre-tests and post-tests, comprised the sample for the first year of the study.
In the Fall of 1967, a total of 3,375 students was tested. Of these, a substantial number were Ninth Grade students, new to the sample. The others were students who had been tested the previous year. In the Spring of 1968, a total of 2,556 students was post-tested.
The next testing session was held in the Spring of 1969. Data were sought only on Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Grade students who had been tested at some prior time in the study. Data were obtained for 1,337 students.
The final testing was accomplished in the Spring of 1970 and was confined to Eleventh and Twelfth Grade students who had been tested previously. Of the 1,337 students tested in the Spring of 1969, it was possible to test 837 again in the Spring of 1970.
Measuring Instruments. The following tests were administered during the course of the study.
Fall, 1966 California Achievement Tests (CAT), Advanced, Complete Battery, 1957 Edition, 1963 Norms, Form W.
California Short Form Test of Mental Maturity (CTMM), 1963, Level 4.
Mooney Problem Check List (Abbreviated version), Form J-SH Questionnaire. Spring, 1967 CAT, Form X.
Fall, 1967 CAT, Form Y.
CTMM. Administered to all Ninth Grade students and to others in Grades 10 through 12 new to the sample.
Questionnaire. Administered to all Ninth Grade students and to others in Grades 10-12 new to the sample.
Semantic Differential.
Spring, 1968 CAT, Form W. School Interest Inventory, by William Cottle, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966.
SA (Self-Acceptance) and AI (Achievement via Independence). Value Orientation Scale.
Spring, 1970 CAT, Form Y. Vocational Aspiration Scale.
Testing Procedures. Each of the six testing sessions was completed in one day at each school. All testing each Fall was accomplished within a period of about two weeks during late September and early October. Spring testing was done during the latter half of April.
In each geographic area, testing was under the supervision of a trained and experienced psychometrician, who either administered the tests or trained and supervised others, all of whom had previous experience in testing.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
In comparing academic achievement of various groups, initial individual differences were taken into consideration. Post-test California Achievement Test (CAT) raw scores were used as a criterion and differences in means were tested for significance by analysis of co-variance. Since individual differences in scholastic aptitude and academic ability could conceivably influence criterion scores, pre-test intelligence and achievement scores were used as control variables. The CTMM intelligence quotient scores were used as a scholastic aptitude control, and the pre-test CAT scores were used as a prior achievement control.
Achievement by School Types. Using pre-test and post-test scores gathered over a span of four years, it was possible to assess achievement for four periods of one school year each, three periods of two school years each, two periods of three school years each, and one period of four school years. When this was done by grades for each period, using CAT scores for reading, mathematics, language and total battery, there were 52 assessment categories for one-year periods, 32 for two-year periods, 16 for three-year periods, and four for the four-year period, a total of 104 in all.
Controlling for individual differences in scholastic aptitude and academic ability, treatment of the data by analysis of covariance revealed that differences in achievement between the four types of schools were significant at the .05 level of confidence for 18 of the 52 assessment categories for one-year periods, 17 of the 32 assessment categories for two-year periods, 10 of the 16 assessment categories for three-two-year periods, and none of the four categories for the four-year period. On the basis of adjusted criterion means, which were calculated for those categories were significant differences occurred, Federal schools ranked higher than public schools on one-year analyses; public on-reservation schools ranked highest, and Federal off-reservation schools lowest on two-year analyses. Public schools ranked slightly higher than Federal schools on three-year analyses. However, when subjected to the Friedman Test, the differences in ranks of the four types of schools were found not significant at the .05 level of confidence for one-year, two-year or three-year analyses.
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school types were found to be significant at the .05 level of confidence for 45 categories. The ranking of the four school types on the 45 significant categories based on adjusted criterion means are shown in Table 1, page 7.
Table 1
TOTAL RANKINGS OF SCHOOL TYPES BASED UPON ADJUSTED CRITERION
ACHIEVEMENT MEANS All Time Spans
SCHOOL TYPE FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH R
Federal On-Reservation 15 12 6 10 101
Federal Off-Reservation 11 11 12 11 113
Public On-Reservation 10 10 16 9 114
Public Off-Reservation 9 10 11 15 122
Applying the Friedman Test to the above data yields an X2 of 3. With 44 degrees of freedom, this falls far short of the X2 of 60 + necessary for significance at the .05 level.
In summary, significant differences in achievement between types of schools were found for less than one-half of the categories measured and no significant hierarchical pattern of achievement emerged for those categories where significant differences in achievement did exist. The evidence indicates that, when initial individual differences in scholastic aptitude and academic ability were controlled, academic achievement of Indian students did not differ significantly in the four types of schools.
Academic Achievement by Areas. Designated geographic areas, which correspond to BIA administrative areas, were Aberdeen, Muskogee, Navajo, Phoenix and Juneau.
Table 2
TOTAL RANKINGS OF AREAS BASED UPON ADJUSTED CRITERION
ACHIEVEMENT MEANS All Time Spans
AERA FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH R
Aberdeen 5 22 26 12 6 205
Muskogee 2 15 10 20 17 248
Navajo 4 11 19 20 17 248
Phoenix 2 15 15 27 12 245
Juneau 58 8 1 6 4 97
Applying the Friedman Test to the data in Table 2 yields an X2 of 107.14. With 70 degrees of freedom this value is significant at the .01 level of confidence.
In summary, when individual differences in scholastic aptitude and academic ability were controlled, differences in achievement between areas were significant, with the Juneau area ranking highest, followed by Aberdeen. No clear pattern of superiority emerged for the other three areas.
Academic Achievement by Grades. Based upon CAT total battery scores, Ninth Grade students ranked at the 27th percentile and Twelfth Grade students at the 14th percentile when compared to national norms. In comparing actual grade placement with achievement grade placement, Indian students on the average were one year below grade level academically when entering Ninth Grade, but were more than two and one-half years below when i1 about to graduate from high school. Scores were consistently highest in language and lowest in mathematics. However, the greatest regression occurred in reading. Ninth Grade students ranked at the 34th percentile in reading and Twelfth Grade students at the 12th percentile.
Academic Achievement by Sex. During the course of the study, the CAT was administered to all grades (9-12) four times in the first two years, once to grades 10-12 in the third year, and once to grades 11 and 12 in the fourth year. This provided 21 comparative mean scores for boys and girls on each sub-test - reading, mathematics and language. With remarkable consistency, boys scored higher than girls in all 21 cases in mathematics and in 20 of 21 reading cases. Girls, on the other hand, scored higher than boys in every case in language. The evidence clearly indicates a slight but reliable superiority of boys over girls in reading, and a considerable superiority in mathematics. However, girls demonstrated a substantial superiority over boys in mastery of English language skills.
RESPONSES TO OTHER MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
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A native language, rather than English, was the principal medium of oral communications used in the homes of two-thirds of the students. About 50% of the homes had television sets, but only 15% had telephones. Only 50% of the students' fathers and about 20% of the mothers were regularly employed. Less than 30% of parents were high school graduates and about 60% had completed eighth grade.
A higher percentage of public high school than Federal high school students had telephones, TV sets, and daily newspapers in the home. Also, more public school students had started to school at six years of age or younger, more of their parents were high school graduates, and more were regularly employed. Public off-reservation schools had the highest percentage in whose homes English was the primary language, as well as the highest percent-age who spoke English when they started school.
In general, Indian students appeared to value education highly, like school, be greatly concerned about grades, have confidence in their scholastic ability, and respect their teachers. But they also indicated that school is skipped frequently and many gave evidence of being high dropout risks. Indian students expressed optimism about the future and indicated that they have a healthy pride in racial and cultural heritage by rating Indian high among ten concepts, and much higher than White Man, on a Semantic Differential. The latter concept was given the lowest rating and Myself As A Person the next lowest rating. However, since mean ratings of these two concepts were in the positive range, highly unfavorable attitudes toward self and the white man do not seem to be implied.
Type and location of schools seemed to be factors related to certain student attitudes. Students attending off-reservation schools registered greater optimism concerning their future than did on-reservation students. Those in the most integrated situation (public off-reservation schools) scored highest on measures of self-esteem and those in the most segregated situations (Federal on-reservation schools) scored lowest. Those in the segregated Federal schools rated Indian higher than did those in the integrated, public schools.
Muskogee area students scored highest on measure of self-esteem, but also registered the lowest opinion of teachers and the least interest in school. Juneau area students evidenced the greatest interest in school and the highest regard for teachers and for education. Phoenix area students rated themselves lowest of the five areas on measures of self-esteem and on attitudes toward their present life, their future, their school success, education and college. The data indicate that students in the Aberdeen, Juneau and Muskogee areas were more oriented to, values of the dominant culture and possessed greater social presence than those in the Navajo and Phoenix areas. Students in public off-reservation schools rated highest and those in Federal on-reservation schools lowest on social presence and on orientation to values of the dominant culture (value orientation). Significant gains on social presence and value orientation for each successive grade (10-12) suggest that the school has a socializing and acculturating effect upon Indian students.
prestige range. Also, vocational expectations were lower than vocational aspirations. Boys, more than girls, thought that they would be unable to obtain jobs as high ranking as they desired.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES
In order to explore relationships between achievement and certain other variables measured by the various instruments administered during the study, Pearson product moment coefficients of correlation were computed. A number of these correlations proved to be significant at the .01 level of confidence. As expected, there was a strong correlation between mental ability and achievement (+ .668) . There was a positive significant correlation between orientation to the values of the dominant culture and achievement (+.359). A moderately high significant correlation between self-concept and achievement (+ .264) suggests that strong positive feelings about self are reflected to some degree in higher levels of achievement for Indian students.
Differentials between the students own rankings of their desired and expected occupations were obtained and were found to have a significant positive correlation with achievement (+ .294) , as well as with mental ability (+ .290) and acculturation as measured by responses to certain items on a questionnaire (+ .259) . It is hypothesized that Indian students scoring high on the latter three actors tend to have relatively high vocational aspirations but also tend not to raise their actual expectations accordingly, possibly for reasons having to do with minority group status, and cultural influences.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND LANGUAGE OF THE HOME
The relation between principal language spoken in the home and academic achievement was explored. This was done by comparing home language of high achievers with home language of the entire sample. In the sample as a whole, 33 % of the students were from homes in which English was the principal language spoken and 67% were from native speaking homes. But of the high achievers (those ranking at or above the 50th percentile in achievement), 54 % from native speaking homes. The differences in expected and actual frequencies proved to be significant far beyond the .001 level of confidence when tested by chi-square. The evidence clearly indicates that there was a definite relationship between the language of the home and academic achievement.
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OFFICIAL DESIGN
BIA'S SCHOOL POPULATION FY 1972
Alice Hildebrand
Bureau officials and tribal groups must make many decisions each year concerning the sprawling BIA educational system with its multitudinous problems, covering 218 schools and dormitories in 17 states as noted hereafter:
BIA School Enrollment FY 1972*
Type of School Number of Schools Enrollment
Boarding Schools 78 36,407
Day Schools 119 17,258
Hospital Schools 2 117
Bordertown Dormitories 19 4,025
Totals 218 53,782
Congressional personnel and various governmental groups also conduct hearings and make periodic inquiries, surveys, and demands of BIA school operations in light of budget requests and justifications. Many Indian groups and non-Indian people likewise seek answers to myriad problems in Indian education.
Thus, it is necessary to have much detailed information available concerning many aspects of Indian education programs, if we are to improve them and obtain maximum benefits from our expenditures. The kinds of data needed are only available through efforts expended by the education research function and other related activities.
Each fiscal year a bulletin entitled Statistics Concerning Indian Education is compiled by Alice S. Hildebrand and printed at Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas. It contains much detailed data related to school locations, types and levels of schools, BIA school enrollment, tribes represented, summer programs, public and mission school enrollments, etc. The following data were obtained from the office of Mrs. Hildebrand.
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BIA SCHOOLS OPERATED IN 17 STATES
STATE TYPE OF SCHOOL
BOARDING DAY HOSPITAL DORM TOTAL
1. Alaska 2 53 4 59
2. Arizona 30 17 47
3. California 1 1
4. Colorado 1 1
5. Florida 1 1
6. Kansas 1 1
7. Louisiana 1 1
8. Mississippi 3 3 6
9. Montana 1 1
10. Oklahoma 6 4 10
11. Oregon 1 1
12. New Mexico 23 19 1 7 50
13. Nevada 1 1
14. North
Carolina
1 1
15. North Dakota 2 6 8
16. South Dakota 4 18 1 1 24
17. Utah 3 1 4
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON INDIAN EDUCATION
Eugene Leitka
1. The American Indian High School Dropout: The Magnitude of the Problem - Alphonse D. Selinger, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Portland, Oregon, 1968.
2. The American Indian Graduate - After High School, What? Alphonse D. Selinger, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Portland, Oregon, 1968.
3. The American Indian High School Dropout In The Southwest, Willard P. Bass, Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1969.
4. The American Indian High School Graduate In The Southwest, Willard P. Bass, Southwestern Cooperative Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1969.
5. Indian Education: A National Tragedy - A National Challenge, U. S. Senate Special Subcommittee On Indian Education, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.,1969.
6. The Education Of American Indians - A Survey Of The Literature, Brewton Berry, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1969.
7. The National Study Of American Indian Education, Robert J. Havighurst, Director, University of Chicago, 1970.
8. The Status Of American Indian Education (An Interim Report of The National Study of American Indian Education), Herbert A. Aurbach and Estelle Fuchs with Gordon Mac-gregor, The Pennsylvania State University, 1970.
9. The Educational Disadvantage Of The Indian American Student, L. M. Coombs, ERIC/CRESS, Duplicating Service, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1970.
10. An Analysis Of Academic Achievement Of Indian Students In Federal And Public Schools, Willard P. Bass, Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1971.
11. An Evaluation Of The Bordertown Dormitory Program, Willard P. Bass et al., Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1971.
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RESEARCH AND EVALUATION REPORT SERIES
Thomas R. Hopkins
The Education activity of the BIA has always produced a large and steady number of very useful reports. In recent time, there seems to be an increasingly larger number of high quality reports. Too, throughout the years, there has not been an attempt to organize or arrange the reports in such a manner that they become a useful and systematic body of information. In order to provide a systematic arrangement of high quality reports so that they may be made available to BIA educators, a Research and Evaluation Report Series has been established by the Indian Education Resources Center (IERC), Division of Evaluation and Program Review.
The general objectives of the Series are to:
(1) Provide a systematic arrangement of education reports. (2) Identify those reports considered to be high in quality.
(3) Make pertinent data available to BIA educators and when possible, to educators outside the BIA.
(4) Make is possible for professional educators involved in research pertinent to the schooling of Indian children to share their experiences with a greater audience.
(5) Assist in the overall evaluation process of the BIA Education activity. The criteria for including a report in the Series are as follows: The report should:
(1) Reflect in some manner a systematic or scientific process relative to research and/or evaluation.
(2) Describe a research or evaluation activity that is underway or going to take place. (3) Relate to a need that is broader than the immediate situation.
(4) Be well written and complete with a proper reference system, notes and/or bibliography.
(5) Be objective.
(6) Be directly related to the education of Indian children. (7) Have qualitative and/or quantitative data.
(8) Describe in detail an activity or program.
A committee comprised of Indian Education Resources staff and Area Offices will make recommendations to the Evaluation Division concerning additions to the Series. Area Offices may submit items for consideration. Also, reports submitted by Area Offices in a routine manner may be picked up and given consideration. However, Area reports will have Area Office concurrence before they are finally included in the Series.
Areas, Agencies, and other Central Office Divisions would be held is that they would agree to place the following designation on the cover or title page, "Research and Evaluation Report No: Placing the number on the report is important, for without it, the idea is lost. In summary, control of dissemination is not to be centralized. Control of numbering and for general administration of the Series will rest with the IERC Office, Division of Evaluation and Program Review.
It may be that teachers, principals, superintendents, aides, etc., have written a Master's Thesis or a Doctoral Dissertation and would like to have it considered for inclusion in the Series. If so, they should forward it through the proper channels to the IERC. In fact, all correspondence relative to the Series would be addressed to the Coordinator, IERC, P.O. Box 1788, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103.
The following reports have been included in the Series. Unless otherwise indicated, copies may be obtained by writing the address given.
REPORT NO. 01: THE CHILOCCO SURVEY, 1972-73.
REPORT NO. 02: SHERMAN INDIAN HIGH SCHOOL, ORBS PROJECT, 1971-72 (Performed by National Indian Trng. & Research Center, Tucson, Arizona, under contract). Not available for dissemination.
REPORT NO. 03: ROUGH ROCK SCHOOL EVALUATION, 1971-72, (Contract School Operations).
REPORT NO. 04: WYOMING INDIAN HIGH SCHOOL, 1971-72, (Contract School Operations) .
REPORT NO. 05: RAMAH NAVAJO HIGH SCHOOL, 1971-72, (Contract School Operations).
REPORT NO. 06: MICCOSUKEE SCHOOL EVALUATION, 197172, (Contract School Operations) .
REPORT NO. 07: HASKELL TRANSITION EVALUATION, Summer 1972. REPORT NO. 08: CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF MIGRANT AND INDIAN EDUCATION, Summer 1972.
REPORT NO. 09: EDUCATIONAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT IN THE BIA, Spring 1972. REPORT NO. 10: SKILLS AND ARTS OF COMMUNICATION
WORKSHOP EVALUATION, Santa Cruz, Summer 1972.
REPORT NO. 11: OFF-RESERVATION BOARDING SCHOOL PROJECT DESCRIPTION, Summer 1972.
REPORT NO. 12: EVALUATION REPORT OF THE SPECIAL SCHOLARSHIP IN LAW FOR AMERICAN INDIANS,-University of New Mexico Law School, Summer 1972.
REPORT NO. 13: RESULTS OF THE TEST OF PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN GRADES, 4, 5, AND 6 OF BIA SCHOOLS, School Year 1971-72, (Available in November 1972) .
REPORT NO. 14: GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF THE TEST OF PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE, (Available in November 1972) .
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REPORT NO. 16: INFORMATION NEEDS TO SUPPORT AN EVALUATION PROCESS FOR BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS EDUCATION PROGRAMS, James F. Jeffrey, In Cooperation With Region 13 Education Service Centers, Austin, Texas.
FINAL 1970 CENSUS COUNTS OF AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES
NAVAJO AND NON-NAVAJO TEACHERS: A C O M PA R I S O N O F C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S
(Abstract of Dissertation) Thomas R. Hopkins
THE RECOMMENDATION has often been made that Indian teachers should be developed and employed in American Indian education. Yet there has been no systematic research to probe what is meant by such a recommendation. The basic purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of Navajo and non-Navajo teachers and to determine their similarities and differences. Four hypotheses were developed for purposes of analyzing the data:
Hypothesis A: Navajo teachers of Navajo children will have characteristics of family background and language that are similar to those of the children and different from those of non-Navajo teachers.
Hypothesis B: Navajo teachers will have perceptions of Navajo children that are different from those held by non-Navajo teachers, as measured by an adjective check-list.
Hypothesis C: Navajo teachers will perceive Navajo children to be more likable; have more scholastic potential; and possess more and different behavioral characteristics than non-Navajo teachers, as measured by clusters of an adjective check-list to form the concepts of Likable, Unlikable, Scholastic Stereotype, and Sensitivity.
Hypothesis D: Navajo teachers of Navajo children will express educational objectives that are different from those expressed by non-Navajo teachers.
Sixty-five Navajo teachers of Navajo children and a sample of 100 teachers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel including Negro, White, Oriental, and other American Indian tribes were mailed a questionnaire in the spring of 1970. Forty-two Navajo and 83 non-Navajo teachers responded. The questionnaire was adapted from previous studies of Indian teachers and from graduates of colleges and universities in the United States. The instrument had two parts: (1) items which produced data on the backgrounds of the teachers, including formal education and home styles, and (2) an adjective check-list that would give general perceptions of the Navajo child and four other concepts considered pertinent to the teaching process.
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The study concluded that while there were significant differences between the two groups of teachers, there were enough similarities to form a basis for teamwork on behalf of Navajo children. Navajo teachers have some decided advantages regarding understanding the child, but may also have some disadvantages for the same reasons. Non-Navajo teachers may not understand the child as readily as the Navajo, but they possess strengths in understanding the importance and operation of formal education. Recommendations concerning operational procedures in Navajo schools and future research were made with the intent of achieving a blending of the two strengths.
B I A S C H O O L E N R O L L M E N T: TO TA L , 1 2 T H G R A D E & HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES 1952-1972
U.S. BIA, Office of Indian Education Programs Enrollment High School Percent Year Total 12th Grade Graduates Graduating
1952 33,1041 673
1953 37,697 848
1954 37,533 794
1955 43,616 704 88.2
1956 41,655 889 776 87.3
1957 41,063 999 855 85.6
1958 41,190 1,007 873 86.7
1959 41,182 1,002 831 82.8
1960 40,194 1,097 961 88.5
1961 41,279 1,157 1,040 89.9
1962 42,045 1,119 973 87.0
1963 43,394 1,230 1,064 86.5
1964 46,090 1,511 1,320 87.4
1965 48,003 1,832 1,511 82.5
1966 49,794 1,936 1,591 82.2
1967 51,199 2,357 2,098 89.0
1968 51,558 2,296 2,041 88.9
1969 52,471 2,392 2,039 85.2
1970 52,195 2,353 1,939 82.4
1971 52,591 2,522 2,090 82.9
1972 53,763 2,420 1,958 80.9
1
Schools in Alaska not counted in 1952
The percent of the enrolling twelfth grade who graduate each year is influenced by such things as transfers to other schools, graduating in subsequent years, illnesses, deaths, marriage, and economic factors. No data were at hand to determine the exact causation for failure to graduate. Perhaps this matter may be checked at a later time.
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T H E E X T E N T A N D S I G N I F I C A N C E O F S U I C I D E AMONG AMERICAN INDIANS TODAY
Robert J. Havighurst
(Abstracted with permission from THE NATIONAL STUDY OF AMERICAN INDIAN EDUCATION which was under the direction of Dr. Havighurst)
There has been a good deal of "loose" talk about suicide rates among Indians, and the possible relationships of schools — especially boarding schools — to suicides among Indian young people.
Professor Havighurst has gathered the available data from Public Health Service and Government Vital Statistics sources, and put the data together to give an accurate statement of what is known about suicide among Indians. The effect is to correct some of the extreme errors made by journalists writing about Indian education, and to provide a basis in fact for a sober consideration of suicide as a problem for a small group of young Indian males.
Widespread concern about the economic and social situation of American Indians has resulted in a good deal of soul-searching on the part of the white "establishment" in recent years. Serious efforts are being made to get at the basic causes of the problem, with the expectation that the federal government and the several state governments, as well as private agencies, will move to reduce the disadvantages of the Indian people.
Among other efforts to understand the problems of Indians, a United States Senate Special Subcommittee on Indian Education worked between 1967 and 1969, held several hearings in various parts of the country, and collected a number of studies and statements which were published in ten volumes. This set of materials, some previously unpublished, provided a good deal of information. It presents a variety of points of view, and the studies which purport to be scientific have various degrees of care and scientific sophistication behind them. Among these materials are several which report suicides among Indians, and, directly or by implication, relate suicides to the kind of education the Indians have received, especially in federal government schools for Indians. Some free-lance writers have used these studies as a basis for charging the Government Bureau of Indian Affairs with mishandling Indian children and youth especially in Indian boarding schools.
In the judgment of this writer. most of the charges based on suicide data are without basis in fact or in what we know about mental health. There is much to criticize in the schooling of Indian children whether in schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or in ordinary public schools which now serve some 65 percent of Indian youth; but suicide rates give no useful basis for judging the quality of schooling for Indians.
EXTENT OF SUICIDE AMONG AMERICAN INDIANS
The Public Health Service reports that the suicide rate for Indians of all ages is about 11 per 100,000 and for the total population of the United States, the rate is about the same, 10.8 per 100,000 (1 ). This figure is fairly stable from year to year for the total United States population. but it fluctuates somewhat for Indians, probably because the numbers are small. For the years from 1959 through 1966, the actual number of suicides reported for Indians ranged from 59 to 72, with an average of 63.5. It is this average over an eight-year period which is the basis for the figure given above — 11 per 100,000. Thus, an over-all comparison of Indian and non-Indian suicide rates indicates that there is no difference. But there are significant differences with respect to age and sex.
The Indian suicide rates are higher for adolescents and young adults than are the rates for non-Indians; but this is balanced by a lower Indian suicide rate for people aged 45 and over. This is seen in Table I .
The male suicide rate is almost 5 times as high as the female rate for Indians, but about 2.7 times as high as the female rate for the total population. Table 2 shows the male and female suicide for Indians, averaged over the eight-year period from 1959-1966 inclusive, compared with the 1965 rates for the United States as a whole. The rate for Indian women was 3.8 per 100,000, compared with 6.1 for all women in the United States.
23 Table 1
SUICIDE RATES FOR INDIANS AND ALL AMERICAN AGE GROUPS Suicides per 100,000 persons per Year
year
Age Indians* (1963-1967) Total U.S. (1965)
Number Rate Rate
10-14 6 1.5 0.5
15-19 44 16.6 4.0
20-24 72 39.0 9.0
25-34 91 31.9 12.4
35-44 61 25.9 16.0
45.54 27 15.0 20.5
55-64 20 16.1 22.6
65 plus 13 10.5 22.9
All Ages 341 11.6 11.2
*The Indian data come from only the 24 states which contains Indian reservations, with probably 95 percent of the total Indian population.
Source: U.S. Public Health Service. Vital Statistics, 1965. Indian data provided by Dr. Michael Ogden, Indian Health Service, U.S. Public Health Service.
T a b l e 2
SUICIDE RATES FOR INDIANS AND ALL AMERICANS BY SEX Indians (1959-66)
Average Number of Population
Suicides per Year (estimate) Rate Total USA (1965)
Male 52.5 290,000 18.1 16.3
Female 11.0 290,000 3.8 6.1
INTERPRETATION OF SUICIDE DATA
If we should attempt to use the suicide rate as an index of mental health, we should conclude that (1) Indian male adolescents and young adults have poorer mental health than the average for the American population, but Indian adults over 45 have better mental health than the average American, and (2) Indian females have better mental health than non-Indian females in the United States.
However, in the absence of an operational definition of mental health, and since suicide rate has not been proved to be a good index of mental health, the writer is inclined to doubt the usefulness of speculation about the mental health of Indians, based on the suicide rate.
SUICIDES AND TYPES OF SCHOOLING
The suicide rate from age 15-19 is about 4 times as high for Indian as for non-Indian youth. Some writers about Indian education have sought to tie this fact to the type of schooling received by Indian youth. In particular, they have claimed that attendance at federal boarding schools has a bad influence on the mental health of children and youth, and they have implied that the suicide rate is related somehow to boarding school attendance.
This claim appears to have no basis in fact. The incidence of suicide in boarding schools is very low. In fact, suicides at boarding schools are so infrequent that many experienced boarding-school directors have never known a case throughout their career in boarding school work.
SUICIDE EPISODES
The history of suicide among young people in various countries points to some cases of a kind of contagious suicide. Small epidemics break out, consisting of two or even more cases close together in time and place. This seems to have happened several times among Indian youth, and each episode has been publicized in a way that encourages the reader to believe that this was not an episode, but was a typical recurring phenomenon. For instance, there was such an epidemic at Fort Hall, Idaho, among the Shoshone-Bannock Indians, who numbered about 2,600. In the seven years from 1960 through 1966 there were 15 suicides in this community, 13 of them being under 35 years of age (2). Dr. Dizmang, who analyzed this phenomenon, found that most of the suicides culminated an experience of family demoralization, death of persons near to the individual, and excessive alcohol consumption. The seven-year record gave a suicide rate of 83 per 100,000. But the Navajo data over a 10 year period give a suicide rate of 10.3 per 100,000, which is close to the National average for whites. A quotation from the report of Dr. Dizmang gives some indication of the complexity of the problem of suicide of young men in an economically deprived community.
25
to be worth noting.
The suicide group had over five times as many arrests as did the group of high school graduates and over half of the arrests in the suicide group were for alcohol intoxication. The other apparently significant observation is drawn from a comparison of the suicide and high school graduate groups with respect to the number of family deaths experienced in each group. In the high school graduate group there is a range of zero to 3 deaths per individual in what was considered to be the immediate family or significant others, with an average one death per individual. In the suicide group there was a range of I to 8 deaths with an average of 3 deaths of significant others experienced by each individual before the suicide occurred.
It is also striking that when one compares the suicide group to an age-matched group of individuals with 20 or more arrests for alcoholic intoxication there seem to be a similar family death experience. This observation is in agreement with studies which show that in the general population 25% of all suicidal deaths occur in alcoholics. It has been demonstrated that a high percentage of these alcoholics who do commit suicide have experienced a significant loss within six weeks prior to the suicide. The data collected for the Fort Hall group seems clearly to associate excessive alcohol consumption, significant loss and suicide.
...There is no simple solution to these problems. It does seem possible to identify a high risk group in which a large percentage of the suicides and other self-destructive behaviors, including alcoholism, will occur. These individuals usually show grossly deviant school or social behavior from an early age. Their family life experiences often show patterns of instability, significant object loss, parental alcoholism and depression. These early life experiences severely handicap or arrest the normal psychological developmental processes in the child; if these development failures are severe enough the individual is likely to experience an extreme sense of alienation and depression by the time he reaches adolescence (3).
In a follow-up of the Fort Hall experience, the author inquired of Joyce Hernandez (Chairman of the Education Committee, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes) concerning suicides at Fort Hall since 1967, who replied, "In the fall of 1967 we had a young man who hung himself while serving in jail. It became nationally known, due to the fact that Senator Kennedy made his visit here shortly after it happened. Suicide was determined on another young man who was supposed to have placed himself on the railroad tracks. There has been doubt on this case. This last case was a young man in his thirties who shot himself. Family problems were very evident" (4). Thus, the annual suicide rate in this community for the 10-year period from 1960-69 inclusive is 18/26,000 or 69 per 100,000 population. This illustrates the fluctuation of the suicide rate when a small population is studied.
same". This statement was picked up and used by several writers and speakers as evidence of a high suicide rate in the Quinault area. But Mr. Patterson wrote as follows in 1969: "Contrary to what might be expected, occurrences of suicide have dropped to zero at Tahola. There have been recurrences of attempted suicide, some of which have been very close, but I cannot recall one successful suicide attempt since August, 1965" (6). He attributed the reduction of suicides to the Quinault Tribal Community Action Program operating under the federal Office of Economic Opportunity. This program provided local recreation facilities; and other programs also came to raise the morale of Quinault youth, such as the Neighborhood Youth Corps, the Educational Counseling Program, and the Health Services Program.
COMPARISON OF INDIAN AND WHITE SUICIDE RATES FOR YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS
The comparative data of Table 1 indicate without question that the suicide rates for young male Indians aged 15-34 are three to four times as high as the rates for whites. However, the Indians are different in socioeconomic status from the average SES of the whites, and this fact should be taken into account in the interpretation of these comparisons.
In the United States there is a relation between suicide and occupation or income, with men of lowest occupational status or income having the highest suicide rates. Since the average occupational status and income of Indian males is about the same as that of unskilled white males, we should expect the Indian suicide rate for all Indians to be higher than the white rate for all whites. The U.S. National Office of Vital Statistics computed "standardized mortality ratios" for various causes of death, for white males in the labor force, aged 20-64, in 1950. The rate for laborers was 1.5 times as high as the rate for all occupations (7). More recent data have been published by the Cook County (Chicago) Health Department (8), which give the suicide rate for the years 1959-63 for white males of "lower" SES as being 1.6 times as high as the rate for "middle" status white males; and the rates for non-white males almost all Negroes) to be 1.5 as high for the lower as for the "middle" status group. Thus some of the differences between Indian suicide rates and white rates can be attributed to the socioeconomic differences between the two groups.
CONCLUSIONS
The facts are fairly clear, but the conclusions much less so. When suicide rates of Indian males are compared with rates for white males in the United States, the rate for men under 45 shows a higher incidence of suicide among Indians, but for men over 45, the whites have a much higher incidence of suicide. There is much less difference between the suicide rates for Indian and white women, with the Indian rate definitely lower.
27
white males, when socioeconomic differences are controlled.
There is no evidence relating suicide rate to the kind of schooling an Indian youth has had. In general, the Indian suicide rates are closely correlated with disorganized family life, alcoholism, and loss of friends and relatives by death.
The relatively high suicide rate of young Indian men should be taken as a symptom of something seriously wrong with the society in which they live. Probably an improvement in the socio-educational situation of Indians will reduce this symptom. It will require a complex of changes, which include changes in the schools as a necessary part.
REFERENCES
1. Rabeau, Irwin S., M.D. Chief of Indian Health, U. S. Public Health Service. Testimony before the U. S. Senate Committee of Appropriations, March,
1968. Senate Hearings. 90th Congress, Second Session, Part 2, pp. 085-1687.
2. See Dizmang, Larry H., M.D. "Observations on Suicidal Behavior among the Shoshone-Bannock Indians," U.S. Senate Special Subcommittee on Indian Education. Part 5, 1968, pp. 2351-2355; and Watson, Jane. "The Etiology of Suicide at Fort Hall," U.S. Senate Special Subcommittee on Indian Education, Part 5, 1968, pp. 2367-2371.
3. Dizmang, Larry H., M.D. op. cit., pp. 2351, 2355, 4. Personal communication to the writer, Dec. 10, 1969.
5. Patterson, Harold L. "Suicide Among Youth on the Quinault Indian Reservation," U.S. Senate Special Subcommittee on Appropriations, March, 1968. Senate Hearings. 90th Congress, Second Session, Part 2, 1685-1687.
6. Personal communication to the writer, August 21, 1969.
7. U.S. National Office of Vital Statistics. Mortality by Occupation and Cause of Death. Males in Labor Force, age 20-64, 1950. Vol. 53, No. 3, 1963.
TEACHERS SALARIES IN BIA SCHOOLS COMPARED TO SALARIES OF TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ATTENDED BY INDIAN CHILDREN (School Year 1970-1971)
Otis J. Morgans
In February 1972 the Director of Education Programs asked for recent data concerning salaries of teachers in public schools attended by Indian Children as compared to salaries of teachers in Bureau operated schools. These data were in preparation for Senate and House hearings then scheduled for February 24 and February 29 respectively. Time did not permit a comprehensive study to include salary ranges, entrance salaries, maximum salaries, step differentials and number of steps.
Information available at that time concerning public school salaries was obtained from the Research Division, National Education Association, Washington, D.C. It pertained only to average salaries during the 1970-1971 school year in the 17 states where Indian children attended public schools and where the Bureau also operated schools.
Information concerning BIA teacher salaries was obtained by a QWICK QUERY RUN at the Indian Affairs Data Center (LADC) in Albuquerque as of the end of May, 1971. It was for the 1710 occupation series and excluded salaries of supervisors and administrators, in order to make the results comparable to public school teacher salaries.
The following table gives the data for the average salaries of public school teachers as noted above.
Table 1
AVERAGE SALARIES OF TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN STATES WHERE INDIAN CHILDREN ATTEND BOTH PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND BUREAU SCHOOLS FOR 1970-1971 SCHOOL YEAR
Mean Salary
1. Alaska $13,570
2. Arizona $9,285
3. California $10,500
4. Colorado* $8,260
5. Florida $8,805
6. Kansas $8,034
7,Louisiana $8,340
8. Mississippi $6,008
9. Montana $8,173
29
11
. New Mexico $8,214
12
. North Carolina $8,168 13
. North Dakota $7,060
14
. Oklahoma $7,360
15
. Oregon $9,298
16
. South Dakota $7,892
17 .
Utah $8,076
*Only BIA dormitories are currently operated in Colorado.
The average salary range in these 17 states was from $6,008 in Mississippi to $13,570 in Alaska, while the average salary was $8617.35.
There was no salary breakdown by states in the BIA school report. The salary range in BIA schools in the 17 states was from $5,524 to $11,695, while the average salary was $11,400.
It should be noted that the public school salaries are usually for 9 months, or 10 months, if a 2 weeks preschool orientation and a 2 weeks postschool records keeping period are counted. Salaries for BIA teachers are for 12 months and carry annual fringe benefits for 30 work days for educational leave, 30 work days for sick leave (accumulative from year to year), and annual leave of: 13 days through 3 years of service, 20 days above 3 and through 15 years of service, and 26 days above 15 years of service.
There have been two additional salary raises given to BIA teachers since May of 1971. The present salary range for BIA teachers is noted below.
Amount of Grade From To Step Increment*
GS-5 5 7,694 10,007 $257
GS-7 9,520 12,373 317
GS-9 11,614 15,097 387
GS-11 13,996 18,190 466
*There are ten steps in each grade of the BIA salary scale and they run as follows:
Length: 1 year 2 years 3 years
Steps: 1 2 3 | 4 5 6 | 7 8 9 | 10
INITIAL PLACEMENT RECORD OF HASKELL INSTITUTE* GRADUATES
Number Average Salary Highest Starting Year Graduates Reported Salary Reported
1954 82 3,000 3,415
1955 106 3.100 4,160
1956 130 3,150 6,240
1957 114 3,228 6,000
1958 160 3,312 5,000
1959 135 3,600 7,280
1960 185 3,635 6,280
1961 193 4,162 $10 hr.
1962 163 4,055 8,584
1963 179 4,165 9,588
1964 218 4,169 8,632
1965 261 4,346 7,571
1966 303 4,448 7,930
1967 313 4,575 8,320
1968 344 4,814 10,608
1969 281 5,317 10,920
1970 262 5,564 11,450
31
ESTIMATES OF RESIDENT INDIAN POPULATION AND LABOR FORCE STATUS; BY AREA AND STATE: MARCH 1972
Louis H. Conger Jr.
Coverage. The term resident Indian means Indians living on or near federal reservations, it also includes Indians living in former reservation areas of Okalahoma, and all Indians and Alaska Natives in Alaska.
This year we include for the first time about 38,000 rural Indians living in California counties containing Indian trust land. Thus the total of 533,744 in March 1972 is not comparable to the 488,083 reported for March 1971.
Labor force status is not estimated for about 39,000 Indians, mostly the rural California groups. Information is lacking.
Estimated figures. The local Agency offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimate the figures using whatever information is available. Accuracy varies from place to place; it is particularly difficult to estimate for Alaska, Oklahoma, and the Navajo reservation where Indians are scattered over enormous geographic areas.
Figures are reported to units, even though they are estimated because of the many small figures which would not add to totals and subtotals if rounded.
Labor force status. The labor force reported here includes all persons 16 years and older except those who cannot work because they are attending school, caring for children, or are unable to work by reason of disability, retirement, or age. Unlike the national statistics we include persons not seeking work because of difficulty in estimating this group without expensive surveys. There are also problems in developing a useful concept of those seeking work in places where few jobs are available, as in many of the reservations. In any case, to include persons not wanting work in the labor force results in a higher unemployment rate than would be found in a standard household survey such as the Current Population Survey.
Employment is defined according to national standards, and refers to the third week of March, or a nearby week. The term "temporary employment" means jobs which are seasonal or part-time.
Table 1
ESTIMATES OF RESIDENT INDIAN POPULATION BY AGE AND SEX: MARCH 1972
Age Total Male Female
All ages 533,750 267,200 266,550
Under 16 237,100 118,500 118,600
16 to 24 98,450 49,200 49,250
25 to 34 63,750 31,750 32,000
35 to 44 50,550 25,050 25,500
45 to 64 59,000 29,750 29,250
65 and over 24,900 12,950 11,950
Median age (based on
RESEARCH PRIORITIES
Eugene Leitka
It is difficult to identify a particular field or any aspect of any field that affects the Indian people that could be pointed out as a major research priority. It seems obvious though, that BIA research activities should be directed toward those projects showing most promise to benefit the Indian people. It should be a shift from a study that benefits an individual whose only motives are to acquire a degree or do a study that will be shelved never to be seen again. Research studies are needed that will utilize Indian manpower and possibly be conducted by Indians themselves or those that include maximum Indian involvement, other than being subjects of a study itself.
The overwhelming increase in the numbers of Indian youth entering institutions of higher learning has more than doubled the higher education budget (1971-72). It would seem logical for BIA to become more involved in research projects that would utilize Indian students as researchers,
The successes and failures of all experimental programs, research projects and on-going programs must be brought to light in publication for the Indian people and to the general public. The focus on getting research information to Indian people is important since informed people are usually less likely to suspect that irregularities are going on within a system. This approach to dissemination of information would also be an important aspect of a total information system and would be advantageous to the BIA for this reason, also.
37
TEACHER SEPARATION AND RETENTION IN BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SCHOOLS∗∗∗∗
George Letchworth University of Oklahoma
The absence of studies dealing with teacher selection and retention might be attributed to the vagueness of the educational "product" or the lack of a criterion that might be employed when evaluating the ability to teach. In industry and business, the goal of a profit is apparent and can be measured. Due wants employees who are "productive" in terms of how much they contribute to the "profit." In an educational setting, what does one use as a measure of productivity: the number of students taught, amount taught, what s taught, how many continue their education, etc? Another extremely important factor is that in the past we have been faced with a "teacher shortage" and the selection procedure essentially consisted of recruiting anyone who was willing to teach and who should at least be provisionally certified. Business, on the other hand, typically has had a "surplus" work force and has been able to select their employees.
A selection procedure in a time of teacher shortage is difficult to establish, but the complexion of the market place has changed and we are beginning to 'ace a teacher surplus. It is an understatement to assert that with the prevailing nd future teacher market, school systems should be developing selection procedures that will allow them to recruit and retain the best teachers.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is one of the nation's largest employers of teachers. Since many of its schools are located in quite remote areas, it faces a substantial teacher retention and recruitment problem. The BIA is charged with the responsibility of providing an education to those Indian children not attending a public, private or mission school. In order to gain a perspective of he educational task of the BIA one should know that 142,630 Indian students ages 6-18 years, were enrolled in school (Statistics Concerning Indian education, 1968). This represents 57.4 percent of the Indian children of school age. Of the 142,630 students, 61.3 percent attended public schools, 6 percent attended private schools and mission schools, and the remaining 32.7 percent attended Federal schools.
In 1968, the BIA operated 226 schools with a total enrollment of 51,596 and 18 dormitories for 4,204 Indian children who attended public schools. The BIA employs about 2,400 professional teachers and 450 administrative and supervisory educational personnel. There are agency schools throughout the country. School enrollments range from 2,100 at Intermountain School in Utah to ten at the Birney Day School in Montana.
∗ Editor's Note: The information contained in the article above is intended to be
In order to maintain an adequate staff, the Bureau estimates that it has to make 1,000 offers to prospective teachers in order to fill the approximately 600 elementary and secondary teaching positions that become available each year. The current recruitment quota of 600 is necessary to maintain a full compliment of 2,400 teachers. The Bureau's studies of teacher turnover rather consistently indicate an annual turnover rate of 23-25 percent. A large proportion of the annual turnover rate may be attributed to the loss of approximately 41 percent of the first year teachers.
The problem of teacher mobility is particularly important to the BIA schools whose local conditions require considerable in-service training of new personnel. In nearly every school, public, Federal or private, however, it is necessary to provide the new teacher with some formal introduction to the local operation. Thus, for the BIA, and for public school districts as well, the problems of recruiting new teachers and of preparing them to work in the local schools represent a major investment. Perhaps more important, the continuity engendered by teacher turnover may have a major impact upon the academic progress of students. The success of an educational program is to a large degree contingent upon the competency of the professional staff.
An excessively high rate of turnover among the staff usually decreases the efficiency and weakens the cohesion of the organization, thus, affecting the achievement of the student and the morale of the staff.
Purpose: The cost of training new teachers in the BIA schools is very expensive both from an administrative and an educational point of view. The concern of the BIA over the poor retention of first-year teachers stimulated the present study. The project was funded by the US Office of Education on July 1, 1969. The explicit purpose of the project was to study teacher separation among the first-year 1969-70 Bureau of Indian Affairs teaching personnel.
Problem: The problem of the study might be stated as follows: What are the factors contributing to teacher resignations during or following one year of service; or conversely, what are the factors contributing to a newly appointed teacher remaining for a second year of service?
In an attempt to clarify some of the terminology used in the study, the following terms and their definitions will be used (NEA Research Bulletin, 1968):
Teacher turnover: Turnover is a very general term and it may refer to a variety of things, such as: movement of teachers in and out of teaching, teachers quitting their jobs, moving from one school to another and entering the profession for the first time or after an interruption.
Teacher separation: Separation refers to a teacher leaving a specific school regardless of the cause.
Teacher mobility: Mobility refers to teachers who are geographically mobile but continue to be educators.
Teacher loss: This refers to teachers who leave the teaching profession.
39
direction to the research and an explanatory framework for the results.
Proposed Objectives: In the original proposal, the objectives of the present study were set forth as follows:
The activities in the proposed project should achieve three objectives:
1 - It will develop a data base on teachers within the BIA schools and teachers within a group of public schools. It will provide a demographic description of teacher backgrounds, job expectations, concepts of students, and patterns of occupational mobility.
2 - It will explore differences between teachers who will return for a second year in the district and those who will leave after short service.
3 - Bases for comparing the BIA schools with public schools will be developed. The purpose of the comparisons, which must be reflected in the design, will be to improve the quality of the BIA schools and to enhance the probability of a young teacher finding a career within the service.
The relationship of each factor in the study to patterns of teacher retention will be described. It will delineate the aspirations of the new teacher in terms of his career expectations. It will describe practices and programs which encourage the young professional to remain in teaching. It will also describe situations which discourage him and lead him to seek employment elsewhere.
The objectives were stated rather broadly since the study was exploratory in nature.
National and State Statistics on Teacher Separation and Retention: In order to place the teacher separation and retention problem of the BIA schools into perspective, it is necessary to report some national and state statistics.
Nationally only 3 out of 4 people prepared to teach actually enter the classroom. (December 1968 NEA Research Bulletin). Out of every 100 elementary and secondary teachers that are presently teaching, it is estimated that 6 will move outside of the profession in the next year. At least 9 others will remain in the profession but will make a move to another school system within their present state or in another state. Based upon the 1967 USOE projection that 1,892,000 full time public school teachers were employed in the Fall of 1968, it can be estimated that 110,000 of these teachers will leave the profession during the next year and 185,000 of these teachers will move to a different school. The preceding figures indicate that nationally around 15 percent of the nation's population of public school teachers either moves out of the profession or to a different job each year. The December 1968 NEA Research bulletin also reported a survey which attempted to determine some of the differences that existed between those teachers who had been employed in 1965-66 and continued to teach at the same school during 1966-67 and those who were no longer at the same school for a second year of service (old timers) 63 percent had 5 years or more of teaching experiences. Of the teachers who left (short timers) after teaching 1965-66 and either moved to another school or out of the profession 58 percent had less than 5 years of teaching experience and of the short timers 46 percent were 25.34 years old. Thus, in terms of the NEA survey it appears that the younger teachers with less experience are more mobile.
