Program Evaluation for

American Indian Education:

Developing a Community-Based Process for Defining and Measuring

Successes in High School

Let’s get acquainted!

• Jackie Vertigan, M.Ed., LSC; All Nations Program, South High School, Minneapolis Public Schools

• Doctoral Student, University of Minnesota Duluth: Indigenous Teaching & Learning; Evaluation Studies

• I know this much…

Setting the Stage

• Will you please share your thoughts with me?

• I urge (beg, plead, encourage) your thoughts as we talk together today…

Students have made me wonder…

• Uni-dimensional versus multi-dimensional• Strength-based versus deficit model• Ways of being, learning and knowing…

ontologies, axiologies, and epistemologies• Broadening definitions of success• Response to societal trends and impacts on

students

Asking questions…

• Who gets to say what education should be for Native American students? Why?

• How do we know when a program has met its goal? Standardized tests? 4-year grad rates? What about when it is a decolonized approach?

• Is there a way to develop a model that will stand up to scrutiny from funders and other constituents?

Grounded Theory

• “systematic qualitative research methodology … emphasizing generation of theory from data in the process of conducting research” (Martin, 1986)

• “no preconceived hypothesis and … continual comparative analysis of data” (Glasser & Strauss, 1967)

The process…

So far…• Review of the literature: – Evaluation– educational evaluation,– Indigenous evaluation– Indigenous educational evaluation

The process…

• 2 case studies, including data review and interviews

• Coding the responses

Interview Questions regarding the programmatic approaches to teaching AI/NA students.

1. What are the primary goals and objectives of the program?2. Describe the organizational structure/system?3. What is the school/program’s philosophy?4. Describe the staff and their roles.5. What is/was done in terms of professional development and/or teacher preparation?6. What pedagogical approaches are used in the school/program?7. What is the focus of the curriculum? How does it further the goals of the

program/school?8. In what ways is Indigenous culture and language integrated into the school/program?9. How are family and community involved?10. How is the program assessed or evaluated?11. What are the ideal components of the program?12. What challenges exist to implementing an ideal program?13. What are ideal components that are/were not present?14. What other thoughts would you like to share?

Next steps…

• Looking for input• Further case studies and focus groups• Preliminary findings• Input• Second generation of findings• Cycle back

What are the components for evaluation of

programs serving AI/NA students?

• Possibly 8 components• Tailored to each

situation• Rubric with the option

to assign value/weight to the components

1) philosophical approaches

• What is the purpose of school?• What is the world view?• What constitutes “western knowledge” and

“Indigenous knowledge?”• Racial incommensurability • Heterogeneity v. homogeneity

• Authentic respect for culture and language• Integrated approach• Multigenerational approaches • Holistic connections between social and

environmental elements

2) culture and language

3) community and family investment

• Family & community involvement• AI control of AI education; autonomy and self-

direction• Removing the identity rift; don’t have to

choose between being academic and being Native

4) systemic and administrative support

• rewrite the dominant narrative • strategic goal setting• distributed leadership with a

common vision of excellence• embracing of culturally

responsive pedagogies• exemplary leader and/or

distributed leadership• size of the school and format

5) teacher development

• quality and commitment of the teachers• school define, attract, develop, and retain

quality staff• compare and contrast western versus

traditional Indigenous holistic ways of knowing• educators are treated as professionals and

encouraged to develop themselves as needed

6) pedagogical considerations

• Reciprocal, co-constructed, cooperative, and culturally appropriate teaching & learning

• Flexible formats, arts-based, integrative, whole-brained learning

• Culturally appropriate classroom assessments

7) curriculum

• Interdisciplinary, experiential, community-based, applied-knowledge learning projects

• Ways of knowing, cause and effect are not necessarily linear, more often in circle format

• Interconnectedness of all things is understood through language and cultural practices

8) assessment and accountability

• Community based goals• Community based measures• Cyclical review process• Developing and maintaining relationships

Logic Model

Feedback

• Only as good as it is useful. Is it useful?• What is missing?• What resonates for you?

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