This past week found me in Choctaw, Mississippi, for the first time, attending the Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations (ECHO) 2008 Culture and Change Symposium. I’ve learned that ECHO is administered through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) with funding from the No Child Left Behind legislation.
The six ECHO partners include the Alaska Native Heritage Center (www.alaskanative.net), North Slope Borough/Iñupiaq Heritage Center in Alaska (www.nsbecho.org), Bishop Museum in Hawaii (http://www.bishopmuseum.org), Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts (www.pem.org), New Bedford (http://www.whalingmuseum.org), and Choctaw (http://www.choctaw.org/).
I dropped into the conference on Tuesday, 7 October, in time to hear the last 20 minutes of the panel on “Assessments and Mis-measurements,” a focus on how tribal schools are asked to provide evidence of “adequate yearly progress.” Conversation also centered on locally developed curriculum. One resource mentioned was http://www.teachersdomain.org, a website featuring digital media developed through public television.
The evening brought a dinner with cultural presentations — story telling and dance — by Choctaw tribal members, under the direction of Cochise Anderson. He produced a video, featuring tribal members, many of whom described what it meant to them to be Choctaw. Their responses included:
· Being Choctaw is being an individual.
· Being Choctaw is keeping your tradition.
· Being Choctaw is being strong in your culture.
· Being Choctaw is having pride.
Dr. Willard Sakiestewa Gilbert, the current National Indian Education Association (NIEA) President from Northern Arizona University, gave the closing summary talk. NIEA (www.niea.org) has a membership of 3,500 and will hold its 2008 national conference in Seattle from 23-26 October. NIEA also sponsors an annual legislative summit in Washington, D.C. The twelfth summit will take place from 9-11 February 2009.
I toured the bookmobile/mobile technology bus (above left).
Sonja Monk, head of the Tribal Archives, gave me a tour of the archives and joint use tribal public/high school library (left).
Bobby Smith, local organizer, coordinated an excellent three-hour road trip after the symposium. He brought us past several of the schools in the Choctaw Tribal School System, which includes six elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The entire school system serves some 1,950 students and is the largest unified school system that receives funding through a grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The Choctaw Tribe of Mississippi was federally recognized in 1945. We visited the Nanih Waya area, including the cave from which the Choctaw—and other humans and animals—emerged to this world and the mother mound.
I returned home with new connections, memories, and a few new items to add to my cultural collection: a double weave Mississippi Choctaw traditional swamp cane basket, the gift given to each speaker, and a traditional approach to rabbit hunting!
Next week I will cover the 25th anniversary of the Sequoyah Research Center at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.
Questions to consider:
- How do tribal schools balance the requirements to demonstrate student academic achievement with culturally based education?
- How might tribal schools ensure that students become proficient in their Native languages?
- How might we encourage Native students to enter into professions including teaching and librarianship?
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