American Indian Educators in Reservation Schools

5. Not Every Child Is the Same: Reservation Schools in the Era of No Child Left Behind

94 She kept her office neat and tidy. Although clearly a busy professional, the orderly appearance of her workspace suggested she did not allow the hectic nature of the job to overwhelm her. It didn’t take us long to realize our paths had crossed some twenty years earlier. She had been a graduate student in the university where I taught upon completion of my own graduate work. Perhaps because of our common experiences and acquaintances, the interview had an even more relaxed and familiar quality than most of the meetings with the other participants. This South Dakota principal had received many awards during her almost three decades of service, and I knew she was one of the most respected educators I would meet during my research journey. Nothing less than a veteran of many school and administrative battles, in her own words she had “seen, pretty much, it all.” Her strongly held convictions had led to conflicts with higher-level administrators both in her building and in the larger district during her career. All of that did not prevent her from serving as everything from classroom teacher to principal to district administrator, earning accolades all along the way. Eventually our conversation turned to the policy of nclb. I was particularly interested in hearing this seasoned and respected educator’s opinion on the impact of this policy. As I began my question, she looked past me and out the window in thought. She hesitated before answering, and then, with what I sensed as frustration tinged in sadness, she sighed and said, chapter 5 Not Every Child Is the Same Reservation Schools in the Era of No Child Left Behind Our kids are smart. They really are. But it’s the way they’re tested. I don’t like that because not every child is the same and that’s what standardization is saying. . . . The powers that be need to acknowledge and be aware that there are other ways to determine the child’s proficiency rather than just by that test. —Montana principal on the No Child Left Behind policy n o t e v e r y c h i l d i s t h e s a m e 95 No Child Left Behind has just changed teaching so much. I mean, assessment is the drive and it’s like we are forgetting the child. No Child Left Behind, we are leaving the child behind because we have forgotten teaching styles and, like I said, the language and the culture. That has all been put on the back burner when they should actually be up front! And then you do whatever you need to do as far as instruction goes to meet those needs. The pressure has been really strong on all of our teachers and we are so data-driven right now. As it turned out, she voiced an assessment of nclb representative of most of the educators in this study. The prevailing view on nclb was one of dissatisfaction and, in a few cases, even anger. It is important to note that I conducted this research before President Obama signaled the end to the nclb policy in his 2011 State of the Union address. At this writing, the nature of any new educational policy (likely with the Race to the Top grant funds initiative as its centerpiece) remains to be seen. However, for the better part of a decade, the policy of nclb has played a highly significant role in the professional efforts of most of the educators who participated in the study. For years, they have toiled within the mandates of nclb and have directly witnessed its positive and negative consequences. Not surprisingly, virtually all of them voiced some opinion about the policy, the pressures of meeting adequate yearly progress (ayp) requirements, or the merits of standardized testing on which the policy relies. This chapter examines three thorny issues associated with nclb. First, the participants related their views on the emphasis on standardized tests, especially those required in core content areas of math and reading. Most of the educators held standardized tests in low regard and believed they do not accurately measure the abilities and knowledge of Native students. A noticeable minority disagreed with the prevailing sentiment, however, and contended that standardized testing in core content areas is necessary. Second, about half of the educators discussed the impact of nclb on tribal cultural education. Most believed this policy has resulted in a diminished emphasis on...