Tribal Education Departments National Assembly, Co. Serving education departments in Indian Country

TEDNA, TED Directors Participate in Second CCSSO "Strengthening Partnerships" Conference

Leland Leonard (Dine'); Vernon Lambert (Spirit Lake); Quinton Roman Nose (Cheyenne-Arapaho); Cindy Young (Rosebud Sioux); and, Cameron Cuch (Ute) were among the Tribal Education Department (TED) Directors who participated in the Second Annual Conference on Strengthening Partnerships for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Student Education sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and held August 8 - 11, 2004 in Blaine, Washington.

The Strengthening Partnerships initiative grew out of a request from several Chief State School Officers for assistance from the CCSSO in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 as it pertains to their large populations of Native American students. The First Strengthening Partnerships Conference was held in April 2003 in Denver, Colorado. Since that meeting, the CCSSO has been planning the Second Strengthening Partnerships Conference in active consultation with tribes, Native educators, and Indian organizations including the National Indian Education Association; the National Congress of American Indians; the American Indian Higher Education Consortium; the First Alaskans Institute; and, the Tribal Education Departments National Assembly (TEDNA).

The Second Strengthening Partnerships Conference was held at the Semiahmoo Resort, which is located on traditional lands of the Lummi Tribe. The Conference was opened by a blessing and a drum song by members of the various groups of Lummi Tribal Nations. In addition Darrell Hillaire, the Chairman of the Lummi Nation, gave welcoming remarks. In accordance with Lummi tradition, five participants in the Conference were selected to serve as witnesses to record what transpired over the four day event. At the end of the Conference the witnesses were asked to report their recordations.

Conference speakers and presenters focused on sharing research and best practices for improving the academic performance of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students in six topic areas: teacher quality; parental, family, and community involvement; literacy and language development; early childhood education; health and safety; and, policy, finance, and systems building. Borrowing language from Executive Order No. 13336 signed April 30, 2004 by President George W. Bush and entitled "American Indian and Alaska Native Education," the CCSSO made clear that such improvement should occur "in a manner that is congruent with tribal traditions, languages, and cultures . . . ."

Sixteen states were represented at the Conference: Alaska; Arizona; Hawaii; Montana; Nebraska; Nevada; New Mexico; North Carolina; North Dakota; Oklahoma; Oregon; South Dakota; Utah; Washington; Wisconsin; and, Wyoming. CCSSO staff stated that this was double the number of states who attended the Conference last year." Also represented were the Northern Mariana Islands, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education Programs; and the U.S. Department of Education Offices of Indian Education, Impact Aid, and Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs. The Conference was co-sponsored by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, New Jersey.

Speakers for the plenary General Sessions included Melody McCoy, Attorney with the Native American Rights Fund; Byron Mallott, President and CEO of the First Alaskans Institute; Dr. William Demmert, Professor at Western Washington University; Dr. David Beaulieu, Professor at the Center for Indian Education, Arizona State University; and, Dr. Lily Wong Filmore, Professor at the University of California Berkeley. Representatives from states, school districts, and several Indian organizations including the National Native American Families Together Parent Center and the American Indian Graduate Center served as presenters for the topical break out sessions which were attended by state teams.

The CCSSO is a national nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Department of Defense, and U.S. territories. The Chiefs of four states participating in the Strengthening Partnerships Conference attended: Hawaii; North Dakota; South Dakota; and, Wyoming. The other participating states sent teams that did not include their Chiefs. All of the state teams devised action plans at the Conference which outlined their plans for developing and implementing a customized in-state strategy which includes partnerships among relevant stakeholders for closing the achievement gaps for Native students. The CCSSO will soon post a summary report of the Second Strengthening Partnerships Conference on its web site, www.ccsso.org.

"This is a historic moment in Indian education, when the CCSSO, which is THE power organization in elementary and secondary public school education is really reaching out and wanting to work with tribes and Native communities," commented Quinton Roman Nose who, in addition to serving as his Tribe's Education Director, also is one of the original volunteer directors of TEDNA. "I only wish that more states were represented and that more Chief State School Officers were here," he added. "And more TED Directors, too," he concluded.

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