A. Albuquerque Indian School, Albuquerque, New Mexico: 1. Report on the Albuquerque Indian School, prepared by the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Labora- tory, Inc., Dr. James Oliveros, director.. B. Busby Boarding School, Busby, Mont.: 1. Evaluation of Bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding School, Busby, Mont., by Dr. Arthur L. McDonald and Dr. C. Chilocco Indian School, Chilocco, Oklahoma: 1. Report of site visit to the Chilocco Indian School, Chi- locco, Oklahoma, January 8, 1969, prepared by D. Flandreau and Pierre Indian Schools, Flandreau, South Dakota, and Pierre, South Dakota: 1. Report prepared by Francis Hamilton, Peter Petrafeso, and Rosemary Christenson of the Upper Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory, January 17, 1969 2. Flandreau Indian School, by Virginia Sneve, education counselor, Flandreau Indian School. 3. Trip report, Flandreau Indian School and Pierre Indian School, by John Bjork, Assistant Chief, Area Social Service Branch, Public Health Service.. 4. Some thoughts on the Formation of Personality Dis- order: Study of an Indian Boarding School Popula- tion by Thaddeus P. Krush, M.D., John W. Bjork, M.S.W. Peter S. Sindell and Joanna Nelle.. E. Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas: 1. Report by Edward D. Greenwood, M. D., senior con- sultant, child psychiatry, Menninger Foundation _ _ _ F. Intermountain Indian School, Brigham City, Utah: 1. Program review report by Dr. Charles N. Zellers, Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs... G. Magdalena, Bureau of Indian Affairs Dormitory, Magdalena, J. Phoenix Boarding School, Phoenix, Arizona: 1. Report prepared by Anthony E. Elite, M.D., Mental Health Program Officer, Public Health Service, K. Seneca Boarding School, Jones Academy, and Eufala (Okla- (VII) L. Sherman Institute, Riverside, California: M. Stewart Indian School, Stewart, Nevada: 1. A report to the Senate subcommittee on the Stewart 2. Program review report by Charles N. Zellers, Assistant Page 404 412 417 421 THE EDUCATION OF AMERICAN INDIANS: A COMPENDIUM OF FEDERAL BOARDING SCHOOL EVALUATIONS I. General Overview More than 12,000 Indian children attend school in 19 off-reservation boarding schools today. These young people are frequently transported hundreds of miles to their new homes, which are far away from the influence exerted by the security of family life, tribal value, standards, and customs. In high school, usually more than 25 percent of them drop out before graduation. A vast majority of them are labeled by their teachers as misfits, underachievers, or troublemakers, and attitudes of school personnel insure that they will never be considered otherwise while in school. The subcommittee has become concerned about the psychological ramifications stemming from the Indian boarding school. It has proceeded to conduct evaluative studies of such schools through the assistance of highly qualified specialists in the fields of education and mental health. The subcommittee has attempted to gather as much information as possible on the particular schools which have a number of serious problems-the on-reservation boarding schools and the off-reservation boarding schools which have a significant number of students enrolled with social problems. This report contains the evaluations of 13 of the off-reservation boarding schools, which hold 90 percent of the overall boarding school population. Since Navajo children account for 8,000 of the 9,000 students enrolled in on-reservation boarding schools, that subject is considered separately in the Navajo field report. The Bureau of Indian Affairs operates off-reservation boarding schools with two distinct types of programs. One is the regular school, which provides students in residence there with a course of study leading to a high school diploma. The other provides dormitory facilities for students participating in the border town program, in which students live at BIA dormitory facilities and attend nearby public schools. Frequently the two programs are operated concurrently in the same facility. During the first 30 to 40 years of the boarding school program, the principle emphasis of the system was to provide special services for Indians. This was partially based on the belief that Indians could not be prepared intellectually to function outside the Indian community. In other words, Indians were given vocational training because it was believed they were unable to learn more cognitive skills or to have any use of them after graduation. Unfortunately, many teachers remain in the BIA school system who entered while this policy was in effect. and have been unable to adapt to the more progressive (though still restrictive) policies adopted later. The more progressive policies called for boarding schools to become more like public schools by offering additional academic subjects and fewer vocational subjects. The resultant shift has been accomplished, however, without the essential addition of compensatory education programs. This gap makes success difficult even for the most well-adjusted child, who must attend the school because suitable facilities do not exist close to his home. As will become obvious, the welladjusted child is scarcely found in the average boarding school population. The evaluations which follow were conducted by many individuals. Some of the studies were conducted either by or under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a recent innovation of the Division of Education. Others were made at the request of the subcommittee by consultants who are specialists in the fields of mental health, psychology, education, child development, and other relevant disciplines. The names of the consultants conducting the investigations, the members of the Bureau of Indian Affairs making evaluations, the individuals with whom they met, the documents which they reviewed, and other explanatory notes and materials about their methods and conclusions are included by the authors at the beginning and end of each evaluation report. Students are sent to off-reservation boarding schools on the basis of criteria established and published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Children who meet one or more of the criteria listed below may be admitted to Federal boarding schools: EDUCATION CRITERIA 1. Those for whom a public or Federal day school is not available; 2. Those who need special vocational or preparatory courses; 3. Those retarded scholastically 3 or more years; or 4. Those having pronounced bilingual difficulties. SOCIAL CRITERIA 1. Those who are rejected or neglected by their families and for whom no suitable alternative care can be made: 2. Those who belong to large families with no suitable home and whose separation from each other is undesirable; 3. Those whose behavior problems are too difficult for solution by their families or through existing community facilities; or 4. Those whose health or proper care is jeopardized by illness of other members of the household. The undesirable results of these criteria being applied in the local communities is a heavily weighted proportion of students who are assigned, usually by a community social worker, for social reasons. The distressing fact, repeatedly emphasized in the evaluations, is that the desperately needed special services required by the students with social problems are virtually nonexistent. The schools, in other words, are not responding to the many special needs of the students-presumably the needs for which they are sent to the school. On the other hand, the many problems of a great number of students make it necessary to maintain close-frequently too close-supervision, giving the school |