BY CHRISTOPHER S. PINEO
NAVAJO TIMES
WINDOW ROCK –– Navajo culture and government will feature prominently in the new tribal education accountability plan, educators and new members of the Navajo Nation Board of Education learned at a training meeting Feb. 9.
Department of Diné education Assistant Superintendent of Schools Timothy Benally and Kalvin White, education administrator with the Office of Diné School Improvement, presented the first Diné School Accountability Plan.
Last September, then-U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and then-U.S. Department of Education Secretary John King finalized DSAP by signing the plan alongside Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye, Vice President Jonathan Nez, Navajo Nation Board of Education President Dr. Pauline M. Begay and DoDE Superintendent Tommy Lewis. A press release at that time said standards created under the plan would apply to all BIE-funded schools on the Navajo Nation as the tribe transitions into its new role as the responsible party for federally funded education on the Navajo Nation.
Part of the standards to be incorporated in DSAP are called Diné Content Standards. Benally said the goal is to help the organizations that constitute and manage Navajo education reach an understanding.
“To help you help me understand you, and you understand me, we understand each other, and that’s how this whole accountability plan relationship takes effect,” Benally said.
Benally pointed out that the culture of the Diné people must take a central role in the implementation of educational standards on the Navajo Nation. He said helping students understand their culture helps them understand their identity.
“As far as their identity is concerned, how are we going to accomplish that, how do we help them?” he said.
However, he also noted that standards should include up-to-date information about subjects like the Navajo Nation government.
“The Navajo Nation has an attorney general too, does anybody know her name?” Benally asked, as hands went up with the answer.
“Ethel Branch,” he repeated from a participant. “Should our children know that? I think so.”
In a September press release after the DSAP signing, DoDE said 60 BIE-funded schools on the Navajo Nation use state accountability systems from each state where a given school is located. DSAP would in theory put all these schools, meaning grant and BIE schools, under one set of standards created by the Navajo Nation. Currently, DoDE is seeking State Education Agency status to elevate the Navajo Nation to an equal standing with the states. That would allow DSAP to apply to all BIE-funded schools on the Navajo Nation. “It’s the first-ever plan developed by an Indian Tribe of this country,” White said.
The plan originated under the No Child Left Behind of 2001.
“There’s a section in the law that stated that in 2005, if a state, or a school, or an Indian Tribe wanted to do an alternative plan, they could do that,” White said.
In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act became the law slated to replace NCLB, so the Navajo Nation sought federal approval for the first phase of DSAP. DoDE stated at the time of the signing that they will continue to work with the Departments of Education and Interior to implement the plan going forward to remain consistent with ESSA.
Each of the presentations included a slide show, which DoDE said would be available on their website. As of this writing the presentations had not been posted.