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Training Indian parents of babies called key to success
5:28 PM
7/29/02
Susan Lampert Smith Wisconsin State Journal
indentOne educator compares putting all the effort into teen-age American Indian students who are dropping out of school to watering the wrong end of the plant.
indentPence Revington, who works with Indian tribes across the country as a "Parents as Teachers" trainer, said that preventing dropouts starts much, much earlier.
indent"Instead of pouring water on the dropouts, we should be pouring it on the babies and families," she said.
indentRevington, of Mount Horeb, trains Indian parent educators for the FACE - or Family and Child Education - program, which sends trained parent educators, most of them tribal members, into the homes of families with new babies. It began in 1990 in six tribal school districts. The weekly baby visits are designed to support new parents, to teach parenting skills and to stimulate babies so they're ready to learn.
indentIt has proved so successful that the Bureau of Indian Affairs decided in June to extend it to include 92 of its schools, and it plans to add another seven the following year.
indentMarsha Gebhardt, who coordinates FACE for the Parents as Teachers national office in St. Louis, said the tribal programs mostly differ from those offered in other school districts by emphasizing native language and culture.
indent"We're trying to get (Indian parents) to start with (native) language at birth," Gebhardt said, "because we know we need to be hearing the sounds of any language we're going to speak by six months (of age.)"
indentIn some Indian school districts, the program includes a second phase that sends preschoolers - and their parents - to child-care programs where the children learn school readiness skills and the parents can work on their own education, including preparing for the GED or college.
indentThe third phase supports the families until their children finish third grade, helping parents get actively involved in their children's education.
indent"FACE empowers parents," said Revington, who previously ran a similar project in Verona and co-founded Children's Community School in Mount Horeb. "It brings families who did not have positive educational experiences into the schools."
indentResearch shows that FACE works. More than 400 of the parents who participated went on to earn their GEDs or high school diplomas, and about two-thirds of the 6,500 adults showed gains in math and reading scores. Parents report being more aware of child development and more involved in their children's education.
indentMore important, their children scored higher on standardized tests in math and reading than children not in the program, and their teachers reported they were more ready for school than those who didn't participate.
indentRevington, who has worked at reservations from the Pima reservation on the edge of Phoenix to Lac Courte Oreilles in northern Wisconsin, said that the key is helping parents see how much power they have over their children's educational success.
indentAnother key, she said, is asking tribal elders how they define educational success. Revington said they often will mention that they want their children to grow up healthy and to be available to help elders and other extended family members. Having all generations learn culture and language together has proven to be a strong motivator.
indent"We can't assume that everyone wants to get a high school diploma so they can go to college or get a job," she said.
indentOne problem, said David Beaulieu, an Indian education expert at UW-Milwaukee, is that there are so few jobs on some reservations that the "carrot" of a good job as a reward for education doesn't exist.
indent"Poor kids don't believe it," he said, because they don't know anyone who has a good job as a result of an education.
indentBut Revington said that in her years with the project, she has seen economic motivations grow.
indent"If there's a casino or other work available, it does become an improvement for people to have a GED or HSED (high school equivalency diploma)," she said, adding that more and more casinos are requiring diplomas.
indent"We ask them: 'What do you need (from education) for your family to be successful?' " she said.
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