Hannah Walch

Ethnicity and Race Report

Dr. Nicholas Wysocki

Demmert, William. (2008). The Influences of Culture on Learning and Assessment Among
Native American Students. The Division for Learning Disabilities for the Council for
Exceptional Children. 20(1), 16-23. Retrieved September 16th, 2017.

Camera, Lauren. (2015). Native American Students Left Behind. U.S. News & World Report.
Retrieved September 16th, 2017 from
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/06/native-american-students-left-behind.

Brown, David., Klem, John., Parrish, Mark. (2012). Diversity in Learning: A Comparison of
Traditional Learning Theories With Learning Styles and Cultural Values of Native
American Students. American Counseling Association. Retrieved September 16th, 2017
from https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-
source/vistas/vistas_2012_article_45.pdf?sfvrsn=4f6df61c_11
My Rationale for Choosing this Group:

I chose to analyze Native American students because I grew up in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Prairie Island Indian Community is a Mdewakanton Sioux Indian reservation in Goodhue

County, Minnesota, along the Mississippi River. The reservation mostly lies within the city of

Red Wing. As a future educator, I think it is essential to be knowledgeable in their traditions,

culture, customs, and history. According to a study conducted by U.S News, 67% of American

Indian students graduated from high school in 2015, compared to the national average of 80%

(Camera, Lauren., 2015). My ability to close this gap of Native American students being failed

by the education system begins with me educating myself in the Native American customs,

cultures, and rich history, and implementing that knowledge into my teaching. Culture
influences an individuals view of the world, and can determine how one approaches a problem,

and how it can be solved.

Authors Credibility:

William G. Dmmert, Jr. is a professor of education at Western Washington University.

He was the first U.S. Deputy Commissioner of Education for the Office of Indian Education and

served as Director of Education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was also Commissioner of

Education for the State of Alaska, co-chair of the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and primary

writer for the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force Report. Dr. Demmert works with Ministries of

Education in Russia, Canada, Greenland, Alaska, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to improve the

academic performance of indigenous peoples in each country.

Authors rationale for writing this article:

The purpose of this article is to raise issues concerning the influences of culture on

assessments of Native American students (Demmert, William., 2008). The author asserts that

there is much to learn about assessing Native American students academically, and external

influences, environment, context, attitudes and perspectives must be taken into account.

Authors Central Argument:

Academically capable Native American students are not getting their needs met by the

education system. Educational research, collected data, and assessment information is severely

limited. From the authors perspective, There is still much to learn about assessing Native

American and other minority students, taking into account the external influences of culture,

environment, attitudes, context, and perspectives. Different societies may have different

priorities. It is necessary to for educators to take these factors into account in the development

and use of assessment tools and procedures in order to obtain fair and accurate measurement of
the educational abilities and performance of American Indian, Alaska Native, and indeed any

linguistic or cultural minority student (Demmert, 2008).

Section 1: Attitudes and Beliefs, Values, and Cultural Traditions/Practices

The article that I chose to analyze is titled The influences of Culture on Learning and

Assessment Among Native American Students. As the public school population becomes

increasingly diverse, it is more and more essential to create a link between home and school.

Culturally responsive pedagogy starts with the premise that race and culture matter. As a

teacher, it is important to be cognizant of my own personal biases and find different approaches

to bring students culture and perspectives into the classroom.

There is limited quantitative research literature on the influences of culture on assessment

with regards to Native American students. Because of population numbers and the extra cost of

obtaining adequate numbers of Native American for a national study of Indians and other Native

American groups, it is difficult to find sufficient numbers to stratify and analyze the data (which

usually focuses on White, Hispanic, and African American groups) (Demmert, W. 2008). The

author points out that there are many hurdles to overcome when trying to plan and implement a

research project that isolates the Native American population. Formal tribal approval is difficult

to obtain in some circumstances due to previous experiences with researchers or that particular

tribes value placed on research. Second, there is a problem with stability of the student

population, as Native American students have a history of moving on and off reservations, as

their parents migrate for a number of reasons: economic, social, cultural, etc. There are many

attitudes and beliefs as well as values and cultural beliefs that shape the Native American

individual. It is important to keep these value sets in mind in pedagogical practices. Due to the

diverse collection of cultural perspectives and value systems of different Native American tribes,
the article did not mention specific traditions or practices. However, upon further research I

found some consistency in a few areas. Traditional Native values generally consist of sharing,

cooperation, noninterference, sense of being, importance of the tribe, and extended family,

harmony with nature, a present-time orientation, preference for explanation of natural

phenomena according to spiritual realm, and deep respect for elders (Brown, Klem, Parrish

2012).

Section 2: Important Societal Factors Impacting the Ethnic or Racial Group

Unlike Hispanic and Black students, who are usually oversampled, Native American

students are almost never oversampled in national data collections. The lack of information

makes it hard to understand the problems faced by Native American students as they proceed

through the education system. The article states that, there is a problem of stability of the

student population and teaching force at any given site; Indian students have a history of

constantly moving on and off reservations, as their parents migrate for a number of economic,

social, or cultural reasons (Demmert, 2008). A stable teaching or school administration is a

rarity in Native American communities, and I believe that is a cause for concern and can disrupt

household dynamics as well as classroom dynamics that could impede the students educational

needs.

There is evidence of racialization in the article as it states that, most testing conducted

on the Native American student community did not take into account the languages, value sets,

customs, spiritual convictions, and childrearing practices of Native America (Demmert, 2008).

This is another cause for concern, as these students are being denied the opportunity to use their

own personal experiences as a base to build upon their educational repertoire.

Section 3: Educational Strategies/Interventions that consider Culture, Important Societal

Factors, and Impact Academic Indicators

Demmert shares a short personal experience from when he was a graduate student in the

Harvard Graduate School of Education. He was enrolled in a writing class designed to test and

improve his literacy skills. They began a unit of speed-reading, and as time went on, the students

could comfortably read 800-1,000 words per minute while maintaining a high level of

comprehension. Near the end of the class, the students were asked to read and comprehend

information about the life of the Eskimo in the Circumpolar North. Demmerts reading speed

jumped to 1,200 words per minute and comprehension was 100%, while the rest of the class

struggled with speed and comprehension. Demmert knew and understood the content and

attributed his success in that particular case to his personal experience as an Alaska Native.

Demmert states, I learned something from that experience. I learned that my early experiences

as a young person had given me insights and skills that others, without those experiences, did not

have.

The article proposes that, the context in which information is presented, or in which

learning takes place may enhance or impede a persons understanding. Native American culture

is rarely acknowledged in pedagogy at all, and the basis of education is best built on the

experiences, values, and knowledge of the students, and their families, both personal and

community-based. In a two-day workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation in

April of 2002 on culturally responsive educational evaluation of Native American students,

seven concerns were expressed: (1) context; (2) demographics; (3) whether the Indians view

of the world was holistic or analytic; (4) influences of oral traditions; (5) levels of respect

between teacher and student; (6) the ever-present influences on the effects of abuse, genocide or
policies of oppression on student image and identity; and (7) the value of starting with local

knowledge in both educating and assessing students (National Science Foundation, 2002)

Demmert concluded the article by giving his own advice on considerations that should be

taken into account when assessing Native American students. From his perspective, the

following are reasonable: (1) the language of the home and the language of instruction, (2) the

context and perspective from which questions are asked, (3) compatibility between the

background knowledge of the sudent and the questions asked of the student, (4) the values and

priorities of the community(ies) from which the student come, (5) the ability of the assessor to

create and atmosphere in which students feel safe and comfortable, and (6) the vocabulary of the

student and whether he or she understands the meaning of the words used in the assessment tool.

As a future educator, a primary goal of mine is to create a culturally responsive education

for all students in my classroom. Culture is central to learning, as it not only plays a role in

communicating and receiving information, but also in shaping the thinking process of all

students.