Influencing Positive Change on Native American Reservations

Edward Wiest is being honored as a Champion of Change for his efforts in school turnaround.

As a teacher, I have thought long and often about my students and about how to help them succeed.  My students are primarily Native American and live on a reservation. In the past I have focused on the problems they face – the same litany of problems students in poverty everywhere are challenged with. These can be overwhelming at times. Lately though, I have been focusing on their strengths. What do they bring to the table? They bring an array of strengths: resilience, humor, dreams, aspirations, an incredibly strong sense of community, and an acute awareness of their cultural heritage. Instead of trying to “fix” their problems, maybe I could help them build on what they already have.

It is an honor to be chosen as a School Turnaround Champion of Change. Honestly, though, I believe I am just a representative of teachers everywhere and especially the dedicated teachers I have met on reservation schools in my state. Two years ago my school was chosen as a School of Promise. This was accomplished through a federal School Improvement Grant given to the state of Montana. A number of schools on various reservations across the state working together with the state Office of Public Instruction committed to try to bring about positive long term change in the educational outcomes of the students in these schools. This was a wonderful opportunity to put into effect what I had already been considering – building on strengths instead of focusing on weaknesses. My role in all of this was to help facilitate this process, both locally (as a teacher leader) and at a state level (as a representative of teachers involved in the grant).

We started by building better and closer relationships with the community, both the schools and the Office of Public Instruction (OPI). Leaders in OPI set up community meetings with parents in the local school districts. Teachers, including myself, went on home visits in order to get to know parents better and to listen to their concerns and their hopes for their children. We then connected with various resources to build networks of support for our students. 

For example we integrated principles from the Montana Behavior Initiative to create a better school climate. We also identified at-risk students and are currently working with those students and their parents to find ways to assist their academic success through a comprehensive wraparound process. This  included mental health counseling for trauma, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, additional tutoring, weekly checkups on grades and attendance, and teachers working with small groups of students to help plan and prepare for post-secondary education. Local and national experts were brought in so that teachers and administrators could receive training on implementing educational best practices in the classroom. We put a greater emphasis on bringing the local culture into our classrooms. After-school programs and clubs were created for the students. Most of all, state officials, administrators, parents, bus drivers, cooks, custodians, teachers, and students came together to make significant constructive changes in our schools. From the state level to the local level, we are working in concert to significantly impact our students’ lives.

I learned long ago in my teaching career that one individual can make a difference. Now I am learning the power of “together.” One dedicated individual can make a powerful impact on students’ lives, but to affect long term positive change in low income, low performing schools on Native American reservations takes the combined efforts of all the stakeholders.  Together we can do it.

Edward Wiest is a mathematics teacher at Plenty Coups High School in Pryor, Montana.

Finding Opportunities to Make a Difference

Linda St. Andre is being honored as a Champion of Change for her efforts in school turnaround.

The success of a Turnaround School depends on many people. I am proud to be an advocate for change and have always enjoyed the challenge of innovation. However, I realize that no meaningful change in education is the result of one person’s work.

Governor James B. Longley Elementary School in the heart of downtown Lewiston, Maine has a diverse population of about 325 students. Over 98 percent of them are economically disadvantaged. Sixty-five percent are immigrants, the majority from Somalia. About half of the students are English language learners in various stages of language acquisition. One hundred percent of them deserve the best education possible.

Two years ago, I was asked by my superintendent to serve as principal at Longley, which had been identified as one of Maine’s lowest performing schools. The district was in the process of accepting a School Improvement Grant to implement the turnaround model at the school. It was a huge undertaking as well as an exciting opportunity to make a difference.

Much of the first year of our grant was spent developing common understandings. A school leadership team was formed. A course of action was set. Routines and schedules were adjusted. We implemented a positive approach to teaching school behavioral expectations to our students. Teachers learned how to use data from newly adopted assessments to design differentiated instruction based on Common Core standards.

Professional development was a major first step in our endeavor. We added a literacy coach and a math coach to the staff, partnered with the University of Maine to provide graduate courses in literacy, and provided teachers with the time to collaborate with the coaches and their colleagues on a regular basis. Professional development at Longley truly became job-embedded.

Monthly schoolwide assemblies build a strong sense of community in our school. We celebrate our accomplishments, enjoy student performances, and cheer for our favorites in the student versus staff challenges. Longley is a No Excuses University. Every student knows they are capable of college graduation. Children are taught that they can succeed and are in charge of their own futures. The assemblies are the time for students to wear their college garb and remember their goals.

In year two, we implemented literacy and math workshop models of instruction at all grade levels. Teachers took ownership of assessments, data analysis, and selecting interventions for students. We developed a mentor program for new teachers. The district added an assistant principal to our staff who successfully focused on student behavior, special education and further developing relationships with parents. 

 The most recent change we’ve implemented has been the addition of our summer program. Its purpose is to halt the regression that happens for so many of our students over the summer. We offered the six week program to all students. Over half of them registered. Kindergarteners and first graders received instruction in literacy and math. In grades 2 through 6, students participated in a tutoring program in which older students tutored younger ones in literacy. Weekly field trips were an incentive. Students were given new experiences to build background knowledge and practice social skills. Our school library was open during summer school hours allowing students daily access to checking out books.

In the upcoming school year, we will increase the student school day by 30 minutes, resulting in 87.5 more hours of instruction during the school year for all Longley students. Additionally, an alternate work day for some support staff will allow another 30 minutes for more interventions after school.

There is still much work to do, but I marvel at what has been accomplished in two years. None of it would be possible without the dedicated staff at Longley, the support of district personnel, the help from community partners, the trust of the parents, and our smart, eager students. I am humbly honored by my selection as a Champion of Change. I accept it on behalf of all of them, the champions who work hard alongside me each day.

Linda St. Andre is the principal of Governor James B. Longley Elementary School, Maine’s first turnaround school. 

The AmeriCorps Education

Delores Morton is being honored as a Champion of Change for her time and effort in AmeriCorps.

A girl who grew up on the Bayou Teche in Baldwin, Louisiana is being honored as an AmeriCorps Alum Champion of Change! The implausibility of that statement, however is exactly what AmeriCorps has made possible for hundreds of thousands of individuals in its history—it offers everyday citizens a structured way to do meaningful work.

 This recognition has provided a rare opportunity for me to once again reflect upon my AmeriCorps experiences nearly eighteen years ago in the same community in which I grew up. Particularly, I thought of a recent gathering of organizations who serve veterans and military families and to engage them as assets in their local communities. In this group of individuals who all have a direct connection to a member of our military—a parent, a child, a spouse, or having served themselves—I initially felt a bit out of place. After some time, however, I did discover a common tie that I shared with this group. I too have served my country by serving in AmeriCorps. It is the experience that I gained in my AmeriCorps service that have shaped my career, and help me to know intrinsically that indeed every American has something that they can give, something that they can do to improve neighborhoods, make a difference in the lives of others, and as a result be a part of making a better America. 

In the small town of Franklin, Louisiana I served in the USDA’s Rural Development AmeriCorps Program, where I gained an understanding the housing struggles that were endemic in this small rural community. I learned that living in substandard housing and in overcrowded conditions had become a way of life for an unacceptable ratio of the rural poor. But more than understanding what the problems were, I learned about my individual ability to make a difference to be a part of solution for families and individuals in need. Having had a passion for writing, I was able to procure grant funding to develop educational programs, I helped to organize and implement a conference on housing issues to bring in other organizations from around the state to understand what was working in other communities, I helped to secure additional funding to develop a mixed income single family dwelling subdivision, helped to establish a revolving micro-loan fund for small businesses, and raised dollars to build a playground in another development. I honed my writing skills and discovered a career path that I had never considered. It is these and other tangible results of my AmeriCorps experience upon which I built a career. I left my AmeriCorps service with a new understanding of the very community of which I was a product. 

Having left college without completing my degree, my AmeriCorps education award made it possible to complete my studies while managing the responsibilities of being a single parent. I returned to school with a new interest and passion for creating change. I no longer wanted to be a story teller, creating and weaving works of fiction and fantasy for fans. Instead, I returned with a passion for understanding how communities can come together to create opportunity and pathways out of poverty for marginal populations. Serving in AmeriCorps was the launch pad for a career that I never imagined possible. My work in the local community continued for several years before I left to work on the state level as the Executive Director of the Louisiana Association for Community Economic Development, served as the Co-Chair of the MidSouth Collaborative for Nonprofit Development, a Director of Programs for a faith-based nonprofit community development corporation, and as the Director of the Nonprofit Resource Center at a volunteer center. In several of these positions, I had the great privilege of supervising, mentoring, and coaching other AmeriCorps members.  

 For the last nine years at Points of Light, I have continued to engage with AmeriCorps as an essential human resource in building communities across the nation. In my current role as President of Programs, I continue to recognize the value of this human capital that is AmeriCorps, the untapped potential of individuals who are ready, willing, and able to serve in new ways to meet our nation’s most pressing needs. This year, Points of Light will launch two programs that have AmeriCorps at the center, a 75 member corps that is focused on equipping returning veterans for the workforce as well as engaging these same veterans as leaders of volunteer activity in their communities and a 72 member VISTA program focused on education in under resourced schools by developing programs that improve student attendance.  In addition to these new programs, we are engaging VISTA members to help small nonprofit organizations who serve individuals in poverty to use technology more effectively. 

Having experienced the transformation of AmeriCorps first hand, I am committed to helping ensure that the members serving in these programs are also able to identify within them a new way to deploy their unique skills and talents and become a part of a new generation of servant leaders. I hope that like me, their 12 month commitment to AmeriCorps leads to a lifetime of service. 

Delores Morton is the president of Points of Light’s Programs Division.