CommunityBased Aboriginal Curriculum Initiatives Research funded by the Social Sciences and Humaniti

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Community-Based Aboriginal Curriculum
Initiatives(Research funded by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada SSHRC)

• Indigenizing the Curriculum for
• Student Success
• A Presentation at
• A First Nation and Métis Education
• Promising Practices Symposium
• April 1-2, 2009
• Saskatoon, SK

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Presenter

• Helen D. Armstrong, Professor
• SSHRC/CURA applicant, Brandon University
• E-mail armstrongh_at_brandonu.ca

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Demographics

• Between 1996 and 2006, the First Nation
  population increased 29 in Canada as a whole,
  36 in Manitoba. In Canada, the median age of
  the Aboriginal population at 27 (21 in Manitoba
  40 for non-Aboriginal), and almost half (48) are
  aged 24 and under (Aboriginal Peoples in Canada
  in 2006)
• Outside of the three territories, Manitoba and
  Saskatchewan share the largest Aboriginal
  percentage of population 15 in each province.

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Reality statements

• Even so, statistics from Canada and Manitoba
  Census report that 33.7 of Aboriginal youth have
  their high school diplomas as compared to 62.7
  of the rest of the population.
• Further, stats show us that 44.1 of Manitoba
  Aboriginal youth are attending school, the lowest
  of the five Western Provinces and well below the
  National average of 50.4.
• First Nations people are five times more likely
  to live in crowded homes (more than one person
  per room), with 26 of on-reserve people living
  in crowded homes. As well, 28 of Aboriginal
  people lived in homes in need of major repair,
  compared to 7 for non-Aboriginal population.

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The Grant Process

• A group of individuals with the same goals
  started talking.
• Organizations became involved.
• Several round-table discussions were held.
• Two stages of the grant application were
  completed.
• We were approved for a 5-year initiative.

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SSHRC/CURA Partners

• Aboriginal Education Directorate
• Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba
• Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
• Brandon Friendship Centre

• Brandon School Division
• Brandon University Northern Teacher Education
  Program (BUNTEP)
• Council of Indigenous Elders
• Manitoba Culture, Heritage Tourism

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SSHRC/CURA Partners (Cont.)

• Manitoba Education, Citizenship Youth
• Manitoba First Nation Education Resource Centre
• Manitoba Indian Education Association

• Manitoba Métis Federation
• Program for the Education of Native Teachers
  (PENT)
• Sioux Valley School
• West Region Tribal Council

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Objectives

• The primary goal of the project is to examine
  the impact of Aboriginal cultural instruction in
  selected schools in terms of learning, school
  attendance, and success of Aboriginal students.
• The secondary purpose community development
  is specifically related to the enhancement of
  skills and talents of community members.

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Hypothesis

• Exposure to Aboriginal cultural arts in school
  improves cultural awareness and identity, and
  that in turn, increases personal relevance and
  importance of school, as seen in positive
  school-related behaviours and achievement.

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Process

• The six-year Community-Based Aboriginal
  Curriculum Initiatives program involves both an
  action research and a formalized data-collection
  and evaluative component. The process of the
  research and its methodological description are
  as follows

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1. School Selection

• Participating schools were selected from
  southwestern Manitoba, with all Aboriginal
  community and public schools in the area having
  been invited to apply.
• Five schools were selected, all with the
  initiative of First Nations communities.

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2. Community-based coordinators

• Community facilitators/coordinators
• facilitate the in-school program by supporting
  the artist-educators (including interfacing
  between them and the teachers) creating and
  supervising in-school artist-educator
  visits/itineraries facilitating collection of
  data.
• liaise between BU research office and school.
• attend /or initiate professional development
  days.

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3. Artist Educators

• Artist-educators
• are selected from within the participating
  community or in close proximity
• are chosen with established criteria
• work with teachers to develop an integrative
  curricular approach
• may receive professional development to improve
  teaching strategies
• may develop a professional résumé

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4. Classroom Integration

• Artist-educators are working in classrooms, as
  well as in after-school programs, in the
  participating schools.
• There is a focus on including resources written
  by, for, and about Aboriginal people.
• The research team is involved in in-school
  curriculum action research, which includes
  program development and delivery, as well as
  on-going assessment and evaluation.
• The purpose is to indigenize the curriculum

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5. Project Evaluation

• Information about students is being gathered.
• Six-year longitudinal cross-sequential design is
  being used.
• Quantitative and qualitative measures of
  psychosocial and cultural identity development,
  as well as school attendance, completion and
  achievement data are being collected.
• Observation and interviews with teachers, parents
  and other community members are included.

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Figure 1. Scaled Model
Scaled Model Relating Mediating Variables to
Second Level of Mediators to Three Outcome
Variables
CULTURAL IDENTITY
EGO DEVLOPMENT
ACADEMIC MOTIVATION
SCHOOL RETENTION
PARENTAL CULTURAL SOCIALIZATION
CULTURAL IN-GROUP OUT-GROUP ATTITUDES
SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT
FAMILY SUPPORT
SELF-ESTEEM
FUTURE GOALS PLANS
PROBLEM BEHAVIOURS
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
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Ego-level Development

• As expected, Significant Grade and Sex effects
• Grade 5/6 median Impulsive
• Grade 7/8 median Self-protective
• Grades 9/12 median Self-protective (and
  higher)
• Chi square (8 df) 46.36, plt.0001

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(No Transcript)
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Table 2.Ego Development by Sex and Grade-level
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Ethnic Identity Measure

• Bicultural Ethnic Identity Measure (BEIM Moran
  et al., 1999) was adapted from Oetting Beauvais
  (1991) to determine the extent to which one
  identifies with both Indigenous and Maintstream
  cultures
• Aboriginal (8 items) and Mainstream Identity (6
  items) alpha coefficients of .83 for AbID and
  .85 for WhiteID
• Four status classifications in terms of the
  extent to which respondents identify with their
  own background and mainstream society bicultural
  (strong association with both) mainstream/
  assimilated (strong association with majority
  culture only) traditional/separated (strong
  association with own culture), and marginal (low
  association with both cultures)
• Respondents were classified using mean scores on
  the two measures with cut offs slightly above and
  below the mean to eliminate borderline cases 40
  cases were lost in the process

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Table 9. Ethnic Identity Status Distribution by
Grade
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(No Transcript)
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Progress Report

• Research instruments translate to initial queries
  by communities and individuals, regarding testing
  questions about self-esteem and identity.
• The process of building trust is part of the
  program. Negotiations included MOUs.
• Five Aboriginal communities are moving ahead,
  addressing ongoing needs within each community.
• Public schools beginning to be receptive to
  program.
• Evolution of program results in changes to budget
  projections in response to program needs.

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Progress Report (cont.)

• Formative Assessment
• The challenge of a continuous team many changes
  in research team and in school staffs, including
  community-based coordinators
• Readiness work much longer and more complex
  than anticipated
• Evolving nature of the research program has
  changed from initial conceptualization
• Initiating and sustaining the community program
• Increased focus on supportive literature/resources
  
• Increased collaboration with MFNERC

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Five participating First Nations communities and
their coordinators

• Birdtail Sioux Roxann Barker
• Canupawakpa Barbara Eastman/Linda Eastman
• Long Plain Marlene Levasseur/Lydia Daniels
• Sioux Valley Olivia Murdock/Arlene McKay
• Swan Lake Deanna McKinney/Edwina Soldier