Native American youth make up 15% of the total child population in New Mexico, and they often face more challenges around things like economic wellbeing. A new report called “Being a Good Relative” highlights how these can impact academic achievement, while also why more holistic approaches can help Native students succeed. The study was created by One Generation in partnership with Albuquerque Public Schools. KUNM spoke with Tracie Benally, who is Diné and director of community insights with One Generation.
TRACIE BENALLY: What we have really tried to do here is to establish baseline data on how Native students are doing across the board, involving several different domains and indicators, so everything from how many students’ families are receiving SNAP funds, to the graduation rate at a student's high school, to maybe how many elders are living in their households, or if they have more than three generations in their households. Really, just putting together a comprehensive data set to allow us a clearer picture of how students are doing, the areas that we can better support.
KUNM: What were some of the components or information that you gathered while making the report?
BENALLY: So we traveled to Cuba, we traveled to Gallup, as well as Shiprock, and we met with parents, students, and asked them, “What is going on in your schools?” “What do you think school districts are doing well?” “Where do you think we can improve?” In no way was this an attempt to shame anybody, but really just to invite folks into conversation. And then the second was really to put together those data sets, analyzing secondary data sets, defining our indicators, and then writing the report, and then the third is sharing back that data, because I think too often there's a great idea of producing a report, but it doesn't really get back into the hands of the community, and so we traveled back to Gallup a couple of weeks ago, shared it with community, had a great conversation with them.
KUNM: What were some of the key findings?
BENALLY: I think for a lot of folks, there are data points here that aren't going to be super surprising, particularly around food insecurity, economic insecurity, and then also housing insecurity, but there are also parts of the report that I think are extremely invaluable. First and foremost, I think the thing that we need to keep in mind is that students want access to quality education, they want access to opportunity. We had one student who reflected on how she wanted to enroll in an algebra class, and the teachers, and I think some of the administrators at her school advised her against enrolling in it, because they didn't think that she was able to meet those expectations, but in our conversations with her, we learned that she is extremely inclined to pursue a career in math. She's very capable, and I think that is sort of a reflection of many of the other students that we spoke with. They want access to opportunity, they see the things going on around them. But students are as passionate as ever to be able to reach those goals, center community, and be responsible to future generations growing up here in New Mexico. We've seen such a significant increase in students enrolling in traditional Native languages. We have also seen through the New Mexico Youth Resilience Survey that Native students have a very strong sense of personal identity, ranking among the highest of students throughout New Mexico that feel confident that they can achieve their goals.
KUNM: So how can all the entities be more involved with their Native American students?
BENALLY: I don't think that there is a better method than building relationships with your students, going to their games, going to their plays, supporting them after school, learning who Grandma and Grandpa are, learning how the cousins all fitted and what that network looks like. Having been in the classroom myself, I taught a lot of the younger brothers and sisters of the classmates I graduated with, and that was the number one way to get a foot in the door, to be able to know family, recognize what communities value, and to pour into that, that's how I filled my cup, that was what made my time in the classroom as successful as it was. It wasn't the benchmark tests, it wasn't the quizzes that I gave, or even the pop quizzes, it was building relationships, understanding who students were, what they valued, what they dreamed about doing, and then doing everything that I could to try to push them to a place where they could get there.
KUNM: It seems it's more than just reporting on the most recent standardized tests. There are more elements involved when it comes to the well-being of Native students, correct?
BENALLY: I think fundamentally, one of our philosophies at One Generation is knowing that education isn't just about metrics or benchmarks, although those things are important. We hold a bar because we know that Native students are capable of academic achievement, but we also understand that education is something that's comprehensive. We can't default to a Western idea of education where it's the only things that matter at the end of the day are your SAT or your ACT score or your GPA. The things that matter at the end of the day are really understanding what a day in the life of a Native student is like, whether that begins at 5 a.m. by letting out the sheep, or hopping on the bus at 6am or talking with Grandpa and Grandma over coffee before you head to school, or coming home in the evening to take care of your siblings, or taking care of Grandma and Grandpa. The education that a Native student engages in is not just reading, writing, and math. It's so comprehensive. It's wrap-around services. It's knowing how they're doing when they come into the school in the morning, knowing what they're going home to, knowing the family that supports them, knowing the traditions that they engage in. Do they do powwow over the weekend? Are they in the basketball team? Are they selling with their family at the flea market? Education doesn't just end in the classroom, it's what they're taught at home, and it's how it's delivered at school.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
