CULTURE OF SUCCESS

What We’re Learning: With the right support, even the most at-risk students can succeed.

The graduation rate for Native American students in Portland, Ore., is abysmal—about 30 percent, according to even the most generous estimates. Portland is home to the ninth largest Native American community in the United States, with more than 50,000 Native Americans living in the metro area, so the community’s education emergency affects thousands of young people.

A group called the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) has spent the past four years trying to solve this problem. NAYA runs two programs focused on this issue: a year-round program and an intensive summer program. Both have gotten great results.

In four years, 85 percent of the students in the year-round program have graduated from high school. And a remarkable 91 percent of the students in the summer program have gone on to college.

There are several secrets to NAYA’s success.

First, it takes the students’ culture into account instead of ignoring it. Historically, America’s efforts to assimilate Native Americans centered on Indian boarding schools. For more than a century and until just a few decades ago, Native American children were typically separated from their families at a very young age and sent far away to learn a primarily vocational curriculum. Children were punished if they spoke their indigenous language or practiced any cultural traditions.

So part of NAYA’s job is to help young Native American students develop positive associations with school. The staff is mostly Native American, which helps them build trusting relationships with their students. In addition, NAYA includes classes on Native American arts and culture in all its programs to help young people build confidence, a sense of identity, and a proud connection to their culture.

Another part of NAYA’s formula is giving every student individual attention. For the year-round program, all students are assigned an advocate, who works with the students, their parents, and school personnel to set specific goals and monitor the progress they’re making. NAYA also offers after-school tutoring four days a week to help these students meet academic goals.

But the advocates don’t just help students in school. They’re also trusted advisors about the many issues that come up outside of school. For example, many Native American students live transient lives, moving back and forth from the city to the reservation, or moving often within the city to find affordable housing. The advocates help students who are having problems at home get access to some of the other services that NAYA offers, such as mental health services or the housing department.

In the summer program, the students take classes at Portland Community College for eight weeks. Every day, when class ends, they go to a session with tutors who help them complete their homework while developing better study skills for the future.

The work can be painstaking. It is not one size fits all. But it works. There simply aren’t very many programs for students that can more than double graduation rates in just a few years or boast of college attendance rates above 90 percent.