Each teacher emerges armed with the latest child development theory and practice to serve children such as Brant Lafromboise, who is in the Head Start program at Fort Peck. Photo by Grace Wood

If kindergarten can be analogous to the dawn of formal education, then pre-school programs would be that time just before dawn – a time that is considered the most sacred part of the day by many Native people. This special time is when the spirits move between this physical world and the spirit world, a time of mystery and a source of knowledge. It is so with our very young children in pre-school: Their view of the formal education process is just beginning to form, and their experience at this stage of life provides the basis for future expectation.

Those who teach our very young children have a serious responsibility. These children are our most vulnerable and most precious beings. It is critical that these teachers receive the greatest knowledge and guidance to educate our children; developing a healthy lifestyle begins in infancy and continues throughout our lives.

Sixteen tribal colleges have partnered with the American Indian Programs Branch of the federal Head Start Bureau to offer early childhood education degree programs. These partnerships respond to Congress’s mandate that 50 percent of all Head Start teachers earn an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education or related discipline by 2003. With the reauthorization of the Head Start Act in 1998, the Head Start Bureau asked tribal colleges and universities to establish partnerships with Head Start grantees. The first six tribal colleges received awards in 1999, primarily for Head Start teacher training grants, with an additional seven tribal colleges funded in 2000, and another three tribal colleges funded last year.

This initiative addresses the federal government’s “no child is left behind” policy on 16 American Indian reservations. The tribal colleges are establishing Early Childhood Associate Degree programs for Head Start teachers and staff. In addition, the colleges are helping them to access baccalaureate degree program through articulation agreements with four-year degree-granting institutions. The beauty of this initiative is that while it focuses on Head Start teachers and teacher aides, it includes other Head Start staff members drivers, janitors, etc.). This implies a philosophical perspective that we are all teachers and fits well with Native world views.

The scheduling challenges are enormous since the Head Start staff works full time, maintains extended family systems, and remains active in community and tribal affairs while attending school on a part-time basis throughout the academic year and full-time during the summer. To accommodate such schedules, the tribal colleges must provide careful academic advising and strong student support services for the students to succeed. They often must provide classes right after the work day, in the evenings, or over intensive weekends.

Jewel was the parent of a Head Start child in 1987 when she started working as a teacher aide for the program. She lives on the western end of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation so when she began classes at Fort Peck Community College in Poplar, MT, she had to travel 90 miles round trip. She earned her Child Development Associate certificate in 1990 and has been working toward her associate of arts degree.  With her job and several children of her own, she usually took only a couple of classes at a time. Like her fellow students, she has benefited from the financial support and intensive advising she has received under the partnership program. This initiative has provided a clear path toward an associate degree and the potential for earning a bachelor’s degree through distance learning at a four-year college while remaining in her home community with her family.  Jewel has overcome distance, adverse weather conditions, and personal strife to achieve her educational goal of becoming a teacher.

Because of busy work schedules, the average academic plan requires four years to complete an associate degree. Although the first programs were funded only three years ago, 322 students will have graduated from the tribal college Head Start programs as a result of this initiative by the end of 2002, and an additional 59 are expected to graduate at the end of 2003.

Each teacher emerges from the program armed with the latest child development theory and practice. Each graduate benefits hundreds of students. Many more teachers will graduate in the succeeding years, influencing even more children.

This program has a tremendous positive impact on our local communities and the future of our tribes. The success results from the foresight of the American Indian Programs Branch of the Head Start Bureau, the dedication of the tribal colleges to meet the challenge, and most of all from the sacrifices of the students. Together, we are developing a healthy foundation for our most sacred beings to insure healthier Indian nations in our future.

Dr. Deborah Wetsit is a member of the Assiniboine (Nakona) Nation. She currently serves as the academic vice president of the Fort Peck Community College and the project director for the Head Start Partnership Project at Fort Peck. She holds a doctorate in counseling, a master’s degree in education, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology.