I read an article in the July 26, 2016 online edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education titled “For Native Students, Education’s Promise Has Long Been Broken” by Kelly Field that I thought was particularly interesting and salient to College of the Redwoods.  The author discussed the incredible challenges—poverty, joblessness, addiction, and abuse—Native peoples confront in Blackfeet reservation community in Browning, Montana and the anxiety young people face when they leave the reservation for college.  I came away from reading the article with a profound appreciation for what our Klamath Trinity Instructional Site (KTIS) colleagues have accomplished in creating an extraordinary student success environment that supports our Native students’ academic achievement in Hoopa.

Ms. Field said that in 2007 Montana policy makers passed a law that gave school districts an additional $200 per American Indian student — part of an effort to help them close the state’s achievement gap. Although Montana cut its dropout rate in 2009 by one third, a disproportionate share of Native students were not graduating.  While American Indians made up 11 percent of Montana’s public-school population, they accounted for almost 30 percent of the dropouts.  The achievement gap was very striking.

We in the California Community College system know that closing the achievement gap of student equity groups is not easy.  That said, as Dr. Angelina Hill, our Interim Vice President of Instruction and Student Development notes in her August 2^nd informational report to the Board of Trustees, the average cumulative GPAs of American Indian students have increased steadily over the last five years across all of the campuses.  Average GPAs across all locations for American Indian students was 2.24 in fall 2010, 2.38 in fall 2013, and 2.57 in fall 2015.  Unlike some other student equity groups, Native students are not disproportionately impacted in terms or course retention or success.

Dr. Hill also wrote that CR’s Native students have the highest rate of success in face-to-face courses at KTIS than any other location in the District. How has KTIS been able to make such a profound impact on Native student achievement?   Our colleagues at KTIS implemented an innovative student success model that focuses on relationship building between students, faculty, staff, and the community.  The Research and Planning (RP) Group—a research body studying the efforts of California Community Colleges that provide evidence of the improvement of student success with populations that have historically not been successful—recognized KTIS’ accomplishment by partnering with the staff to study the model they used to improve their student’s academic success.  Alissa Leigh, CCRP Research & Evaluation Associate, Erica Chase, Hoopa Education Director, Jolene Gates, HCATEP Director & KT Site Manager, Melissa Ruiz, HCATEP Director of Student Services, and Scherane Kinney, HCATEP Academic Advisor will present the results of the study at the October 5-7 Strengthening Student Success Conference in Garden Grove, California. More information on the conference can be found here: http://rpgroup.org/events/sssc16

We are very lucky to have Jolene, Melissa, and Scherane to work with!