NCLB & NALA/OLA

Wed Feb 11 17:52:26 UTC 2004

Under NALA, I believe there is the basis of a legal
challenge to NCLB.  Here follows some abbreviated and
highlighted textual citations with added commentary
from Public Law 101-477.

NALA may be regarded as a living document.  It is an
Act of Congress and therefore carries the same weight
in international law as treaties, which are the
Supreme Law of the Land, over and above the
Constitution, according to the Constitution.

Richard LaFortune (Yupik)
Native Language Researcher
Minneapolis
*       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *

SEC. 101. This title may be cited as the "Native
American Languages Act".

  FINDINGS

SEC. 102. The Congress finds that~W

(6) there is convincing evidence that student
achievement and performance, community and school
pride, and educational opportunity is clearly and
directly tied to
respect for, and support of, the first language of the
child or student;

(7) it is clearly in the interests of the United
States, individual States, and territories to
encourage the full academic and human potential
achievements of all students
and citizens and to take steps to realize these ends;

(8) acts of suppression and extermination directed
against Native American languages and cultures are in
conflict with the United States policy of
self-determination
for Native Americans;

SEC. 104. It is the policy of the United States to--

(1) preserve, protect, and promote the rights and
freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, and
develop Native American languages;

No Child Left Behind, and attempts by the federal
government to abridge funding to Native language
programs, appears to represent an internal conflict of
federal education funding, and funding to programs
directed to and for the benefit of Native people under
the provisions of NALA.  Proper exceptions for Native
Language programs operating under the provisions of
NALA must be articulated apropos of NCLB.
Furthermore, the provisions of NALA and the Official
Languages Act (OLA) of Canada must undergo comparative
review under the terms of the United Nations Draft
Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People, to assure
Native people in the United States and Canada,
operating language programs under the provisions of
OLA and NALA, that no recent or pending legislation
will interfere with the resources or operations of
language programs. [RL]

(2) allow exceptions to teacher certification
requirements for Federal programs, and programs funded
in whole or in part by the Federal Government, for
instruction
in Native American languages when such teacher
certification requirements hinder the employment of
qualified teachers who teach in Native American
languages,
and to encourage State and territorial governments to
make similar exceptions;

It is the policy of the United States to--
(3) encourage and support the use of Native American
languages as a medium of instruction in order to
encourage and support--

(4) encourage State and local education programs to
work with Native American parents, educator, Indian
tribes, and other Native American governing bodies in
the implementation of programs to put this policy into
effect;

(5) recognize the right of Indian tribes and other
Native American governing bodies to use the Native
American languages as a medium of instruction in all
schools
funded by the Secretary of the Interior;

(6) fully recognize the inherent right of Indian
tribes and other Native American governing bodies,
States, territories, and possessions of the United
States to take
action on, and give official status to, their Native
American languages for the purpose of conducting their
own business;

(7) support the granting of comparable proficiency
achieved through course work in a Native American
language the same academic credit as comparable
proficiency achieved through course work in a foreign
language, with recognition of such Native American
language proficiency by institutions of higher
education as
fulfilling foreign language entrance or degree
requirements; and

(8) encourage all institutions of elementary,
secondary and higher education, where appropriate, to
include Native American languages in the curriculum in
the same
manner as foreign languages and to grant proficiency
in Native American languages the same full academic
credit as proficiency in foreign languages.

EVALUATIONS

Sec. 106. (a) The President shall direct the heads of
the various Federal departments, agencies, and
instrumentalities to--

(1) Evaluate their policies and procedures in
consultation with Indian tribes and other Native
American governing bodies as well as traditional
leaders and educators
in order to determine and implement changes needed to
bring the policies and procedures into compliance with
the provisions of this title;

I believe this means that a perfunctory reading of No
Child Left Behind must be reviewed by Native American
governing bodies to make sure that it is not in
conflict with NALA. [RL]

(2) give the greatest effect possible in making such
evaluations, absent a clear specific Federal statutory
requirement to the contrary, to the policies and
procedures
which will give the broadest effect to the provisions
of this title; and

ie No Child Left Behind must be read in the context of
NALA, and it must be read liberally to benefit the
Native. [RL]

(3) evaluate the laws which they administer and make
recommendations to the President on amendments needed
to bring such laws into compliance with the
provisions of this title.

This means that Native language immersion programs and
education cannot be summarily dismissed by No Child
Left Behind.  Such a decision must receive exhaustive
review by Native governing bodies, and this precludes
any prohibitions or timelines separately established
by NCLB. [RL]

Date: Mon Jan 26, 2004  2:04:59 PM US/Central
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: No Rich Child Left Behind (language)
> Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology
> <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>
> 01/24/2004 - JUNEAU AK
> By Mike Chambers, Associated Press Writer
>
> Some western Alaska schools that for decades have
taught and helped
> preserve the Native Yupik language are in a quandary
over meeting new
> federal testing requirements under the No Child Left
Behind Act.
>
> In the Lower Kuskokwim School District, third grade
children taught
> almost exclusively in the Yupik language may be
required to pass
> federal tests written in English.
>
> In Alaska, where Natives speak 20 aboriginal
languages and dialects,
> meeting a uniform federal law could ultimately be
too expensive,
> conflict with Native cultural traditions as well as
the local control
> that the rural villages treasure.
>
> "Not many states face the issues that we do," said
state Education
> Commissioner Roger Sampson.
>
> Under the federal law, students would be tested
annually from grades
> 3-8 and again in high school.
>
> States could make accommodations for language
barriers, but after
> three years in U.S. public schools the children
would be required to
> take English-only tests.
>
> Aside from the Heritage Language programs in more
than 30 rural
> public schools, Alaska's largest city of Anchorage
has more than 93
> languages spoken by students, Sampson said.
>
> Already cash strapped, the state can little afford
to translate tests
> into more than 100 languages, education officials
said.
>
> And even if it could, the Yupik language, though
spoken by thousands
> of Alaska Natives from Norton Sound to Bristol Bay,
does not
> translate as completely as Spanish or other European
languages.
>
> For instance, mathematics to American children is
based on units of
> 10, where increments of 20 are used in Yupik math
and numerous
> English words have no Yupik counterparts.
>
> The Lower Kuskokwim School District, which oversees
schools in Bethel
> and surrounding villages has had an intensive Yupik
language program
> for about 30 years, said Superintendent Bill
Ferguson.
>
> A similar program instituted by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs in
> earlier years was seen as a progressive way to
assimilate Native
> children into English fluency.
>
> Since then, it's become a way for Yupik-speaking
Natives to sustain
> their language and culture just as other Alaska
Native languages
> dwindle.
>
> "I feel strongly that our kids should speak Yupik
fluently," said
> state Rep. Mary Kapsner, of Bethel. "I really feel
this isn't just an
> academic issue about benchmark tests, but about
cultural and social
> well being."
>
> Beginning in kindergarten and extending to third
grade, students
> enrolled in the Yupik language program are taught a
Western
> curriculum similar to those found in Lower 48
classrooms.
>
> But teachers speak Yupik and students read from
Yupik textbooks,
> produced by the district by permission of their
English-language
> publishers.
>
> While most children speak some English, those
enrolled in the
> programs don't begin formal academic training in the
language until
> fourth grade.
>
> Sampson wants permission from federal education
officials to delay
> testing these Heritage Language students until sixth
grade. At that
> time, the students would have had three years of
English-speaking
> instruction.
>
> Already, schools in the district are failing to meet
"adequate yearly
> progress" set out by the federal law, and much of
that is attributed
> to the language barrier, Ferguson said.
>
> Alaska educators hold little hope that
Yupik-speaking students will
> fare well in third-grade testing in the 2005-2006
school year when
> all schools are expected to have such tests in
place.
>
> Ultimately, Alaska may seek a waiver under the
federal law to
> accommodate its language barrier, Sampson said. The
state Board of
> Education will to take up the issue Jan. 29.
>
> Winning an exemption from some parts of No Child
Left Behind from
> Education Secretary Rod Paige will be difficult.
>
> "Secretary Paige has made some very strong
statements regarding the
> fact that he doesn't anticipate the state's being
exempted from any
> requirement under NCLB," said U.S. Department of
Education spokesman
> Zollie Stevenson.
>
> States could seek federal funds to pay for
translating testing
> materials, Stevenson said, but he acknowledged
enough money may not
> be available to meet Alaska's varied dialects.
>
> On the Net:
> No Child Left Behind:
http://www.nochildleftbehind.gov/
>
> State Department of Education and Early Development:
> http://www.eed.state.ak.us/
>
Ø       Lower Kuskokwim School District:
http://www.lksd.org/

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html