Articles on American Indian Community Controlled
Schools
Two of the first Indian controlled schools in modern times were Rough Rock
Demonstration
School (RRDS) and Rock Point Community School (RPCS) in the Navajo Nation
in the northeast corner of Arizona. The histories of Rough Rock and Rock Point,
only 25 miles apart on the map, illustrate some similarities and
differences among the new contract schools. RRDS was started in 1966
as a War on Poverty project, a
joint effort of the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. Its mission was to "correct a hundred years of Native
American mis-education."
In contrast to RRDS, RPCS had a more
gradual transition to local community control. Dr. Wayne Holm, a
non-Navajo married to a Navajo as was Dr. Roessel who helped found RRDS,
worked in the school as
a BIA employee and continued with a break to get a doctorate in Navajo
linguistics at the University of New Mexico as Director and then Assistant
Director for Academic Programs until 1986. English-as-a-second-language
(ESL) instruction was started at Rock Point in 1960 and bilingual
instruction in 1967. In 1972, in order to provide "quality Navajo
education through local community control," the community elected a school
board. The new school board contracted to operate the school in 1973 so
they could have more control over hiring and curriculum. Originally an
elementary school, in 1976 one grade a year was added until in 1982 the
first high school seniors were graduated.
On July 17, 1968, the Navajo tribal council passed a resolution
founding Navajo Community College. An interim board of regents was
appointed and the BIA area director allowed the use of rooms in a new
high school built at Many Farms. In recognition of the work he did to
gain initial funding for the college, Roessel stepped down from
directing Rough Rock Demonstration School and was appointed the first
president of NCC. Classes began in January 1969. Below are a
series of articles,
mostly from the Journal of American Indian Education, on the above
schools.
Rock Point Community School:
1990
A Description of the Rock
Point Community School Bilingual Education Program by Jon Reyhner
Below is a list of articles published in the Journal of American Indian Education
on Rough Rock Rock Demonstration School and Navajo Community College:
1968
The Right to be Wrong and
the Right to be Right by Robert A. Roessel Jr.
An Overview of Rough Rock
Demonstration School by Robert A. Roessel, Jr., Director
Community and School
Service by Henry Dahlberg, Assistant Director for Community
Services
Administrative Service
by Donald A. Olsen, Assistant Director for Administrative Services
Educational Innovation
by Mrs. Anita Pfeiffer, Assistant Director for Educational Services
Dormitory Living at Rough
Rock by Mrs. Ruth Roessel, Assistant Director for Dormitory
Services
Navajo Curriculum Center
by Gary Witherspoon, Assistant Director for the Navaho Curriculum
Center
Dr. Karl Menninger Reflects
on Rough Rock Demonstration School
1974
A Case Study:
Self-determination and Indian Education by David Adams
1979
Developmental and
Remedial: A Phonic Reading Program for Navajo Students by Helen C
Wieczkiewicz
1994
Restructuring the Teaching
of Language and Literacy in a Navajo Community School by Galena Sells
Dick, Dan W. Estell, and Teresa L. McCarty
Navajo Community College [now Diné College]:
1972
A Light in the Night
by Robert A. Roessel Jr., Chancellor of Navajo Community College.
1999
The Early Years of Diné College by Peter Iverson
