Need for the project
Project Design
Project Services
Key Personnel
Management Plan
Evaluation Plan
Need for the project

The need for Navajo bilingual teachers is important as a growing population of Navajo students is classified as LEP. Approximately 50% of Navajo children entering school on or near the Navajo Nation do not speak their Navajo language fluently. Ambrose Yazzie, a Master's student in Bilingual Multicultural Education and a first year teacher, writes, "Throughout my education, I spoke Navajo. English was my second language. Today when I speak Navajo with my students they often respond in English. I tell them they should not be ashamed of speaking the Navajo language, that it is good to know two languages."

Of 155 American Indian languages, 87% are spoken by adults who no longer teach them to their children (Kraus 1992). More than one-third of American Indian and Alaskan Native languages have fewer than 100 speakers (Census Bureau 1993). Today Navajos constitute 45% of all speakers of American Indian languages (Census Bureau 1993). In 1993 Apache County reported the largest number of students in the state who were speakers of American Indian languages: 8650 students, over half of the student population of Apache county, are speakers of Navajo and are classified as LEP (Arizona Department of Education 1993).

The population of the Navajo Nation is 165,614. The per capita income is $4,106.00. Over 57.4% of all families live below the poverty level. Of 92,671 persons aged 16 or older , 27.9% are unemployed. Half of the housing units on the Navajo Nation lack complete plumbing and kitchen facilities. One third of all houses do not have running water. Over half of all houses lack sewer or septic tank systems. 77.5% of all houses lack telephones.

91% of Chinle Primary School students live at or below the poverty level (Title I 1995). 99% of the students in the Chinle Unified School are Native American, 62%: 2,633 are LEP. Of the 25 certified teachers at Chinle Primary School 40% are bilingual in Navajo. 11 certified teachers at Chinle Primary School hold an Arizona Bilingual Endorsement. Three Navajo bilingual teachers will complete student teaching at Chinle Primary School in 1998-99.

From 1993-1997, as a member of a consortium of five institutions of teacher education sponsored by the Ford Foundation, Northern Arizona University offered courses leading to an undergraduate degree to bilingual paraprofessionals in Kayenta, Chinle and Tuba City. When funding for this consortium was phased out, Northern Arizona University continued to offer undergraduate courses to these cohorts of paraprofessionals. The Ford Consortium has graduated 287 students. The NAU cohorts in Chinle, Kayenta and Tuba City have graduated 75 students. Many recent graduates of NAU, including three student teachers at Chinle Primary school, are not fully certified in bilingual education. Completion of the M. Ed. in Bilingual Multicultural Education in conjunction with mentoring from experienced bilingual teachers will fill this gap between the requirements of the Ford Foundation graduates and the requirements for an Arizona Bilingual Endorsement. Completion of the M.Ed. degree will further fill the gap between the role of the paraprofessional and the role of the bilingual teacher holding an endorsement in bilingual education, a teacher empowered to provide high quality education to limited English proficient students and to transform curriculum and pedagogy.

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