New Native American Early College School Completes Its First Year
The NAYA Early College Academy in Portland, Oregon has completed its first school year. The school focuses on a culturally relevant curriculum, promotes family and community engagement, and provides academic advising. The early college employs Native American teachers, and although American Indian and Alaska Native students are the focus of this initiative in Multnomah County, other students may access this school. Early colleges are high schools that blend high school diplomas and associates of arts degree requirements so students earn diplomas and associate of arts degrees concurrently.
NAYA Early College is one of nine other schools in this groundbreaking work to establish early college high schools. The schools are part of a $120 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Carnegie Corp. of New York and the Ford Foundation to create or redesign 170 early college high schools for underserved and low-income young people across the nation. In these purposely small schools, students have the opportunity to earn both a high school diploma and two years of college credit toward a college degree.
In its inaugural year, the NAYA Early College Academy has faced many challenges. Many students come from communities ravaged by poverty, and plagued with alcohol and drug abuse. In the first class of 100 students, 63 percent of them read below grade level. In addition, 20 students were previous dropouts; 26 students didn’t have a place to call home, eight were in the criminal justice system and 14 of them had families involved with social services. Nationally, only about half of Native American students graduate from high school; of those, less than 4 percent are likely to earn a bachelor’s degree. At the NAYA Early College Academy, teachers battled with tardiness and poor attendance 35 students dropped out the first year.
In September, less than 10 percent of the students were at grade level on state tests. At the end of the school year, 50 percent who tested were at grade level, passing 96 percent of their classes. However, as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day and the school counts successes that may not show up in test scores or statistics. What can’t be counted is the sense of well-being that many students now feel having the opportunity to attend a school where they are taught to embrace their heritage and culture. For the first time in their lives, many students feel like they belong. When you combine that with the small student body and individualized attention, students, parents and administrators expect positive things from the school in the future.
— Teachers of Color
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