AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention s1

Arizona Department of Education AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit PROGRAM PROFILES

Baboquivari High School—Indian Oasis Program

Contact information Deborah Grunloh Program Director Baboquivari High School Sells, AZ 85634 [email protected] 520-383-6812

Description The Indian Oasis program coordinates multiple services for students before, during, and after the regular school day, six days a week. The director, who is also a school counselor, runs the program out of her office at Baboquivari High School. Her office is a place where students are always welcome to come in and sit, talk, or explore career interests, work and college applications and other work on the computers. Students attend regular high school classes during the day, then participate in clubs, after-school tutoring, the MESA science program, career and personal counseling, mediation and other academic or cultural enrichment activities, including Tohono O’odham Language classes. Many students stay quite late, relying on the director, faculty and staff to stay and help them with their work. The program operates on and off campus six days a week. The program is offered continuously throughout the school year and summer, because any time there is a break in continuity, students complain or stop coming altogether. About 100 students participate during the school year (the district is on a modified year-round schedule). Funding from the Arizona AIMS IDP grant provides resources for after-school and before-school academic support and tutoring as well as career and vocational exploratory activities.

Program design

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 1 Goals The goals of the program are to retain students, increase AIMS/Terra Nova scores, help students recover credits, improve academic achievement, develop work readiness, increase vocational competencies, and develop leadership skills. The program focuses on credit recovery through multiple delivery systems and increasing academic achievement as a dropout prevention strategy as well as career and personal counseling to retain students.

Philosophy By building strong connections and support for students, the program staff encourages each student to create a vision of their success and achieve it. As the director said: “Part of my job is to get them hooked up to a dream.”

Criteria for success Retention of at risk students, overall academic success and increased AIMS scores are the main program outcomes.

Distribution of 50% Improvement in academic achievement activities 30% AIMS test-taking skills or practice testing 10% Workplace skills preparation 10% Instruction on leadership and civic duty (e.g., community service)

What contributes most to student success?

Building connections The small size and personal relationships in the program help students among students and with staff develop connections with each other and with the staff. Most students come from villages of less than 20 people; the high school feels “huge” to them. The program meets the needs of students with small instructional settings and individual tutoring.

Students

Background All students are members of the Tohono O’odham nation. They range from middle school to post-dropout (age 21).

Recruitment Student participation is voluntary. Students come to the program in a variety of ways—many by word of mouth through family and friends, or by teacher invitation/encouragement. Peer pressure brings many students into the program because so many students choose to join the program for something to do before or after school. The director says many of the students have been in the program, or are related to someone who has been in the program, since the 7th grade.

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 2 Girls involved in volleyball, basketball and softball attend with the encouragement of their coaches. About 60% of the boys in the program are also involved in sports (especially football), so the director works closely with the coach to get them to attend the program as well.

Setting goals Teachers and program staff meet with students to identify problem areas, pinpoint strategies students need to engage in and to master the material, and to help students set and meet interim goals. As the director says, “We try to stress how important our students are and how important their educational goals are to themselves and to us.” A high school teacher echoes this saying, “Making the connection between school and work, students understand why it is important to set and reach educational goals. They understand these goals will help them be more successful in any future work environment.”

Taking responsibility “We started school in July and students were mad that we hadn’t started for learning our program by the second week. I think this is due to the fact that, somehow, we really get across to the students that we care about them. Many of our students feel more fulfilled and use their time better by coming to our program rather than just going home and sitting around alone, doing nothing. We try to mix it up and do some fun activities, field trips, motivational speakers and hands-on activities to keep them coming. They say they would be bored at home. They already started asking about summer school right after taking the AIMS. They are asking to come even if they are passing. They keep asking if they can still come because they want to” (middle school teacher).

Motivation and Several staff described the importance of helping students develop goals incentives and a vision for themselves beyond their experiences. Students who participate in the program come to rely on it as a home-away-from-home, and will complain when there is no after-school program during the first weeks of the new school year or during vacations. Because the students live in a rural, isolated area, educational field trips and visits to local colleges/universities are highly motivating to students. The program will also show videos that connect to current issues in the lives of students. The primary motivation for many students is the ongoing sense of belonging and the relationships that the program offers them. As the director reports: “Last year, students were literally begging us to start tutoring in July (school began July 23).”

Perspectives B—, who is in the automotive mechanics club with many other students, talks about his love of cars and how learning a skill that he can now use to

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 3 make money, made him appreciate the importance of school, as well. “It helps me ‘cause I learn through hands-on, it’s learning by experience, not just a book. I see how it all fits together.” C—came from a private middle school and lacked basic skills. Once she started the program, her skills became steadily better, and she is now in the top of her class. She participated in the Pima Community College Upward Bound program (http://www.pima.edu/kidsandteens/upward/), usually coming to school at 7 a.m. and returning after 11 p.m. One of the Tohono O’odham aides to the program would then drive her home, 40 miles away. This year she won a Gates Millennium Scholarship (http://www.gmsp.org/) to attend college.

Institutional support

Planning and decision The program director and the two Tohono O’odham instructional aides, making Barbara Francisco and Sandy Gutierrez (who are at the heart of the program) meet regularly. Since staff is distributed at the middle and high school, it is difficult to get all teachers together. However, the director is always on the move, building cooperation and buy-in with different teachers and students across the program. Staff review AIMS test data each year, which they use along with curriculum mapping and integrated projects to address specific academic goals.

Staff and staff Program positions are first offered to certified teachers in math and effectiveness English, and then in other core subjects (with the understanding they will integrate math or literacy into each session.) The director of the program has a degree in counseling. She serves as the vocational/higher education adviser for students. Having Tohono O’odham instructional aides are key to the success of the program, as they serve a bridge between the program and the community. The director says: “I can lose some teachers, but I cannot lose my O’odham staff, for they are our vital link, giving us credibility in the community as well as greatly enhancing our communication, understanding and attendance. Sandy Gutierrez and Barbara Francisco are incredible workers. Along with Keith Norris, an outstanding teacher, and Ida Norris, another excellent teacher, our O’odham staff serve at the heart of the program, giving their talents and much wisdom to us all.” The need to find people who will travel to work in the high school and be on campus for long hours and weekends presents a constant challenge to staffing the program. Students develop connections to staff, and often it is

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 4 that connection that keeps them coming to the program. Although there is a late bus at 6:00 p.m., if students miss the bus a staff member must stay with them (usually one of the two program aides). We rely on the support and sacrifices made by our wonderful and incredibly dedicated bus drivers to stay so late – otherwise we literally could not run this program. Very few Tohono O’odham teachers are available, and the current federal/state requirements for Highly Qualified Teacher certification add an additional barrier. Four of the staff are Philippine teachers on an extended work exchange. Staff collaborates through curriculum planning and by weaving standards from different areas into a topic.

Professional Staff reports that training in Marzano and other “best practices” of development instruction, PLATO training, vocabulary techniques, non-linguistic representations, and curriculum mapping, were the most useful professional development that helped them impact student achievement.

Continuity across Continuity in the program during the year, and from year-to-year, ensures grade levels that students have a consistent, safe, supportive network of adults and resources on which they can learn to depend. The students complain when the program is not available during holidays or school breaks. In the small, closely knit community, almost everyone knows someone who is in the program. Many students start at the middle school and continue for their entire high school career. The director works closely with the regular classroom teachers to ensure students’ needs are met and no one “falls through the cracks,” especially between middle and high school.

Program evaluation The program director and staff review student AIMS scores and credits earned each year to determine the effectiveness of the program. The director and the Tohono O’odham aides also continually check in with teachers and students to find out how classes are working and how well students are responding. As the school counselor, the director also has access to students’ grades and attendance records.

Program environment

Attendance The Tohono O’odham aides play a key role in encouraging students to attend school. They talk with students and family informally, either by calling or by making home visits, as soon as the student is noticed missing. “We need to focus more on attendance strategies. We plan to do this next year through an emphasis on attendance in classes with specific vocational competencies that integrate math and language arts standards. We need to

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 5 help students understand better the link between their academic success, tutoring, and attendance” (middle school teacher). At the middle school level, the program has a rule that students cannot attend if they ditch regular classes or have a discipline referral for the day. Since the program comes at the end of the day and on Saturdays, this serves as a great incentive for students to attend classes and manage their behavior, especially when career field trips are rewarded for those with consistent attendance.

Safety and discipline The location of the school in a vast rural area adds challenges to keeping students safe and feeling connected. The director’s office and other program classrooms serve as socially “safe” places for students to gather. As the school is near an international border, the district, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the U.S. Border Patrol provide security.

Support and caring “We sincerely care about the students. Even during special events when there is no tutoring after school, students will just appear (and object if we say the session is cancelled). This is due to our great relationship with them. They always want the tutoring.” A staff member reports: “The integration of our projects, such as bookmaking and musical activities, gives us a different way to approach students and a different environment in which students open up.” A high-school teacher says, “We really try and build a personal relationship with the students we serve. For example, we take time to talk with students about their personal lives and what they see for themselves in the future.”

Student-teacher The project director emphasizes the importance of building relationships relationships with students, teachers, and the larger community. “Since this program is voluntary and requires (due to transportation issues) that students stay on campus until at least 6 p.m. (and they may not get home until 8 p.m.), we literally must have good relationships if we want the program to succeed at all. The personal relationship is the key to successful outcomes. Some of the teachers and staff have extraordinary, caring relationships with at-risk students. There are students who literally would not be in school were it not for these teachers and staff.” Staff turnover at the high school and lack of Native teachers and role models makes relationships difficult to build. Students need consistency and generally withhold their trust for the first year until they see that a teacher has made a commitment to stay and work with them.

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 6 Parent and family The project director, who is Anglo, emphasizes that she could not recruit involvement and keep students in the program without the support of her two Tohono O’odham community liaisons. Both have helped bridge relationships between the school district and the community, which have a historically estranged relationship. Each aide works from early in the morning until late in the evening to make sure the building is open for students. They monitor student attendance each day, and if a student begins to show absences, they track them down—sometimes at home or the grocery store —and ask why. If the aides learn of family or other problems, they will work with the director to connect them to behavioral health or other social services. The aides and the director make it part of their job to know the families, stories, backgrounds, and events of each student’s life. The program invites parents to events and open houses and makes home visits. One teacher says: “It is important to give positive feedback to parents, too, about what is going on in the after-school program. We always tell them when students are improving.”

Partnerships and As most everything in the district runs on a shoestring budget, the director linkages of the program relies heavily on partnerships with many agencies in the community to provide services, training, transportation, and financial support to students. Typically, the director asks directly for the input and help of these partners and finds that they are very supportive. One partnership we observed in action was the after-school Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program, a national program for minority youth operated by the office of Early Academic Outreach at the University of Arizona (http://web.arizona.edu/~arizonamesa/). Approximately 20 students worked in cooperative small groups to investigate the patterns of light reflecting off multiple mirrors using hand- held lasers and other hands-on manipulatives.

Prevention and social The program offers individual and group sessions and also refers students services and families to the community service agencies. At the same time, the director and her staff are very attentive to the needs and experiences of their students and are often the first to hear of problems. The director has a degree as a counselor, as well. The director believes the academic counseling she does with students is critical. Most students’ parents did not go to high school but expect students to graduate in four years, regardless of whether or not they passed classes, earned credit, or passed AIMS. The director helps both students and parents to understand the steps involved in building a vision

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 7 of each student’s success in school and life.

Academics

AIMS Intervention Before the program, teachers often used materials that either did not cover areas tested on the AIMS or covered the areas after the AIMS test was over. Now the school has newer texts in math and literacy that are more focused on the Arizona standards. Staff complete a curriculum mapping process each year to ensure these are covered before the tests. In order to participate in the rest of the programs, students must take mathematics tutoring for AIMS and mandates language arts tutoring when there is staff available. Students use PLATO learning technology to practice skills in addition to their work in regular and after-school classes . Students who have not passed AIMS are mandated to spend a portion of their time focused on tutoring in the skills they lack. Multiple presentations were given to students and parents about the importance of passing AIMS, the information covered by AIMS, and typical testing questions. Outreach to students in younger grades helped them identify the skills they needed to focus on and improve.

Curriculum Every aspect of the students’ experience in Indian Oasis is designed to reinforce students’ development and practice of basic skills across the Arizona standards. Teachers build explicit connections between academic skills and those skills that students will need for life: how to manage money, read the newspaper, look for jobs, take care of their health, etc. An arts-related program, Arts Reach, supports reluctant readers and writers in an after-school setting. This past year, the Arts Reach instructor brought the Comic Book Project (http://www.comicbookproject.org/), an arts-based literacy program, to students at Indian Oasis. The instructor notes that when after-school activities were called the “tutoring program” students would not come. Now they are called the “gifted program,” which attracted a group of students who then got their peers to attend, as well. In one special education tutoring program after school, students worked with a local author of a children’s gardening book to develop their use of expressive language and poetry. Because the native O’odham language uses limited adjectives in comparison to English, this helps with a particular need in students’ language development. Credit recovery is one focus of the program. After-school tutors and computer-based tutorial programs enable students to catch up on their

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 8 credits and complete high school with their peers.

Instructional Research-based, instructional strategies (e.g., Marzano) and opportunities strategies for one-on-one tutoring and support make the most difference for these students. Teachers strive to use materials and resources that will engage students in learning and that will help build rapport with them, including culturally sensitive materials. A middle-school teacher reports that effective classroom management, coupled with student-centered, hands-on learning and differentiated instruction, works for the students. Students also want to integrate technology into their educational goals. Staff are always on the lookout for innovative, “fun” strategies that engage reluctant learners. As one middle school teacher says: “We are always looking for ways to let the students hunger for education.” Middle School students particularly enjoy the Orchard programs to help skills. Particularly relevant are the materials that emphasize Native studies, whether through social studies, science, math or literature. Websites such as www.cradleboard.org help students value Native contributions to the world.

Assessment Students in the program are assessed according to mastery of the learning strategies goals in each content area. Assessment is based on observation, performance, and testing, including the AIMS test for high school students. Students must achieve at least 80% on the instructional software to earn credit.

Resources The program has access to all the resources available at the high school, though these are typically sparse. However, the school does have a very up-to-date computer laboratory and access to the Nation’s vocational and technical program resources. The automotive shop is a popular resource for students who enjoy tinkering with cars and developing marketable skills.

Technology A computer laboratory in the high school is well outfitted with about 40 computers and an LCD projection system. Some students in the program take advantage of the Nation’s Department of Information and Technology (DIT) employment and training program. Two students with the DIT program presented a PowerPoint presentation they had developed to teach others about the basic anatomy of a computer. The presentation, including text, diagrams, and animation, described not only the basic parts, but also the logic of the operating system and the

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 9 reasoning behind the design of most systems. PLATO training and implementation has been successful for students who need to build skills in math.

Vocational, leadership, workplace, and life skills

Community service Very few students are fluent in the Tohono O’odham language—most of and service learning their parents attended BIA schools and were required to speak only English. Ida Norris, a Tohono O’odham native speaker, teaches language and indigenous crafts, as well as computer technology. Students in one class made traditional rattles out of gourds, then learned the traditional songs to sing at the Nation’s senior center/assisted living home. Students are encouraged to volunteer at different community events, such as the Diabetes Conference. Their participation is often limited by whether transportation is available.

Mentoring The program has no formal mentoring services yet but will partner this year with the Boys and Girls home to provide this. O’odham guest speakers are invited to the program, they encourage students to participate in community events and leadership activities. Teachers and staff serve informally as mentors. As the director said, “It is always wonderful when an O’odham student can be mentored by an O’odham adult.”

Vocation/Career Indian Oasis pays special attention to reaching out to highly-at-risk students and dropouts through its vocational programs. As the program director says, “Saying ‘come to school’ doesn’t appeal as much as ‘come learn a trade.’” The math teacher at the high school also runs the auto- repair training program, where many students, boys and girls, can learn employable skills while receiving adult mentoring. The program works with the district to get students access to career testing, internships, job shadowing, career portfolios, and volunteer events. However, a funding crisis at the district limited most of these services and transportation in the past year. Several students are continuing in post-secondary schools to study vocations or college, such as Tohono O’odham Community College, Haskell All Indian Nations College, Pima Community College, and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, a four-year college. The IAIA is a multi-tribal center for preservation and contemporary expression of American Indian and Alaska Native arts. Indian Oasis graduates attend IAIA to learn arts and museum studies..

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 10 The language arts teacher, who retired once but then returned, emphasizes that she constantly connects skills to students’ lives and future jobs. For example, in language arts class, students read job ads every day, looking for which jobs pay more or less.

Transitional services

Placement in higher We met a group of students who get up at 4 a.m. (to leave at 7 a.m.) every education Saturday and drive to Pima Community College East to attend the Pima Upward Bound program. The president of the club, a young woman who almost failed in eighth grade, is now coordinating a contest to generate a culturally significant name for the club with a school-wide contest. Another group of students used funding for the program to attend courses at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Nick, the 2007 Arizona Daily Star Senior Achiever Scholarship Recipient, says, “Where else could I have the opportunity to serve the people and make a difference?” About 40 students graduate each year, and the director estimates about half of them try to attend community college or university off the reservation. Many students choose to commute over 100 miles daily to attend classes at the local community college in Tucson, but the cost and availability of transportation are always a challenge.

Placement in jobs Students in the program are encouraged and helped to take advantage of jobs and job training through the Employment and Training Office as well as different governmental departments on the Tohono O’odham Nation. The director and staff also use their personal networks extensively to find job opportunities for students. However, distance from employers and lack of transportation make this a difficult challenge for many students.

Site visit information

Claire Brown and Elisabeth Roberts from LeCroy & Milligan Associates conducted a day-long site visit to the Indian Oasis/Baboquivari High School in May, 2007. Data for this site profile comes from a combination of field notes, interviews, document review, and online surveys.

Staff interviewed Deborah Grunloh, Program Director Sandy Gutierrez, Tohono O’odham Community Liaison Barbara Francisco, Tohono O’odham Community Liaison

ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007 11 Ida Norris, Teacher of Native Culture Kevin Lopez, Special Education Teacher for ArtsReach Dr. Kay Edwards We would like to thank the many teachers and students whom we met during our visit to the program for allowing us to observe their classes and taking the time to talk with us.

Students interviewed Nick, Jolene, Davina, Callum, Frank, Micela, Sianna, Jamie, Ivan. Thanks also to all the students whom we briefly met or talked with during classes.

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