American Indian Bilingual Education. Navajo Reading Study Progress Report No. 24.

Overview & Synopsis

Bilingual education programs have been established in such Native American languages as Aleut, Yupik, Tlingit, Haida, Athabaskan, Cherokee, Lakota, Navajo, Papago, Pomo, Passamaquoddy, Seminole, Tewa, and Zuni. These programs include the: Choctaw Bilingual Education Program, Northern Cheyenne Bilingual Education Program, Lakota Bilingual Education Project, Rough Rock Demonstration School Bilingual/Bicultural Project, Ramah Navajo High School Bilingual Education Program, Papago Bilingual Education Program, Seminole Bilingual Project; San Juan Pueblo Tewa Bilingual Project, and Wisconsin Native American Languages Project. These programs are funded by three main sources of Federal funds--the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I, the 1968 ESEA Title VII (Bilingual Education Act), and Title IV of the 1972 Education Amendments (Indian Education Act). A model proposed for the description and analysis of bilingual programs tries to map all relevant factors onto a single integrated structure and to suggest some of the lines of interaction (see RC 009 343). This report describes 17 of the currently existing Native American Bilingual Education programs. Using the proposed model (which is briefly described) as a guide, the differences among the 17 programs are discussed. (NQ)