TITLE VII IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Last Updated: 21 January 1999

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BELIEF STATEMENTS
DIRECTORY
GOALS
OBJECTIVES
MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT & DEVELOPMENT
ACTION PLANS

BELIEF STATEMENTS

The San Juan School District is committed to providing every individual student equal access to educational opportunity. The district affirms that each student requiring Alternative Language Services should have, in addition to or in combination with other educational opportunities, access to a program that develops English language proficiency through one of the district’s language development programs. Additionally, the district recognizes a commitment to utilize a variety of resources to meet the educational needs of those students and to coordinate the various programs relating to educational services for such students.

In addition to developing English proficiency, the district is committed to developing fluency and literacy in the district’s Heritage Languages. The district recognizes that the language and culture of a student greatly affects his or her way of perceiving self and the world. Cultural and linguistic knowledge enhance the student’s overall learning ability and creativity. The district considers bilingual proficiency as an irreplaceable asset.

DIRECTORY

San Juan School District Personnel:

Independent Consultants:

Paradox Productions (Clay Hamilton & Ann Egger--software development & graphics)

Desert Graphics (Stephanie DeGeorge--classroom liaison, computer graphics, & publishing)

GOALS

The district’s Title VII System-wide Improvement Grant was awarded in July, 1997 for 1.69 million dollars over a period of five years. The purpose of this US Department of Education grant is to implement district-wide bilingual education programs. Bilingual education aims at developing academic ability across the curriculum in two languages.

The 1997-98 school year was the planning year for the grant in which the framework for the implementation of the programs was established. We are currently in the second year of the grant.

The goals of the this grant are:

GOAL 1.

To progress 100% of students of potential English proficiency (PEP students) to full English proficiency (FEP students), as measured by nationally validated standards for oral fluency and reading and writing competency after six years of participation in the program.

GOAL 2.

To progress 100% of students participating in an English/Heritage Language (E/HL) program to full Navajo fluency, and to progress 100% of students participating in an English/Heritage Language Literacy (E/HLL) program to full Navajo proficiency (fluency and literacy) after six years of participation in the program. (See the district’s Language Development Plan for definitions of these programs.)

GOAL 3.

To fully utilize Native American cultural and linguistic programs to encourage and develop students’ overall educational goals and thereby decrease the dropout rate for PEP students by 25%, relative to their fully English proficient peers.

GOAL 4.

To fully utilize Native American cultural and linguistic programs to encourage and develop students’ overall educational goals and thereby increase the academic achievement of PEP students by 25%, relative to their fully English proficient peers.

These goals are supported by 12 specific objectives. Each objective has an associated action plan:

OBJECTIVES

OBJECTIVE 1. To acquire a technologically advanced, comprehensive English literacy program for grades pre-K to 12, with accompanying staff development and training materials district-wide, including an ESL component for Spanish speakers.

OBJECTIVE 2. To develop and implement a comprehensive Navajo language curriculum for grades K-4 based on computer software, self-published bilingual books, and other methods and materials designed to teach students to read, write, and speak Navajo by May, 2002.

OBJECTIVE 3. To utilize best available computer technology in software development and desktop publishing to make improved teaching materials available for all grade levels of the Navajo language programs by May, 2002.

OBJECTIVE 4. To implement Native American cultural programs to improve the curriculum guidelines and content with respect to the cultural aspect of bilingual education district-wide by May, 1999.

OBJECTIVE 5. To implement professional development that will allow for effective dual language programs, including development of fluency and literacy in Navajo. At least 30 staff members will be certified by May 2002, as measured by tests recognized by the Navajo Nation.

OBJECTIVE 6. To coordinate fully the district’s bilingual program with all other educational programs, including the district’s Title I, Special Education, Title IX, and Goals 2000 programs.

OBJECTIVE 7. To provide annually for a bilingual conference and a language fair to disseminate information about the district’s program for community members, staff, and other interested personnel.

OBJECTIVE 8. To provide a "Parents as Teachers" program for minority children aged 0-5 and their parents.

OBJECTIVE 9. To implement regular adult classes for community members aimed at bilingual fluency.

OBJECTIVE 10. To utilize fully the district’s Indian education committees and other local campus parent advisory committees to aid in evaluating and making suggestions for improving the program and to serve as resource persons and volunteers.

OBJECTIVE 11. To monitor collectively implementation of the program through inspections of classrooms, verifying language of instruction, materials used, instruction methodology, student grouping for instruction, participation in various programs.

OBJECTIVE 12. To monitor individually the performance of each student requiring alternative language services through the following instruments: State Core Tests (grades 1-6), Six-Trait Writing Assessment, IPT Scores, SAT Scores (grades 3-11), grade point averages (secondary grades), and participation in the Free or Reduced Lunch Program, Special Education Program, or identification as homeless.

The district's Language Development Plan was developed with collaborative efforts from the Navajo Nation, with valuable input from the campuses of the district. The Title VII grant provides some of the means to support the Language Development Plan.

Viewed collectively, these goals and objectives involve three major areas of development with the Title VII grant:

1. Materials Development;
2. Professional Development; and
3. Community Involvement & Development.

MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

Curriculum Development

This plan proposes a grassroots, community effort in developing effective and appropriate teaching materials and programs that have a special emphasis on the heritage languages and cultures of San Juan County. Instead of just hiring outside consultants to write the curricula and create these programs, this plan proposes utilizing the classroom experience of our teachers, the creativity of our students, and the knowledge of our community members to develop and bring together materials that can best benefit the educational opportunities of San Juan County.

The idea is that community-based groups can assemble materials that are already being utilized by teachers, as well as to help create new curricula. As the raw materials and ideas for these projects are coming together, the Bilingual/Title VII program will provide as much assistance as necessary to edit, clean up, add graphics, print, or computerize, where appropriate. These materials will then be plugged into a comprehensive, grade-specific, K-12 curriculum framework based on the state core. The district’s bilingual program will organize the conceptual and technological frameworks to bring all these efforts together in developing content, implementing projects, and working with teachers, students, and community members district-wide to make these programs a reality.

It is envisioned that the materials developed will be multilingual. Many of these curriculum projects would involve developing plug-in units that will fit within the scope of existing state core requirements for content area classes. These units will therefore be grade-specific and will address the state core requirements from the perspective of the history, culture, worldview, geography, and traditions of the primary heritage groups in the county. These units will reference and utilize other materials being developed by the district as well as materials from other available sources.

For example, a plug-in unit might be developed for a third grade science class. Such a unit would start with the state core requirements for science in the third grade. Then, Navajo-specific lessons would be developed that relate to the state core standards. Some of these Navajo materials could be based on units of the Diné Culture and Language Curriculum Framework and could be supplemented with materials from classroom teachers as well as materials already available within the district or elsewhere. The Title VII program, with assistance from students, would then edit, illustrate, and lay out these materials for printing, or possibly even for CD-ROM development. Finally, much of this material could be added to our curriculum web page for distribution and feedback.

Many teachers have already assembled materials that they use in their classroom every day. In many cases, these materials have been collected over their years of experience with what works best in the classroom. Other teachers or community members may have ideas for a project that they would like to see implemented, but have, as yet, only conceptualized these ideas. Whether the projects involve cleaning up, editing, illustrating and re-formatting existing materials and methods, or whether the project would need to be started from scratch, there are many learning opportunities available for students to participate in the development process. These projects may propose book development, video, CD-ROM, audio, stand-alone curricula, plug-in units, etc. Additionally, parents and community members may be interested in participating in the development of some of these programs.

This plan proposes a cooperative effort where teachers volunteer their experience and ideas to help in areas in which they are interested. The Title VII grant and the media center would assist in developing selected projects with available resources and personnel. The details of each project will have to be worked out individually, taking into account the project’s scope and potential educational benefits.

Support Services & Software Development

The district’s bilingual/Title VII programs will provide extensive services to support the development of these teaching materials. These services will include:

• Providing a Navajo curriculum consultant to advise and help provide direction and leadership.
• Providing a technology consultant to assist with developing technology formats for curriculum materials.
• Providing a graphics consultant to work with classes, students, and teachers district-wide in putting the materials they develop into a multi-media format and doing page layout for printed materials.
• Coordinating with the media center to provide graphics, layout, printing, etc.
• Providing funding to development groups for projects.

In addition to providing support to groups that would like to take the initiative on various projects, the Title VII program will itself be developing the software, organizational, and technological frameworks that will assist these projects. The software projects the district is developing include the following:

Computer-Assisted Process Writing Program

The San Juan Writing Project is a multimedia tool to help teach writing. The program focuses on writing as a process, rather than as a product. The steps of the writing process mirror those of the process for higher order thinking and problem solving. By teaching good writing, students also learn good thinking. The program will be tied to the writing components of the Utah State Core Curriculum and will reinforce the elements of good writing that are measured in the district’s adopted Six-Trait Writing Analysis.

This program will help students to plan, draft, revise, proofread, and publish stories, reports, letters, newsletters, essays, research papers, and poetry. The program will function on both Mac and PC platforms and will be networked so that students can log on and access their materials from any workstation. The process writing program will be bilingual in English and Navajo, allowing materials to be created in either language. The process writing program could be used in virtually any class, at any grade level to assist with written assignments. An elementary version of the process writing program will be developed first, followed by an intermediate and then an advanced version.

The program will incorporate 4 main components:

1. Multimedia Writing Prompts: These include video and audio clips, still pictures, and text prompts that help students get ideas for writing;
2. Teaching Tools: These include tools that help teach writing such as models for organizing ideas, and tools to help students learn about literacy, such as understanding word families, rhymes, etc.
3. Student Component: This element will store the student’s own work, word lists, etc.
4. Evaluation & Management: This will analyze student performance and identify areas for teacher intervention.

San Juan Heritage Map Project

The Heritage Map Project is an interactive, multi-media, multilingual, CD-ROM project designed to teach about the history, geography, culture, botany, geology, and place names of our area. The Heritage Map program is a framework for integrating and presenting research from various classes all over the district. As teachers get their classes working on projects of local interest these materials can be placed in a multimedia format by the students themselves and incorporated into the program. The developers and other consultants will work directly with interested classes teaching them about these technologies as they study the subject matter. The various components of the Heritage Map will also be linked to the Utah State Core Curriculum

District Website

The district’s new website is a powerful tool for enhancing communications and resource sharing. The goal of this website is to incorporate as many tools, ideas, and resources as possible to help teachers do their job. The website, which is currently under construction, will contain a strong bilingual component for distributing downloadable files (stories, fonts, and other teaching materials and tools) for printing and using in the classroom. The website also has the complete catalog from the district media center that contains a wealth of items concerning the Navajo language and culture.

Printed & Other Materials

Book projects and other printable items dealing with bilingual education are also being funded through the district’s Title VII grant. A graphics and layout specialist is available to work with classes or individuals to edit, illustrate, layout, and print stories, collections, or other curriculum materials.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

San Juan School District is involved in a cooperative effort with the Navajo Language Program at Diné College to deliver a comprehensive professional development package for the Navajo language, literacy, and culture to our teachers. This program involves a group of classes offered by Diné College for 17 hours of credit. These classes prepare our staff to pass the Navajo Proficiency Test developed and administered by the Navajo Nation. This test measures abilities in spoken and written Navajo.

The courses offered by Diné College include the following:

The school district provides the tuition and books for these classes. The staff members who take them receive college credit plus a modest stipend for their efforts. Classes are currently being held in the afternoons and evenings at various locations in the school district. An intensive summer course for 10 credit hours is in the planning.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT & DEVELOPMENT

The Title VII bilingual education project recognizes that community involvement is critical to the success of these programs. Title VII funds provide resources for a Parent as Teachers program that is administered by the Utah Navajo Development Council. This program provides in-home educational outreach services to parents of children from newborns to five years old.

The district’s annual Bilingual Conference is also funded from Title VII. This conference provides information to teachers, community members, and other interested personnel concerning the district’s programs and brings in speakers from other organizations to discuss trends and ideas from around the country in bilingual education.

Adult Navajo language classes for community members are provided and all classes available from Diné College in the district are also open to community members for no tuition.

The district is committed to involving community members in the various teaching materials development projects also. Community members will be encouraged to participate in determining the content of these various projects.

The Title VII Bilingual Education Project coordinates fully with the District's new 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. This program provides educational and cultural opportunities for students, their parents, and other community members after normal school hours.

ACTION PLANS

ACTION PLAN #1—English Literacy and ESL Software

ACTION PLAN #2—K-4 Heritage Language Curriculum

ACTION PLAN #3—Other Teaching Materials

ACTION PLAN #4—Cultural Programs

ACTION PLAN #5—Professional Development

ACTION PLAN #6—Coordination with Other Programs

ACTION PLAN #7—Bilingual Conference

ACTION PLAN #8—Parents as Teachers

ACTION PLAN #9—Adult Classes

ACTION PLAN #10—Parent Advisory Committees

ACTION PLAN #11—Monitoring & Verification

ACTION PLAN #12—Database

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BELIEF STATEMENTS
DIRECTORY
GOALS
OBJECTIVES
MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT & DEVELOPMENT
ACTION PLANS

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This page last updated January 21, 1999