Native Education Resources for the Southwest Region
Preface |
Written by Nancy Fuentes (1999) |
The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) is one of ten regional educational laboratories (RELs) whose regions combine to cover the United States. SEDL's region includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Data from the 1990 U.S. Census, which grouped American Indians with Alaska Natives (Eskimos and Aleuts), reveal markedly different populations of Native Americans among the five states in SEDL's region. Oklahoma has more than any other state in the U.S. (252,420), and American Indians make up the largest minority group in Oklahoma's public schools. While the absolute number of Native Americans in New Mexico (134,355, according to the U.S. Census) is not as high as in Oklahoma, New Mexico has the second highest percentage of Native Americans, second only to Alaska in the entire U.S. (15.6 percent in Alaska, 8.9 percent in New Mexico, and 8.0 percent in Oklahoma). Even Texas ranks high in terms of absolute numbers, with 65,877 Native Americans according to the U.S. Census, although this is a small percentage of the state's total population (0.4 percent). Arkansas is the state in SEDL's region with the lowest number of Native Americans (12,773 according to the 1990 U.S. Census). Native Americans also make up a relatively small population in Louisiana, where they number 18,541 (1990 U.S. Census). Appendix A lists contact information for tribes in the southwest region. Population data for the five states served by SEDL are depicted graphically in Appendix B.
As part of an initiative designed to serve Native Americans, SEDL published the 1994 directory Native Education Resources in the Southwestern Region, which was a companion to a national directory published in 1993 by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools (ERIC/CRESS). ERIC/CRESS, which is the ERIC clearinghouse responsible for information on the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives, published a new edition of its national directory, simply titled Native Education Directory, in 1997.
Like its predecessor, this 1998 edition of the regional directory is a companion to the national directory published by ERIC/CRESS. While the national directory identifies educational resources for all Native Americans, including American Indians, Alaska Natives, and indigenous groups in Hawaii and the American territories, this regional directory focuses more specifically on resources that might be helpful to educators of American Indian students in SEDL's five-state region. The national directory also includes several types of organizations such as government agencies and higher education institutions that are not a part of this regional directory. Moreover, many of the organizations in the national directory focus on economic development, social services, substance abuse, and related topics while this regional directory concentrates specifically on education at the K-12 level. Finally, the national directory is generally organized by type of organization whereas this directory is, for the most part, organized by the resources available from these organizations.
SEDL staff identified Native education resources for the directory in several ways, beginning with the 1994 regional directory and the 1997 national directory mentioned above. Staff reviewed many materials on Native education that they had collected over the last five years from various sources, including conferences, meetings, and mailings. Staff kept an eye out for Native education resources through two relevant listservs and browsed web sites on the Internet as well.
For each relevant organization, SEDL generated a simple entry form with two parts: contact information and a program description. SEDL completed as much of the form as possible before sending it to the organization for additional information and verification in August 1998. In some cases, SEDL did not have enough information to draft a program description, and in many of these cases, the organization failed to provide a program description when it returned the form. This directory includes only resources for which descriptions were prepared and verified.
We wish to thank all those who submitted information for this regional directory. We also wish to express our appreciation to ERIC/CRESS, especially Ms. Patricia Hammer, for allowing us to use the 1997 Native Education Directory as a major source of information on resources for tribal people in SEDL's region. This national directory may be obtained in print form or accessed online as follows:
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED401079
Above all, we hope SEDL's updated directory will provide teachers and other educators who serve American Indian students in the Southwest with ready access to organizations and resources that can help them meet the educational needs of this often underserved population.
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