Excerpt
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): Over the last few years, a number of academic gains have been made by historically disadvantaged students, including African-Americans and Latinos. But Native American students have lost ground since 2008, with only about half earning a diploma.
In Alaska, an effort is under way to turn that around by creating more teachers within the Native community.
The “NewsHour's” April Brown reports as part of our American Graduate series.
APRIL BROWN (NewsHour): Alaska is often called the last frontier. A phrase that seems fitting for the town of Dillingham, which sits on a remote inlet near Bristol Bay.
For thousands of years, the area has been a hub for the Yup’ik people. Today, more than 50 percent of the roughly 2,000 residents are Alaska Natives, who continue to survive on subsistence traditions passed down through the generations. Home addresses are not a must here because everyone picks up their mail at the post office.
And when school begins in the fall, finding Alaska Native students, who have graduation rates that hover around 50 percent statewide, can be a challenge.
INA BOUKER, teacher: Sometimes, families go moose hunting in the fall, right when school starts. And families will take their kids and go to moose camp for a week, and so they will miss a whole week of school.
APRIL BROWN: Alaska Native Ina Bouker has been a teacher in Dillingham’s schools for more than 30 years, and she’s well aware of the challenges and the legacy of mistrust that exists around education here.
Bouker was raised in the nearby village of Manokotak, at a time when American Indians and Alaska Natives were still being educated by mostly white teachers and told to shed their cultural identities.
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