STAR School’s 3-to-3rd Project is a unique and innovative program providing high-quality, culturally relevant early childhood education for our students from Age 3 to Grade 3. Recent research has increasingly pointed out the importance of early learning in a child’s development and the long-range impact of this early learning on future school success. In particular, it is becoming clear that early math learning experiences have a profound influence on not only later math success but also later success in reading. Unfortunately, research tells us, children who are behind early in math tend to stay behind. It is for these reasons that we created our 3-to-3rd program to provide high quality math learning experiences for children from age 3 to grade 3. This model has proven so effective that we have developed this multimedia guide demonstrating the core elements of our program for other schools serving similar communities to reference.

The STAR 3-to-3rd Project began with the recognition that children entering Kindergarten at STAR School already were well behind in their school readiness, especially in mathematics. The STAR Early Learning Center was created to address that problem. STAR chose to adopt and adapt a Montessori approach for our model for its high-quality materials and because it had been demonstrated to be effective with students similar to ours. We adapted the model to incorporate our foundational core value system, which comes from Navajo Peacemaking, with a focus on the 4R’s – Relationship, Respect, Responsibility, and Reasoning. We integrated Navajo language and culture into the program as well as our place-based education focus, connecting us to our place and our community. We also added curriculum elements that research has found valuable in early child development, such as a focus on math, make-believe play materials, and supplementing the curriculum with sign language. The blending of STAR School’s commitment to K’e, the inter-relatedness of all people and all nature, and our focus of honoring relationships and other cultural and language values, with the Montessori pedagogical orientation and materials has proven to be the essential element for this program to take root and grow in our community.

Within a few years of the Early Learning Center’s beginning, the Kindergarten was integrated with the preschool, creating a P/K unit called Ałchíní Bighan (Children’s House) that proved even more successful in preparing the children for elementary school. The next year the first and second grade unit integrated many elements of the P/K model into its approach and soon the third grade joined P/K and 1st/2nd in their educational model, with each educator contributing to the STAR 3-to-3rd Project Model.

The 3-to-3rd project has proven itself efficacious, evidenced here from the STAR Early Learning Center Summative Evaluation by Dr. Derek Price. “Data on student achievement from this program for the past seven years indicate that the preschool students who attended full time achieved an average of two years’ growth each school year in math concepts on the Woodcock–Johnson assessment, and .33 SD growth on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). It is important to note that the average score for children was one year delayed at the point they entering the program. This is similar to reports of entering levels of achievement for Native children in other regions of the country as well. During one year in the STAR Early Learning program, students were able to develop their skills to their appropriate age level, thus being ready for Kindergarten at the end of preschool, with some being advanced beyond the beginning of Kindergarten. As we have followed the longitudinal effects of the graduates of the preschool program through the primary grades, testing results indicate that those students who went through the high quality preschool program continued to perform better than their non-high quality preschool peers, particularly in Kindergarten.”

This ground-up, evidence-based evolution of STAR’s approach to education for age 3 to grade 3 has been successful for us. Other schools may choose, however, to implement their program changes to varying degrees or in some other sequence. Our hope is that the information contained in the multi-media training manual and workshop will be useful to other schools as they also seek to improve education for indigenous children.

For more information or to inquire about an upcoming workshop please contact:

info@starschool.org

Also: click here for Films about "STAR 3-to-3rd Project"

B) Further Readings for "STAR 3-to-3rd Project Manual"

This is a collection of citations -- with abstracts for research articles and literature -- relevant to each of the nine chapters in the "STAR 3-to-3rd Project Workshop Manual", arranged by chapter. Please feel free to use this collection of articles -- to pursue further information and understandings about the subjects covered in the STAR 3-to-3rd Project. Literature Review by Rachel Tso with contributions from Derek Price, Mark Sorensen, David Melville, and Nicole Burkhardt.

Also: click here for Films about "STAR 3-to-3rd Project"

Ch1) STAR "3-to-3rd Project" Introduction

NAEYC. “Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8.” Position statement of the National Asssociation for the Education of Young Children. (2009): n. page. Print. <http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/position statement Web.pdf>.

“The purpose of this position statement is to promote excellence in early childhood education by providing a framework for best practice. Grounded both in the research on child development and learning and in the knowledge base regarding educational effectiveness, the framework outlines practice that promotes young children’s optimal learning and development. Since its first adoption in 1986, this framework has been known as developmentally appropriate practice.”

Klein, L.G., & J. Knitzer. 2006. Effective preschool curricula and teaching strategies. Pathways to Early School Success, Issue Brief No. 2. New York: Columbia University, National Center for Children in Poverty; Brooks-Gunn, J., C.E. Rouse, & S. McLanahan.

“A special focus on curriculum and teaching strategies in preschool programs is important for two reasons. First, many low-income children in early learning settings fall behind early and remain very much behind their peers in reading and math. Second, we are learning that closing the achievement gap depends greatly on providing teachers with the professional development and supports that can help them more effectively promote early literacy and early math in the context of nurturing and emotionally supportive classrooms.”

Duncan, Greg, Chantelle Dowsett, et al. “School Readiness and Later Achievement.” Developmental Psychology. 43.6 (2007): 1428–1446. Print.

“Using 6 longitudinal data sets, the authors estimate links between three key elements of school readiness—school-entry academic, attention, and socio-emotional skills and later school reading and math achievement. In an effort to isolate the effects of these school-entry skills, the authors ensured that most of their regression models control for cognitive, attention, and socio-emotional skills measured prior to school entry, as well as a host of family background measures. Across all 6 studies, the strongest predictors of later achievement are school-entry math, reading, and attention skills. A meta-analysis of the results shows that early math skills have the greatest predictive power, followed by reading and then attention skills. By contrast, measures of socio-emotional behaviors, including internalizing and externalizing problems and social skills, were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance, even among children with relatively high levels of problem behavior. Patterns of association were similar for boys and girls and for children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.”

Burkham, D., and V. Lee. “Inequality at the starting gate Social background differences in achievement as children begin school.” Economic Policy Institute. (2002): n. page. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http://www.epi.org/publication/books_starting_gate/>.

“This report shows that the inequalities of children’s cognitive ability are substantial right from “the starting gate.” Disadvantaged children start kindergarten with significantly lower cognitive skills than their more advantaged counterparts. These same disadvantaged children are then placed in low-resource schools, magnifying the initial inequality. These conclusions are based on analysis of the U.S. Department of Education’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K)-a recent and comprehensive data collection effort that provides a nationally representative picture of kindergarten students. We report observed differences in young children’s achievement scores in literacy and mathematics by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES) as they begin kindergarten. We also explore differences by social background in a wide array of children’s family and home conditions and activities. Our analysis leads to several conclusions relevant for education policy”

Aber, Larry, Kenneth Burnley, et al. “Beyond School Reform: Improving the Educational Outcomes of Low-Income Children.” Report to the Spencer Foundation from the Project Team Consisting of Larry Aber, Kenneth Burnley, David K. Cohen, David L. Featherman, Deborah Phillips, Stephen Raudenbush, and Brian Rowan (Team Leader). (2006): n. page. Print.

“By the high school years, American adolescents fail to achieve the proficiency levels of their international counterparts in mathematics literacy and problem solving that are the building blocks for success in a knowledge-based global economy. Students of low income, of poverty, of color and of recent immigration perform below others in their cohort. Those disparities in educational outcomes begin much earlier than in adolescence. Their roots extend into the developmental histories of children and their families within the preschool years. Current efforts to address and overcome disparities in academic readiness for children of color and of lower income during the transition into school and the early school years through curricular and instructional reform have been partially successful but difficult to sustain; they thus fail to prevent cumulative disadvantages in successive educational transitions.” <http://carss.umich.edu/content/2010/11/SpencerReport081506.pdf>.

Bowman, B., and M. Donovan. Eager to learn Educating Our Preschoolers. Washington, DC.: Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education National Research Council , Print. <http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9745&page=R1>.

“CHILDREN COME INTO THE WORLD eager to learn. The first five years of life are a time of enormous growth of linguistic, conceptual, social, emotional, and motor competence. Right from birth a healthy child is an active participant in that growth, exploring the environment, learning to communicate, and, in relatively short order, beginning to construct ideas and theories about how things work in the surrounding world. The pace of learning, however, will depend on whether and to what extent the child’s inclinations to learn encounter and engage supporting environments. There can be no question that the environment in which a child grows up has a powerful impact on how the child develops and what the child learns.”

Takanishi, Ruby, and Kristie Kauerz. “PK Inclusion: Getting Serious about a P-16 Education System.” Phi Delta Kappan. (2008): n. page. Print.

“Within the broad P-16 framework, the transition from high school to college has commanded the bulk of attention from policy makers, think tanks, foundations, and the research community in general. Immediate and long-term concerns about the skills of the American work force and global competitiveness fuel this focus. Significantly less attention has been paid to the “P” part, the first years of the P-16 continuum that pertain to young children. In this article, the authors argue that the P-3 years–from prekindergarten through the primary grades–are the cornerstone of any P-16 system. They provide a strong foundation for children’s lifelong learning, educational excellence, and eventual competitiveness in the marketplace. To ground the discussion of P-3, the authors offer brief descriptions of what P-3 might look like in policy and practice.”

Ch2) Adopting and Adapting: Finding the right approach for the STAR 3-to-3rd Model

Schonleber, Nanette S. “Hawaiian Culture-Based Education and the Montessori Approach: Overlapping Teaching Practices, Values, and Worldview.” Journal of American Indian Education 2011th ser. 50.3 (2011): 5-25.

“The purpose of this article is to describe, through the voice and experience of Native Hawaiian educators, the relationship of teaching strategies to corresponding values and underlying beliefs. Native educators share many of Montessori’s deepest values and their traditional teaching methods include many of the same techniques and strategies. Understanding the relationship of teaching strategies to values and beliefs may help Montessori teachers to hold true to their deepest values and beliefs as educators while managing the realities of the current educational landscape.”

Lillard, A. & Else-Quest, N. (2006). Evaluating Montessori education. Science, (313) pp. 1893-1894.

“Montessori education is a 100-year-old method of schooling that was first used with impoverished preschool children in Rome. The program continues to grow in popularity. Estimates indicate that more than 5000 schools in the United States—including 300 public schools and some high schools—use the Montessori program. Montessori education is characterized by multi-age classrooms, a special set of educational materials, student-chosen work in long time blocks, collaboration, the absence of grades and tests, and individual and small group instruction in both academic and social skills (1). The effectiveness of some of these elements is supported by research on human learning (2). We evaluated the social and academic impact of Montessori education. Children were studied near the end of the two most widely implemented levels of Montessori education: primary (3- to 6-year-olds) and elementary (6- to 12-year-olds). The Montessori school we studied [located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (3)], which served mainly urban minority children, was in its ninth year of operation and was recognized by the U.S. branch of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI/USA) for its good implementation of Montessori principles (4).”

Dohrmann, K. R. Outcomes for students in a Montessori program: A longitudinal study of the experience in the Milwaukee Public Schools. (2003). Association Montessori Internationale/ USA, 410 Alexander Street, Rochester, New York. 14607-1028.

“The current study compares the academic outcomes of two groups of students who graduated from the high schools of the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) during the years 1997-2001. The first group includes students who completed the 5th grade in Montessori programs at MacDowell and Greenfield schools during the years 1990-1994. The second group was a matched sample of graduates from the same high schools who did not attend Montessori schools. The MacDowell and Greenfield Montessori programs were established as public magnet schools in the mid-seventies and have consistently striven toward a high level of Montessori practice.”

http://ami-global.org/sites/all/themes/ami/files/outcomes.pdf

Dohrmann, K. R., Nishida, T. K., Gartner, A., Lipsky, D. K., & Grimm, K. (2007). High school outcomes for students in a public Montessori program. Journal of research in childhood education 22(2), p. 205.

“The study compares two groups of students who graduated from high school in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) during 1997-2001. Students who had participated in MPS Montessori programs from preschool through 5th grade were matched to a comparison group on the basis of gender, SES, race/ethnicity, and high school attended. Data from the ACT and WKCE, as well as overall and subject-specific high school grade point averages, were used in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Once a model was established, the factors were regressed on the students’ demographic characteristics and type of elementary education in a structural equation modeling framework. The Montessori group had significantly higher scores on tests associated with the math/science factor. There were no significant group differences for the factors associated with English/social studies and grade point average. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)”

Lillard, A. S. Montessori, the science behind the genius. Oxford University Press, USA, 2008. Print.

“One hundred years ago, Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy, devised a very different method of educating children, based on her observations of how they naturally learn. In Montessori, Angeline Stoll Lillard shows that science has finally caught up with Maria Montessori. Lillard presents the research behind eight insights that are foundations of Montessori education, describing how each of these insights is applied in the Montessori classroom. In reading this book, parents and teachers alike will develop a clear understanding of what happens in a Montessori classroom and, more important, why it happens and why it works. Lillard, however, does much more than explain the scientific basis for Montessori’s system: Amid the clamor for evidence-based education, she presents the studies that show how children learn best, makes clear why many traditional practices come up short, and describes an ingenious alternative that works.”

Lillard, Paula. Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood. New York: Pantheon Books, 1996. Print.

“Paula Lillard, director of a Montessori school ranging in age from 18 months to fifteen years, provides a clear and cogent introduction to the Montessori program for the elementary and later years. In detailed accounts, Lillard shows how children acquire the skills to answer their own questions, learn to manage freedom with responsibility, and maintain a high level of intellectual stimulation by using the Montessori method. This is an essential handbook for parents and teachers who have chosen the Montessori alternative for the older child.”

Montessori, Maria. The Absorbent Mind. Oxford: Clio Press, 1989. Print.

“In response to the crisis in American education, more than five thousand public and private schools across the nation have adopted the timeless Montessori Method of teaching, of which this book is the cornerstone. Written by the women whose name is synonymous worldwide with child development theory, The Absorbent Mind takes its title from the phrase that the inspired Italian doctor coined to characterize the child’s most crucial developmental stage: the first six years.”

M. Zaslow, I. Martinez- Beck, K. Tout, & T. Halle (Eds), Quality measurement in early childhood settings (pp. 77-103). Washington, DC: Brookes. “Measuring the Quality of Environmental Supports for Young Children’s Social and Emotional Competence.”

Doherty, R., R. Hilberg, A. Pinal, and R. Tharp. “Five Standards and Student Achievement.” NABE Journal of Research and Practice. Winter. (2003): n. page. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://vocserve.berkeley.edu/research/crede/pdf/nabe.pdf>.

Ch3) Supportive School Climate

Borman, G. & Overman, L. (2004). Academic resilience in mathematics among poor and minority students. The Elementary School Journal, 104(3), 177-195. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3202948.

“Abstract Based on national data from the Prospects study, we identified the individual characteristics that distinguished academically successful, or resilient, elementary school students from minority and low-socioeconomic-status (SES) backgrounds from their less successful, or non-resilient, counterparts. We also formulated and tested 4 models of the risk factors and resilience-promoting features of schools: (a) effective schools; (b) peer group composition; (c) school resources; and (d) the supportive school community model. Our results suggested that minority students from low-SES backgrounds were exposed to greater risks and fewer resilience-promoting conditions than otherwise similar low-SES White students. Results, though, generally supported the applicability of uniform individual- and school-level models of academic resiliency to all low-SES students, regardless of their race. Greater engagement in academic activities, an internal locus of control, efficaciousness in math, a more positive outlook toward school, and more positive self-esteem were characteristic of all low-SES students who achieved resilient mathematics outcomes. The most powerful school characteristics for promoting resiliency were represented by the supportive school community model, which, unlike the other school models, included elements that actively shielded children from adversity. The objective of this study was to improve understanding of the individual- and school-level features that distinguish academically successful, or resilient, elementary school students from minority and low socioeconomicstatus (SES) backgrounds from their less successful, or non-resilient, counter-parts.”

Kenyon, DenYelle , and Jessica Hanson. “Incorporating Traditional Culture Into Positive Youth Development Programs With American Indian ⁄Alaska Native Youth .

”Child Development Perspectives. 6.3 (2012): 272-279. Print. “ABSTRACT—The majority of research and programs for American Indian⁄ Alaska Native (AI ⁄AN) youth focus on negative health behaviors and risks, ignoring the positive attributes that traditional AI ⁄AN culture can provide. Therefore, it is critical to highlight the importance of incorporating traditional AI ⁄AN worldviews and values into youth programming and health interventions. Accordingly, this article provides (a) a brief overview of AI ⁄AN culture and historical policies and practices, (b) a description of the positive youth development (PYD) framework with a focus on research and programs that include AI ⁄AN youth, (c) details on the strengths of AI⁄AN culture and how they can be incorporated into programming for AI⁄AN youth, and (d) examples of exemplary PYD programs for AI ⁄AN youth.”

Jones, S., Brown, J., & Aber, J. (2011). Two-year impacts of universal school-based social-emotional and literacy intervention: An experiment in translational developmental research. Child Development, 82(2), 533-554.

“and prevention sciences. It reports 2-year experimental impacts of a universal, integrated school-based intervention in social-emotional learning and literacy development on children’s social-emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning. The study employed a school-randomized, experimental design with 1,184 children in 18 elementary schools. Children in the intervention schools showed improvements across several domains: self-reports of hostile attributional bias, aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies, and depression, and teacher reports of attention skills, and aggressive and socially competent behavior. In addition, there were effects of the intervention on children’s math and reading achievement for those identified by teachers at baseline at highest behavioral risk. These findings are interpreted in light of developmental cascades theory and lend support to the value of universal, integrated interventions in the elementary school period for promoting children’s social-emotional and academic skills.”

La Fromboise, T., Hoyt, D., Oliver, L., & Whitbeck, L. (2006). Family, community, and school influences on resilience among American Indian adolescents in the upper midwest. Journal of Community Psychology, 34(2), 193-209.

“This study examines resilience among a sample of American Indian adolescents living on or near reservations in the upper Midwest. Data are from a baseline survey of 212 youth (115 boys and 97 girls) who were enrolled in the fifth through eighth grades. Based upon the definition of resilience, latent class analyses were conducted to identify youth who displayed prosocial outcomes (60.5%) as opposed to problem behavior outcomes. A measure of family adversity was also developed that indicated only 38.4% of the youth lived in low-adversity households. Defining resilience in the con- text of positive outcomes in the face of adversity, logistic regression was used to examine the pre- dictors of prosocial outcomes among youth who lived in moderate- to high-adversity households. The analyses identified key risk and protective factors. A primary risk factor appeared to be perceived discrimination. Protective factors were from multiple contexts: family, community, and culture. Having a warm and supportive mother, perceiving community support, and exhibiting higher levels of enculturation were each associated with increased likelihood of prosocial outcomes.”

Cabrera, Natasha, Marjorie Beeghly, and Nancy Eisenberg. “Positive Development of Minority Children: Introduction to the Special Issue.” CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES. 6.3 (2012): 207-209. Print.

“ABSTRACT—This special issue highlights research that responded to the Society for Research on Child Development’s Ethics and Racial Issues Committee’s call for articles on the positive development of minority children. The call was motivated by committee’s goal of promoting developmental research on ethnic minority children and adolescents. The articles in this issue report on cutting-edge research that uses dynamic, integrative bioecological, and cultural models to examine the positive development of ethnic minority children. Collectively, they indicate new directions at conceptual, methodological, and empirical levels that can guide further research on the strengths of minority families.”

Vanderven, Karen. Promoting Positive Development in Early Childhood: Building Blocks for a Successful Start. 1. Search Institute, 2008. 184. Print.

“The formative years—ages three through five—are critical to building a solid foundation for children’s long-term success. This foundational research manual: Offers parents and community members practical guidelines informed by current theory and intervention design. Establishes continuity of development from early and middle childhood through adolescence. Presents a holistic approach to development by addressing the multiple influences and structures shaping children’s lives.”

Sorensen, Mark. “The STAR (Service To All Relations) Navajo School Model.” Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream Education. By Donald Trent Jacobs. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.

Search Institute. 40 Developmental Assets for Early Childhood (ages 3-5)

“Search Institute® has identified the following building blocks of healthy development—known as Developmental Assets®—that help young children grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.”

Search Institute. 40 Developmental Assets for Children Grades K-3 (ages 5-9)

“Search Institute® has identified the following building blocks of healthy development—known as Developmental Assets®—that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.” http://www.search-institute.org/

Ch4) A Focus on Math: High Quality Materials

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2011). National Indian Education Study, Office of Indian Education. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/

“The National Indian Education Study (NIES) is designed to describe the condition of education for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. The study provides educators, policymakers, and the public with information about the academic performance in reading and mathematics of AI/AN fourth- and eighth-graders as well as their exposure to Native American culture.” http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/

Brenneman, K., J. Stevenson – Boyd, and E. Frede. “Mathematics and Science in Preschool: Policy and Practice.” National Institute for Early Education Research. 19 n. page. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/20.pdf>.

“Improving mathematics and science learning is of great concern to educators and policymakers. Because early experiences affect later education outcomes, providing young children with research-based mathematics and science learning opportunities is likely to pay off with increased achievement, literacy, and work skills in these critical areas.1 This report addresses the development of mathematics and science understanding in preschool children, reviews the current knowledge base on educational practices in these domains, identifies areas that require further study, and outlines recommendations for early education policy in mathematics and science.” http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/20.pdf

Stevenson-Boyd, Judi, and Kimberly Brenneman. National Institute for Early Education Research. Preschool Rating Instrument for Science and Mathematics. National Institute for Early Education Research, 2010. Print.

“NIEER designed the Preschool Rating Instrument for Science and Mathematics (PRISM), a classroom observation tool that measures the quality of math and science materials and teaching interactions. The PRISM is used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a program and to indicate areas for improvement. A related self-assessment is designed to help educators assess and improve their own teaching practices by increasing their focus on the specific ways their students reason about mathematics and science.”

“The Mathematical Mind.” To the Lesson!. N.p., 13 Apr 2011. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http://tothelesson.blogspot.com/2011/04/mathematical-mind.html>.

“Maria Montessori’s use of the term, ‘The Mathematical Mind’ refers to the unique tendencies of the human mind. She was familiar with Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher, physicist, and mathematician, who theorized that “man’s mind was mathematical by nature and that knowledge and progress came from accurate observation”

The Absorbent Mind, 17, pg. 169.

"Montessori designed the specialized Math apparatus to incorporate the spontaneity and natural capabilities of a child’s mathematical mind.“ http://tothelesson.blogspot.com/2011/04/mathematical-mind.html

Hannula, M. M., Mattinen, A., & Lehtinen, E. (2005). Does social interaction influence 3-year-old children’s tendency to focus on numerosity? A quasi-experimental study in day-care. In L. Verschaffel, E. De Corte, G. Kanselaar, & M. Valcke eds.), Powerful learning environments for promoting deep conceptual and strategic learning. Studia Paedagogica, 41.Leuven University Press, pp. 63-80.

“The goal of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to enhance 3-year old children’s tendency to spontaneously focus on numerosity, and thus promote children’s deliberate practice in recognising and producing small numbers of objects or incidents in their everyday surroundings in day care. This study was motivated by the earlier studies of Hannula and Lehtinen (2001; 2004; in press) and Hannula, Räsänen and Lehtinen (2005). These longitudinal studies showed remarkable individual differences in children’s Spontaneous FOcusing on Numerosity (SFON), some stability in this SFON tendency across time and across different contexts, and a clear positive relationship between SFON tendency and the development of early mathematical skills from the age of 3 to 7 years. The children with a strong tendency to focus on numerosity in novel tasks were better at verbal counting skills and their range for rapid recognition of small numbers of objects without counting (i.e., subitizing) was larger than the children who did not focus on numerosity (Hannula et al., 2005).”

Huang, Y., Spelke, E., & Snedeker, J. (2010). When is four far more than three? Children’s generalization of newly acquired number words. Psychological Science, 21(4), 600-606, DOI: 10.1177/0956797610363552.

“What is the relationship between children’s first number words and number concepts? We used training tasks to explore children’s interpretation of number words as they acquired their meanings. Children who had mastered the meanings of only the first two or three number words were systematically provided with varied input on the next word-to-quantity mapping, and their extension of the newly-trained word was assessed across a variety of test items. Children who had mastered number words to three generalized training on four to new objects and nouns, with approximate accuracy. In contrast, children who had mastered only one and two learned to apply three reliably within a single count noun context (three dogs) but not to new objects labeled with different nouns (three cows). Both findings suggest that children fail to map newly-learned words in their counting routine to fully abstract concepts of natural number.”

Ch5) A Focus on Math: Áhi’iltaa, Math in Cultural Context

Barta, Jim, Ann Abeyta, et al. “The Mathematical Ecology of the Shoshoni and Implications for Elementary Mathematics Education and the Young Learner.” Journal of American Indian Education. 40.2 (2001): n. page. Print.

“The Shoshoni are an indigenous people who traditionally inhabited parts of what is now northern Utah, central and southern Idaho, and western Wyoming for the past 14,000 years. While many facets of their historical and recent culture have been analyzed, little investigation has taken place to date concerning their use of mathematics in culturally specific ways. This manuscript is the report of a two-year study involving semi-structured interviews of Shoshoni representatives to describe the culturally specific use of mathematics in Shoshoni traditional living practices. Qualitative research methods were selected in order to gain a rich understanding of the mathematical insight and uses of mathematics for the Shoshoni. The inquiry methods and related interview questions may serve as a model to structure research investigating mathematical practices of other American Indian cultures, thus allowing for a broader understanding of indigenous people and the culturally – specific mathematical practices of each tribe. Insight gained from this research prepares the way for American Indian educators to create culturally specific mathematics curricula reflecting the local culture of those they teach.”

Lipka, J., M. Hogan, J. P. Webster, E. Yanez, B. Adams, S. Clark, and D. Lacy. “Math in a Cultural Context: Two Case Studies of a Successful Culturally Based Math Project.” Anthropology and Education Quarterly. 36.4 (2005): 367- 385. Print. <http://www.uaf.edu/mcc/award-recognition-and-oth/Math-in-a-Cultural-Context-Two-Case-Studies-of-a-Successful-Culturally-Based-Math-Project.pdf>.

“Math in a Cultural Context (MCC) was developed from ethnographic work with Yup’ik elders and teachers. The need for culturally based curricula seems obvious to those in the field of educational anthropology, but not necessarily to policymakers. Two case studies of novice teachers, one cultural “insider” and one “outsider,” illustrate how each effectively taught MCC. The insider transformed her teaching by allowing student ownership through inquiry and cultural connections. The outsider deepened her mathematics content knowledge and found a perfect pedagogical fit through MCC. [culturally based curriculum, Yup’ik, mathematics teaching and learning, teacher enactment of curricula]” http://www.uaf.edu/mcc/award-recognition-and-oth/Math-in-a-Cultural-Context-Two-Case-Studies-of-a-Successful-Culturally-Based-Math-Project.pdf

“THE COOLANGATTA STATEMENT ON INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN EDUCATION.” Journal of American Indian Education. 39.2 (1999): n. page. Print.

“The document that was submitted for discussion and refinement to all Indigenous participants at the 1993 Conference was prepared by a Task Force who met in Coolangatta, New South Wales, between September 24 and October 1. The Task Force was commissioned by the National Organizing Committee of the 1993 World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education to outline a framework for discussing Indigenous Peoples’ Education Rights.”

Fowler, Henry. Collapsing the Fear of Mathematics: A Study of the Effects of Navajo Culture on Navajo Student Performance in Mathematics.Thesis, Fielding Graduate University. Copyright ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing 2010. http://search.proquest.com/docview/818861170

“Abstract American schools are in a state of “mediocrity” because of the low expectations in math (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983; No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; Duncan, 2009). Gonzales, Williams, Jocelyn, Roey, Kastberg, and Brenwals (2008) reported that low achievement in mathematics was more prominent among minority groups, particularly among the Native American student population who were substantially behind the national norm in their mathematical achievement. The Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) shows that Navajo 10 th grade students are not proficient in mathematics (Arizona Department of Education, 2008b). This teacher action research was a quasi-experimental design using qualitative and quantitative data to explore the effects of the Navajo Cultural Component Math Curriculum (NCCMC) on Navajo high school students’ math performance and learning experiences. The research was conducted on the Navajo Reservation using two groups. The control group consisted of nine participants (n = 9) and the treatment group consisted of six participants (n = 6). The participants were 16-19 years old. The control group was taught using the traditional pedagogical method of teaching and learning and the treatment group was taught using the NCCMC during their regular 50 minutes scheduled math class for a period of 8 weeks from January 2010 to March 2010. The qualitative and quantitative data included a pre and post test, structured interviews, an 18-question Likert Scale Questionnaire, and a teacher journal to determine the participants’ math achievement on the 11 Arizona math benchmark standards and to determine the participants’ learning experiences using the NCCMC. The result of the study revealed that the NCCMC impacted the participants’ math scores on the 11 Arizona math benchmark standards. The quantitative data revealed significant increase for the treatment group. The average percent of change for the control group was 1.74 and the average percent of change for the treatment group was 2.40. The qualitative data revealed a heightened interest in math and described it as fun. The participants felt strongly that the Navajo cultural math component helped them become more confident in understanding math concepts and they appreciated that the math standards were connected to their culture.”

Gonzalez, Norma, Rosi Andrade, et al. “Bridging Funds of Distributed Knowledge: Creating Zones of Practices in Mathematics. .” Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. (2001): n. page. Print.

“Describes longitudinal research on the funds of knowledge of diverse populations, illustrating how community knowledge can be tapped to strengthen the academic experiences of Hispanic youth. Investigates the mathematics potential of Hispanic households, describing how women participating in a sewing circle use and model sophisticated mathematical knowledge that might be unacknowledged by schools yet could benefit students’ academic development.”

Rosier, P., & Holm, W. (1980). The Rock Point experience: A longitudinal study of a Navajo school program (Saad Naaki Bee Na’nitin). Bilingual education Series 8, papers in applied linguistics. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED195363)

Platero, P. R. (1998, February 11). American Indian languages and cultures: Politics, policy and preservation. Wassaja Speaker Series, Arizona State University, Tempe.

“Dr. Paul Platero surveyed 39 Navajo preschool centers scattered throughout the Navajo Reservation to determine the amount of language learning that was occurring…. It is especially important for children to be stimulated by and produce speech for communicative purposes. They process data, develop a grammar in their minds, and then acquire a language. Where language experience should have been extremely rich in the reservation preschool classes, very little language—either Navajo or English—was being produced (Platero, 1998).”

Ch6) Focus on Math: The Math Relationship

Ginsburg, H., Lee, J., & Boyd, J. (2008). Mathematics education for young children: What it is and how to promote it. Social Policy Report, 22(1), Society for Research in Child Development.

“Effective mathematics education for young children (approximately ages 3 to 5) seems to hold great promise for improving later achievement, particularly in low-SES students who are at risk of inferior education from preschool onwards. Yet there is limited understanding of what preschool and kindergarten mathematics education entails and what is required to implement it effectively. This paper attempts to provide insight into three topics central to understanding and improving early childhood mathematics education in the United States. First, we examine young children’s mathematical abilities. Cognitive research shows that young children develop an extensive everyday mathematics and are capable of learning more and deeper mathematics than usually assumed. The second topic is the content and components of early childhood mathematics education. We show that the content of mathematics for young children is wide-ranging (number and operations, shape, space, measurement, and pattern) and sometimes abstract. It involves processes of thinking as well as skills and rote memory. Components of early childhood mathematics education range from play to organized curriculum (several research based programs are now available) and intentional teaching. Third, we consider early childhood educators’ readiness to teach mathematics. Unfortunately, the typical situation is that they are poorly trained to teach the subject, are afraid of it, feel it is not important to teach, and typically teach it badly or not at all. Finally, we conclude with policy suggestions. The most urgent need is to improve and support both pre-service and in-service teacher training.”

Siegler, R. (2009). Improving the numerical understanding of children from low-income families. Child Development Perspectives, 3(2), 118-124.

“ABSTRACT—Children from low-income backgrounds enter school with much less mathematical knowledge than their more affluent peers. These early deficits have long-term consequences; children who start behind generally stay behind. This article describes how a theoretical analysis of the development of number sense gave rise to an intervention that reduces this gap by producing large, rapid, and broad improvements in the mathematical competence of low-income preschoolers. Roughly, an hour of playing a simple, inexpensive, linear number board game produces gains in numerical magnitude comparison, number line estimation, counting, and numeral identification. Reasons for these large gains are discussed.”

Ramani, Geetha, and Robert Siegler. “Reducing the gap in numerical knowledge between low- and middle-income preschoolers.” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 32. (2011): 146-159. Print.

“We compared the learning from playing a linear number board game of preschoolers from middle-income backgrounds to the learning of preschoolers from low-income backgrounds. Playing this game produced greater learning by both groups than engaging in other numerical activities for the same amount of time. The benefits were present on number line estimation, magnitude comparison, numeral identification, and arithmetic learning. Children with less initial knowledge generally learned more, and children from low income backgrounds learned at least as much, and on several measures more, than preschoolers from middle income backgrounds with comparable initial knowledge. The findings suggest a class of intervention that might be especially effective for reducing the gap between low-income and middle-income children’s knowledge when they enter school.”

Gunderson, Elizabeth, and Susan Levine. “Some types of parent number talk count more than others: relations between parents’ input and children’s cardinal-number knowledge.” Developmental Science. 14.5 (2011): 1021 – 1032. Print.

“Before they enter preschool, children vary greatly in their numerical and mathematical knowledge, and this knowledge predicts their achievement throughout elementary school (e.g. Duncan et al., 2007; Ginsburg & Russell, 1981). Therefore, it is critical that we look to the home environment for parental inputs that may lead to these early variations. Recent work has shown that the amount of number talk that parents engage in with their children is robustly related to a critical aspect of mathematical development – cardinal-number knowledge (e.g. knowing that the word ‘three’ refers to sets of three entities; Levine, Suriyakham, Rowe, Huttenlocher & Gunderson, 2010). The present study characterizes the different types of number talk that parents produce and investigates which types are most predictive of children’s later cardinal-number knowledge. We find that parents’ number talk involving counting or labeling sets of present, visible objects is related to children’s later cardinal-number knowledge, whereas other types of parent number talk are not. In addition, number talk that refers to large sets of present objects (i.e. sets of size 4 to 10 that fall outside children’s ability to track individual objects) is more robustly predictive of children’s later cardinal-number knowledge than talk about smaller sets. The relation between parents’ number talk about large sets of present objects and children’s cardinal-number knowledge remains significant even when controlling for factors such as parents’ socioeconomic status and other measures of parents’ number and non-number talk.”

Ch7) Multilingual Cognition in the STAR 3-to-3rd Model

Vallotton, Claire . N. Signing with Babies and Children: A Summary of Research Findings for Parents and Professionals p.. Web. 26 Aug 2013.

“This paper gives an overview of research findings on the impacts of signing on de- velopment and learning for children of all ages and abilities – and provides research supported answers to common questions parents and teachers have about signing with children. There are many benefits of using signs with students – from as young as preverbal infants [1, 2], to those in early elementary [3, 4-6], all the way to adult students who struggle with reading or those who are learning a new language [7]. Research has also shown benefits for children with special needs including dyslexia [8, 9], language im- pairments [10], Down syndrome [11, 12], and Autism Spectrum Disorders [13-16], as well as for both hearing and deaf children in an inclusive education environment [17]. Thus signs can be used to enhance education for learners of a wide range of ages and abilities. The benefits of signing are not just for the students, but for teachers, too. When chil- dren can communicate more clearly, teachers can respond to them more easily [18, 19], and teachers’ feel more competent in their own work [20]."

Benally, AnCita, and Denis Viri. “Diné Bizaad [Navajo Language] at a Crossroads: Extinction or Renewal?.” Bilingual Research Journal. 29.1 (2005): n. page. Print.

“Until about 20 years ago, the Navajo language was one of the most resilient American Indian languages in modern U.S. history. Today, at the dawn of the 21st century, that has all changed. Some changes can be attributed to the normal dynamics of cultural transmission that affect language use. Some others, such as the dramatic shift toward English that is occurring—largely due to the agency of public education and mass media—are jeopardizing the survival of the Navajo language. The Navajo language is at a crossroads; it can still be renewed among the growing number of non-speakers so it can be strengthened, or it can continue to decline in its use. On several levels the language appears to remain strong and viable, but on others the telltale signs of impending extinction are becoming apparent. This paper addresses the differences between the normal changes and adaptation of Navajo as a living language and those that are indicative of language loss or other dramatic linguistic shifts that threaten its viability and survival… Where the Navajo language is included as a significant part of the daily curriculum, students have reached higher levels of success, and students score higher on achievement tests… Children who learn their language and social and political history have greater self-esteem and a greater sense of self-identity. They also tend to be more outgoing and display positive social skills.”

Lipka, Jerry. “Schooling for Self-Determination: Research on the Effects of Including Native Language and Culture in the Schools.” ERIC Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV. (2002): n. pag. Web. <http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-3/effects.htm>.

“This Digest briefly reviews the educational effects of assimilationist schooling and later efforts to create schools supportive of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) self-determination. It then describes examples of tribal- or community-controlled programs that use students‘ Native language as the language of instruction and incorporate traditional culture into the curriculum. Any such review of the literature must begin with a reminder: Indigenous communities vary in their cultural, linguistic, and geographic circumstances as well as in their education goals. Therefore, it is not possible to prescribe specific programs across such a diverse array of situations.”

Lizette Peter & Tracy E. Hirata-Edds (2006): Using Assessment to Inform Instruction in Cherokee Language Revitalisation, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9:5,643-658

“Language loss is a concern for the Cherokee Nation in northeastern Oklahoma. As part of language revitalisation efforts, in 2001 Cherokee Nation opened the Cherokee Immersion Preschool in which teachers use only Cherokee throughout the day with their monolingual English-speaking students. Based on a study of the Immersion Preschool that spanned six months, this paper describes the positive backwash effects of assessment on practices of teachers in the programme. Specifically, we examine the role that classroom observation coupled with a formal language assessment _ the Cherokee Preschool Immersion Language Assessment _ played in identifying undeveloped aspects of the children’s Cherokee language skills and targeting specific techniques teachers could use to encourage children to communicate more effectively in Cherokee. The findings suggest that beneficial backwash produced by meaningful and well designed assessments has the potential to positively inform teachers toward improving classroom instructional practice. The Cherokee Immersion Preschool’s experience with language assessment has implications for Native American communities implementing early childhood immersion for language revitalisation purposes.”

United States. United States Congress. PUBLIC LAW 101-477 – October. 30, 1990 TITLE I — NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES ACT. Print.

“The traditional languages of Native Americans are an integral part of their cultures and identities and form the basic medium for the transmission, and thus survival, of Native American cultures, literatures, histories, religions, political institutions, and values.” http://www2.nau.edu/jar/SIL/NALAct.pdf

Johansen B. "Back from the (Nearly) Dead: Reviving Indigenous Languages across North America". American Indian Quarterly [serial online]. Fall2004 2004;28(3/4):566. Available from: MasterFILE Premier, Ipswich, MA.

“The people of the Cochiti Pueblo were moved to revitalize their language after they conducted a survey that disclosed that all of its fluent speakers were thirty-five years of age or older. The few speakers under age thirtyfive were semiliterate, according to Mary Eunice Romero, a Karas (Pueblo). Romero then asked, “What is going to happen to our language in 20 years when those [who are] 35 years old become 55? In 20 more years, when they’re 75? The Cochiti immersion program began in 1996 with a summer program for thirty children under instruction from the Tribal Council, all instruction to be carried out orally, with no written texts. After that, according to Romero, the program grew quickly:

“When the kids went home, they spread the news that, ‘Wow, they’re not using any English. They’re not writing. It’s just totally in Cochiti.’ We started out with four teachers. The next day, we got 60 kids. By the third week, we had 90 kids. By the end of the summer, the kids were starting to speak.”

Romero also watched the mode of instruction change the behavior of the children:

“The behavior change was a major miracle. These kids came in rowdy as can be. By the time they left, they knew the appropriate protocol of how you enter a house, greet your elder, say good-bye. The fact that they could use verbal communication for the most important piece of culture, values, and love started a chain reaction in the community.”

Yamauchi, L. A., & Ceppi, A. K. (1998). A review of Indigenous language immersion programs and a focus on Hawai’i. Equity & Excellence In Education, 31(1), 11.

“Examines how the educational policies of the United States influenced the decline of indigenous languages and looks at efforts revive native languages through language immersion education. Reference to the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program; Previous number of indigenous languages before a decline; Federal policies on education of Native Americans and other diverse people; How transitional bilingual programs differ from other immersion programs.”

Wyels J. PRESERVING THE LANGUAGE OF ALOHA. Americas [serial online]. May 2012;64(3):32. Available from: MasterFILE Premier, Ipswich, MA

“Hawaiians were certainly not the only indigenous people who reclaimed their traditional culture in the 1970s. Among others who forged a cultural revival were the Maori of New Zealand (Aotearoa) and several First Nations communities in North America. But one could argue that no group created a bigger splash than the Hawaiians.

The launching of Hawaii’s ocean-going canoe Hokule’a in 1975 captured the public’s imagination. Designed as a replica of the vessels their ancestors sailed to populate the islands of the Pacific, the Hokule’a demonstrated in its first voyage to Tahiti the feasibility of navigating vast distances guided only by the stars, ocean currents, winds, and other elements of nature. A point of pride for Hawaiians, it was like a validation of their ancient legends. More than that, it signaled a revitalization of deep-rooted traditions and a cultural reawakening that persists to this day.”

Acredolo, L. and S. Goodwyn, The long-term impact of symbolic gesturing during infancy on IQ at age 8, in International Society for Infant Studies. 2000: Brighton, U.K. http://www.mybabycantalk.com/content/information/research/Longterm%20Impact%20of%20Symbolic%20Gesturing.pdf

“The WISC-III was administered to subjects from our NIH-sponsored longitudinal study during the summer following completion of second grade. Much to our surprise and delight, the results indicated a significant 12 point advantage for the children who had been encouraged to use Baby Signs during their second year of life (Mean IQ = 114) over the children who had been in the Non-Intervention Control Group (Mean IQ= 102). The advantage held for both the Verbal and Performance Sub-scales of the WISC-III.”

Cook, S.W. and S. Goldin-Meadow, The role of gesture in learning: Do children use their hands to change their minds? Journal of Cognition and Development, 2006. 7(2): p. 211-232. http://goldin-meadow-lab.uchicago.edu/PDF/2006/Cook_GM06.pdf

“Adding gesture to spoken instructions makes those instructions more effective. The question we ask here is why. A group of 49 third and fourth grade children were given instruction in mathematical equivalence with gesture or without it. Children given in- struction that included a correct problem-solving strategy in gesture were signifi- cantly more likely to produce that strategy in their own gestures during the same in- struction period than children not exposed to the strategy in gesture. Those children were then significantly more likely to succeed on a posttest than children who did not produce the strategy in gesture. Gesture during instruction encourages children to produce gestures of their own, which, in turn, leads to learning. Children may be able to use their hands to change their minds.”

Cook, S.W., Z. Mitchell, and S. Goldin-Meadow, Gesturing makes learning last. Cognition, 2008. 106: p. 1047- 1058. http://goldin-meadow-lab.uchicago.edu/PDF/2008/Cook_Mitchell_GM_2008.pdf

“Abstract The gestures children spontaneously produce when explaining a task predict whether they will subsequently learn that task. Why? Gesture might simply reflect a child’s readiness to learn a particular task. Alternatively, gesture might itself play a role in learning the task. To investigate these alternatives, we experimentally manipulated children’s gesture during instruction in a new mathematical concept. We found that requiring children to gesture while learning the new concept helped them retain the knowledge they had gained during instruction. In contrast, requiring children to speak, but not gesture, while learning the concept had no effect on solidifying learning. Gesturing can thus play a causal role in learning, perhaps by giving learners an alternative, embodied way of representing new ideas. We may be able to improve children’s learning just by encouraging them to move their hands.”

Ngai, P. (2006). Grassroots suggestions for linking native-language learning, Native American studies, and mainstream education in reservation schools with mixed Indian and White student populations. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 19(2), 220-236.

“Indigenous-language education is critical in the rural and small-town communities with mixed native and non-native populations that constitute the headwaters of many dying tongues. Emerging from interviews conducted in 2002 and 2003 on the Flathead Indian Reservation with 89 study participants holding diverse perspectives is the need for a unifying reservation-wide preK-16 language curriculum that will bring about continuous and meaningful connections (1) across Indian-language-education programmes, (2) between Indian-language classrooms and mainstream classrooms, and (3) between native language education and Native American Studies. This paper considers the grassroots suggestions for building such a curriculum encountered among cultural and community leaders, educators and parents, historians and politicians, Indians and non-Indians, and advocates and sceptics of indigenous-language education. The study findings indicate that framing indigenous-language learning as part of place-based multicultural education is a promising approach. Prospects for indigenous-language survival can be enhanced by moving native-language education in a direction that is acceptable to and beneficial for most, if not all, members of mixed communities in a global age.”

Hirata-Edds, T. (2011), Influence of Second Language Cherokee Immersion on Children’s Development of Past Tense in Their First Language, English. Language Learning, 61: 700–733. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00655.x

“Metalinguistic skills may develop differently in multilingual and monolingual children. This study investigated effects of immersion in Cherokee as a second language on young children’s (4;5–6;1) skills of noticing morphological forms/patterns in English, their first language, by comparing English past tense skills on two nonword and two real-word tasks between a Cherokee immersion group (N= 10) and an English-medium comparison group (N= 13). Only past finiteness (irregular forms plus over regularizations) on a real-word sentence imitation task was significantly different, with the Cherokee group performing better. The children learning Cherokee as a second language were progressing as well as their monolingual peers on English past tense marking and in one area had developed increased attention to productive morphological patterns.”

Pease, Janine. “New Voices Ancient Words: Language Immersion Produces Fluent Speakers, Stronger Personal and Cultural Identities.” Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education. (2004): n. page. Print.

“Language immersion not only saves languages and cultures. It also may reverse dismal student test scores and restore fractured families and communities. Across Indian Country, people can hear voices speaking ancient words, in a Cochiti extended family in New Mexico, a Navajo community school on the Arizona desert, a Native Hawaiian kindergarten, a Salish/Kootenai summertime ceremony, on the North Dakota plains, and in a Blackfeet math classroom in Montana. Unlike other language instruction methods, language immersion follows the learning path an infant takes on the way to fluency in a primary language. As students study their Native language and culture, they develop stronger identities and knowledge of their individual roles in their culture and family. The language carries with it the knowledge of relationships, and the language learners acquire a sense of these connections.”

Pease- "Pretty On Top", J.. N.p.. Web. 26 Aug 2013. <http://www.aihec.org/resources/documents/NativeLangugageImmersion.pdf>.

“Native American1 language immersion schools and projects are the focus of this study. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation supported this analysis, to describe and analyze this innovative Native Education for children and families. A people’s initiative, Native American language immersion encompasses educational practices and social development that lie outside the mainstream language teaching, education and socialization methods of American children. Native American language immersion programs are characterized by Native ways of knowing, learning and indigenous knowledge. Native American organizers demonstrate a profound faith in the traditional Native grandparents’ role and their methods in language development, teaching and learning. Curriculum content and context rely on the rich Native American knowledge bases and their eminent scholars — tribal elders and tribal land, resources. Language immersions activists and educators share two characteristics in common: fluency in the tribal language and an unstoppable commitment and devotion to language preservation among children and youth. Native language immersion schools have remarkable benefits: students show impressive educational achievement, participants demonstrate considerable language knowledge gains in relatively short periods of time, programs contribute significantly to family strength, and college students—adult learners are retained as a positive correlate with language and culture learning. Each of these potentials have importance for tribes, agencies and organizers (both Native and non-Native) who interact or hope to interact positively and significantly with Native Americans in areas of educational and community development. Creativity and unique qualities characterize the language immersion approaches, and are especially reflective of the tribes and their language.”

Peter, Lizette. “”Our Beloved Cherokee”: A Naturalistic Study of Cherokee Preschool Language Immersion.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly. 38.4 (2007): 323-342. Print.

“This article contributes to our knowledge of endangered language revitalization by offering a case study, of a Cherokee Nation (CN) preschool immersion program named Tsalagi Ageyui, “Our Beloved Cherokee.” A naturalistic inquiry into the micro- and macrosociocultural dimensions of reversing Cherokee language shift reveals that, of all CN language programs, Tsalagi Ageyui holds the greatest potential to increase, intergenerational, mother-tongue transmission in the home, family, neighborhood, and community. [Cherokee language, language immersion, reversing language shift, naturalistic inquiry] Reversing language shift-or taking action to alter a trend toward language loss (Fishman 1991)-has become a priority for many Native American communities faced with the extinction of their heritage language. Aided by the enactment of several important pieces of federal legislation, community-based language revitalization has seen tremendous innovation, inspiration, and varied levels of success. Yet, reversing language shift, what Fishman (1991) calls “RLS,” is a complex social and cultural process that is not yet well understood. Although a theoretical explanation for why some languages die when others are maintained has been evolving over the past 30 years (King 2001), RLS has only in the past decade become an urgent endeavor for Native peoples, scholars, and advocates and so, as a field of study, is relatively nascent. Given this, Crystal suggests that information gathering is a top priority and should include “facts about the context in which the speakers live, and facts about the attitudes displayed” (2000:92). In a similar vein, Kaplan and Baldauf (1997) support the practice of evaluating language-planning activities, noting the importance of gauging the success of the implementation. Evaluation, they suggest, should “provide constant feedback for the implementation strategy, so that the’ implementation strategy can be corrected in the light of the information flowing from the evaluation phase” (Kaplan and Baldauf 1997:37). Grenoble and Whaley, too, consider “evaluation to be an integral part of the revitalization process” (2006:197). What these. And other researchers seem to be calling for are data-gathering and evaluation approaches that broaden our understanding of the process of RLS though language-revitalization planning.” Publishing Ltd

Peter, Lizette, and Tracy Hirata-Edds. “Verb development by children in the Cherokee language immersion program, with implications for teaching .” International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 18.2 (2008): n. page. Print.

“This paper provides a description of the developing verb morphology of 13 children enrolled in the Cherokee Nation kindergarten immersion program as documented on the Cherokee Kindergarten Immersion Language Assessment. An obligatory occasion analysis of kindergartners’ production of third person singular and plural present continuous verbs indicates that although children were beginning to apply rules for verb morphology, they were limited in their ability to accurately convey everyday actions of others. The findings concur with research conducted in other immersion settings which suggests that language present in typical immersion classrooms is not always optimal for the attainment of high levels of proficiency, and points to the need for further professional development for teachers in form-focused instruction and a culturally based approach to understanding Cherokee linguistics.”

Pascale, Engel de Abreu, Anabela Cruz-Santos, et al. “Bilingualism Enriches the Poor: Enhanced Cognitive Control in Low-Income Minority Children .” n. page. Print. <http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/11/1364>.

“Abstract – This study explores whether the cognitive advantage associated with bilingualism in executive functioning extends to young immigrant children challenged by poverty and, if it does, which specific processes are most affected. In the study reported here, 40 Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilingual children from low-income immigrant families in Luxembourg and 40 matched monolingual children from Portugal completed visuospatial tests of working memory, abstract reasoning, selective attention, and interference suppression. Two broad cognitive factors of executive functioning—representation (abstract reasoning and working memory) and control (selective attention and interference suppression)—emerged from principal component analysis. Whereas there were no group differences in representation, the bilinguals performed significantly better than did the monolinguals in control. These results demonstrate, first, that the bilingual advantage is neither confounded with nor limited by socioeconomic and cultural factors and, second, that separable aspects of executive functioning are differentially affected by bilingualism. The bilingual advantage lies in control but not in visuospatial representational processes.”

Hakuta, Kenji, and Eugene Garcia. “Bilingualism and Education.” American Psychologist. 44.2 (1989): 374-379. Print.

“The concept of bilingualism as applied to individual children and to educational programs is discussed, and the history of research on bilingual children and bilingual education programs in the United States is reviewed. Bilingualism has been defined predominantly in linguistic dimensions despite the fact that bilingualism is correlated with a number of nonlinguistic social parameters. The linguistic handle has served policymakers well In focusing on an educationally vulnerable population of students, but the handle is inadequate as the single focus of educational intervention. Future research will have to be directed toward a multifaceted vision of bilingualism as a phenomenon embedded in society.”

Ch8) Place-Based Education in the STAR 3-to-3rd Model

United States. National Park Service. Benefits of Place-Based Education: A Report form the Place-Based Education Evaluation Collaborative. Web. <➢The Benefits of Place-Based Education>. http://www.nps.gov/mabi/forteachers/upload/Benefits%20of%20PBE.pdf

“Place-based education immerses students in local heritage, culture, landscapes, opportunities, and experiences as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and other subjects. Place-based education encourages teachers and students to use the schoolyard, community, public lands, and other special places as resources, turning communities into classrooms.”

Smith, Gregory A, “Place-based Education: Learning To Be Where We Are,” Phi Delta Kappan, 83, pp. 584-94, 2002.

“This powerful article makes the connection between students’ experience of their environment, the need for real-world problem solving, and the ways in which student internships in their communities lead to positive outcomes for the students and the community.”

Sobel, David. Place-based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities. Great Barrington, MA: The Orion Society, 2004.

“Through academic research, practical examples, and step-by-step strategies drawn from classrooms throughout the United States, Sobel celebrates teachers who emphasize the connection of school, community, and environment. Place-Based Education uses the local community and environment as the starting place for curriculum learning, strengthening community bonds, appreciation for the natural world, and a commitment to citizen engagement.”

Sorensen, Mark. “STAR Service to All Relations.” Place-based Education in the Global Age: Local Diversity. By David A. Gruenewald and Gregory A. Smith. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2008. 49-64. Print.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2008. Print.

”I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth-grader. Never before in history have children been so plugged in—and so out of touch with the natural world. In this groundbreaking new work, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation—he calls it nature deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as rises in obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and depression.”

Smith, Gregory A., and David Sobel. Place- and Community-based Education in Schools. New York, NY: Routledge, 2010. Print.

“Place- and community-based education – an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local – addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children now growing up in the United States: contact with the natural world and contact with community. It offers a way to extend young people’s attention beyond the classroom to the world as it actually is, and to engage them in the process of devising solutions to the social and environmental problems they will confront as adults. This approach can increase students’ engagement with learning and enhance their academic achievement. Envisioned as a primer and guide for educators and members of the public interested in incorporating the local into schools in their own communities, this book explains the purpose and nature of place- and community-based education and provides multiple examples of its practice. The detailed descriptions of learning experiences set both within and beyond the classroom will help readers begin the process of advocating for or incorporating local content and experiences into their schools.”

Sobel, David, (1996). Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education, The Orion Society, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. “Beyond Ecophobia speaks to teachers, parents, and others interested in nurturing in children the ability to understand and care for nature.”

Tso, Rachel, (2010). Place-Based Media Arts Education: A Demonstration Project. The Making of Yellow Woman: A Demonstration Project of Place-Based Media Arts. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.

“This thesis is a film and paper together demonstrating Place-Based Media Arts.

Place Based Media Arts is a term coined here to describe the integration of Media Arts with Place-Based Education.

The paper explores how I came to this line of study, the rationale of Place-Based Media Arts and why such projects can further the goals of Place-Based Education. It also instructs educators on how to successfully accomplish a Place-Based Media Arts project. The accompanying film, "The Making of Yellow Woman: A Demonstration Project of Place-Based Media Arts", illustrates the benefits of creating a Place-Based Media Arts project. The film chronicles the making Camille Manybeads Tso’s award winning film, "In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman" -- the result of a project initiated to explore and demonstrate this thesis on Place-Based Media Arts. “

Tso, Rachel, ed. “Place-Based Media Arts.” Tso Inspired Media Arts. Tso Inspired Media Arts, LLC. Web. <http://tsoinspired.com>.

Melville, David, (2011). Environmental Education Exploration in Pre-service Teacher Education Programs: A Study at Northern Arizona University. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.

http://www.antiochne.edu/anei/cpbe/

http://www.ecoliteracy.org/strategies/place-based-learning

http://www.promiseofplace.org/

http://www.ruraledu.org/

Ch9) The Prepared Environment in the STAR 3-to-3rd Model: An Expression of Care

“The Six Principles of the Montessori Prepared Environment Explained.” Montessori Teacher Training. North American Montessori Center, 18 Mar 2009. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. http://montessoritraining.blogspot.com/2009/03/principles-of-montessori-prepared.html

“Montessori’s idea of the prepared environment was that everything the child came in contact with would facilitate and maximize independent learning and exploration. This calm, well-ordered environment has a lot of movement and activity. Children are free to choose and work on activities at their own pace. Here, they experience a combination of freedom and self-discipline, as guided by the environment. There are generally six aspects, or principles, to the Prepared Environment: Freedom; Structure and Order; Beauty; Nature and Reality; Social Environment; Intellectual Environment. Learn more about each of these aspects, and why the prepared environment is so important to the success a child experiences with Montessori education.”

Whitescarver, Keith. “Lessons from the Periphery: The Role of Dispositions in Montessori Teacher Training.” “The Prepared Adult” Journal of Educational Controversy. n. page. Print.

Nunn, Pamela. “The Prepared Adult as the key to the Montessori approach for Indigenous communities of Australia..” Montessori Children’s Foundation. n. page. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http://www.montessorifoundation.org/articles/MCFPreparedAdult0601.pdf>

“Dr. Maria Montessori’s belief in the transformation of the adult as a means to aid the child’s natural development abounds with great optimism and trust. Dr Montessori’s plan, based upon the inner strength of the prepared adult, and sustained by absolute faith in the child, encompasses the capacity and the will to break the cycle, and discover a path out of the labyrinth! It demands a new revelation of self, and an honest unconditional relationship with the child."

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The STAR School's "3-to-3rd Project"

A) STAR School "3-to-3rd Project" Narrative