Native American Medium Schools: A Tool for the Revitalization of Native American Languages
The Native American Language Act (NALA) enacted by Congress on October 30,1990 allows for the use of Native American languages as a medium of instruction in schools and recognizes the right of Native American students to express themselves, be educated, and be assessed in their native language. NALA not only provides protection for Native American languages, it also promotes their use. This is a significant change in policy from the past, where Native American languages were often minimalized or non-existent in education for Native Americans.
The passage of NALA led to the establishment of Native American Median Schools throughout the United States. In these schools students are educated in their heritage language by native speakers. The schools include a focus on Native American culture, customs, and history. Funding for these schools and programs is available through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families, Administration for Native Americans, Native American Language Preservation and Maintenance - Esther Martinez Immersion (EMI).
One of the main goals of Native American Median Schools is to protect the heritage language and revitalize it. These schools are different from immersion programs in that they don’t just teach the Native American language, they actually use it for instruction of all subjects. The Native American language is the core of the program which is used to teach about culture, literature, history, and math. In contrast, a typical immersion program is focused on the language as a supplement or an enrichment to the overall program. Immersion programs would offer instruction in the language as a part of the school day, while the remainder of the school day instruction would be in English.
Native American Medium Schools teach students English so that they are proficient when they graduate and are able to attend English language universities. However, English is not the priority of the school. Data acquired over the 30 years since the NALA was passed show that graduates of Native American Median Schools outperform their peers on high school graduation rates and college enrollment.
While Native American Medium Schools have shown success over the past thirty years in revitalizing the native languages, they face significant barriers. First, many of the native languages are endangered or have lost their first language speakers. This makes it hard for the schools to find native speakers to instruct the students. Second, many state and local governments are unfamiliar with NALA policies which makes funding and developing the schools difficult. However, even with these challenges the number of Native American Medium Schools continues to grow as does their ability to protect Native American languages.
Photo Credit: Andreas Wagner on Unspash.
Information for this piece was soruced from the following resources:
National Coalition of Native American Programs and Language Schools
