Schools on Arizona’s Native American reservations have trouble finding and retaining teachers, but an ASU program that develops long-term rural educators was given a $1.28 million grant to change that.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Indian Education Program awarded the nationally competitive grant to the Professional Development School Teaching Excellence Network through Educational Technology With Indian Nations, known as PDS TENET WIN.

The program is one of 54 professional developmental schools that applied for the 11 available grants, according to U.S. Department of Education officials.

PDS TENET WIN is an initiative through the College of Teacher Education and Leadership that provides opportunities for Native Americans to become qualified educators in their communities, project director Michelle Rojas said.

“What sets Arizona State University’s partnership programs apart from many programs in the nation is our community embeddedness,” Rojas said in an e-mail. “As part of our commitment to a ‘grow your own’ concept of teacher education, our programs take place within the communities we partner with.”

Chinle and Sells, Ariz. are two of the rural school districts in the Native American community that have difficulty retaining teachers for more than a year or two, said Franklin Elliott, PDS coordinator for the Chinle site.

“We’re constantly looking for teachers,” he said.

In order to keep teachers in rural schools, PDS TENET WIN recruits prospective education professionals in the area to join a two-year program that results in graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education.

“Offering University coursework within rural communities provides an educational opportunity to students who may not be able to relocate to urban areas to attend college,” Rojas said. “These individuals are the best teacher candidates within rural school districts because they are invested in their own community.”  

Second-year student Thomascita Towne of Chinle said most of the students in the program are adults with families who don’t have the option of going outside their communities for school. The PDS was able to provide a more convenient alternative, she said.

“Where we live, it’s just a rural place,” Towne said. “A lot of people are looking into the education field now because it’s really needed here.”

Towne was initially taking night classes to prepare herself for a job as an educator, but once she heard about the ASU PDS, she realized she would be able to take classes in a more convenient way.

“It’s helped me get my degree much faster,” Towne said.

A main selling point for PDS is that the program allows its students to learn while still working in school districts in their communities.

“I was able to show my nieces and nephews that I can go to school and work,” second-year student Shannon Begaye from Ganado, Ariz. said. “They don’t get to see it out here. It gave them an eye, a vision, that I can do it, so they can, too.
Currently there are around 70 students enrolled in the rural PDS sites and 100 enrolled in the urban sites, Rojas said.

“It’s a big bond,” Begaye said. “It’s like a family, and that’s what I really like about it.”

Reach the reporter at slsnyder@asu.edu.