Abstract
This chapter describes the Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting model as a strategy for improving education outcomes for American Indian (AI) children in rural communities and the challenges posed by geographic isolation and poverty in these communities. It describes the lingering impacts of a federal trust role that initially sought to eradicate the influences of AI/AN culture and language in these communities and relatively recently adopted principles of self-determination and self-governance. It includes a history of PAT’s work in tribal communities since 1990 in implementing home visiting programs that have moved early childhood to the forefront in AI communities at the earliest stages of child development—prenatal to age three, including the Family and Child Education (FACE) program, the Investing in Innovations (i3) Baby FACE program, and the recent Tribal MIECHV programs. Home-based strategies that address challenges and strengths of rural AI families are described. Research findings specific to PAT models in AI rural community settings and concerns for the conduct of research in these settings are provided. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future directions to advance rural research for AI communities.
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Notes
- 1.
The tribally-operated Head Start program was established in 1965 under the Civil Rights legislation.
- 2.
In the 2005–2006 program year, the K-3 component was eliminated from the Early Childhood FACE program in light of funding from other sources for the professional development that had formerly been funded by the FACE program.
- 3.
Though highly-desired by the schools, the funding for these PAT/Baby FACE programs ended after 3 years due to a ruling that rights of tribal sovereignty required decisions about the use of funds to be made at the local tribal, not BIE, level of governance. A few of the schools were able to continue funding their Baby FACE programs locally.
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Pfannenstiel, J., Gebhardt, M. (2017). Improving Education Outcomes for American Indian Children: Community and Family Influences on Rural Student Academic Success. In: Nugent, G., Kunz, G., Sheridan, S., Glover, T., Knoche, L. (eds) Rural Education Research in the United States. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42940-3_13
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