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- All Subjects: Education
- Creators: Morrison Institute for Public Policy
- Creators: Zah, Peterson
In this interview, Iverson and Zah dialog on the topics of leadership and the evolution of the Navajo Nation. Zah gives his perspective on leadership and the important attributes that a Navajo leader should have in order to be effective. Iverson and Zah discuss past and present influential leaders that have made an impact on the Navajo Nation. Those who were mentioned include the inspirational Chief Manuelito, health issues activist Annie Wauneka, livestock advocate Tom Dodge, and William Morgan, who was a pioneer for the written Navajo language. Zah comments on the leadership role of DNA People's Legal Services and his experience as a leader there. Zah expresses his ideals about individual rights and education and how the hard work of his colleagues and himself has furthered those ideals. Iverson and Zah converse about education and the growing presence of American Indians at Arizona State University. Finally, Zah gives his thoughts about two major challenges that the Navajo Nation face today: trying to keep the Navajo government accountable to the Navajo people and the effective management of resources on the Navajo Nation.
In this interview, Peterson Zah addresses Navajo history, both past and present. Numerous topics are discussed in this interview such as the beginning stages of the Navajo reservation, language and culture, women in Navajo politics, and old and new Navajo values. Zah commentates on matters pertaining to the Navajo Tribal Government, such as the Indian Reorganization Act, the history and issues of the Navajo Tribal Government, and its future. He mentions key individuals in Navajo history that contributed to the growth and well-being of the community, for example Annie Wauneka and Raymond Nakai. Zah also reflects on some of his greatest achievements while working at DNA People's Legal Services and as Tribal Chairman. Major achievements mentioned include the revamping of Apache County, the rising number of Navajo lawyers, and the creation of new high schools on the Navajo reservation, which ultimately led to the closing down of boarding schools. Zah gives details about significant precedent-setting cases that DNA People's Legal Services handled, such as the McClanahan v. the Arizona Tax Commission case.
In this interview, Peterson Zah reveals personal experiences about his childhood, the struggles of growing up, and how those experiences shaped his life today. Zah reflects on living close to Keams Canyon, trying to keep family traditions, farming, obtaining water, and the hardships of family going to war, scarcity of food and water, and having to relocate multiple times due to the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute. He recounts his personal experiences attending Tuba City Boarding School, Phoenix Indian School, Phoenix College, and finally Arizona State University. Zah recalls various aspects of his education including his class schedules and routine at Tuba City Boarding School and the goal of Phoenix Indian School being more concerned about vocational training than college preparation. He also takes a moment to address his mentors that helped him throughout the different stages of his education.
In this interview, Peterson Zah expresses his opinions and observations about education during his time at Window Rock High School as a teacher and as a member of the Board of Trustees. He discusses issues concerning boarding schools, bringing public schools onto the Navajo reservation, and creating an efficient educational policy. Zah speaks about the Indian Self Determination Act of 1975, the establishment of the Navajo Community College, and how acquiring the rights to vote allowed the Navajo Nation to play a more pivotal role in elections and educational decisions. The latter half of the interview reflects upon the growing number of Native American students in higher education, retention rates, self-determination, and community pride and support. Zah also addresses the Native American achievement program created by ASU to help with retention rates and the future goals for Native American students in higher education.
In this interview, Peterson Zah reflects on his academic and professional experiences from 1947-1987. Zah's academic experiences range from him first attending boarding school, transferring to Phoenix Indian School's Navajo Special Program, attending public high school, and graduating from Arizona State University in 1963. Professional experiences discussed in this interview include working for ASU's Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) volunteer training program, being employed by DNA People's Legal Services and some of their influential cases, and his greatest accomplishments while serving as Tribal Chairmen from 1983-1987. Zah also addresses the creation of the Navajo education policy and briefly discusses key points in Navajo history, such as relocation and significant treaties.
Based on the premise that school reform efforts must consider the needs of at-risk children, this paper discusses parallel reform efforts that focus on community service. The first part discusses logical linkages between community service and "at-risk" education and describes how Arizona is attempting to formalize these linkages within the state context of school reform. The Serve-America program, which arose from passage of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, allocates funds to states for school-based community-service programs in grades K-12. Through formalized school-community agency and youth organization/community agency partnerships, Arizona's Serve-America project is designed to: (1) encourage school-age and out-of-school youth to volunteer their services for the benefit of others in their communities; (2) increase the number of adult volunteers in Arizona's schools; (3) provide productive, meaningful experiences for participants; and (4) emphasize coordination of community agencies to avoid duplication and maximize utilization of local resources. Together, Arizona's Serve-America programs have involved over 3,300 youth and adult volunteers who provided over 11,500 hours of community service in the ares of education, community improvement, human services, public safety, and conservation. Participants reported positive changes in their attitudes and behaviors as a result of their community service and service learning participation.
This follow-up to the 2001 landmark report, "Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona's Future," focuses on the projected future of the state if Arizona fails to address its Latino educational attainment gap. The publication is more of an economic impact statement than an education report, with indicators pointing out consequences and contributions, depending on action or inaction in closing the gap of Arizona's future workforce.
Students with AP credit are often able to skip general studies courses and take courses related to their majors earlier in their college careers than students without AP credits. Recent federal and state policies have been aimed at expanding students’ access to AP courses. In this brief, we examine students’ access, participation, and success in AP courses in Arizona’s public high schools.
The Arizona Republic reported on a Jan. 10 panel discussion regarding Arizona's vulnerable giant data system called the Student Accountability Information System, or SAIS: Arizona's superintendent of schools, John Huppenthal, says the state's K-12 data system is on the "verge of collapse" and is seeking $35 million in state funding over the next two years to fix and improve outdated systems. "We figure we have 200 people in the department who are essentially full-time data wranglers," Huppenthal said. "It's like monks in the medieval ages copying stuff on paper." The state's K-12 data system was the focus of a panel discussion sponsored by Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy. The nonpartisan research group released a report the same day calling the data system "antiquated" and "patched together." The report said the lack of a fully functioning system hampers the state's efforts to improve academic performance.
Throughout Arizona and the Southwest, the odds are against high achievement in schools with a mostly Latino, mostly poor student enrollment. Some schools, however, "beat the odds" and achieve consistently high results or show steady gains. Why do these schools succeed where others fail? Using the methodology of business guru Jim Collins from his book "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't," the authors of this report found 12 elementary and middle schools in Arizona--schools whose students are mostly Latino and mostly poor--that are "beating the odds" on reading and math scores. The authors compared them with similar schools that are performing poorly. The comparisons yielded many insights that are contrary to conventional wisdom. One key result is the unearthing of six elements of success that can translate into broader messages for education policy and strategy. The report recommends the creation of leadership programs for principals and teachers and calls for the creation of a dissemination mechanism to bring "best practices" into every school in Arizona.