Round Valley Reservation, Education, and the Sherman Institute
1920s- Current Day
TRAVERSE COTTRELL
Introduction
The evolution of education on the Round Valley Reservation has been great. Since the early 1900s, they have been under similar regiment of the boarding school as other Nations have, across the United States. Over time, and through changes in United States legislation, they have been able to evolve their schooling over time to reflect more of the Nations' interests on the reservation. In contemporary education stances, it has become much more diverse, as the old Sherman Institute has gone through drastic changes from being a government regimented institute to one of the most sought after native boarding schools offered to Indigenous peoples. At the same time, after the Round Valley school system was created, it has been heavily ridiculed for not meeting education standards under the No Child Left Behind Act. Outside of the school system, Round Valley has the Head Start program, which is designed to get children more family oriented, and to develop their sense of mind, along with the rest of their family.
Early 1900s Sherman Indian Institute
During the early 1900s, boarding schools were implemented across the United States in an attempt to educate the native population of western ideologies. Because public schools were ill-advised for natives, due to the extreme Californian racism among the white parents, agents nd superintendents "recognized that Sherman was one of the few places Round Valley Indian children could continue their education," (Bauer 404). Now, to note, the Sherman Institute is located in Riverside, California, while the Round Valley Reservation is located just outside Covelo, California. The average trek for students wishing to attend this institute would have a 600+ mile journey to even get to the school.
In 1903, the Sherman Institute was created, off reservation, with four dormitories available to live in, offering Western education for grades 9-12. In comparison to the location of where the reservation was, this was a trek from Covelo, California, to Riverside, California, with 600+ miles to travel. During the students' stay, they would be segregated by gender, taught different curriculum, and were given negative reinforcement towards white superiority (The Students of Sherman Indian School 50). The curriculum that the students were given was unlike any teaching that they have encountered before, as gendered tasks were not as clear as a mark of native society. "Reservation agents and school superintendents believed that a proper Victorian home life, with sexual purity before marriage, monogamous and life-long marriages, and separate economic gender spheres, was central to the goal of assimilating Round Valley Indians.
In regards to the particular curriculum their students learned, females were assigned duties such as creaming vegetables, practicing good table service, and personal habits in the kitchen and dining room (Bauer 409). These activities were described as "the cult of true womanhood," with the ideal woman showing "purity, piety, selflessness, domesticity, obedience, and meekness." Males were taught the types and breeds of dairy cattle, shown how to care for the cows and their milk, and explained how to increase the size of ones herd. They would be put under long hours of strenuous labor to educate them on farming, stock raising, plant production, and for beautifying home grounds. (Bauer 410)
Mid 30s to Early 50s
As the government made moves towards self-determination, similarly did the students of Sherman Institute. In 1938, the students formed a student council, and it soon developed into an Intertribal Reform (Bahr 44). The push towards self-determination started to shift the environment towards a more hospitable school, but as this progressed, World War II began. For a long period beginning in 1948, Sherman shifted its mode of operation, of where they no longer enrolled students, was effectively shut down, and began teaching and building aircrafts to assist in the war (Bahr 48).
From the point of where Sherman Institute became militarized in its education, it adopted much of the militaristic jargon, of where the Navajo program began to educate Indians for 6 months of negative reinforcement of white superiority (Bahr 50). If students did not wish to participate in this program after joining, they would be considered a 'deserter,' which shows "evidence of the persistence of the military structure, despite the goal of the [IRA] to eliminate the military regimentation (Bahr 54).
Mid 50s to Early 70s
The shift from militarization and assimilation to self-determination began to shape the Sherman Institute again. Senator Robert Kennedy released a statement regarding Native education, saying that "The Indians were promised an adequate education, but those treaties have been broken...We pledge ourselves to make efforts for improvement at this Institute and in Indian schools across the country" (Bahr 79). This then triggered a comprehensive investigation of education among Natives across the nation.
Elwin Svenson, a reporter for the government regarding Native education, found a total of 10 inadequacies with the Sherman Institute, including inadequate staff, funding, admissions criteria, student interest, and administrative skill in budgeting (Bahr 81). Promptly after this, at the North Fork conference, the ad hoc committee stressed the need for Indian involvement in their own education process, and the value of Native heritage (Bahr 84). In fact, they eventually evolved into the California Indian Education Association (CIEA), of where they expressed their concerns to Sherman, "with these specific recommendations: an all-Indian board of directors, a program that reflected California Indian enrollment, curricula that expressed Indian concepts, a lower student-teacher ratio, and accommodations for visiting parents (Bahr 84). On January 7th, 1967, for the first time since 1948, California Indians would be enrolled at the Sherman Institute, under new management. A new age of education dawned for many Californian Indians.
Mid 70s to the 21st Century
In 1972, the Endian Education Act passed, which allowed Indians to determine their own curriculum (Bahr 91). There was an amazing positive reform for Native education, such as driver education classes, and physical education (Bahr 91). This new policy was completely evident in the Sherman arts and crafts program. The Institute brought in tribal craftsmen from major tribes, to teach their own specialties (Bahr 92). Students were so engaged with this program that they no longer wanted to leave the classroom. A decade later, the Native American Languages Act of 1990 passed, which moved to preserve Native languages, and to help promote the education of them again to prevent the loss of their language (Bahr 99). In addition, this allowed Native American languages to be the main language they use in schools, which allowed education to move towards a more traditional and preservation stance (Bahr 99).
Sherman Indian High School
The Sherman Indian High School is the reimagined Sherman Institute, and although it is still a boarding school, it is completely dedicated towards native education and development. Being a high school, grades 9-12, it offers the standards of being in a public high school, while still educating the students on many of the cultural and tribal engagements of their heritage. Currently, this boarding school is one of the best opportunities to allow students to graduate while demonstrating "the knowledge and ability to live in two worlds," (Sherman 7). This school is one of the more highly sought after schools, eligible to native students only.
Round Valley Unified School District
The Round Valley Unified School District, (RVUSD), serves as a school system that serves students in the Round Valley Tribal Community, along with the surrounding rural areas. Although this school system is one of the most culturally and geographically isolated in california, 76% of the school age children are American Indian. Unfortunately, because poverty is so pervasive in this area, 100% of the students in this system can qualify for free student lunches and breakfasts through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). (LEAP 9) In the same sense, due to the impoverished conditions that this district holds, there is also a large turnover rate for staff, which can challenge their standardized goals, and thusly put the school system under state observation. (LEAP 11)
Round Valley Elementary School
In the year 2000, the Round Valley Elementary school participated in the Immediate intervention/ Underperforming Schools Program, as their standards for education did not fit the standardized federal aid program. Due to this, the school became a state-monitored school(LEAP 8). Since then, their Academic Performance Growth has increased gradually from 2006-2010, of which they have exceeded standardized growth curves to be removed from state sanction.
Round Valley High School
This high school has been under stress recently, due to the overwhelmingly large amount of staff turnover rate (~35%) (LEAP 12). In addition to this, the attendance rate has been dropping since 2004-2005, and the overall enrolled students have also been steadily declining. This decline has been steady until the year 2010. They have been emphasizing a new instructional system that used benchmark assessments, pacing guides, and classroom strategies to help improve the achievements of the students. They recently went under program renovations, renovating their classroom system for education, as it has been lacking up until 2010 (LEAP 13). As of now, their faculty has been changed to meet a higher education standard, and the classrooms are meeting standard marks for public education, without very much emphasis on culture or language.
Drop Outs/Graduation Rates/Faculty Attendance
For the standard four year program, the student drop out rate in the high school is a staggering 57.4%, of which compared to the state dropout rate, is 18.9% (LEAP 11). This amount is staggering, partially because not only do the students not come to class, but the teachers as well. In total, approximately 3000 hours have been lost due to poor attendance by the employees (LEAP 20). When teachers are not able to attend their classes, many times substitutes are not used, reducing the total amount of time education can even be taught. This could be due to in part of the lack of a professional development plan, as although there are courses for elementary and middle school teachers, there is no course work in place for high school teachers, crippling their ability to educate well.
The Head Start Program
As part of the Round Valley Reservation's programs to foster child development, they have created the "Head Start" program, which is designed for child development from ages 3 to 5, along with their families, and expecting women (RVIT). Coursework for this program involves building foundational skills, such as individuality and identity, supporting individual heritage, bringing in many cultural aspects of the tribes on the Round Valley, and fostering a multilingual environment (RVIT). The goals that this program has in place is to build strong family connections, developing interactions on the social, cognitive, physical, and emotional level (RVTIO) As it is traditionally expected, they teach that the parents are one of the most important teachers for children, and that all learning is done in the aspect of family, as that is the primary form of development children will grow up under.
References
Bauer, William J, Jr. (393-421) Round Valley Indian Families at the Sherman Indian Institute. Historical Society of Southern California. University of California Press, 2010.
Bauer, William J, Jr. (13-204) We Were All Like Migrant Workers Here. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. 2009.
Sherman Indian High School Editors, (5-15). Student Guide to Success Handbook. Sherman Indian High School, 2017.
(LEAP) California Department of Education Editors (1-30). Local Educational Agency Plan. California Department of Education, Sacramento, California, 2014.
Bahr, Diana. M. (2014) The Students of Sherman Indian School: Education and Native Identity Since 1892.Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.
(RVIT) Sayad, Monica.(2013, November 02). Round Valley Early Childood Education Program. Retrieved from https://www.rvit.org/programs/headstart.php
Unknown Author. Domestic Science Class at Sherman Institute. Los Angeles Public Library. 1915. calisphere.org
Nathan Soliz. Round Valley Seal. Wikipedia. Babbage, 2008.
Unknown Author. Sherman Indian High School. Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). https://sihs.bie.edu
James Fee. The Round Valley Ensphere is a wood dome stadium in Eagar, Arizona, USA owned by Round Valley High School. Own Work. wikipedia.org
