research

Creating the From Boarding Schools to Suspension Boards report

Crystal Martinez-Alire Headshot
By Crystal Martinez-Alire, CSBA Director-at-Large, Native American

The Sacramento Native American Higher Education Collaborative is a regionally based workgroup that I was a part of made up of American Indian/Native faculty, staff, administrators, community members and students affiliated with local community colleges, universities and the California Tribal College and Wilton Rancheria. The workgroup was created to discuss intersegmental designs of pathways for American Indian/Native students. The mission of the workgroup is to identify solutions for improving access, retention, success and the overall experience for American Indian students in public education. During my time participating on the committee, there have been several opportunities to engage with other Native American community members and representatives in an informative manner in order to discuss and collaborate around resources, college workshops and Native American student achievement.

This workgroup has met over the course of the last few years, and the committee’s main focus is to identify ways of supporting Native students and applying best practices when working in the K-12 system and the post-secondary level. The workgroup usually meets monthly with regional representatives from Los Rios Community College District; Sierra College; California State

This workgroup has met over the course of the last few years, and the committee’s main focus is to identify ways of supporting Native students and applying best practices when working in the K-12 system and the post-secondary level. The workgroup usually meets monthly with regional representatives from Los Rios Community College District; Sierra College; California State University, Sacramento; and the University of California, Davis. The representatives within the Sacramento region are also from the Native American/Indian education programs in Sacramento City Unified, San Juan Unified, West Sacramento Unified and Elk Grove Unified school districts, along with the Shingle Springs Tribal TANF program representative, Sacramento Native American Health Center and other American Indian community organizations or tribes, such as Wilton Rancheria. The committee has taken a very proactive role, providing educational workshops, campus tours and textbook support, as well as hosting several Native American college days and events. The SNAHEC committee is focused on improving interorganizational communication and coordination, improving policy and developing programs or events that are co-funded between organizations.

Most recently, some of the SNAHEC workgroup members contributed to the report, From Boarding Schools to Suspension Boards: Suspensions and Expulsions of Native American Students in California Public Schools. It was published in collaboration with the Community College Equity Assessment Lab at San Diego State University. This process involved regular meetings with Luke Wood, Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Education at SDSU, to discuss the data/research on Native American K-12 student suspension rates and identify ways to support Native students within the K-12 system. The research group focused on identifying best practices for school districts to help decrease suspension rates. A significant point to include is that when research is conducted on Native students, the student population size can be small because of the way ethnicity data is collected. It’s important to keep in mind that the numbers in the suspension and expulsion report may reflect a larger sample size because some Native students and families often identify as more than one ethnicity. Overall, the report brings to light the critical matter of the number of students that are receiving suspensions early on in their education, which is an indicator for the minimal rates of Native students entering higher education. More work needs to be done to address Native American student suspension and expulsion rates within the public education system in California and the nation.