The 4Directions Consortium
is achieving its goals by:
| Building on, and sharing, local cultures and values, including communicating via the Internet with schools and educators all over the world; |
| Using Internet activities across sites for training, tutoring, and cooperative education; |
| Creating networked "virtual communities" and "virtual museums" to link remote Indian communities to the world through the Internet; and |
| Maintaining and extending a network database of teaching, assessment, professional development, and student-created resources to encourage life-long learning and to achieve Goals for American Indians and Alaskan Natives, as well as national standards. |
Net Day 1999
On September 25, 1999, Santa Clara Day School in the Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico, hosted and was the featured site for BIA Net Day 1999. Nineteen 4Directions Project schools from Maine to Washington's Olympic Peninsula celebrated their accomplishments, as well as their connection through the Internet, by demonstrating how state-of-the-art technology has transformed their schools. Visitors saw students and teachers using technology in the classrooms, collaborating with other students across the nation, and accessing resources around the world.
There's More Work to be Done
These initiatives are clearly working. Student drop-out rates have decreased while attendance rates, academic performance, native language program availability, and accreditation rates have increased. Student enrollment in Tribal Controlled Community Colleges has grown as well, thanks to both increased graduation rates from high schools and the implementation of the Tribal Controlled Community College Executive Order. But, the OIEP, BIA, and their partners aren't finished yet. The BIA Strategic Plan includes educational goals that will continue to modernize the operations, facilities, and curricula of American Indian schools.
OIEP is actively implementing
the Educate America Act and the Improving America's Schools Act.
BIA-operated and administered schools have Consolidated School Reform
Plans guiding them into the 21st century. These plans include school achievement
and behavioral goals, parent involvement goals, and staff development
strategies to improve teaching and learning.
