From the Introduction:
One of the major tasks facing Native American communities (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians) is to create lifelong learning opportunities that allow all the members to improve their quality of life, and to meet their tribal responsibilities through meaningful contributions to the local, national, and world communities in which they live and interact. The greatest educational challenge for many is to build learning environments that allow each of their young children to obtain an education that "creates good people that are knowledgeable and wise."

From a tribal and Native American professional perspective, the creation of lifelong learning environments and meaningful educational experiences for both the youth and adults of a tribal community requires a language and cultural context that supports the traditions, knowledge, and language(s) of the community as the starting place for learning new ideas and knowledge. There is a firm belief within many Native tribal communities and professional Native educators that this cultural context is absolutely essential if one is to succeed academically and to build a meaningful life as adults. (Opposition to this point of view from tribes or Native educators is not in evidence in the printed literature we reviewed.) It also means that all members of indigenous communities must be prepared to participate fully in today's technical environment.

Certain events in 1969 and the early 1970s set the stage for the development of new interests, attitudes, and programs concerning the education of American Indians. These events included the following:

1. release of the Senate Subcommittee Report, Indian Education: A National Tragedy, A National Challenge;
2. the first national conference on Indian education;
3. the Havighurst Report;
4. the First Convocation of American Indian Scholars held at Princeton University in March, 1970; and
5. the creation of the National Indian Education Association.

The U.S. Senate Subcommittee Report, Indian Education: A National Tragedy, A National Challenge, presented information on decades of programs, attitudes, and federal policy that had stripped the American Indian of dignity. It referred to an earlier national study by Lewis Meriam and his colleagues that presented some initial and early perspectives about the place of language and culture in the education of American Indians. The "Meriam Report" recommended the incorporation of tribal language and cultural programs in the school curriculum, Native teachers to teach in schools serving Native students, and early childhood programs that would provide a safe and challenging early environment for young Indian children. Meriam presented the thesis that incorporating "Culture Based Education" (CBE) was a necessary component of a school's culture if Native American students were to succeed academically as students and play a meaningful role as citizens.

The first national conference on Indian education, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and organized by Rosemary Christensen, in partnership with the Upper Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory (UMREL) and the Minnesota Indian Education Committee (MIEC), along with a number of individuals including Elgie Raymond, Jerry Buckanaga, Don Bibeau, Ted Mahto, Bill Ammentorp, and Don Christensen, promoted the emergence of modern national leadership in the field of Indian education. This first national conference, followed in 1970 by conferences sponsored by the National Indian Education Association, offered a national forum for a contemporary discourse on the education of American Indians regarding federal and state policies, programs, the need for more Native teachers, local control of schools, curriculum needs, and other priorities.

The Havighurst Report provided some insightful research on the academic performance of Indian and Alaskan Native children, with an analysis of strengths and weaknesses influenced by different learning and physical environments. It also discussed the lack of Native teachers, the lack of a curriculum that supported the language and cultural base of the Native community served, and federal policies and practices that had caused a loss of dignity and ability for many to adjust to the demands of modern society, in part as a failure of schools.

The First Convocation of American Indian Scholars, held at Princeton University in March 1970, was organized under the auspices of the Indian Historian, a California publishing venture organized by Rupert Costo and Jenette Henry. They were supported in their planning by two university faculty members: Scott Momoday, a professor at Stanford University at the time; and Alfonso Ortiz, a professor at Princeton University. The convocation was funded by the Ford Foundation and brought a mix of Indian educators (with a master's or doctorate degree) together, including Indian language experts, Indian artists, and tribal historians. The purposes of this convocation were to discuss issues of tribal rights with a concentration on water rights of western tribes, the place of the arts in Indian society and intellectual property rights, and ways to improve educational opportunities for Indian children. The education discussion centered on the lack of Native teachers, Native culture, language, and other learning priorities. Rosemary Christensen, Marigold Linton, Sparland Norwood, Hershel Sahmaunt, John Winchester, Elizabeth Whiteman, and William Demmert, along with a few others, discussed the idea of creating a national Indian education association. Rosemary Christensen was selected to incorporate the organization in Minnesota.

The creation of the National Indian Education Association turned out to be timely for a number of reasons. It provided a long-term sponsor for expanding a national discourse about programs and policies that would concentrate on improving the quality of schools and schooling for Native American students. Increasing the number of Indian teachers, strengthening the language and cultural priorities of Indian tribes, and supporting changes in the curriculum of schools serving Native students all became major priorities. The single most important role that the NIEA engaged itself in early in its history was in providing leadership and support for developing and implementing the Indian Education Act of 1972. Will Antell (president of NIEA at the time) and William Demmert (a graduate student at Harvard during this period, a founder and member of the Board of NIEA) were engaged by the U.S. Senate (Senators Walter Mondale and Ted Kennedy) to work on the Indian Education Act of 1972. William Demmert later became the first Deputy Commissioner of Indian Education, in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, U.S. Office of Education, and Will Antell became the first chairman of the presidentially appointed National Advisory Council for Indian Education (NACIE). Both positions were created under this new legislation.

The Indian Education Act of 1972 (P.L. 92-318 as amended) became the major force for implementing new ideas generated from the emerging national discourse on ways to improve schools and schooling for Native American students. Priorities in the legislation included:

1. funding for schools to develop culturally based curriculum;
2. support for increasing the numbers of Native teachers and other professionals (an amendment added in 1973);
3. opportunities to develop Native language and cultural programs; and
4. a requirement for active, meaningful parental participation.

The new legislation also allowed for building demonstration programs and for the experimentation of new ideas for educating Native children.

The current national Native American interest in promoting Native language development and cultural priorities important to continuing one's Native or tribal identity is a cumulative result of the events listed above. Many Native American groups and educators take the position that recognizing one's Native American (American Indian, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian) heritage is necessary to an individual's mental, spiritual, and physical health. Opposition to this position has decreased during the past 20 years as evidenced by the White House Conference on Indian Education and the Indian Nations At Risk report where the preponderance of recommendations indicates growing support. Earlier attitudes about language and culturally based programs are reflected in the fact that such programs did not exist, or were very limited in number before the Indian Education Act of 1972.

The culturally based education (CBE) priority of Native people has been reinforced in recent years through several events:

1. Indian Nations At Risk: An Educational Strategy for Action,
2. the White House Conference on Indian Education,
3. the Native American Languages Act of 1990, and
4. the Executive Order of August 1998 on Indian Education.

The interest in finding a relationship between improved academic performance and programs that include culturally based education activities (e.g., language and cultural programs), is the result of a firm belief within the Native American professional community that high achievement in academics and motivation depend on the spiritual well-being of Native students, early attention to cognitive development, sense of identity, and social/cultural maturity. The purpose of an experimental study would be to determine whether CBE activities have this effect, and if so, how large the effect is. This belief incorporates the position that improved academic performance will not occur until other factors identified above are included as part of a comprehensive approach for nurturing and educating the whole child.

In direct support of the growing Native American position on the influence of culture in a person's life, Jerome Bruner (a foremost pioneer in cognitive development and educational psychology) states that "...culture shapes mind, ...it provides us with the toolkit by which we construct not only our worlds but our very conceptions of our selves and our powers." He further states that "...you cannot understand mental activity unless you take into account the cultural setting and its resources, the very things that give mind its shape and scope. Learning, remembering, talking, imagining: all of them are made possible by participating in a culture." The quantitative research available on Native Americans is not sufficient to transfer this theory to Native America but the qualitative research provides some interesting insights to this position and is very supportive.

The formal reports cited in this review of the literature present the position that knowing, understanding, and appreciating one's cultural base are necessary starting points for initiating a young child's formal education. The theory is that it sets the stage for what occurs in a youngster's later life. The task of this report is to review the research literature to determine whether there is a direct relationship between a culturally based education curriculum and improved academic performance among Native American students. There is a significant amount of qualitative research that sets the stage for testing ideas through quantitative methods that may isolate specific factors that validate theories regarding culturally based education in searching for ways to improve academic performance among Native children. Let us hope that the quality of future research and the combined knowledge of the Native American Research Consortium, partners, and other researchers in the field of Native education can accomplish this.