How is it measuring up?

Recently a job posting here in Ontario caught my eye....  it was for an Indigenous Graduation Coach.  I thought to myself, how would the school board be setting up this candidate for success when it would be an uphill battle for them to help the students to reach graduation when there is such a disconnect from the curriculum and their cultural beliefs!  When parents may not be interested in forming relationships with school staff because of past trauma from residential schools!  When the content taught daily is from a Euro-centric lens!  When not enough is being done to embed indigenous knowledge and Elders into our school system!  When their language is still deteriorating! And lastly when our own government is spouting out speeches about Truth and Reconciliation and don't have the actions to back up these promises!

When the educational practices of a school board or country for that matter are not meeting the needs of the Aboriginal students in a holistic manner, then change is essential and necessary. Senge (1990) describes the successful process of change in education. "At the heart of a learning organization is the shift of mind - from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world .... a leaming organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality. And how they can change it" (p. 12-13). Connections are important in any process of educational change but even more so in Aboriginal education.  The cultural teachings are the foundation of the Aboriginal peoples' identity" (Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996, p. 116-117)

Shouldn't all educators from K-12 be Indigenous Graduation Coaches?  As you can see from the statistics linked here the rate for graduation in 2011 for indigenous students (those that self identified as FNMI) is well below the rest of the student population.  Are we asking these students why?  Are we listening to them and making the necessary changes to ensure their success? 
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/indigenous/ontario-student-achievement-en.pdf




Goulet. L, McLeod, Y. Vol 37, No 003 (2002). CONNECTIONS AND RECONNECTIONS: AFFIRMING CULTURAL IDENTITY IN ABORIGINAL TEACHER EDUCATION. Available Online at http://joj.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/MJE/article/view/5950