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Staying the Course, Expanding the Vision: A Report on the Reservation-Based, Community Determined Program

Item

Identifier

RBCD_report

Title

Staying the Course, Expanding the Vision: A Report on the Reservation-Based, Community Determined Program

Date

12 November 2016

Creator

Barbara Smith

extracted text

1

Staying the Course, Expanding the Vision
A Report on the
Reservation-Based, Community Determined
Program

By
Barbara Leigh Smith
12 November 2016
Submitted to Interim Provost Ken Tabbutt

2

Table of Contents

Introduction
State of American Indian, Alaska Native Education on the United States
Serving the American Indian, Alaska Native Population in Washington
American Indian, Alaska Natives in Washington Colleges and Universities
Evergreen History
Lower Division Bridge Program Developed
The Current Situation
Challenges and Ongoing Issues
Options for the Future
References
Attachments

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List of Tables
Table 1

Washington American Indians/Alaska Natives, Statewide and Urban
areas, 2015

Table 2

Washington State Federally Recognized Tribes Demographics, 2015

Table 3

American Indian and Alaska Native Alone or in Combination Tribal
Groupings, 2015

Table 4

American Indian/Alaska Native Enrollment in Washington Four-Year
Public Colleges & Universities 2014-2015

Table 5

Reservation-Based Program Enrollment and Site History, 1994-2016

Table 6

Tulalip Students in the RBCD, Winter 2008-Spring 2014

Table 7

Grays Harbor College Historical Enrollment in Lower Division RBCD,
2005 to Fall 2016

Table 8

Grays Harbor Lower Division RBCD College Readiness, Cohort 1-4, by
Site, 2005-2009

Table 9

Grays Harbor Lower Division RBCD Level of Under-preparedness in
English, Cohort 1-3

Table10

Sites & Early Leavers, Grays Harbor College Bridge Program, 2009

Table 11

Washington Community College Native American Student Goals -2015

Table 12

Washington Community College, Enrollment by College, 2015

Table 13

Northwest Indian College Enrollment by Site, 2013-2015

Table 14

Northwest Indian College Retention Rates by Site, 2015 Academic Year

Table 15

Northwest Indian College Upper Division Programs of Study Enrollment
by Residence Status, 2013-2014

Table 16

Northwest Indian College, 2014-2015 Annual Enrollment Report, Upper
Division Programs

Table 17

Report Recommendations

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Attachments
Attachment 1- UW Know before U Go flyer, UW Tacoma Native Symposium, SPSCC
Attachment 2- Native American Studies DTF 1988
Attachment 3 - Evergreen/Northwest Indian College MOA 1994 and 2002
Attachment 4- Faculty (Native and other) teaching in Native programs, 1972-to date
Attachment 5 - Evergreen Request to Higher Education Coordinating Board and NW
Association of Colleges for statewide approval to offer RBCD, April 22, 1999 and NW
Association of Colleges Approval to offer RBCD Statewide, May 11, 1999
Attachment 6 –RBCD Three year curriculum
Attachment 7 - Aguilar Wells, Site Factor Report. Fall 2008
Attachment 8 –Grays Harbor College Curriculum
Attachment 9 – Smith, Dev Ed Report GHC
Attachment 10–GHC Achieving the Dream Report
Attachment 11 – Peninsula College Curriculum
Attachment 12- Peninsula College Student Success Project
Attachment 13-Marchand, Recruitment Plan
Attachment 14- Board of Trustees Proposal to Establish an MPA program at Tacoma
campus
Attachment 15- Email from Laura Coghlan to Barbara Smith about accreditation and
online programs
Attachment 16- Information on online training for faculty from the State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges Quality Matters

5

Acknowledgements
Thanks to the following individuals for providing valuable information for this
report: Jeff Antonelis-Lapp, Carol Minugh, Michele Aguilar-Wells, Cindy
Marchand-Cecil, Linda Moon Stumpff, Puanani Nihoa, Sarah Ryan, Walter
Niemiec, Doreen Swetkis, Tyrus Smith, Kate Reavey, Susan Preciso, Jules Unsel,
Debbie Martin (Quinault), Wilma Cabanas (Muckleshoot) , Laura Coghlan, Gary
Arthur (Grays Harbor), Lorena Maurer (Grays Harbor), Bernice Portervint
(NWIC), Carmen Bland (NWIC),Ami Magisos (Peninsula College), Bill Moore
and Alissa Sells (State Board for Community and Technical Colleges),
Washington Student Achievement Council, and Richard Wells (Squaxin Island
Planning Office).

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Staying the Course, Expanding the Vision
A Report on the Reservation-Based, Community Determined
Program

By
Barbara Leigh Smith

Executive Summary
Evergreen’s longstanding commitment to educating historically underserved and
underrepresented populations is central to its mission. In particular, serving Native American
communities and their students has been embedded in our mission since its founding. This report
examines the challenges facing Evergreen’s Reservation-Based, Community-Determined Indian
Education Program from national, regional and state perspectives and proposes remedies for its
successful future.

Introduction
Native American1 education is at a crossroads at Evergreen and throughout the nation. There is
widespread recognition that the United States is becoming a highly diverse nation and that the future
depends upon having a well-educated population. A national effort is focused on increasing high school
and college graduation rates and addressing longstanding educational disparities, especially among
populations of color. Just this year (2016), the White House announced that the national high school
graduation rate reached a new high, but graduation rates of American Indian/Alaska Natives are
substantially lower.
While the American Indian/Alaska Native population is small compared to the rapidly increasing
number of Hispanics, Blacks, and Asian Americans, disparities in education access and success
are highest among American Indian/Alaska Natives. A growing body of research, such as the
report, The Dropout/Graduation Crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native Students:
The terms “American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN)” and “Native American (NA)” are used interchangeably in
this document.
1

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Failure to Respond Places the Future of Native Peoples at Risk, describes the implications in
dire terms (Faircloth & Tippeconnic, 2010).2 In our own state, the Higher Education
Coordinating Committee set ambitious goals for Washington State and warned that
“participation and success rates must climb significantly in the next decade or we will experience
a widening economic gap between those with education and those left behind. This will harm our
future economic, social, and cultural development” (Higher Education Coordinating Board,
2007). In November 2013, WSAC adopted the 2013 Roadmap report that set two aggressive
educational attainment goals to be achieved by 2023: 1) All adults in Washington, ages 25-44,
will have a high school diploma or equivalent and 2) At least 70 percent of Washington adults,
ages 25-44, will have a postsecondary credential. (WSAC, 2016) In Washington state and across
the nation, goal attainment rates are slowly improving but continue to lag behind goals,
especially for Native Americans.
A 2009 study commissioned by the Washington State Legislature to study the achievement gap among
Native American students argues that the current situation needs to be conceived as an “opportunity
gap” just waiting to be addressed (Pavel, 2009). The good news is that there are new signs of
commitment to increase Native student access and success in Washington and the nation as a whole and
many creative initiatives and approaches have emerged.
Washington is among the top states in American Indian/Alaska Native population and has 29 federally
recognized tribes as well as large urban populations of Native Americans. Washington has been a leader
in the current efforts to improve Native American education.
Evergreen has a long history of serving Native American students and communities dating back to its
founding. The college has stayed the course and expanded the vision, now offering a broad array of
academic and public service programs. Over the years, Evergreen has graduated hundreds of Native
Americans. Many of our alumni are leaders in their communities and serve in a variety of important
roles in tribes, various organizations, businesses, and public service.
At the same time, much has changed in the last ten years. This report to the Evergreen administration
provides an opportunity to pause, look at what has been accomplished, and plan for the future. The
report addresses the following questions: 1) what is the current state of Native American education in
the United States and Washington? 2) what is the history of Indian education and the ReservationBased, Community Determined (RBCD) program at Evergreen? How has this program contributed to
Evergreen’s overall mission? 3) Where are competitive programs that might have an impact on
Evergreen’s programs and the RBCD program in particular? What are the issues facing the RBCD
today in terms of the program’s viability? 4) what are the challenges and issues that need to be
addressed? And 5) what are the options for the future?

2

This study looked at the 12 states, including Washington, with the highest number of Native Americans.

8

The State of American Indian/Alaska Native Education in the U.S.
Many American Indian Tribes signed treaties with the US government that guaranteed their rights to
reservation land, education, and other services in exchange for ceding most of their traditional
homelands. These promises were long neglected as federal policies shifted back and forth about how to
handle “the Indian problem.” When the Native American population did not vanish as predicted,
policies turned towards assimilation, termination of reservations, and relocation of Indians to urban
areas.
Miseducation and failure to deliver on promises to Native American people is, unfortunately, a central
theme in United States history. The Meriam Report in 1928, the Indian Nations at Risk report of 1991,
the 2003 report, A Quiet Crisis: Federal Funding and the Unmet Needs in Indian Country and many
others describe in repetitive detail the need to reform Indian education after decades of removing Indian
children from their homes and sending them to boarding schools focused on assimilation and eradicating
their culture--often referred to as the” kill the Indian, save the man” approach.
The 1960s and 1970s were signature years of Indian activism through a variety of means --- protests,
establishing new organizations to work on behalf of Native Americans such as the National Congress of
American Indians, and sometimes successfully using legal means of redress. Most important was the
passage of the Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act in 1975, which directed the
Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to allow tribes to contract and receive direct funding to plan and
execute services previously run by the Federal government. Implemented slowly at first because of lack
of funding and resistance from the BIA, this legislation went far beyond simply transferring the
mechanics of administration to become a platform for tribal advancement generally (Wilkinson, 2005,
197). Passage of the Indian Self Determination and Educational Assistance Act signaled a new
commitment to try something different and respect the efficacy of local efforts at community
development. Today, the American Indian population has survived mass genocide and continues to
move forward despite continued efforts by some to assimilate, to reduce sovereignty, and to obliterate
Tribes and Indians through legal and political means and policies.
One of the most important developments in the education arena has been the establishment of tribal
schools and colleges. The Navajo Nation was the first to step up to develop a tribal school and college.
In 1972, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) was formed by the presidents of
the first six tribal colleges. By 2016, there were 37 tribal colleges in the nation which educate
approximately 30,000 students or 8.7% of the overall AIAN population (National Center for Education
Statistics).
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) are chartered by their respective tribal governments,
including the ten tribes within the largest reservations in the United States. They operate more
than 75 campuses in 16 states—virtually covering Indian Country—and serve students from well
more than 230 federally recognized Indian tribes. TCUs vary in enrollment (size), focus (liberal

9

arts, sciences, workforce development/training), location (woodlands, desert, frozen tundra, rural
reservation, urban), and student population (predominantly American Indian). However, tribal
identity is the core of every TCU, and they all share the mission of tribal self-determination and
service to their respective communities (AIHEC website, 2016).
Most tribal colleges are located in remote areas with high poverty rates and no other postsecondary
education institutions. Many of these are in Western states with large reservations. Washington is an
exception with an extensive college system and only one tribal college, Northwest Indian College on the
Lummi Indian reservation.
In September, 1993, the Puyallup Tribe, then served by Northwest Indian College, announced it was
starting its own tribal college, Medicine Creek College. Northwest Indian College and its 135 students
were told to move to another site. Medicine Creek did operate for several years and then closed. 3 The
only other discussion about establishing a new tribal college in Washington is at the Muckleshoot Tribe,
which is currently considering whether to start a tribal college
The 2010 US Census indicates that the nation’s American Indian/Alaska Native population is 5.2
million or 1.7% of the overall population. The Census also now includes data on the percent of the
population reporting mixed race heritage. This is the most rapidly growing category and included about
half of the American Indian population in the 2010 Census. The overall American Indian/Alaska Native
(AIAN) is a rapidly growing population that increased by 26.7 percent between the 2000 and 2010
census. The population is young with a median age of 29 compared to 37.2 per cent of the overall
population. (United States Census, 2012. The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010)
Unfortunately, educational disparities are substantial and longstanding with AIAN high school/GED
attainment levels of 77% vs 86% in the overall population. Approximately 28% of the AIAN population
lives in poverty compared to 15% for the overall population. A majority (78%) live outside tribal areas,
many in urban areas, which can make improvement efforts more complicated.
The 2013 edition of the report, Diplomas Count: Second Chances, indicates that the education
improvements nationwide are being driven largely by increasing success rates among historically
underserved populations. There has been a substantial narrowing of the gap between whites and Latinos
and blacks. Unlike the other historically underserved groups, Native American student success rates
have dropped. “A 30-point graduation gap separates Asians and Native Americans, the nation’s highestand lowest-performing groups” (Diplomas Count, 2013). The study recommends widespread
development of “second chance” programs focusing on turning dropouts into graduates.

Serving the American Indian and Alaska Native Population in Washington

3

The Bureau of Indian Affairs reduced the level of support for Indian students at all tribal colleges in 1999 due to
rising enrollment and the opening of a new tribal college, Medicine Creek College.

10

Demographics. Washington State is among the top states in the U.S. in American Indian/Alaska Native
population with 29 federally recognized tribes.

Federally Recognized Tribes in Washington

Many Native American people in Washington live off reservation in the urban areas described below
(US Census). A large number of urban Natives are Alaska Natives. Seattle is the home of the Alaska
Native Corporation Region 13 (now largely non-operative) which was set up to serve Alaska Natives in
the lower 48 states.
Table 1 Washington AIAN Statewide and Urban Population 2015
Washington
Population

Total
Indian
only

Indian +
other
races

Enrolled Below
in
Poverty
College
Level

Statewide
Seattle-TacomaBellevue
Spokane-Spokane
Valley

92,403

210,033

5,679

21,339

30,623

90,281

2,068

5,714

9,772

19,225

667

2,352

Source: U.S. Census Bureau-2015 Community Census

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Washington has many small tribes as indicated below. A large number of people who selfidentify as American Indian are not officially enrolled in a federally recognized tribe at all
because they do not meet the tribal enrollment criteria, such as minimum blood quantum or
residence. These individuals cannot usually receive support for education or other services.
Tribes vary considerably in their resources available to support education. Many prospective
students are ineligible for their tribe’s education benefits simply because they do not live within
the radius that tribes require them to live in to be eligible for education assistance. Most of the
schools on reservations in the Pacific Northwest (and in other states) are public schools.

Table 2 Washington American Indian PopulationReservation Areas and off-Reservation Trust Lands-2015

RESERVATION

Male

Female

Total

Below
Poverty
Level%

Indian +
other
races

Below
Poverty
Level

420

106

26.8%

4,430

1,421

36.0%

Chehalis

172

223

395

Colville

2,055

1,896

3,951

Kalispel

112

137

249

259

83

33.3%

Lower Elwha

297

347

644

691

290

45.0%

Lummi

1,113

1,208

2,321

2,592

703

30.3%

Makah

607

589

1,196

1,359

233

19.5%

Muckleshoot

622

721

1,343

1,534

587

43.7%

1,162

1,201

2,363

2,918

685

29.0%

Nisqually

228

188

416

446

81

19.5%

Nooksack

303

373

676

844

246

36.4%

Port Madison

208

276

484

772

71

14.7%

Puyallup

490

531

1,021

1,931

312

30.6%

Port Gamble

248

282

530

560

98

18.5%

Quileute

190

189

379

401

126

33.2%

Nez Perce (ID)

12

Quinault

486

442

928

1,022

332

35.8%

Saux-Suiattle

27

24

51

54

7

13.7%

Shoalwater Bay

41

36

77

93

2

2.6%

Skokomish

262

224

486

508

173

Snoqualmie

-

-

-

-

-

Spokane

759

646

1,405

1,688

732

52.1%

Squaxin Island

147

137

284

369

70

24.6%

-

-

-

-

-

Swinomish

280

358

638

744

253

39.7%

Tulalip

989

1,029

2,018

2,611

472

23.4%

3,477

3,642

7,119

7,679

2,836

39.8%

Sillaguamish

Yakama

35.6%

Source: US Census Bureau-2015 Community Census

Many of the Native Americans in Washington come from tribes outside of Washington as
indicated below in Table 3 which includes only the largest groupings.
Table 3. American Indians/Alaska Natives in Washington, Tribes 2015
Tribe
American Indian tribes specified
Blackfeet
Cherokee
Chippewa
Choctow
Colville
Mexican American Indian
Navajo
Puget Sound Salish
Sioux
Yakama
Alaska Native tribes, specified
Alaska Native, tribe not specified
Tlingit/Haida
Aleut

Population Estimate
167,483
13,095
29,723
5,953
5,840
10,706
3,290
3,606
20,832
5,705
9,241
13,650
1,174
5,918
2,244

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American Indian/Alaska Native, tribe not
specified

31,436

Source: US Census Bureau, 2015 American Community Survey 1-year estimates

The Washington report of Diplomas Count 2013 indicates that the high school graduation rate
for American Indians/Alaska Natives in the class of 2010 was 30.9% compared to an overall
graduation rate of 72%. The Washington American Indian/Alaska Native graduation statistics
are particularly troubling since they are well below the
national American Indian/Alaska Native graduation rate of
51%. This disparity exists in nearly all of the states with
Recent Washington
substantial Native populations. In general, the larger the
Legislative Milestones in
Indian population, the lower the student success rate. While
Indian Education
Washington’s overall high school graduation rate has
improved by about 10% over the last decade, there is still
-HB 1495 Encouraging
considerable room for improvement.
inclusion of tribal history
Washington State and Indian Education In 1989, the
Washington Tribes and the State signed the Centennial
Accord which institutionalized government-to-government
relations. The Accord reflected a new dynamic in
Washington State after the difficult years of the fishing
wars and the push back against the Boldt decision. The
Centennial Accord was designed to strengthen the
relationships between tribes and state agencies and
encourage cooperation on issues of mutual concern. This
agreement was renewed in 1999 with the Millenium
Agreement. Many/most state agencies now have tribal
liaison positions and the agencies and the tribes meet
annually to review issues of mutual concern and progress
made in the previous year. These reports are published
each year. These Accords have been vitally important in
setting up expectations and a framework about how
external organizations should work with tribes in a climate
of respect and collaboration on issues of mutual concern.

in schools (2005)
-SB 5269 Establishing
First Peoples language &
culture certification
program (2007)
-Legislature commissions
study of the Achievement
gap in Indian education
(2008)
-HB 1134 Tribal compact
schools (2013)
-SB 5433 Mandating tribal
history in schools (2015)

Meanwhile, the tribal self-governance movement in Washington has been very strong, and tribes
are increasingly working on the linkage between building their communities, economic
development, and education. Considerable investments are being made to support education.
More efforts are also being made to provide avenues for tribal members to acquire appropriate
credentials and training to work in high priority areas such as Natural Resources that currently
have few Native employees.

14

There has also been considerable attention to Indian education in the Washington Legislature,
partially a result of having leaders such as John McCoy (Tulalip), elected to the Legislature.
McCoy was first elected to the House in 2003 and the Senate in 2013. He has been tireless and
highly effective in working with tribes and his legislative colleagues to identify pressing issues in
Indian education and pass legislation for improvement. Constructive organizational leadership
frameworks such as the Tribal Leaders Congress on Education and the Office of Native
Education at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction have played an important role
in staying the course and building the vision. Annual reporting on progress made is a key
element of this success since it builds transparency and accountability. The cumulative results
over the last decade are impressive.
In 2005, the Legislature passed House Bill 1495 which encouraged school districts to review
their curriculum and incorporate information about the history, culture, and government of the
nearest federally recognized tribe or tribes, so that students could learn about the unique heritage
and experience of their closest neighbors (HB 1495). The word ‘encouraged’ was a political
compromise to pass the bill. No funding was provided. Despite the weak language of the bill,
the Superintendent’s Office of Public Instruction (OSPI), and its Office of Native Education, led
by Denny Hurtado, spent the next several years developing a sophisticated online tribal
sovereignty curriculum and offered workshops to interested pilot schools. OSPI provided
funding as well as philanthropic organizations such as the Gates Foundation. Many of the tribes
also helped finance this curriculum and teacher development effort.
In 2007, the legislature passed SB 5269 establishing the First Peoples language and culture
certification program. Designed to encourage teaching and preservation of indigenous
languages, the legislation provided a process for exceptions in terms of certification program
instruction. This was subsequently woven into certification programs at UW, Heritage, and
Evergreen.
In 2008, the Washington Legislature commissioned studies on the ‘achievement gap’ in
education with individual reports on each major ethnic group. The report on Native American
achievement, From Where the Sun Rises: Addressing the Achievement of Native Americans in
Washington, was written by Michael Pavel and a team of researchers at Washington State
University (Pavel, et. al, 2009). The report offered five major recommendations: 1) shift the
paradigm through relationship building between tribes (including urban Indians) and schools to
integrate Native teaching and learning, 2) provide resources for pre-and in-service educators
whose knowledge, skills, and cultural understanding will bring about the changes needed to
improve education of Native children and youth, 3) improve data collection and reporting (the
study found that much of the data from existing sources did not even include Native Americans
because the number of Native students did not meet the minimum threshold to be counted), 4)
develop a partnership with the National Education Association which has a good research-based
resource titled C.A.R.E.: Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gap, and 5) increase state
support and collaboration. (Pavel et al., 2009)

15

The Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC) was
established by Second Substitute Senate Bill 5973 to address the opportunity gap in Washington
State. The committee was charged by RCW 28A.300.136 to synthesize the findings and
recommendations from the five 2008 Achievement Gap Studies into an implementation plan and
to continue to recommend policies and strategies to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the
Professional Educator Standards Board, and the State Board of Education. Their 2015 annual
report made numerous specific recommendations for the common schools, noting that whole
system coordinated efforts were required to accomplish the goal of substantially closing the
achievement gaps among students of color in Washington state (EOGOAC, 2015). Other
progress reports from OSPI also kept the issue at the forefront (Pauley, 2015).
In 2013, the legislature passed House Bill 1134, which outlined the process for establishing
Tribal compact schools. The bill purposely avoided the language of ‘charter schools’ in order to
maintain independent control. It authorized the Superintendent of Public Instruction to enter into
state-tribal compacts, set requirements for school subject matter, and included a school district’s
levy base. Since then four tribal schools have been established—at Lummi, Suquamish (Chief
Kitsap Academy), Muckleshoot, and Quileute.
SB 5433, passed in 2016, mandated the inclusion of “tribal history, culture, treaty rights,
contemporary tribal and state government institutions and relations, and the contributions of
Indian nations to the state of Washington” in the common schools. Recognizing that excellent
free curriculum materials were already available on the OSPI website through the Since Time
Immemorial (STI) curriculum, the legislation stated that school districts should “collaborate with
the superintendent of public instruction on curricular areas regarding tribal government and
history that are statewide in nature, such as the concept of tribal sovereignty and the history of
federal policy towards federally Indian recognized tribes.”
The 2015, OSPI update on the state of Native education indicated that 93 school districts, four
private schools, and nine tribal schools had attended STI trainings, and important partnerships
between the Office of Native Education at OSPI, and tribal organizations, and other educational
organizations were continuing to grow. The 2015 reported that there are 63,153 Native students
in Washington (Pauley). Native American graduation rates, the lowest of all groups, had slightly
improved by 1.2% to 53.7%, but dropout rates (26.6%) also increased by almost the same
percentage. Recognizing that this takes time, the report concluded that Indian education is
moving forward with the Office of Native Education to continue to build strong relationships
between tribes, tribal communities and organizations, Native parents and educational institutions
(Pauley, 2015).

American Indian/Alaska Natives in Washington Colleges and Universities
Evergreen’s 2009 Pathways report indicates that many Washington colleges and universities
have become more focused on Native Education in recent years. The Pathways report describes

16

what all the higher education institutions were doing in 2008, and even more has emerged since
then (Akweks, et. al.). Washington schools at all levels have become more focused on Native
student access and success. Efforts have taken the form of new academic programs, new
facilities such as longhouses (Evergreen, Peninsula, UW), increased scholarship funding, deeper
reach into the K-12 system to build the college pipeline, new modes of delivering education
through intensive programs, online learning, and various forms of hybrid program delivery, new
collaborations with tribes, and new campus leadership structures focused on diversity. Creative
forms of outreach to prospective students and tribal leaders take many different forms. The
University of Washington’s new Longhouse sponsors a variety of events such as the recent
“Know 2 Go” workshop for prospective students as well as an annual Summit for educational
leaders. Their Tacoma campus has its own signature annual Native Symposium as does the
Bothell campus. Other colleges including our neighbor, SPSCC, are doing the same (Attachment
1)
Table 4: American Indian/Alaska Native Enrollment in Washington Four-Year Public
Colleges & Universities, 2014-2015 *
University/College Native American
Native American
Total Institutional
Undergraduate**
Graduate**
Enrollment
Central Wash U
81
0
11,534 (undergrad)
757 (grad)
Eastern Wash U
140
18
11,329 (undergrad)
1444 (grad)
Western Wash U
137
0
15,310 (undergrad)
747 (grad)
Evergreen
95
24
4452 (undergrad)
361 (grad)
U Washington
247
98
40,661 (undergrad)
(All campuses)
16,705 (grad)
WSU
180
28
25,732 (undergrad)
(All campuses)
5811 (grad)
Statewide Four
794
180
108,795 (undergrad)
Year Publics
25,821 (grad)
*Source: Office of Financial Management, Statewide Public Four Year Dashboard, PCHEES.
** The Native American data above only includes those marking Native American, not multiracial. The multi-racial
category does not differentiate which categories it includes.

Evergreen History
Evergreen‘s Long Commitment to Serving Native Students and Native Communities.
Serving Native American communities and students has been a part of Evergreen’s mission since
its founding. In fact, the first woman hired to the faculty was Mary Hillaire, a Lummi tribal

17

member. She came with a deep commitment to serving reservation-based students. An oncampus Native American Studies (NAS) program that educated hundreds of students and a
substantial number of Native American students over the years is one of Mary’s legacies. In the
early years, the Tacoma program and the Native American program at Evergreen were registered
together as one large program with as many as five faculty. Mary Hillaire, Rainer Hasenstab,
Lloyd Colfax, David Whitener, Betsy Diffendal and Maxine Mimms were part of that faculty
group. In 1978, nearly 10% of the total college enrollment was in this program which met once a
week on campus and was organized largely around individualized work. Over the years 19751986, a total of 1332 different students enrolled in the NAS program.
In 1986, the Evergreen administration charged a Native Studies DTF to address six major
questions:
1. What has happened to Native American Studies for Indian students over the past fifteen
years?
2. How has the Native American studies program changed or evolved over these years?
3. How have students used this program as part of their studies?
4. What is the current philosophy and structure of the program and how does it compare to
other programs at Evergreen?
5. How do we respond to specific questions raised by the Academic Deans about student
record keeping, supervision of student work, service to intended clientele, student abuse
of the program, and faculty isolation?
6. How do we respond to questions raised by the Faculty Agenda Committee about
pedagogical compatibility? (Native Studies DTF Report, 1988. Attachment 2)
The conclusions of the 1988 Native Studies Report, many pertinent to this report 28 years later,
were that the program had a coherent philosophy and pedagogical approach that was understood
and endorsed by the faculty in the program, and the largely individualized program was filling a
student need at Evergreen. (It should be noted that this was a period in which the administration
was trying to intentionally focus on building enrollment in team taught, coordinated studies
programs rather than individual contracts). The DTF also noted that enrollment of Native
students in the NAS program and the college as a whole had seriously declined from 1977 to
1986. It went from 32 Indian students in NAS in 1977 and 67 in the College as a whole to 5 in
NAS in 1986 and 59 in the college as a whole.
The DTF called for a renewed institutional commitment to reaching out to Indian communities
and recruiting more Native students, adding more Native faculty and replacing those who were
no longer at Evergreen, and offering a broad array of curricular options relevant to Native
Americans, arguing that too many expectations were being placed on this one Native program.
The DTF also recommended offering more options for individualized study in the college as a
whole. The DTF report called for the administration to pursue additional research and to initiate
a process for building new educational relationships with tribes. In its conclusion, the report

18

issued a strong statement that recruitment should not be primarily the responsibility of faculty
(Native Studies DTF Report, 1988).
Provost Patrick Hill did not follow the DTF recommendation that an Indian Education Planning
Group be set up to do additional research and assist with implementation of the
recommendations. Nonetheless, in the following years a number of the recommendations were
acted upon including hiring new faculty.
Most relevant to this report, Carol Minugh was hired in 1988 and charged with developing a
reservation-based program. The RBCD began in 1988 as an upper division program at Quinault.
At that time, there were concerted efforts not to intrude on local community college lower
division territory. Shortly after the program’s inception, a large cohort of students at Port
Gamble expressed interest in joining the program. Nearly all of the students were lower division
so those students enrolled at Northwest Indian College (see Attachment 3 for MOAs). 4
Northwest Indian College (NWIC) was then a two- year institution. The lower division students
did not have a separate curriculum, but were enrolled with the upper division students. Course
equivalencies were worked out between the two institutions and reimbursement to Evergreen
was 55% of the tuition that NWIC received, plus 55% of the funds it received from the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. This relationship with NWIC continued until 2002. For a time, a cohort of
students at Salish Kootenai College in Montana also joined the program to complete a bachelor’s
degree.
One of Hillaire’s dreams was to build a Longhouse on the campus, and this was accomplished in
1995 with the leadership of one her former students, Colleen Ray, who strongly advocated for
this in her Master’s degree thesis. Various academic programs also emerged in subsequent
years, including on-campus Native-focused programs, the Reservation-Based, Community
Determined off campus program in 1988, and a Master of Public Administration degree with a
concentration in Tribal Governance in 2002.
Public service centers and initiatives also became a way of serving Native American students and
communities, including the Longhouse (1995), the Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute
(NIARI) (established in 1999 and discontinued in June 2012), and the Enduring Legacies Native
Cases Initiative (2005). The Native public service initiatives are either wholly self-supporting,
such as the Native Cases Initiative, or partially self-supporting, such as the Longhouse.
The Longhouse was expanded in 2009. In 2012, a carving studio was added and in 2014, the
concept of developing an Indigenous Arts Campus was submitted and subsequently incorporated
4

The large cohort at Port Gamble was also a product of the unique situation of having a very strong
faculty---Sheryl Scott---who taught these students from the time they entered as NWIC students through
graduation from Evergreen.

19

into the campus master plan. As of 2016, planning is underway for two additional buildings—a
glass studio (with an expected completion date of 2021) and a fiber arts building (2017) along
with plans to also enlarge the carving studio (2018). A new indigenous arts faculty position is
currently being filled, which is a much-needed addition with the new arts facilities and the loss
of the three previous Native arts faculty. There is also considerable interest in establishing an
Indigenous Arts MFA degree.
Now, in 2016, in addition to enrolling in the RBCD, Native students continue to enroll at
Evergreen’s main campus (150 to 196 per year in the 2010 to 2015 years) in a broader array of
programs, in the College’s graduate programs, and in smaller numbers at the Tacoma campus (814 Native students per year at Tacoma in the 2010-2015 years). The number of AIAN faculty
and other faculty regularly teaching Native programs, however, has experienced exceptionally
high turnover and has declined (see Attachment 4, Native Faculty History). Also, a number of
the current Native faculty will retire soon. Nonetheless, Evergreen continues to have a large
number of Native faculty compared to other public colleges and universities.

Native Faculty at Evergreen
Fall 2013 Headcount = 15 (6.5% of total faculty)
Fall 2014 Headcount = 15 (6.7% of 224 total faculty)
Fall 2015 Headcount = 14 (6.3% of 224 total faculty)
Fall 2016 Headcount = 10 (unofficial preliminary count)

State Approval. Following newly established state guidelines, in the mid-1980s both the
Tacoma program and the RBCD were submitted to the Higher Education/Coordinating Board
(HECB) for approval as upper division off-campus programs. The RBCD program was formally
approved as an upper division off-campus program in 1988 at Quinault (document not located).
At that time, there were concerted efforts to prevent four-year institutions from overlapping the
territory of other educational institutions, especially community colleges.5 In, May 1999 the
HECB gave The Evergreen State College ‘blanket approval’ to open new sites without going
through the approval process for each new site (see Attachment 5). At that time, the proposal to
the HECB projected an average annual enrollment of 55 FTE for the program.

Years later many of the public college’s off campus centers and programs that were originally “upper
division” became four year institutions, and community colleges also began to offer upper division
programs.
5

20

Program philosophy. The RBCD program philosophy is based on a commitment to Evergreen’s
interdisciplinary curriculum and the five foci as well as philosophical principles of the original
Native Studies Program and the philosophy of Carol Minugh. Both Hillaire and Minugh saw the
appropriate underlying principles of working with sovereign American Indian Tribes to be a
tripartite, respectful partnership between the college, the tribal community, and the individual.
Tribe

College

Individual Student

A tribal advisory (no longer operative) was one of the vehicles for operationalizing this as the
procedure for starting new sites only at the invitation of the tribe. Tribes always contributed free
classroom space for the program as well and tribal members were guest speakers at the sites.
Also students often did significant community-based projects as part of their work in the RBCD
such as a plan for developing a Boys and Girls Club and running an Election Forum for the
community. On one occasion, the program coordinated a forum that was attended by all tribal
offices on the question “what should a tribal graduate need to know?” Both the Provost and
Academic Dean from Evergreen attended this forum.
The RBCD program is based upon empowerment theory, as developed by Paulo Freire, which
states, in part, “that the process [of empowerment includes] helping individuals, families, groups,
and communities to increase their personal, interpersonal, socioeconomic, and political strength
and develop influence toward improving their circumstances” (Barker, 1999, p. 153).
Empowerment theory describes “a primary operational principle [of] the recognition and use of
knowledge that originates in the community. The learning, wisdom, and spirit, which has
sustained American Indian communities for millennia, is recognized and given credence and
respect” (The Evergreen State College, 2002, p. 7).
Program model. The RBCD serves place-bound students, mostly working adults, so the
program delivery model always included at least some site-based classes as well as on-campus
classes, usually on weekends, where all the students from different sites came together. These
weekend classes typically met four times each quarter. From 1989-1997, the on-campus classes
were Saturday only, with two weekly site-based classes. From 1998-2004 the model switched to
one class per week at the sites and two days (Saturday and Sunday) at Evergreen, four times a
quarter. In 2005, after the two co-Directors carefully considered various alternatives, the model
shifted back to the original model of two days per week at the sites.

21

Combining site-based classes with all-sites meetings had numerous advantages, especially for
place-bound students at remote sites. The site-based component accommodated working
students and minimized commuting. The common weekend classes gave the students exposure
to a wider set of faculty and content and built the larger RBCD sense of community. It also
promoted cross site sharing of information and deepened the student’s sense of belonging to The
Evergreen State College. The syllabus in these early years changed every year, but all the sites
used the same syllabus with some allowance for local adaptations.
RBCD Sites. Shortly after the Quinault site opened, new RBCD sites emerged at Makah (19941999), Skokomish (1995-2007), Port Gamble (1995-2007; 2010-2014), Muckleshoot (1998current), Lower Elwha (2006-2007), Tulalip/University Center (2008-2014), Nisqually (2012 to
current), Peninsula College (2012-to date), and Chehalis (2014-2016). The usual minimum to
open a site was five students. Sites were opened and deactivated, usually within this enrollment
threshold. From 1989 to 2003, NWIC bridge students attended the regular RBCD classes. In
2003, the bridge program agreement with NWIC ended after it became apparent that a stronger
lower division program was needed. In an effort to create a solid lower division program, a new
agreement was made with Grays Harbor College in 2005 to deliver a hybrid online AA degree.
This program, described more fully below, continues today.
The University Center for North Puget Sound is a product of 1997 state legislation that formed
the North Snohomish-Island-Skagit (NSIS) Consortium of Higher Education Institutions to
create a flexible and innovative means for expanding higher education opportunities for residents
of the three counties. In 2005, the legislature named Everett Community College as manager of
the University Center. Washington State University now manages the University Center. The
Center received separate funding for the off-campus programs of various universities from the
Legislature and funded the TESC RBCD Tulalip site (2008-2014).
The projected enrollment of 15 Evergreen students at the Tulalip site was never attained but the
sites did serve and graduate a substantial number of students as indicated in the following
section. The Evergreen-Tulalip site was closed in 2014 due to low enrollment. Data on the
Tulalip site is not included in Evergreen’s RBCD enrollment data since it was funded through
the University Center. The University Center continues to seek Evergreen’s involvement in
their offerings with no penalty for under enrollment.6 Statistics on Tulalip enrollment are in the
following section of this report.
RBCD Enrollment History and Sites

6

It should be noted that when the U of Washington-Bothell campus and Cascadia Community College
were opened, the north Puget Sound area was better served. UW-Bothell now has the highest enrollment
of people of color of all the public universities. UW-Bothell is now a four-year institution that also offers
Masters’ degrees.

22

The history of RBCD program sites, the enrollment, the directors, and faculty is described in
tables below. Data is not available for the years 1988-1994.

TABLE 5: RBCD Enrollment History. 1994-2016
Academic
Year

Sites open & Site
Enrollment (AA
FTE*)

1994-1995

Sites & enrollment
not identified, but
Salish Kootenai
College was one site
with 9 students in
1994
PG (7.8), Quin (5.4),
Skok (8.5), Makah
(2.4)
PG (6.0) , Quin (4.6),
Skok (4.8), Makah
(1.6)
PG (3.2) , Quin (3.8),
Skok (5.6), Makah
(4.5)
PG (1.8), Quin (6.9),
Skok (5.7), Makah
(0.7), Muckleshoot
(10.5)
PG (3.6), Quin (9.6),
Skok (8.6), Makah
(0.7), Muckleshoot
(9.7)
PG (2.7), Quin (12.7),
Skok (9.4),
Muckleshoot (17.6)
PG (4.5), Quin (12.3),
Skok (5.5),

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Program
Program
Enrollment- director(s)
Annual FTE
average (Fall
HC))
28.1 (29)
Carol Minugh

Teaching
Faculty
(The director
also taught part
time)
Jovana Brown,
Russ Fox, Joe
Federson

24.1 (27)

Carol Minugh

17.0 (24)

Carol Minugh

Jovana Brown,
Russ Fox, Joe
Federson,
MicheleAguilarWell

17.1 (21)

Carol Minugh

25.6 (32)

Paul Tamburro

32.2 (28)

Paul Tamburro

42.1 (44)

Paul Tamburro

57.7 (59)

Yvonne Peterson

Michele
Aguilar-Wells,
Candi Kallappa
Michele AguilarWells & Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp
& Gary Peterson
Michele AguilarWells & Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp,
Gary Peterson
Aguilar-Wells &
Antonelis-Lapp,
Gary Peterson
Gary Peterson,
Jeff Antonelis

23

2002

Muckleshoot (26.9),
Nisq (4.5)
PG (15.4), Quin
(13.6), Skok (7.8),
Muckleshoot (22.7),
Nisq (9.5)

69.0 (74)

Yvonne Peterson,
then Michele
Aguilar-Wells

2003

PG (8.2), Quin (11.5),
Skok (4.0),
Muckleshoot (19.8),
Nisq (10.8)

54.3 (58)

Michele AguilarWells & Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp

2004

PG (10.8), Quin
(12.5), Skok (3.8),
Muckleshoot (12.9),
Nisq (5.3)

45.3 (51)

Michele AguilarWells & Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp

2005

Muckleshoot (9.9),
PG (6.7), Quin (10.2),
Skok (4.4), Nisq
(12.1)

43.3 (56 HC)

Michele AguilarWells & Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp

2006

Elwha (4.9),
Muckleshoot (7.1),
Nisq (4.9), PG (1.7),
Quin (6.1), Skok (1.4)

26.1 (34 HC)

Michele Aguilar
Wells, Jeff
Antonelis- Lapp

2007

Elwha (2.2),
18.0 (27)
Muckleshoot (6.5),
Nisq (0.9), PG (1.7) ,
Quin (6.7)
Muckleshoot (7.7),
14.7 (16)
Nisq (3.1), Quin (3.8)

2008**

Michele Aguilar
Wells & Jeff
Antonelis- Lapp

Lapp, Michele
Aguilar Wells
Gary & Yvonne
Peterson, Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp,
Michele AguilarWells, Frances
Rains
Michele AguilarWells & Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp,
Frances Rains,
Allen Standing
Bear Jenkins
Michele AguilarWells & Jeff
Antonelis-Lapp.
Frances Rains
Phil Smith, Allen
Standingbear
Jenkins, Cindy
Marchand-Cecil
Cindy
Marchand-Cecil,
Michael Pavel,
Allen Standing
Bear Jenkins , J.
DeCoteau
Cindy Marchand
Cecil, Allen
StandingBear
Jenkins, C.
Almojuela, D.
Flaherty, T.
Hosselkus, R.
Swan-Waite
Cindy
Marchand-Cecil,
Tracy Hosselkus

Michele Aguilar
Cindy
Wells, Gina Corpuz Marchand-Cecil,
Gina Corpuz

24

2009

Muckleshoot (7.3),
Nisq (6.4), PG (1.6),
Quin (6)

21.4 (23)

Michele Aguilar
Cindy
Wells, Gina Corpuz Marchand-Cecil,
Mark Ferguson,
Francine Swift
2010
Muckleshoot (6.6),
24.1 (29)
Michele Aguilar
Mark Ferguson
Nisq (4.9) , PG (5),
Wells, Gina Corpuz Francine Swift
Quin (5.8)
Cindy
Marchand-Cecil
2011
Muckleshoot (10.2) ,
25.0 (28)
Michele Aguilar
Cindy
Nisq (4.9) , PG (3.9) ,
Wells
Marchand-Cecil,
Quin (5.9)
Dorothy
Flaherty, Myra
Downing
Francine Swift
2012
Muckleshoot (8),
28.3 (34)
Michele Aguilar
Chad Uran.
Nisq (5.2), Pen (5.1)
Wells
Dorothy
PG (6.6), Quin (3.4),
Flaherty, Cindy
Marchand Cecil
2013
Muckleshoot (3.4) ,
21.3 (30)
Cindy MarchandDorothy
Nisq (4.8), Peninsula
Cecil
Flaherty.
(4.9), PG (6.0), Quin
Tracey
(2.3)
Hosselkus,
Colleen
Almojuela,
Mary DuPuis
2014
Chehalis (6.7), Nisq
24.5 (31)
Cindy MarchandKate Reavey;
(6.4), Peninsula,(4.0)
Cecil
Mary Dupuis,
PG (7.3)
Cindy Marchand
Cecil
2015
Chehalis (5.1)
21.2 (28)
Cindy MarchandKate Reavey;
Muckleshoot (3.7) ,
Cecil
Mary Dupuis,
Nisq (6.8), Peninsula
Cindy Marchand
(5.6),
Cecil
2016
Muckleshoot, Nisq,
18 (Fall)
Cindy MarchandKate Reavey,
PG, Quin
Cecil
Gary Arthur,
Cindy Marchand
Cecil
*Note: Students register for 12 credits in the RBCD so the headcount is actually much higher
because an FTE = 15 credits. The Tulalip site opened from Winter 2008 to Spring 2014 enrolled
a substantial number of students (described below) but that enrollment is not included in this
table because that site was funded through the University Center budget.
Table 6: Tulalip Students in the Reservation-Based Program
Winter 2008- Spring 2014
Academic Year
Winter-Spring 2008

Number of Students
3

25
2008-2009
2009-2010
2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
Total
*Duplicated headcount

8
6
9
9
7
4
46*

The RBCD program has drawn substantial numbers of “non-traditional age” students since 1994
showing an average age of 40. An overwhelming proportion of the students are female --72% in
Fall, 2015. While most colleges are now majority female, male students are highly underrepresented in this program and a potential target group to recruit. Students are largely working
adults.
Each site had a somewhat different profile of students. Despite the name of the program,
“Reservation-Based, Community Determined,” some sites had almost no local reservation-based
students. Muckleshoot and Tulalip are leading examples of this. At others, such as Quinault,
almost all of the enrolling students are reservation-based, although some students also come from
nearby Aberdeen. At some of the sites (Port Gamble in particular), a large cohort was recruited,
went through the program, and graduated with enrollment declining quickly thereafter. Many of
the sites with high schools (usually public) on the reservations have small numbers of people
who go to college. Native students also often attend nearby urban high schools. Aberdeen High
School near the Quinault reservations is now 31% Latino and 3%-6% Native American. At the
Taholah High School on the Quinault Reservation, about half of the high school graduates go on
to college.
A 2016 study by Laura Coghlan examined the transfer schools for RBCD students from 20022016. The top transfer schools are described below:
Top Transfer Schools across all RBCD Sites, 2002-2016
NW Indian College
Grays Harbor College
Peninsula College
Olympic College
Centralia College
SPSCC
Green River
Tacoma CC

48
21
16
12
8
7
5
4

The data clearly show the value of the bridge programs with Grays Harbor College and
Peninsula College (described later in this report). It also raises concerns about future overall
enrollment since Northwest Indian College has clearly been the main transfer institution, and

26

they now offer lower and upper division, with competitive programs at many of the same sites as
the RBCD. A closer analysis of the individual sites and transfer students indicates that, with the
exception of those transferring through NWIC, most of the transfer students come via their
nearby community colleges. This suggests that developing closer relationships with those
community colleges would be worthwhile.
The program director(s) and faculty teaching in the RBCD program in the early years were
largely drawn from the existing Evergreen faculty. The usual guideline was that sites needed to
have at least five students to operate as sites with a teacher. Some sites had local, part-time
faculty and some sites were served by fulltime Olympia faculty who traveled and taught at
several sites. Site faculty had much broader responsibilities than campus faculty do.
The program director(s) had a complex job of teaching at one site and on weekends and running
all of the complex administrative work of the program, including recruitment, with no support
staff. Michele Aguilar Wells remarked that this was “an administrative nightmare running a
small program that acted like a big program” in terms of the administrative complexities. This is
further exemplified by how the Program Director, in their voluntary position as Advisor to the
RBCD Student Governance Committee, is the official Evergreen point person for planning and
executing the RBCD graduation every year. This is completely a volunteer position, with no
paid help, which is made more complex by the fact that all communications for staging
graduation has to be done through the students to the Student Activities Office. This is far more
work than what one person should have to do. The RBCD program is, in fact, the only program
on campus with such lean management support.
All of the directors, until 2013, had faculty status. The program has a dual reporting line to an
academic dean and the provost. This dual reporting line has some advantages in terms of broader
administration relationships and knowledge but it also generates confusion. There is a lack of
clarity about the authority of the program directors in hiring, evaluating, and retaining faculty.
Evaluations of the RBCD teaching faculty and the directors have not been consistently held.
Regular ongoing feedback and annual evaluations are a critical element in team building,
mentoring, communication, and accountability.
Recruitment efforts varied. Site faculty were often told to do it for their site but many of faculty
were not local. Attempts to build coordinated recruitment with partner colleges worked best
with Grays Harbor and Peninsula College. Efforts to do coordinated recruitment with
Evergreen’s MPA Tribal program were not as deep as envisioned when initial job descriptions
were written for the MPA Assistant Director. Turnover in that position and the heavy workload
in the overall MPA program took priority. Nonetheless, the current RBCD director and the
Assistant Director of the MPA, Tribal Governance Concentration continue to collaborate and
share information even though this aspect of the job description was eliminated.
A RBCD Tribal Advisory Board met periodically in previous years and was asked for feedback
about the program. One form of the discussion was around the question “what does an educated

27

Indian need to know?” The intent of this question was to elicit feedback on whether the program
was meeting their needs. Advice from the Tribal Advisory Board was acted on and resulted,
among other action items, in an enhanced focus on consistency, rigor and student writing. After
2008, the Advisory Board stopped meeting. There was, briefly, a different advisory board
convened to discuss all of the Evergreen Native programs. This has not been regularly
continued.
There is a need for a Native voice at Evergreen, and the structure and role of an advisory group
needs to be reconsidered. With the projected hiring of a Vice President for Diversity there is a
new opportunity for rethinking this. It will be important to be sure that there is very close
collaboration with faculty and staff in the Native on and off campus programs and the public
service initiatives. We have had some experience with outreach to tribes being uninformed
about what we can actually deliver.
Program Changes Made in 2004-2005
As indicated in the 2005 RBCD Program Review, important changes came in 2004-2005 when
the RBCD faculty met and decided to make changes in response to feedback from the tribes that
more consistency and rigor was needed in the program. A proposal was submitted to
Evergreen’s Enrollment Coordinating Committee recommending growth of the program from 60
students (current in Fall 2005) at five sites to 120 students at 8 to 10 (presumably upper division
Evergreen) sites over the next three years. The thought at the time was that the co-directors of
the RBCD program could divide the sites with each of them overseeing one area, either the
Olympic Peninsula or the Puget Sound corridor. The proposal was accepted with little critical
analysis. This goal was unrealistic, given current information.
The goal of establishing 8 to 10 sustainable sites and 120 students was never attained although
several of the identified possible additional sites (Chehalis, Tulalip, Lower Elwha) were
subsequently opened (and later closed), often with small enrollment.7
In addition to growth at various reservation sites, important substantive changes were made to
the program in this period including the following:
1) all sites would teach from a common syllabus (fully implemented),

7

In 2007 there were students from 10 sites if you examine the joint enrollment of Grays Harbor College
and Evergreen. A number of these were relatively short term lower division enrollments at Frank’s
Landing and Green Hill Correction Center.

28

2) a three-year rotating curricular plan (see Attachment 6) was developed and continues to be
reviewed annually with relatively minor changes each year rather than a total remaking of the
syllabus (fully implemented),
3). writing was more prominently included in the program with writing samples submitted in the
admission process as a diagnostic. On-going assessment and intake essays were dropped after
the Gates grant ended. The Provost in 2014-2015 felt that requiring intake essays was a violation
of a student’s civil rights.
4) a “tech tools” competency was developed and required (self-assessment was used for a few
years and dropped),
5) a required 4credit Great Books course and syllabus was developed to deepen the liberal arts
components of the program. This was a stand-alone independent study course ongoing until Fall
2016 when the faculty unanimously agreed to make it an elective rather than a graduation
requirement.
6) the program would offer site-based classes two nights per week and four Saturday classes at
Evergreen each quarter (on-going),
7) the one-credit, Saturday afternoon class was named Intergovernmental Battlegrounds and
focuses on using newly developed Native Case Studies. The cases correspond to the quarterly
theme of the curriculum (ongoing),
8) part-time faculty (local if possible) would be hired for each site rather than using the model of
full-time Olympia faculty traveling between the sites (ongoing),
9) a lower division AA degree bridge program was developed with Grays Harbor College using a
hybrid model of e-learning. Grays Harbor College was chosen as a partner for the new bridge
program after Salish Kootenai College declined Evergreen’s offer to become the partner (on
going partnership).
As noted before, a number of these changes were later eliminated. One faculty director noted
the reason why when she said, “Basically, because other things took priority and there were too
many moving pieces to manage. Great ideas are one issue. Managing them is another.”
Funding. In 2005, a grant was written by Barbara Leigh Smith to support the program changes.
Generous funding ($800,000) was secured from the Lumina Foundation for Education. The
support of Lumina and other major foundations was crucial in supporting the implementation of
the changes to the RBCD and its community college partners.
Lumina funding was for three years and subsequently extended with additional funds for another
year. It paid for a part-time project director (B. Smith), a full-time student recruiter at GHC
(Mark Ramon, an Evergreen grad), study leaders at each site in the bridge program, computers

29

for the first cohort of students, summer salaries for TESC RBCD directors, Native case studies
development, course redesign stipends, faculty development, etc.
Smith was hired to be the part-time director of the Lumina project. She oversaw many of the
elements of the initiative, including faculty development, curriculum development (cases),
program evaluation, and reporting. For three years, quarterly meetings were held with the cross
institutional leadership team to review the previous quarter’s experience, make adjustments, and
review student progress. Telephone and written evaluations were also done each quarter to get
feedback from staff, students, and instructors. Rosters of students enrolled in each course were
shared among faculty and administrators involved in both institutions. As a result of these
reviews, numerous mid-course corrections were made including changing instructors,
resequencing of courses, adjusting prerequisites, and the like.
In 2008, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided $288,464 of additional funding for the
program focusing on increasing Native student success by 1) promoting college readiness, 2)
developing seamless pathways between institutions, 3) developing culturally relevant curriculum
(Native cases), 4) faculty development, and 5) developing and disseminating a policy/action
agenda for Indian education and a report on needs, trends, and model programs. Gates funding
focused primarily on deepening a partnership between Evergreen, Antioch University, Grays
Harbor, and Northwest Indian College programs at Muckleshoot and Tulalip where these
institutions all had programs. Antioch had offered a teacher education certification program for
a number of years and developed a Master’s degree management program at Muckleshoot in
2009 (see narrative below about this program). The Lumina Foundation joined this agenda as a
partner with a $195,000 grant.
The Gates initiatives included establishing a joint Writing Center at Muckleshoot (discontinued
after funding ended), a joint study and publication on Native education in Washington —
Pathways for Native Students: A Report on Washington State Colleges and Universities (2009)—
and a report dissemination conference, research on college readiness, especially writing
proficiency, and experiments with new approaches to developmental education.8 These
initiatives are described in detail below.
In 2009, the National Science Foundation provided a three-year, $499,000 grant to support the
Native Cases Initiative. The Native Cases were intended to be used by the MPA program as well
as the RBCD and other programs at Evergreen. Both of these programs had a felt need for

8

Antioch was the lead institution on establishing a writing center at Muckleshoot. Northwest Indian
College and Evergreen were the leads on the Pathways report and conference. NWIC also did various
college readiness initiatives at Tulalip and Muckleshoot including linked courses in developmental
English and College Success (not continued), adding 3 developmental English courses at Muckleshoot, a
writing across the curriculum workshop for faculty, and more professional advising emphasizing
developmental education. At Tulalip a Reading Plus program was developed and in depth assessment was
done that revealed extremely low reading skills, some related to not having glasses.

30

curriculum resources focusing on current issues in Indian Country and especially the Pacific
Northwest. This grant allowed the Native Cases Project to scale up substantially. Barbara Smith
and Linda Moon Stumpff were the leaders of the initiative. The Native Cases Project provides a
unique national open source resource for teachers throughout the Nation. It now includes more
than 100 cases that are used by more than 125 colleges and high schools across the United States.
Sizing the Program circa 2008. In 2008, a report was prepared by Michele Aguilar-Wells and
Gina Corpuz analyzing the factors affecting the recruitment, retention and growth potential of
various sites for the upper division program (Site Factor Report-Fall 2008, Attachment 7). They
noted at the outset that the program had started the fall quarter with an enrollment of only 21
(including Tulalip) which was a low for the program. They attributed this to the change-over to
a new lower division bridge program, a more challenging curriculum, the 90 transferable credit
rule, a high recent graduation rate and limited recruiting. In their report they stated that
We believe 60-65 is the optimal size of the program. Because of the nature of the tribal
populations we will continue to see ups and downs as we cycle cohorts through. We
have developed strategies in our recruitment plan that will help mitigate those factors.
Recruitment and building enrollment is a key mandate in the Gates grant and meshes with
program plans and efforts. Relationships are key and we recognize and are responding
to the different means of developing them through multi-faceted approaches including
media, personal contact, presence and other strategies. With concentrated ongoing
recruitment efforts, the re-developed curriculum and visible partnerships with others
institutions, the program will grow and continue to develop a strong reputation (Site
Factor Report, 2008).
This report contains detailed descriptions of the plus factors, barriers, and the growth potential at
the following tribes: Quinault, Tulalip, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Port Gamble, Suquamish,
Makah, Squaxin, Skokomish and Peninsula College. A central site at Peninsula to serve the
small tribes on the northern Olympic Peninsula was recommended and subsequently
accomplished. The Peninsula site is described below. Much of the information in the Site
Faculty report accurately described these tribes today with the exception of the estimates of the
growth potential which were highly optimistic. The other over-riding missing element is the
changing role of Northwest Indian College which would develop four-year degree programs at
many of these sites where they had previously only served as a feeder for Evergreen.
Evergreen Writing Initiatives in 2008-2010
In 2008-2010 with Gates funding Evergreen Reservation-Based program faculty focused on
improving student writing. Student essays were rated using the Six Traits Analysis Protocol by
the Evergreen Writing Center. This indicated that student writing skills were uneven with some
students placing well below acceptable levels for upper division college students. This was not
surprising since the students came from many different schools. As a result, we had limited

31

control over their preparation levels at the lower division. The only lower division feeder with
whom we had a well-aligned curriculum was the Grays Harbor College’s Reservation-Based
program which is very writing intensive. Students coming through that program had consistently
higher levels of preparation in writing. Students from Tacoma Community College and
Northwest Indian College were less consistently well prepared in terms of writing skills.
Students with weak writing skills usually also had poor study skills. The combination often
places them at risk of dropping out of school.
The Evergreen report on the strategies pursued to improve student writing skills and their impact
was as follows:
1. Assessment through an in-class essay and Six Traits assessment (Effective but not
continued after funding ended)
2. Working to improve writing instruction and focus in our feeder schools through
Northwest Indian College development education pilots at Muckleshoot and Tulalip
(On-going. Somewhat effective)
3. Offering a Summer Academy for existing and potential GHC bridge students at
Quinault (See detailed report from Grays Harbor College ) (Somewhat effective, not
continued)
4. Faculty discussion of ways to improve student writing in our summer planning
workshop (Effective, ongoing)
5. Establishment of a Writing Center at Muckleshoot (Effective but not continued )
6. Building a writing strand into Saturday classes each quarter this year (Effective, but
insufficient. Discontinued in 2014)
7. Adding reflective writing at the end of each Battlegrounds class (Effective)
8. Experimenting with the State Board’s online Writing Center (WOWL) (Not effective)
9. Using the Evergreen Writing Center for feedback on first drafts (Peer tutors’ feedback
not effectively focused on technical skills)
10. Building critical reasoning skills by using the book Asking the Right Questions
(Effective but not uniformly used by site faculty)
11. Building more writing into our Core course at the sites through assignments and
emphasizing peer review and multiple drafts (Most important and effective)
As of Fall 2016, the problem of low student writing skills continues in the upper division and in
the bridge programs. The two bridge programs do appear to have developed effective programs
for dealing with low math skills.

Lower Division Bridge Programs Developed
Grays Harbor Bridge Program. In 2005, Grays Harbor developed a 96-credit bridge program
using a hybrid online model AA degree. The degree was a Direct Transfer Associate of Arts
degree. Since it differed from their existing AA program (mostly by having more specific
content and courses within the divisional distribution areas, eliminating electives, and being

32

longer at 96 credits), it had to be approved by their faculty. There was some faculty resistance
initially, but with strong leadership from the GHC President, the new degree was approved.
Each quarter students in the GHC bridge program would enroll in two online courses, a weekly
site-based face-to-face class, and the Saturday classes that met at Evergreen four times each
quarter. The weekly face-to-face class was led by a study leader. This weekly face-to-face class
ended when study leaders were eliminated. The first year Saturday morning classes were
Learning to Learn in the Fall and two quarters of Public Speaking. In the second year, the bridge
students took a humanities course in Fall and Winter that was sometimes taught by one of the
Evergreen faculty. Students also enrolled in an afternoon class called Intergovernmental
Battlegrounds in Indian Country with the upper division students. This joint course was intended
to build community and aspiration to go on to a Bachelor’s degree. It was also the primary
testing site for new Native cases.
The new GHC program developed before most community colleges had any online courses. The
State Board’s Washington Online curriculum was the primary delivery system for statewide
online courses. They had developed courses that could be used at any institution, and they were
taught by faculty from across the community college system. These courses were designed
around the high standards that existed for online learning at that time. The online course model
through Washington Online was financially viable because courses could enroll all the bridge
students and additional students from around the state if space was available. Blackboard was
the original online delivery system which changed three times over the next years to Angel and
now Canvas, which has become the statewide system.
Grays Harbor, Washington Online, and Evergreen worked closely to identify the courses and
instructors for the new AA degree. While the courses were always within the AA state
distribution categories, they were more specific and chosen for their perceived fit with Native
student interests. An exceptional feature of the degree was that it included three Anthropology
courses from SPSCC that had been developed with the tribes. Most community colleges did not
have Anthropologists on their faculty. It was believed that having prescribed courses rather
electives would also create more of a community of Native students since they would all be in
the same classes. It quickly became apparent that basic studies courses also needed to be added
when students scored poorly on GHC intake assessments. This mix of college-ready and not
ready students continues to be characteristic of students entering the program.
The existing courses did not necessarily have any Native content, but we thought it could be
developed. To accomplish this, course redesign grants and consultants were provided from the
Lumina grant as well as faculty development for the online teachers. Most of the online teachers
took advantage of these opportunities and did some changes in their courses. The goal was to
infuse these standard courses with Native content and to form a genuine learning community
among the faculty participating in the program. The lower division reservation-based program
drew courses from 12 different community colleges at its inception. The faculty chosen were

33

exceptional teachers and highly committed to this innovative program. They worked hard to
make their courses more inclusive of Native content, and made serious efforts to reach out to
absent and struggling students. Many expressed disappointment when they could no longer
teach in the program after it moved to GHC faculty.
Student work was tracked by faculty, project staff and site-based study leaders through
monitoring on the Blackboard e-learning website which showed student participation and time
on task. It was very clear that students who were not doing the work within the first week or two
would not succeed. A quarterly written feedback loop was provided to all faculty and staff
associated with the program through a short newsletter written by Barbara Leigh Smith called
“Gleanings” which summarized the quarter’s work, enrollment, bright ideas, and trouble spots.
Most of these close in formative assessment and feedback practices were discontinued after the
Lumina funding ended. Several years after its inception, the State Board for Community College
Education designated this program as a model student achievement program.
Over time, the individual colleges throughout Washington State began taking over the online
course development and delivery system. This was financially to their advantage since they
would not have to pay a fee to WAOL. By 2015, nearly all the courses in the bridge program
were taken over by Grays Harbor faculty. The Anthropology courses were an exception since
GHC did not have any faculty in this field. Unlike the beginning years, there was no faculty
training, community building, or assistance with course redesign. In 2016, this gap was starting
to be noticed but faculty development has not yet occurred although there has been some GHC
support for faculty to attend the Summer Native Cases Institute.
As the following table indicates, enrollment in the GHC bridge program has been fairly strong
over the years with dips at the time of the major transitions in personnel.
Table 7
Grays Harbor Historical Enrollment*

Academic
Year
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15

Program
Enrollmen
t Annual
FTE
14.5
28.4
27.0
28.6
23.1
28.7
20.8
12.7
10.0
18.4

Program
Fall (HC)
21
41
43
40
26
32
37
14
9
20

Unique Headcount
Annual
27
65
62
81
49
54
48
25
21
34

34

2015-16
21.2
27
Fall 2016
29
* Source: 2005-06 Access File from
SBCTC

44

The GHC bridge program had sites with study leaders at Quinault, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, and
Green Hill Correctional Center. The Green Hill program was of special interest to Carol
Minugh, the founder of the RBCD program. A total of 30 Green Hill inmates were enrolled in
the program between 2006 and Spring, 2009. Students from other reservations or urban areas
could and did also enroll in the program, including students at Franks Landing (a Nisqually
community) and Wa-he-lut and later, Chief Leschi tribal schools. Students from Aberdeen and
Sholawater also enrolled in the program. Some of these sites had a local study leader, and
sometimes, the program recruiter assumed this role.
In 2009 with the Gates funding, a major study was done of student progress and student
readiness examining the first four cohorts in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 (Smith, GHC Student
Progress & Dev Ed Report, 2009). There were dramatic differences in these cohorts.
Tribe

Chehalis
Elwha/Makah
Muckleshoot
Nisqually
Quinault
Shoalwater/Aberdeen
Squaxin
Franks Landing
Total
% college ready

Table 8 : College Readiness, by site and cohort
Cohort 1
Cohort 2
Cohort 3 Cohort 4
Entered
2005-06AY

Entered
2006-07AY

Entered
200708AY

Entered
2008-09AY

0
0
7
3
15
0
2
0
27+
18 ( 66%)

0
5
7
5
7
4
0
1*
28
9 (32%)

4
2
5
6
11
0
1
0
28
13 (46%)

0
2
3
8
17
3
3
0
35
7 (20%)

Total
College
Ready
1 (25%)
3 (33%)
10 (45%)
12 (55%)
18 (37%)
3 (43%)
2 (33%)
0 (0%)

*Includes the only student who started the online program. Other students from Franks Landing attended Saturday
only for one quarter.
+Includes 4 “shadow students” who never started but were not withdrawn. In subsequent quarters attendance was
closely monitored and students were advised to withdraw if they were not attending in the first two weeks.

The report showed a clear relationship between college readiness and student retention. Students
placing into the lowest levels of English (ABE or English 060) were least likely to be retained
(Attachment 9). In fact, all of the students who placed at the pre-college ABE English level were
early leavers as well as an overwhelming proportion of students who placed into English 060.
Students placing into low levels of English preparation have been increasingly younger in recent

35

cohorts, indicating inadequate high school preparation. An increasing number of students also
appeared to lack the skills and motivation to meet the work demands of college in general and
this program specifically.
Table 9
Levels of under-preparedness in English, Cohort 1-3, and Early leavers
English Placement
Early Leavers
ABE (N=3)
English 060 (N=29)
English 095 (N=10)
English 101 (N=40)

3 (100%)
26 (90%)
6 (60%)
9 (40%)

Early leaving is not simply a function of college preparation in terms of English skills. It is also a
function of personal circumstance and competing commitments. There is a need for longer term
longitudinal studies to capture how Native students leave and later return to college. Some of the
students in the early cohorts were pregnant or taking care of their elders and taking some time off
but intending to return to school. Some were homeless. Others had troubled home lives,
financial problems, and substance abuse issues. Some of these factors are clearly outside of our
control. At the same time, low English skills appeared to be associated with other college
survival issues around study habits, time management, time-on-task (especially important in
online classes), use of available resources, participation in weekly study sessions, and attendance
at face-to-face classes. All of the negative behaviors associated with lack of success are usually
evident from the very beginning of the quarter. This is why early intervention and checking for
health impairments is so important. Still many of these behaviors seemed somewhat intractable
with an increasing number of students despite persistent study leader and instructor attempts to
help.
The following table examines early leavers by site and cohort. Caution should be taken when
examining leaving patterns with cohorts 3 (and 4) in particular. These cohorts were so recent at
the time this report was written in 2009 that reaching conclusions on them then violated the two
year follow-up assumptions behind the State Board framework’s definition of early leavers.
Table 10: Sites and Early Leavers –Grays Harbor Bridge Program-2009
Tribe

Cohort 1
2005 AY

Cohort 2
2006 AY

Cohort 3
2007 AY

Cohort 4
2008 AY

Chehalis
Elwha
Muckleshoot
Nisqually
Quinault
Shoalwater/Aberdeen
Squaxin

0
0
7
3
15
0
2

0
5
7
5
7
4
0

4
2
5
6
11
0
1

0
2
3
8
17
3
3

Early
Leavers as
of spring
2009*
50%
71%
77%
27%
64%
50%
33%

36
Franks Landing**
Total
College ready
Early leavers

27++
66%
15(55%)++

1
28
32%
18 (64%)

0
28
48%
20 (71%)

0
35
20%
NA

100%

Source: Smith, Grays Harbor College Student Progress and Dev Ed Report
* Computed for Cohort-1-3 only
**Includes the only student who started the program. Other students from Franks Landing attended Saturday only
for one quarter.
++Includes 4 “shadow students” who never started but were not withdrawn. In subsequent quarters attendance was
closely monitored.

The GHC Developmental Ed Report concluded with a variety of recommendations, many of
which were adopted by GHC. In the following years a number of interventions were made to
increase success rates in English including a summer writing academy at Quinault, offering faceto-face developmental education courses at several sites, and offering linked courses. All of
these interventions can only be regarded as “inconclusive” at best since most were only one time
interventions that did not appear to make a significant difference.
Over the next years and up to the present time other changes were made to the GHC program.
The eportfolio course was effective but was replaced eventually by a First Year Experience
courses called Learning to Learn Student Success to improve retention. 9 This course uses a wellestablished national Student Success curriculum developed by Skip Downing.
In 2014-2015, Grays Harbor received an Achieving the Dream grant for a project focusing on
student success. The Reservation-Based program was one of their targets. The initiative focused
on tracking enrollment rates and college readiness in math and English. The number of new
Reservation-Based students in this study was small but the students who tested into
developmental math, English, and/or reading and enrolled in these courses substantially
exceeded the goals (Grays Harbor College, Achieving the Dream Report. Name of Intervention:
Native American Student Outreach and Support. Attachment 10).
In 2016, the degree was recently shortened to the conventional 90 credits (see Attachment 8 for
the current 2016 curriculum). Study leaders disappeared. Leadership for the program at all levels
changed (new President, new dean, program director, recruiter, and new faculty). Gary Arthur,
a faculty member who taught the Multicultural Health course in the bridge program was made
the academic lead in the program with the title Coordinator/Advisor. Gary and the new Student
Support Specialist, Lorena Maurer, appear to be a highly committed, strong team. Lorena brings
valuable experience as a result of her previous work in education in the public schools. In 2015
the reporting line for the bridge program was moved to Student Services. A Fall 2016 report on
the program to the Grays Harbor Board of Trustees featured several graduates of the program,

9

See the unpublished report by Barbara Leigh Smith, (2008) “Using ePortfolios with American Indian Students.”

37

one who went on to both the RBCD and the MPA, and is now the Chief Executive Officer at the
Squaxin Island Tribe. The report was very well received by the Board.
Now the GHC program is robust with a Fall 2016 enrollment of 29 students. Various issues are
currently being explored including whether to reinstate study leaders, whether to encourage
Running Start students to enroll (Maurer thinks it is not a good fit), faculty development, student
readiness, and student recruitment and retention.
The current students come largely from Quinault. There was a concerted effort in summer and
fall, 2016 to re-enroll students who had previously dropped out, a second chance kind of
program. Maurer indicated that e-mail was the best approach. This effort has been successful
with more than a quarter of the Fall students re-enrolling after time away. There is a large pool
of drop outs who might be recruited to re-enroll. A large proportion of the entering students are
not college ready in writing and mathematics.
Grays Harbor has a strong commitment to stay the course and expand its commitment to Native
American students and communities with discussion currently underway about building a
longhouse on campus. This partnership has been highly effective and produced a much stronger
education for students who go through GHC and our upper division RBCD program. This writer
believes that four areas could improve the program: 1) more GHC faculty development, 2)
more ongoing assessment, 3) work on improving the English courses at the pre-college and
college level and restoring the culture-based section and teacher, and 4) more sharing of
information between GHC and Evergreen.
Peninsula College
In 2012, another bridge program and the upper division Evergreen RBCD program were
established at Peninsula College (PC) to serve the tribes – Jamestown S’Klallam, Lower Elwha
Klallam, Hoh, Makah, and Quileute --- on the North Olympic Peninsula. The overall program—
lower and upper division—is called Native Perspectives. Having a central, permanent site was
thought to be a more effective way of serving these smaller populations than opening and closing
sites in response to shifting enrollments. Peninsula College was considered a good site because
of its location and its proven deep commitment to the Native population, including construction
of a longhouse on its campus in 2007. They also had an active Tribal Education Partners group,
numerous Native events for the campus and community, and robust student leadership programs.
The Peninsula College President Tom Keegan and Dean for Student Services, Maria Pena, were
enthusiastic about the partnership. Maria Pena was instrumental in partnering with instruction to
work out the class arrangements, building advising and recruitment into the work of
Multicultural Student Services, promoting the program through the Tribal Education Partners,
and working on marketing and plans for future enrollment. .Both of these individuals left the
College about a year after the new programs were initiated, and the support position that includes
recruitment and the Longhouse has had three occupants in the last three years.

38

The transition has been good with strong ongoing structural institutional support. The new
president remains highly committed to this program as is Ami Magisos (Access and Success
Manager and Tribal Liaison) who leads the Longhouse planning team and the support positions
which include a Multicultural and Inclusion Coordinator and Educational Planner (Sophia Gu)
and the Longhouse Coordinator (Sadie Crowe) as well as a work study student who is selected
each year.
Peninsula adopted some of the existing GHC curriculum but chose to give the students more
flexibility by making many of the offerings electives. (See Attachment 11 for the Peninsula
curriculum). Many of the Peninsula bridge students were not reservation-based. Some were
already at Peninsula and had accumulated a number of credits. Peninsula did retain the SPSCC
anthropology courses that were only open to bridge students. Students could enroll in courses at
the main campus or at the Forks campus. The Forks campus provides physical and technology
resources for students and potential students. This has enabled those enrolled in the RBCD who
live closer to Forks, to connect with the Thursday night class through Canvas Connect, and they
have done so without the necessity of being alone and trying to trouble-shoot any problems. The
Peninsula college staff in Forks have been present to assist.
Many of the PC courses are taught face-to-face rather than online since students generally prefer
that option. The bridge student sense of community comes through their participation in the
Saturday classes at Evergreen’s Longhouse and the numerous student leadership activities, PC
Longhouse events, and campus lectures Peninsula sponsors rather than by all being in the same
classes. Peninsula offers many all-campus cultural events as well as outreach to tribes including
a culture fair, a Visiting Elders Program, and regular art shows at the Longhouse. PC students
also usually attend the annual statewide Students of Color Conference.
In 2012- 2013, the upper and lower division Native programs were part of Peninsula’s Student
Success Project and met all the goals in terms of enrollment and retention. Extensive recruitment
and student support was provided to the 40 students in this initiative (Peninsula College, Student
Success Project Final report, June 2013. Attachment 12)
AA Bridge students receive orientation and extensive advising to create a comprehensive
academic plan with their advisor that is adapted each quarter based on their needs, goals,
preferred pace, learning preferences, etc. The current student advisor beginning Fall 2016 is
Sophia Gu who is also the Multicultural and Inclusion Coordinator.
AA Bridge advisors have also worked with RBCD program directors and faculty to recruit
Associate-level students (AA Bridge and otherwise) for the RBCD BA program, to facilitate
logistics for the evening classes at PC and the Saturday classes at TESC, to communicate
regularly with RBCD students about their concerns, questions, and interests at the PC site, and
the like. Recruitment efforts have been limited in the last year and need to be enhanced.

39

The Peninsula site provides the opportunity for cross mentoring of students in the AA Bridge and
the RBCD BA program. The Evergreen instructor Kate Reavey has expressed interest in
working with the current students, who are members of the Lower Elwha Klallam, Makah, Haida
Alaska Native, and Jamestown, S'Klallam tribes, to develop a plan for including such mentoring
as part of the curriculum. This diversity of backgrounds and tribal affiliations creates
opportunities for connections to continue beyond the scope of the classroom, including on the
reservation or at the Forks campus. In addition, there is potential for creating an ILC-Independent Learning Contract-- to be the framework for a mentorship that is based on the
principles of leadership that are part of the RBCD curriculum.
Kate Reavey is also interested in becoming more involved in email efforts as well as visiting the
Makah tribe, Forks High School, Crescent High School, the Lincoln School, and Port Angeles
High School, and bringing one or two current RBCD students to answer questions and encourage
students to pursue a college education. Deeper involvement in recruitment fairs can encourage
students from local tribes to consider entering the AA Bridge program. Closer partnering
between the upper division and the newly hired Recruitment Coordinator (a new position at PC),
Jessie Manzer, and the Longhouse Team could considerably enhance enrollment.
Kate Reavey, has also taught at Peninsula and knows the community well. She and others at
Peninsula organized a FLC-- Faculty Learning Community focused on Engaging Native
Perspectives. One of the programs that emerged from this collaboration is The Visiting Elders
Program. This is a program that will continue in the coming years, and provides another
opportunity to invite high school students from the tribes to attend and participate. Prospective
students would have the opportunity to visit college classes while participating in the Visiting
Elders program. In addition, they can be invited to visit the RBCD classes in the evening.
The FLC has attracted the participation of a number of faculty from various disciplines. The first
meeting of the 2016-17 academic year included twelve participants, including the Longhouse
Team, who work in the Student Development Office. This is an excellent example of
collaboration between faculty and student development in the service of outreach to Native
students.
Another focus of the FLC is to bring more Native-focused curriculum to Peninsula College as a
whole by bringing more Native experts, scholars, artists, and poets to campus. This coming fall,
Josh Reid, historian, UW professor and member of the Snohomish Tribe will present a reading of
his book The Sea is My Country: The Maritime World of the Makahs. He will visit two classes
on campus and attend the school district potlatch at the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. This
presents an opportunity to invite high school students and other prospective students to
participate and therefore get a sense of college life.

40

Program leaders at Peninsula say –
The AA Bridge program at Peninsula College has created a unique opportunity for
tribally-connected students to explore Native perspectives within their AA coursework.
The heart of the program has been the special opportunity to develop high-level critical
thinking skills and practice complex decision-making in the case seminars with Bachelorlevel students, as well as to develop their network with other Native student leaders
throughout Western Washington. While our program has been a fit with relatively small
numbers of students, it has been transformative for those who have completed it, and it is
part of the Peninsula College commitment to relevant, service-oriented, leadershipfocused education. (Interview with Ami Magisos)
An especially notable feature of the Peninsula Native Perspectives program (and its overall
college curriculum) is its approach to developmental education—especially writing and math.
They have tried to build shorter pathways to college readiness instead of a long ladder of
developmental courses. These courses offer a competency-based accelerated pathway with very
high support. This approach corresponds to national research indicating that longer ladders do
not increase student success. Peninsula has also tried to eliminate the “loser” stigma of being in
developmental education by making the developmental ed courses ungraded which often protects
the students grade point average and financial aid.

Summary of Data:





The program began in 2012 with six students, and expects to have five enrolled this year
by Winter 2016.
A total of 17 students will have participated by winter 2017.
Of the 17 AA Bridge students, five students have graduated, six are continuing students,
three changed their program, and three have left college to work.
Of the five who have graduated, four continued with RBCD BA program.

About half of the students in this program were already at Peninsula when this program became
available. When asked if the enrollment is sufficient to continue the program, Ami reported that
it is a vitally important part of Peninsula College’s identity of effectively serving Native
communities. “Local tribes want it,” she says, “tribal staff and leaders talk with prospective and
current tribal students about it. At PC, we have an ability to commit to a small program like this
because it is based on quality, not only numbers. Institutions need to be able to make such a
commitment for this to work.”

The Current Situation

41

In 2011, Evergreen Provost M. Zimmerman indicated that he wanted to see the RBCD program
offered out of state in Wyoming on the Wind River/Arapaho Indian Reservation and in
Wisconsin. These were sites where he had previous relationships and reservation-based programs
when he was at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Native Evergreen faculty and staff
advised against this but he moved ahead while working with colleagues at the Wind River
Development Fund, a local nonprofit organization located in the general area. The proposal died
in 2014 after a well-publicized internal struggle within the Wyoming tribal council which
ultimately decided firmly against the program.
In 2012, Michelle Aguilar-Wells decided to step down as director. After a national search,
Cindy Marchand Cecil was appointed Director of the RBCD in Fall, 2013 with the position
stripped of regular faculty status for the first time since its inception.
In 2015, Provost Zimmerman decided, without consulting with anyone in the RBCD, that the
RBCD should have a firm minimum enrollment of eight students at each site to operate and no
students would be allowed with less than 90 transferable credits.10 In the previous years,
students with less than 90 transferable credits had been accepted at the director’s discretion. This
had been worked out between the Admissions Office and the director on a case-by-case basis.
Faculty indicated that this option was usually only used with highly capable working older
students and students who were not interested in going through an Associate’s degree or doing
an online program. Provost Zimmerman felt that a community of learners could only be
pedagogically sound if there was a minimum learning community of eight students.
A recent study by Cindy Marchand Cecil of the students from 2010 to 2016 indicates that a
number of students were admitted with fewer than 90 transferable credits, and that no site would
have been viable if the eight students per site and 90 transferable credit rule had been in place
(Marchand-Cecil, 2016). Further, in Summer 2016, Cindy looked back through records dating
back to 1989, when the program began, and noted that students with less than 90 credits were
continually admitted.
Cindy Marchand Cecil strongly supports finding an avenue for admitting select students
with less than 90 credits for the following reasons.
“There are many times where students should be allowed into the RBCD program for a
variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, the following: a) Students who are very
close to 90 credits sometimes have to wait nearly a year for the one class they need to get
their AA to be offered, which just delays their entry into the RBCD program, b) some
students have moved away from the school they previously attended, and just want to
come into the RBCD program for convenience, c) some students prefer the face-to-face,
Native atmosphere and content offered by the RBCD program, d) some students, who
live beyond the radius of their home tribe are unable to access their tribe’s funding, but
10

The 8 student minimum enrollment per site has not been implemented to date.

42

can access the RBCD scholarships, that are not available through the local community
colleges, e) students who are Native but not enrolled are unable to access funds from their
tribe of record so the scholarships offered through the RBCD program are very attractive
to them, f) some students previously experienced failure and are not eligible for tribal
support but through the use of RBCD scholarships, can ‘jump start’ their financial aid, g)
many students recruit other students into the program and the RBCD program can be
more successful by being flexible enough to allow students with less than 90 credits to
come in when they are supported by someone else they know and trust who is already in
our program.
Additionally, the RBCD program could build on allowing more independent learning
contracts to mature students who are leaders in the community who are unable to attend
face-to-face classes regularly.”
New rules were also put in place in 2013-2014 that the RBCD director would be the only person
who could supervise individual contracts. This was supported by the program director in the
interest of quality control.
When there were co-directors, Michele Aguilar-Wells and Jeff Antonelis Lapp, each of them was
a site leader at Quinault and Muckleshoot respectively and taught one strand at the Saturday
classes. When Michele became sole director other part time faculty were hired to cover the sites,
and Michele had a .25 Associate Director (Gina Corpuz) who also taught at Port Gamble until
2010, when the Associate director position was cut. The Program Director taught a Saturday
morning, two-credit strand for the last few years of her commitment, which was approximately
2-5% of the total teaching load for the program. By comparison, Cindy Marchand-Cecil taught
40-42% of the total credit load for 2014-2015 and again for 2015-2016.
The following list is a summary of program cuts that have been made, beginning in 2010, when
the Associate Director’s position was cut. Most of this work has been assumed by the Program
Director.
6/30/2010: Associate Director position eliminated - .25. The primary work for this position
was to develop the syllabi and to complete recruitment and outreach.
In its place, the Program Director was provided a temporary position. She was told at the time
that the person could work 16-20 hours every two-week period, until the economy recovered.
Both of the Program Directors have had difficulties hiring anyone who can meaningfully
complete the work that was done under the former Associate Director’s position, although they
still complete outreach at special events that occur at various tribal venues.
07/01/2013: Summer help for two weeks, full-time – to help to develop the Fall Quarter
syllabi. This was eliminated when the current program director took over.

43

09/15/2013: Weekend Studies Coordinator position eliminated - .25. The primary work for
this position was to coordinate everything to do with the weekend studies, including set-up, teardown, and to teach one morning strand and the afternoon Battlegrounds session. This position
was eliminated and simultaneously, the RBCD Program Director was given three days’ notice to
leave its space at the Longhouse. Since then, the Program Director has been forced to load all
supplies from the second floor of the Sem I building, load it into her van, take it over to the
Longhouse to unload it all, then use the supplies all day on each Saturday, then load it all up into
the van, take it all back over to the Sem I building, take it all upstairs and put it all where it
belongs. So this was like taking away the position and doubling the work, and has remained that
way since 9/15/2013.
Fall, 2014: Faculty started being paid by the student count. This resulted in less pay for the
faculty, however, no funds were allocated from the resulting savings to allow for student
recruitment and advising.
Fall, 2014: The Provost reduced the morning strands from three to two strands. His
justification was that classes at Evergreen have 21-25 in them, so the RBCD program was only
justified in having two. When the Pt. Gamble faculty declined her contract, the present Program
Director asked for some relief by adding the third strand back in, so she would not have to teach
a morning strand, and the Provost said no.
Each of these reductions in staffing have negatively impacted the program and greatly added to
the workload of the Program Director. Some staff at Evergreen have recently said that these
changes just reflect a difference in style about how RBCD resources are used. However, in each
case, these changes, with the exception of the loss of the Associate Director’s position, were
mandated by the Provost at the time.
In Fall, 2016, Interim Provost Ken Tabbutt commissioned the current report on the history of the
RBCD program and possible future directions for the program. This is a timely move.
By 2016, the higher education landscape has changed dramatically with whole new modes of
instruction now available and many colleges focusing more on serving American Indian students
and communities. Online learning is now a central feature of the RBCD bridge programs but has
yet to be explored for the upper division program.
The RBCD now faces many competitors. There is internal competition with on-campus
Evergreen Native programs. Other institutions are also critical competitors. This includes
community colleges, SPSCC, TCC, Edmonds, and Everett community colleges in particular.
Some of these do not directly compete since they are vocational programs in gaming and
hospitality. WGU and other online programs are also attracting some students. The most
important competitor, however, is Northwest Indian College which has emerged as a four-year
college directly competing with Evergreen’s RBCD at numerous sites including Muckleshoot,

44

Tulalip, Port Gamble, and Nisqually. The next sections of this report describe some of these
other efforts in Indian education.
Washington Community Colleges
Populations of color have increased substantially in Washington State from 18 percent to 28
percent in the ten-year period 2000-2010 (US Census, State Board for Community and Technical
Colleges). They are projected to further increase in the period from 2012-2022. Largest
projected increases are among the Hispanic (19%), Asian (14%), Black/African American (7%),
and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations (25%). The largest projected increase by far
will be among persons reporting in the multiple race category (130%). Native Americans
constitute approximately 3% of Washington’s population. The projected increase of this
population is 1%. (State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, 2014)
Community colleges are often described as the “gateway” to higher education. Nowhere is this
more true than in Washington, where half of all students start their education in a community
college. Public community colleges in Washington enrolled approximately 4400 Native
American students in Fall, 2015 (reference). This represented 3% of the overall community
college student enrollment. This is at parity when compared with their proportion in the overall
population. While reaching parity is often considered the measure of success, there are good
reasons to think this is too low a standard for success. One reason is that Native Americans are
among the lowest group in overall educational attainment. Another issue is about the data itself
and how it is used. Ways of identifying who is Native American are often problematic. Native
Americans are the most multi-ethnic population. Recognizing this some reports, including the
Washington community college reports and the recent 2010 US Census, describe both those who
identify solely as Native American and those who identify as multi-racial, including NA. This
makes a huge difference. At Evergreen, for example, in 2015 the number of students identifying
as solely Native American is 56, but 196 identify with more than one category, including Native
American.
As the table below indicates Native American students enroll in community colleges with
diverse goals, and these goals can, and often do, change.
Table 11
Washington Community College Native American Enrollment
Student Goals 2015
Mission Area: Transfer
1877
Mission Area: Workforce
2054
Basic Skills as Immediate Goal
303

45

As the following table indicates, Native American student enrollment is broadly distributed
throughout the State’s community colleges.

46

47

Quite a few of the western Washington community colleges are within commuting distance of
one of the sites of the RBCD, but there is no systemic effort to build relationships and reach out
to prospective Native students at these colleges, except with our lower division partners,
Peninsula College and Grays Harbor College.
Four-Year Colleges and Universities
As indicated previously, there are approximately 794 undergraduate Native American students
and 180 graduate students in Washington’s public four-year colleges and universities. Evergreen
has a large percent relative to its overall size. Evergreen’s historical service area lies largely in
Western Washington with University of Washington and Western Washington University being
the most likely public four-year college competitors. Both are highly selective institutions
compared to TESC.
The University of Washington aggressively recruits American Indian students to the main Seattle
campus and its two branch campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. The Tacoma and Bothell campuses
originally offered only upper division Bachelor’s degrees and Masters’ degree programs but they
have since become lower division as well. The main Seattle campus is the most selective in
admissions. It offers a variety of programs, especially graduate programs, directly relevant to
Native Americans at the graduate and undergraduate level.
The U of Washington-Bothell is the fastest growing public institution in Washington with a
current enrollment of 4,588 students. While most institutions have suffered enrollment declines
in recent years, UW Bothell’s freshman class increased by 10% in Fall, 2014. The first year
incoming class is majority first-generation students. Sixty nine percent are students of color with
37% Asian American. American Indians are less than 1% and include 91 undergraduate and
graduate students. The overwhelming majority of Bothell students come from King and
Snohomish Counties and community colleges in north Puget Sound. They do not offer an
academic program focusing on Native American studies but they did establish a Native
American Advisory to help them develop Native Cases. The person behind this initiative at
Bothell, Bill Erdly, has longstanding relationships with Tulalip and helped them to develop their
technology.
UW-Tacoma has an enrollment of 4,629 with 2% identifying themselves as Native American.
UW Tacoma and Bothell both offer traditional disciplinary degrees as well as liberal arts
programs more like Evergreen. The Tacoma campus also has a Department of Ethnic, Gender
and Color Studies.
All of the University of Washington campuses have sophisticated outreach activities. They also
share some relationship and advisory building efforts between the campuses. University of
Washington offers summer camps and other pre-college programs to build interest in higher
education. The new longhouse on the main campus has become a gathering place and a center of
Native activities. UW also has a standing high status Native American Advisory Board that

48

advises the Vice President for Minority Affairs and Diversity on outreach and retention strategies
for Native students, faculty, and staff. Individuals on this board make long-term commitments to
serve on this committee with fixed terms. They are drawn from local and out of state tribal
councils and some school districts. U of Washington also hosts a well-attended annual American
Indian Education Summit to build relationships and communicate with Native American leaders.
Both the Tacoma and Bothell also offer annual Native American events for the campus and the
larger community. At Bothell, an annual program is called “RAIN”---Reaching American Indian
Nations. This is a day-long program of workshops for prospective tribal students in area high
schools. UW-Tacoma also offers an annual symposium for the campus and larger community.
The outreach efforts of the University of Washington as a whole are impressive and well-staffed.
As Cindy Marchand Cecil put it, “the UW is everywhere, all the time. They even pay for
transportation to bring busloads of tribal members to campus events. It is important that we
identify and emulate the best practices of other schools in order to recruit new students into our
program.”
Northwest Indian College
Northwest Indian College (NWIC) is clearly the leading competitor with Evergreen’s RBCD.
NWIC is the only tribal college in Washington state.11 Established at Lummi in 1974 as the
Lummi Indian School of Aquaculture, the college became Lummi Community College in the
early 1980s and was renamed Northwest Indian College in 1989. NWIC has substantially
broadened its mission and programs and enhanced its physical campus over the past several
decades. Under the last president, Cheryl CrazyBull12, a number of new buildings were
constructed at Lummi, including on-campus housing. NWIC currently has 100 faculty (76 FT
and 24 PT) and a total enrollment of 626 FTE (approximately 1200 HC each quarter) with six off
campus sites at Swinomish, Nisqually, Port Gamble, Muckleshoot, Nez Perce, and Tulalip.
Over the years, NWIC served other tribal sites at Colville, Quinault, Makah, Puyallup,
Skokomish, and Yakima but these sites have been discontinued. The Colville Tribe switched
their institutional provider to Salish Kootenai College. The other sites were closely primarily
because of low enrollment. Over the years, NWIC learned that sites without on-site managers did
not thrive. Service to the urban areas has been periodically discussed but the current dean
believes NWIC is really a reservation based program. When asked about rumors that they were
planning to start a graduate program, the dean said “no----we have too much work to do on our
expansion into bachelor’s degrees.”
11

The Puyallup Tribe, in collaboration with Pierce College, did briefly establish a tribal college, called
Medicine Creek College, in the early 1990s. Muckleshoot is currently exploring whether to establish a
tribal college. This is their third time of considering this. The tribal council appears most concerned
about the cost and sustainability of such an enterprise. If pursued, this could substantially affect the other
education providers of Native education.
12

CrazyBull is now the President of the American Indian College Fund.

49

A number of the current NWIC sites (Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Tulalip, and Port Gamble)
directly compete with Evergreen. Muckleshoot has consistently been NWIC’s strongest off
campus site campus in terms of enrollment. NWIC has worked very closely with the host tribe,
and a number of the tribes have built substantial educational facilities for their education
programs. The Nisqually Tribe built a new Nisqually Education Building with four media
equipped classrooms that Northwest Indian College uses. A longhouse at Swinomish houses the
NWIC program and at Muckleshoot and Port Gamble NWIC also has dedicated space. One very
important aspect of the NWIC/Tribal partnership is the bandwidth that NWIC brings into any
building it occupies, which is of great benefit to all of the partners at each educational site.
Four hundred and eight NWIC’s students are full-time and 218 are part-time. Enrollment at each
site is as follows:
Table 13: Northwest Indian College Enrollment by Site (FTE = 12 credits)
Location
2013-2014* 2014-2015
Percent change
Main campus- Lummi
425.7
377.0
-11.4
Muckleshoot
89.8
78.7
-12.4
Nez Perce
72.3
60.1
-16.9
Nisqually
22.9
38.2
66.4
Port Gamble
73.4
56.6
-22.9
Swinomish
33.3
33.0
-0.9
Tulalip
56.6
38.6
-31.7
In the most recent years, NWIC like many colleges in Washington, experienced an enrollment
decline as a result of the improving economy. NWIC now has a sophisticated assessment plan
that is available on their website. Their retention rate is low, like most non-selective colleges
and most tribal colleges, with 69% to a low of 52% of students not retained. In the period from
2007 to 2012, fall to fall retention at the Main Lummi campus varied from a high of 26% in 2012
to a low of 10% in 2007 and 2008. Retention at off-campus sites was slightly better at 21 to 24%
over the same time span (NWIC Student Success Report, 2012-13). In the 2015-2016 academic
year the retention rates improved as indicated below:
Table 14
Retention Rates, Site-Based AY 2015
Lummi
Muckleshoot
Nisqually
Nez Perce
Port Gamble
Swinomish
Tulalip

46%
55%
75%
60%
60%
52%
32%

50

The dean attributes this increase to adding the four-year programs. The first cohorts in these new
bachelors’ programs were transfer students, but they are now starting to see more NWIC lower
division students go on to the upper division programs. One hundred percent of their students
typically receive financial assistance. The tuition at NWIC, like other tribal colleges, is quite low
with a reported net price of attendance of $7,144 for full-time students.
NWIC’s student body is diverse, largely Native (83%), and female (68.7%), with a substantial
number of students (94 FTE in 2013-2014) drawn from outside Washington. The construction of
on campus housing is attractive to the nonresident students. About 57% of the students enroll for
12 credits or more.
Students can enroll at NWIC and take courses through a number of different modalities including
face-to-face, independent study, learning contracts, fully online, online hybrid, and telecourse.
NWIC also offers continuing education, GED, ABE, and WFE (workforce education) courses.
Online/hybrid online and face-to-face are the primary modalities used with less than 50% of the
time online. They primarily use their synchronous ITV system for connecting the main campus
classes with their off campus sites. They are currently assessing the effectiveness of their
approach through focus groups as part of the research for reaccreditation.
NWIC Relationships with TESC are longstanding and go back to the 1980s. TESC faculty
served on NWIC advisory committees such as the one developing the Tribal Natural Resource
Management (TNRM) program, and Evergreen and NWIC continue to partner on numerous
more recent grants and projects, including the recent Gates grant.
Most significantly, NWIC served as a lower division bridge program for Evergreen’s RBCD in
the early years (1994-2002). They registered the lower division students but did not offer a
separate curriculum. These students were in the same classes with the upper division students.
Course equivalencies were worked out between the two colleges and grades were awarded to
lower division students. When the MOU between the two institutions expired in 2003, it was not
renewed. (See memorandum of understanding in Attachment 3). This produced a gap in having
a lower division bridge program until the Grays Harbor program began in 2005.
Starting as a tribal technical college focused on fisheries, NWIC’s next step was to become a
community college with a broad array of associate degrees and other programs. Northwest has a
strong required set of seven “foundational courses” (usually called general education courses)
that are entirely focused on Native American history and culture. These are Introduction to
Cultural Sovereignty, The Language of Our Ancestors, Reclaiming our History, Icons of Our
Past, Subsistence Economies: Restoring Prosperity, The Tide Has Changed: Educating Our
Own, and History of Federal Indian Policy.

51

In 2010, NWIC was accredited as a four-year institution, first with a Native Environmental
Science Bachelor of Science degree (2010) and then adding a Bachelor of Native Studies
Leadership (2012), a BA in Tribal Governance and Business Management, and a BA in
Community Advocates and Responsive Education in Human Services (CARE). Enrollment in
these Bachelor’s degrees is described below:

Table 15: Northwest Indian College, Bachelor’s Degree Enrollment
Northwest Indian College
Programs of Study-2013-14
Bachelor of Science-NES. ( Native
Environmental Science)

Resident
85

NonResident
9

Total
Headcount
94

Bachelor of Arts-CARE
(Human Services)

11

0

11

Bachelor of Arts-NSL
(Native Studies Leadership)

55

1

56

Bachelor of Arts-TGBM
(Tribal Governance & Business
Management)

152

15

167

Associate Transfer

554

37

551

Source: Northwest Indian College 2014-2015 Annual Enrollment Report.
NWIC’s upper division programs are becoming a strong pipeline for Evergreen’s graduate
programs. The department chair for the Tribal Governance and Business Management
Bachelor’s degrees (TGBM) is a graduate of Evergreen’s MPA Tribal Concentration. Despite
some important differences, NWIC’s TGBM Bachelor’s degree program and the Bachelor’s
degree in Native Studies Leadership are major competitors with Evergreen’s RBCD. The TGBM
has a heavy emphasis on business skills such as accounting, statistics, business law, grant
management, project management, and offers students an option of choosing among three
concentrations in Tribal Casino Management, Tribal Entrepreneurship, or Public and Tribal
Administration. All students also complete a 10-credit capstone project. This is an attractive
curriculum for many of the students who are often mid-level managers of tribal programs.
These undergraduate Bachelors’ degree programs are designed with an Associate degree option
for those who do not want to continue on to the four-year degree. In 2014-2015, the enrollment
in these programs at the different sites was as follows:

52

Table 16
Northwest Indian College, 2014-2015 Annual Enrollment Report.
Site

Lummi
Swinomish
Port Gamble
Muckleshoot
Nisqually
Tulalip
Nez Perce
Independent
Learning
Total

Bachelor of
Science (NES),
Native
Environmental
Science
65
7
9
7
2
1
10
2

BA (CARE)
(Human
Services)

BA (NSL)
Native Studies
Leadership

BA-(TGBM)
Tribal
Governance &
Business Mgt

20
1
0
3
0
1
0
3

29
1
9
0
7
2
0
5

75
7
12
24
4
11
18
22

103

28

53

173

Source: Northwest Indian College, Office of Institutional Research

These programs are all offered in a hybrid modality.
Antioch University
Antioch University-Seattle has been offering programs at Muckleshoot for a number of years,
but ended their involvement in 2013 when enrollment seriously declined. From 2003-2008,
there were 12 Masters degrees issued and from 2008-2013, there were ten Masters degrees and
22 BA degrees. The programs from 2003-2008 were teacher education programs—a BA with
Teacher preparation, a MA with Teacher Preparation, and a MA in Education.
From 2007 to 2009 Antioch offered an interdisciplinary management Master’s degree called
Creative Change at Muckleshoot. The program had three concentrations within a common core.
Students could concentrate in Environment and Community (2 students), Strategic
Communication (2), or Management and Leadership (4). A total of 17 students finished the
program with 9 graduating in Year 1 and 8 students in Year 2. The program was designed as a
“ladder program” that allowed upper division undergraduates to enroll in the program. A few
RBCD students pursued this option. At first. there was some concern about this program drawing
students away from Evergreen’s MPA Tribal program as well as the RBCD but the high cost of
Antioch’s tuition was a barrier for students and the program’s departure made this a non-issue.

53

At this time, Antioch is not looking at any programs serving Native Americans but they do have
a new on campus graduate program in psychology at their main campus in Seattle that is
attracting some Native students.
Muckleshoot Tribal College (MTC)
The Muckleshoot Tribe supports reservation-based education through partnerships with other
colleges. Despite its name, it is not currently a tribal college although they are exploring
becoming a tribal college. This would be in collaboration with a community college. This is the
third time Muckleshoot is exploring this. Earlier attempts involved Green River but ended when
Green River’s administration turned over. If they proceed, this new tribal college could be a
serious competitor, especially for NWIC, although the road to accreditation and developing two
and eventually four year degrees would be long. The tribal council is reportedly concerned about
the cost and sustainability of such an enterprise. Current talk about the Washington Student
Achievement Council exploring the need for a new state college at Covington has further
muddied the issue. Their preliminary report found gaps in certain job clusters such as nursing
but did not see a need for a new institution in Southeast King County (WSAC, November 2016).
A number of institutions currently offer programs at Muckleshoot with Northwest Indian
College, the largest provider, being the only on-site staffed provider. MTC has partnerships with
Bates for an early childhood education program and Green River for computer tech programs.
Evergreen has offered the RBCD at Muckleshoot since 1999. Antioch University and Grays
Harbor College have also offered programs in the past. The GHC online model was not
successful with most students at Muckleshoot. MTC itself also offers some non-degree programs
including a twelve week GED program and the MOST program which is a computer tech
program. MTC has a staff of 15, a well-equipped building, a computer lab and a small library. A
branch of the public library is in a building adjacent to MTC. In terms of educational needs at
Muckleshoot, staff at MTC indicated that it would be useful to have programs in the construction
trades and forestry.
Wilma Cabanas, who is the Tribal College Administrator for the Muckleshoot College, was
interviewed as part of this report. Wilma is a 2001 graduate of the Reservation-Based,
Community Determined Program, and she went on to earn her Master’s degree in Education.
When asked about the continuing role of The Evergreen State College, Reservation-Based,
Community Determined program at the Muckleshoot Tribal College, Wilma was quick to point
out that over time, the flexible admissions guidelines were of great benefit to the community
prospective students at Muckleshoot and its surrounding environs. Wilma said that the
partnership between The Evergreen State College and Muckleshoot helped many students earn
their bachelor’s degree which they would not have been able to do otherwise. Wilma feels that
Evergreen’s approach to learning is very consistent with the learning styles of Native American

54

people. Participating in a Native-based curriculum is essential for people who will most likely
work in their own communities.
Wilma herself entered the Reservation-Based, Community Determined Program with less than
90 credits. She felt that without the support of the helpful faculty and staff at Evergreen, she
would not have experienced the success that she did in being able to join a program that was
specifically designed for Native American students, and was located at the local
community. Since she has worked at the Tribal College for so long, she noted that students
entering the program with less than 90 credits was more the rule, than the exception.
Over time, the Muckleshoot College also developed policies that support various initiatives at
The Evergreen State College, such as allowing Muckleshoot students to receive full scholarships
from the Tribe, even though they may just be special admit students. The college has been
involved in a wide array of partnerships with The Evergreen State College over time, and
presently supports Native American students through a number of scholarships offered to Native
American students who are tribally enrolled or of Native descent who attend Evergreen at the
Tacoma, Olympia, and Reservation-Based, Community Determined Program.
Wilma would like to see the program continue to allow students with less than 90 credits to be
admitted. She noted that many adults who attend at Evergreen would not do well in a traditional
AA program. She said it has been confusing to everyone, students and administrators alike,
when suddenly students could not attend school this fall in the Reservation-Based, Community
Determined Program.
When asked about how to increase enrollment, Wilma said that the former Co-Director started at
Muckleshoot as an on-site instructor in one of the Muckleshoot programs, and then was offered
the position at Evergreen when the program began a site at Muckleshoot. By being located out
of Muckleshoot full-time from 1997 to 2008, Evergreen had a stronger presence at Muckleshoot
than it has since that time.
Wilma noted that although the present Program Director is there two days a week, including all
day on most Thursdays, Northwest Indian College is there all day, every day, to talk to
prospective students. She feels that with a stronger presence, the program could have increased
numbers. Wilma also noted that because the former faculty who was there from 1997-2008 lived
nearby, he was able to be involved in several ongoing community events, such as language
classes, wellness events, and the like.
Wilma indicated that recent efforts to include the news about program events in the Muckleshoot
Tribal College newspaper have been helpful, and she also appreciates being invited to the
various special events and guest presentations that are done from the Longhouse.

55

“The most important thing is to keep up the good work, allow students with less than 90 credits
to enter the program, and consider ways to have more of a presence in the building….this is the
recipe for success,” concluded Wilma Cabanas.

Tribal and Site Profiles
Quinault
Quinault is a remote reservation on the Pacific Coast. Thirty-three students from the Quinault
site have graduated from the RBCD program since 2002. The majority of graduates work for the
Nation. The degree they received enabled them to increase their wage or qualify for a better job.
The Quinault Nation strives to financially support all enrolled members of the Quinault Nation’s
educational aspirations whether they live on or off the reservation. Currently they fund about 70
students with the majority enrolled at Grays Harbor College, Evergreen, or SPSCC. About 25%
of the students they support go to other vocational schools and about 25% are off the reservation
and attend many different institutions. Non-reservation students are only funded at half the level
of reservation-based students. They fund students for 5 years. Quinault students attend various
high schools—Taholah High School on the reservation, Aberdeen and Hoquiam High Schools,
and North Beach High School. About half the students at Taholah go to college immediately or
within one year after graduating. Many students drop out of college but return later. Some
students are not prepared for college level work. The Tribe is trying to provide additional
support by setting up study space at the mini mall with computers and they are exploring offering
summer classes to enhance preparation for college. There is a real need for professionals in many
areas since current people retiring. Two year programs in fisheries and forestry would be
especially valuable at Quinault as well as many other reservations in Western Washington.
Perhaps talking with Grays Harbor about this would be good.
The Quinault education staff are firmly behind allowing selected students with less than 90
credits to be enrolled in the program if they are a good fit for the RBCD program. In Fall, 2015,
some of the students who were admitted but subsequently turned away included four who had 90
credits or more, and four who had less than 90 credits but were a good fit for the program. Of
these four, one was an elected Tribal Council member, two were grandmothers with over 20
years in their respective workplace settings, both of whom were employed by the Quinault Tribe,
and one was from another tribe but married to a key employee at Quinault. Each of these four
people were sent letters that stated that their only option was to attend on the Olympia campus,
while the rest were required to commute to the Nisqually site, thus generating the travel time and
costs associated with eight additional hours of driving time each week throughout the 2015-2016
school year. Quinault is the place where the RBCD program began, and Cindy Marchand Cecil
and the Quinault staff believe that Evergreen did not treat the Tribe, or the students very fairly.

56

When the program makes abrupt shifts in policies, with no warning, it is extremely confusing to
the tribes we partner with. We also compromise the integrity of our relations with tribes by
acting dismissive, and wholly silent about the role they play in the success of our program.
Peninsula College
This site is described in the previous section. Thus far, the partnership with Peninsula College
has resulted in relatively small enrollments at the upper and lower division level but it should be
continued. The quality of the program and Peninsula College’s strong support is important. The
program is highly respected by local tribes. More continuous aggressive recruitment is needed
here. Re-exploring a formal Memorandum of Understanding could be helpful.
Muckleshoot.
This site has low enrollment. It is NWIC’s largest site. When Evergreen has had large enrollment
here the program included many students from the larger Seattle area. The new high school at
Muckleshoot is doing well with much improved graduation rates. With the Muckleshoot Tribe
again exploring establishing their own tribal college and the state exploring the educational
needs of the Covington area, the site is in transition in many ways.
Tulalip. (currently inactive)
This site has had low enrollment but the unique funding opportunities through the University
Center and the strong support of Senator John McCoy requires a closer and broader analysis of
the various opportunities there (graduate program internships, especially in education, graduate
level continuing ed courses, RBCD site). Marysville School District is also home to Heritage
High School which has strong Native enrollment. The schools in this area have been designated
as failing schools.
Nisqually.
Site has low enrollment partly because of the strong NWIC presence and the influence of the
competing influences of Olympia campus faculty. The Evergreen site at Nisqually has always
drawn largely off-reservation students.
Chehalis. Currently inactive.
This site was open for two years, however, the initial cohort of eight students dwindled to six
who expressed an interest in doing a summer ILC, but then decided to attend the main campus
during their final quarter. Future efforts in this geographical area could focus on a partnership
with Centralia Community College in order to provide a central site for students from tribes in
the Southwest regions located along the I-5 corridor.

57

Port Gamble.
Site is currently inactive because of low enrollment. NWIC offers their programs here. This site
has opened and close a few times throughout the course of the program’s history.
Suquamish.
This tribe is located very close to Port Gamble. There was some previous exploration about
merging these sites and locating it at Suquamish since they had computer facilities. Since then,
Suquamish decided to pursue another way of securing a four-year degree with a new relationship
with Olympic College and Western Washington University, which has a small campus in nearby
Poulsbo.
Possible new reservation sites: Squaxin Island/Skokomish. We had a program at Skokomish
for some years.

Challenges and Ongoing issues
The perennial long term issue with the RBCD is its overall sustainability in terms of 1) its
service to Native American people and communities (are we offering the right program that fills
a need?), 2) its fit with Evergreen’s mission and approach to teaching and learning, and 3) the
cost and minimum (and ideal) realistic enrollment to justify the investment, and 4) Evergreen’s
willingness to step up to this investment and commitment to diversity. This is the crossroads we
currently face.
This program is clearly compatible with Evergreen’s mission and approach to teaching and
learning. The program is filling a real need and has viable enrollment levels and prospects at
some sites, and it could be expanded to other sites. The program has a long history of changes in
location and flexibility. At the same time, the strong competitive presence of Northwest Indian
College now makes a number of current sites potentially unviable. Nevertheless, there are other
areas (primarily urban areas) and potential student audiences (men and younger students) that are
under-represented and could be served.
Related challenges and issues arise over the sizing of sites (should there be a minimal enrollment
and what should it be?), the delivery modalities (currently face-to-face and independent study,
possible additions of fully online or hybrid online courses, the desirable mix of site-based and on
campus meetings), and the level of the program (lower and/or upper division). These issues are
addressed below in the options for the future.
With a fairly rigorous and sound overall curriculum in place, most of the RBCD’s current
immediate curricular issues revolve around relatively minor but important gaps. One
longstanding area of concern is about student college readiness, especially in writing and
mathematics. This is an issue at most colleges (including the larger Evergreen campus) and not a
unique Evergreen RBCD problem. The RBCD has a history of periodic, relatively short term

58

attention to this issue. What is needed is consistent assessment of student skills and effective
continuing avenues of redress. Assuming each site will consistently address the writing issue or
that a two-credit strand that meets four times each quarter is sufficient is clearly not working.
Staying the course and sustaining innovations and effective practices over time is difficult at
Evergreen in general because of the cultural commitment to faculty autonomy, “re-invention,”
faculty rotation, and administrative turnover.13 This problem is especially acute in established,
ongoing programs like the graduate programs and the RBCD. In the graduate programs the new
policy of hiring to the program has helped stabilize the programs. Additional complexities arise
from the RBCD being a highly decentralized program with remote sites and part time faculty
who generally meet only about once a quarter. Team building, consistency in practice, and
accountability can be difficult to achieve. Regular faculty evaluations have not been held in this
program and this has exacerbated these issues.
Very high involuntary turnover of RBCD faculty, MPA tribal faculty, and the Assistant Director
position in the MPA program also indicate an issue that needs addressing (See Native Faculty
History Attachment 4). The MPA Assistant Director position was originally designed to
provide support, especially in recruitment, to both the MPA Tribal program and the RBCD. This
joint responsibility was thought to be a natural partnership since so many MPA Tribal applicants
are from the RBCD. This aspect of the Assistant Director’s job description was recently
eliminated without telling the RBCD director, but the current Assistant Director and the RBCD
Director do continue to share information and recruitment activities.
The RBCD director position itself is another issue that has gotten more difficult in recent years.
The previous provost stripped the position of regular faculty status, a clear blow to the traditional
practice and respect accorded that position. This was done purportedly to ensure that the person
remained in the position rather than rotating out at will as had sometimes occurred in other
ongoing programs. The RBCD Director and the graduate program directors have dual reporting
lines to both the Academic Deans and the Provost. Their role in hiring and evaluating their
faculty remains ambiguous, undermining their authority and accountability. The current director
was told by the previous director not to evaluate the site faculty. This had apparently not been
done since 2004-2005. No one is suggesting that authority for hiring and doing the final
evaluations of faculty be changed from the deans and the provost, but the evaluation role of the
program directors needs reconsideration. A once a year visit by an Academic Dean who does the
evaluation is no substitute for having the director play a major role in faculty evaluation because
of her integral close relationship with them.
Larger Evergreen support for the program at all levels has been an issue ranging from the
admissions and registration process, computer services support (especially if online courses are

13

Program histories, an early Evergreen innovation to promote continuity and learning, were not
successful in the face of faculty interest in re-invention.

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developed), student activities/governance, administrative support from the deans and the provost,
and budgetary support. The director has had difficulty securing access to student records and
new student applications. Decisions about hiring site faculty and site openings have been slow in
coming. Timely decisions are needed that allow for advance planning. Recent budget cuts also
eliminated weekend support and one of the weekend courses.
The current director is overcommitted—teaching at two sites, teaching two of the Saturday
classes, overseeing student governance, recruitment, team leadership, and the myriad details that
accompany this program. Having the director carry all of the teaching on Saturday because of
budget limitations on hiring others is a bad investment from the standpoint of director time and
student opportunity to work with a broader range of teachers. The deans have now established a
policy that centralizes individual contracts with the director as well. The Director spends an
inordinate amount of time scheduling the rooms and doing the preparatory work to hold classes
at the Longhouse, where once a single e-mail with the program’s calendar was all that was
needed to book space for the whole year. Some of this overload is clearly partly because the
director is trying to preserve the program in the face of declining enrollment, but this is not a
sustainable staffing solution.
Evergreen’s formal relationship building and recruitment activities could also be improved and
turned in somewhat different directions. This gap is partly a function of our current
organizational structure in terms of coordinating with various Evergreen offices, but mostly a
function of simply not having enough bandwidth—the time, people and role definition—
necessary to do this well. There are clear gaps in terms of outreach to some community colleges,
although we must necessarily recognize that there is a maximum carrying capacity that any one
person can commit to, especially since the program lost its Associate Director position in 2010,
and this position had the primary responsibility for recruitment. The current director has
prepared a report on her approach to recruitment and an extensive list of venues, activities, and
organizations that might be useful recruitment sites (Attachment 14, Marchand-Cecil,
Recruitment). She freely shares her information with other Evergreen Native American
programs. Having partner institutions more effectively work on recruitment is part of the answer
to this problem and they do recognize this need.
Coordination and information sharing among the Evergreen faculty has improved in the last 10
years with the emergence of a Native Planning Unit though not all current Native faculty are part
of this. Evergreen’s Longhouse is also a strong organizing influence at Evergreen, regularly
sharing information across the campus and organizing events that bring people together.
This writer believes that there is substantial potential to raise considerable dollars to support
Native American education if someone had this as a primary responsibility. At the current time,
fundraising efforts are highly effective in the Native Cases Initiative and the Longhouse but there
is no overall funding raising plan for enhancing Native education as a whole that might yield
much more.

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Options for the Future
The writer of this report offers the following 11 recommendations for improvement in the table
below. The rationale and detail about these recommendations follows.

Table 17: Report Recommendations
Options for the Future



No Change: Not recommended
Close the Program: Not recommended
Recommended Change Options



Change the name of the Program to something that accurately reflects its
audience, location, and purpose
 Add new urban sites in Tacoma and/or Seattle
 Develop online curriculum
 Offer a lower division program
 Appropriately size the sites for viable enrollment & staffing
 Strengthen student advising
 Regularly assess student skills and provide avenues of redress
 Redefine program director role and responsibilities
 Develop external relations including a Tribal Advisory Board
 Support faculty development & planning to implement this plan
 Strengthen institutional support

1. No change is one option. Not recommended. Rationale: In its present form and with the
current enrollment (18) and sizing expectations (8 students per site with all entering with
90 credits), the RBCD program does not appear to be viable. In addition, numerous
competitors (especially NWIC) have emerged at the same sites we serve and are drawing
students away, especially since they offer comparable four-year Bachelors degree
programs.
2. Closing the program is another option. Not recommended. Rationale: Evergreen’s
interdisciplinary RBCD program is strong in curricular content and well serving some
reservation place bound students. The tribes in Washington need this program and have
supported it for many years. The Olympic Peninsula appears to be the most viable area
to serve since NWIC is not present and strong bridge programs are in place. The RBCD

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is a major pipeline for our MPA Tribal program with more than 20% of their graduates
coming from this undergraduate program (Nihoa, 2016). Finally, most importantly, this
commitment to serving Native students and communities is longstanding and central to
Evergreen’s mission.
3. Recommended Change Options.
Change and improvement options are numerous and could be pursued in various
combinations. The three most substantial changes are about adding urban sites,
developing online learning opportunities, and developing lower division programs to
serve students with less than 90 credits. These more ambitious alternatives are discussed
in more detail below.


Change the name of the program

Recommendation: Changing the name of the program is highly recommended
Rationale: The program has always drawn a mix of on and off reservation students,
and the name Reservation-Based, Community Determined has been confusing for
those who live in urban areas who might otherwise want to be in the program.
Furthermore, the program now has a site at Peninsula College that is not located on a
reservation at all. This is a simple recommendation that should be immediately
implemented for the 2017 school year.


Change some of the sites where the program is offered. (Major Change)

Recommendation: Add an urban site or sites to serve the large number of urban
Native Americans.
1. Make our Tacoma campus the first priority new RBCD site to serve urban
Indians.
2. Consider adding a lower division program at the Tacoma campus that could
serve both the current Tacoma audience and the Native American students
who would enroll there. This requires a change in our accreditation. If a
lower division program is important, the other avenue to pursue this is
through a bridge program with a community college. Evergreen’s Tacoma
campus did have a bridge program with Tacoma Community College in the
past, but TCC ended it.
3. In Seattle, we recommend further exploring whether to establish a magnet
campus and program at the Indian Health Center or some other site such as
Tulalip.

62

Rationale: The Seattle-Tacoma area is clearly the largest catchment area where the
most potential Native students are located, and there are no comparable programs.
(Table 1) In Seattle/Tacoma, there are numerous places where a program could be
located including a community college campus, the Seattle Daybreak Star Indian
Center (very turbulent history but a gathering place), Evergreen’s Tacoma campus
(space and resource sharing advantages), and the South Puget Inter-Tribal Planning
Association TANF (SPIPA) site in the Tacoma area (previously partially explored but
dropped with personnel changes at SPIPA). The Seattle Indian Health Service Center
is also a possible site. We have some good contacts at the Seattle Indian Health
Center, and it has apparently expressed interest in discussing placement of our
program in its Pearl Baller Building.
A second way of serving these areas and siting a program would be reservation-based
on the Puyallup Tribe’s Reservation (attempted many times before but never brought
to completion) and/or the Tulalip Reservation (funding through University Center
possible, but NWIC is there). We know from the prior NWIC site at Puyallup (135
students) that the enrollment potential in the Tacoma area is large.
If the program were sited at the Evergreen-Tacoma campus it could serve as a larger
magnet campus for urban Indians and the Puyallup Tribe. Personnel at Joint Base
Lewis McCord are another possible audience. In the early days of the Tacoma
program many students came from the military.
Using Evergreen’s existing Tacoma campus has numerous advantages. We own the
building which is an excellent facility that is underused. The relatively large support
staff at Tacoma (3FTE) could probably be cross trained to support both programs.
Overall Tacoma enrollment would be increased and make the campus more viable.
The Board of Trustees has now approved offering the MPA program at the Tacoma
campus in 2019 and this is a natural pipeline for RBCD students (See Attachment 14Proposal to Board of Trustees September 13, 2016). Finally, developing a joint lower
division program for the current Tacoma program and the RBCD program would
enhance enrollment and service to the community. If the RBCD program (with a new
name) moves to Evergreen’s Tacoma campus it would be important for everyone to
work on team building and ensuring that the Native American program maintains its
own identity.
The two major problems with this option of serving Seattle and/or Tacoma would be
recruiting potential students and competing with the numerous other institutions in
the area although none of them appear to have a similar program focusing on Native

63

American students. Working with the local community colleges and other Indian
centers and organizations to build the pipeline would be crucial. Both Cindy
Marchand-Cecil and Tina Kuckkahn-Miller have good contacts that could be helpful.
It would be important to develop strong relationships with local organizations, tribes,
and others who could give us advice and potential students. Any program offered
needs to be designed around the student’s needs in terms of delivery modality and
time offered.


Consider changing the level of the Evergreen program from its current
designation as a purely upper division RBCD BA. (Major Change)

Rationale: The recent study of students enrolled in the RBCD program since 2010,
clearly shows that the program would be more viable if it had an Evergreen lower
division entry for students who do not have 90 transferable credits. The simplest
solution would be to obtain a well-considered case by case, exception process to the
90 credit rule. It is not clear that there is a way to implement this except by giving the
program director discretion to do ILC’s with select lower division students.
What is clear is that the program has been accepting some students with less than 90
credits during the nearly 30 years it has been in existence. More aggressive work with
students on acceleration paths through certificated learning, upside down degrees,
prior learning, CLEP testing, summer school, and the like, could also be pursued. A
dual degree strategy, now common in many schools, is also possible.
To become a fully authorized four-year program would require going through an
accreditation substantive change process with the Northwest Commission of
Colleges.
The question would then become what would happen to our partnerships with Grays
Harbor and Peninsula. One answer would be to not offer a Evergreen lower division
courses where we have strong partnerships in place. Allowing some exceptions in
terms of the 90-credit rule would still be desirable at these sites. Faculty at both
Grays Harbor and Peninsula support this.
If we started upper division sites in Tacoma and/or Seattle, Grays Harbor could offer
their well-developed AA degree in these urban areas after close discussion and
agreement from the local community colleges. Whether this would even be
considered by GHC we do not know. Community colleges are usually pretty careful
about staying in their own service areas. Maintaining and extending the existing
GHC lower division program has the advantage of building on an existing
relationship and a well-developed hybrid online program that has been tailored to
Native students.

64

Alternatively, local community colleges in these urban areas could be approached to
develop similar AA programs. The advantage of community colleges providing the
lower division work is that they already have a broad and high quality overall
curriculum while we would have to develop it from scratch. Reverting to the early
model with NWIC of not really offering a separate curriculum and co-enrolling lower
division students in our upper division classes is not recommended.
This whole issue needs deeper analysis and discussion but the preliminary
recommendation is that 1) existing partnerships be maintained and strengthened with
Grays Harbor and Peninsula, 2) that serious consideration be given to starting a
RBCD (with a new name) upper division program at Evergreen’s Tacoma campus,
and 3) that Evergreen consider developing and gaining approval for a lower division
program for the RBCD program focusing on the Tacoma site, while serving all Native
students in Evergreen’s typical service delivery area. This new lower division
program could be a joint program for both of the Tacoma upper division offerings if
there was interest in this. Pursuing this option before going into a Seattle site
discussion may be the best way to proceed without overcommitting.


Change the teaching and learning modalities offered (Major Change)

Recommendation: Changing the teaching and learning modalities is recommended
with a focus on two areas 1) Redesign the RBCD program to include some online
elective courses and options. 2). Redesign some of the core courses around a hybrid
online learning approach. The exact form this redesign of the core courses would
take still needs to be determined. In the Summer 2017 support an extended faculty
development session to learn the basic principles behind online course development,
the Quality Matters approach, and redesign the current curriculum. (Attachment 16)
Rationale: Evergreen’s RBCD program now offers curriculum in two modalities:
face-to-face and through individual contracts. The current upper division program
does not use online courses, but developing these could resolve a number of ongoing
problems (skill deficits in particular) and open up new opportunities to increase
enrollment and support other Evergreen programs. For example, offering statistics
which is a prerequisite for most graduate school programs including our MPA and
MES would be valuable. In past years one of the RBCD faculty, Allen Standing Bear
Jenkins, regularly taught statistics in summer school but not as part of the RBCD
program. The course needs to be designed to meet the specifications of our graduate
programs.
The current program model of twice a week site-based classes and four Saturdays per
quarter at Evergreen is not viable for some potential students, especially those in

65

leadership roles who travel a great deal and cannot attend classes. Also, students at
some sites, such as the Makah and Quinault, have frequent road closures in the winter
so online options could increase access. Some tribes also allow students to do online
courses during work hours if they are clearly related to their jobs.
All of our major competitors and our partners now have robust online offerings.
Most of their programs are hybrid online programs that give students some face-toface connections. The hybrid approach with some face-to-face classes is our
preferred approach. The recommended precise model for this mix is not spelled out
in this report.
NWIC and many other schools and programs operate below the Commission on
Colleges’ rule that if 50% or more of the contact hours are displaced by some form of
distance learning, the program must apply for approval through the Northwest
Commission on Colleges and Universities. Contact hours means time when faculty
and students are in the same physical space. For a 12-credit program such as the
RBCD, the number of contact hours required would be 100 hours per quarter with a
minimum of 51 hours delivered with faculty and students in the same physical space.
The current Saturday classes with 24 quarterly contact hours go a long ways towards
meeting this minimum. See Attachment 15 for more detail on the rules about online
learning and accreditation.
Developing online programs takes resources and considerable advance planning. The
attempt in Fall, 2015 to use Canvas video conferencing at some RBCD sites was a
failure because it was done at the last minute and Evergreen could not deliver to
multiple sites for a variety of reasons, some of which were limitations at the tribal site
around security and the lack of a responsible adult at the site in the absence of the
instructor. Any pursuit of online courses should be done with considerable advance
planning of courses developed to the highest quality standards.
Evergreen’s weekend and part time studies curriculum currently includes two
programs that are hybrid online, one taught by Susan Preciso and Steven Beck and
the other is taught by Jules Unsel. The program taught by Jules is a continuation of
the design of Evergreen’s first venture into this with Jose Gomez.
Precisco’s yearlong 8 credit program is titled Work the Human Condition. It offers an
additional 4 credit online option for students wanting to do 12 credits. The four
credits include weekly online small group seminars structured around highly
developed protocols. They use canvas and an audio software system called
“slack.com.” These are real time seminars.

66

The program taught by Jules Unsel is called Crime and Punishment. Each week is
organized around specific questions and issues such as treating juveniles as adults,
legalizing pot, sex offenders civil rights, and race and the criminal justice system.
The program is a summer school offering for 10 credits. Jules has developed the
course considerably beyond the original version taught by Jose Gomez.
She is enthusiastic about this mode of delivery in terms of student participation --90% of the students, 90% of the time---and flexibility in meeting various student
needs. Both Jules and Susan see adding online options as a more toward equity in the
education since it allows more students to enroll in a flexible way. One way of
achieving this is by having multiple small group seminars available at different times.
“It has been a deeply edifying experience,” says Jules, “and the students are thriving.”
Key elements for Jules are the real time small seminars and the courtroom visit
assignment. Jules spent considerable time learning about online curriculum design
and took a six week course on universal design principles. Her program meets the
universal design criteria. Jules said she would love to help other faculty learn more
about using online learning.
A discussion with Dean Sarah Ryan about the possibility of developing more online
courses for the RBCD raised both concerns and possibilities. Ryan is a firm believer
in the hybrid model if online is to be used at all. She sees this as a way of embracing
what is best about Evergreen’s approach to build community and personal
engagement. Sarah is concerned about student retention rates in online courses,
which are indisputably lower system-wide. A number of our evening and weekend
students are what Sarah called “refugees from online.” Nonetheless, for many
students today there is no alternative and online opportunities are making education
possible for them.
Ryan’s other concern is about faculty willingness to design excellent hybrid courses
after seeing the enormous time investment it took for our faculty. Adequate
compensation would be critical. She also raised issues about quality, describing how
minimal some of these courses are.
Our experience with Washington online and many faculty we have worked with in
the last 12 years through the Grays Harbor program strongly suggests that this can be
accomplished to high standards of quality. Many online teachers say they get more
participation from students in their online classes. faculty There are excellent models
and we know quite a number of faculty in Washington community colleges and at

67

Salish Kootenai College who have deep and successful experience designing hybrid
online courses who could assist us.
This writer discussed Evergreen’s interest in exploring online courses with Alicia
Sells in the elearning division at the State Board for Community and Technical
Colleges and asked her how they support faculty development in this area and
whether Evergreen faculty could join their efforts. After checking with her
supervisor she said a small number of Evergreen faculty could be enrolled in the
SBCTC’s monthly online training course at no cost. She also recommended also
working with Quality Matters, a consulting firm focusing on developing online
curriculum to high standards. (See Attachment 16) Jules Unsel also expressed great
interest in being part of an extended summer institute where the planning for online
courses would be done with the support of someone who has done this already.
Additional Detail on this Recommendation: Make an investment in developing some
online asynchronous courses in college writing, statistics, and other areas. Making
these courses asynchronous, like the courses in our partners’ online lower division
programs, gives the students maximal flexibility since they do not have to be in a
classroom at a specific time. It is also less support staff intensive in terms of
broadcasting to multiple sites in real time. It also supports the model in place at the
tribal level, since most tribes allow their staff a certain amount of hours each week to
complete their homework.
Developing online courses in English and Statistics is a relatively modest endeavor
since there are already many such courses in operation. Working with our own
graduate programs to ensure that the Statistics course would meet their needs is
important. Cross registering these courses with other students at Evergreen would
make these new courses more cost effective, and it would expose students to other
students outside their own community that they might never otherwise meet.
Redesigning the core course in the RBCD is a much more serious undertaking and
would require considerable effort. If this path is pursued, it would be good to work
with current Evergreen faculty using online learning, and perhaps community college
faculty and other experts such as Lori Lambert at Salish Kootenai College (she
designed and teaches a 15 credit online course in Indigenous Research.)
At this point, this writer see this faculty development effort as having three parts: 1)
The State Board’s Canvas course, 2) the Quality Matters course, and 3) summer
planning time for the RBCD faculty to retrofit the current curriculum to online
learning. The State Board for Community Colleges regularly offers faculty training

68

on Intro to Canvas through an online asynchronous 3 week 15 hour Canvas course.
They indicated that we could have 4-5 faculty spaces in this course at no cost. This
could be done in the spring or summer. They also recommended that we take
advantage of the Quality Matters professional development programs. This would
require an investment of about $6000 if it was done face- to- face or online with
modest stipends for our faculty to attend (See Attachment 16. ) Opening the Quality
Matters workshop to other Evergreen faculty would also be desirable if the course is
done face to face since the cost is the same for up to 25 participants. If this were
followed by a several week session where RBCD faculty develop the online program,
that would be most desirable.
Deciding which part of the curriculum would be offered online is an essential first
step. Michele Aguilar Wells suggested that the site classes be replaced with online
courses and that the Longhouse weekend time and coursework be lengthened. This
model would resolve the issue of getting enough students at each site and lower the
cost since the site teachers would be eliminated and the online course enrollment
across sites would be aggregated. Getting more consistency across sites would
probably also be an added advantage. If the redesign involved displacing no more
than 49% of the contact hours, a change in our accreditation would not be required.
It should be noted that this model is suggested without the opportunity to solicit the
input of our tribal partners which is an important first step prior to implementing any
changes.
If Evergreen chooses to develop its own lower division program, it may be desirable
to offer some parts of this online. If our program were to move to Evergreen’s
Tacoma campus there would be potential for us co-developing and co-enrolling
students in a lower division program. A more fully online curriculum has the
potential to draw students from a much broader geographic area. Addressing this
whole issue is beyond the scope of this report and needs further study about the fit of
the various delivery models with the potential student audience.
It is unlikely that any of the online options described here could become operational
until the 2018 academic year and then only if 2017 summer faculty planning and
training were supported by the administration.


Sizing the sites. The last two years have been very difficult because of low
enrollment and subsequent administrative stalling on site openings and faculty
hiring.

69

Recommendation: Set a usual minimum enrollment of five students per site so that
sites do not start and stop due to low enrollment. At the same time, try to establish
sites that can eventually attain enrollments of 10 or more students with site faculty.
Make decisions early in the recruitment cycle rather than right before school starts.
Cindy Marchand Cecil does not agree with this recommendation and prefers a lower
minimum enrollment threshold, especially since the 90-credit entrance requirement is
presently impacting the program’s enrollment and is expected to over the next several
years if and when the recommended changes in this report are being implemented.
It should be noted that offering a hybrid online learning program upper division
program at the sites could resolve this issue of site size and high cost at small sites. If
the online courses replaced the face-to-face teaching at sites, the enrollment in the
online courses would be aggregated across sites. In addition, there would not be a
need for a teacher at each site. This is an approach the past director, Michele
Aguilar-Wells, sees as especially promising.


Change in the curricular content.

Recommendation: The current three-year curriculum is sound and rigorous. It is
updated each year. Having some additional elective courses available is desirable.
In Fall, 2016, the RBCD faculty decided to drop the Great Books course as a
graduation requirement and make it an elective. New four-credit fully online courses
in college writing and statistics should be developed and regularly offered as
electives. Some of these could be open to the campus as a whole to fill available
spaces. Other distance elective classes could be developed that support student needs
in the area of social and health services, which are highly desirable. Students also
need to be supported in specific ILCs that support their individual needs, interests,
and professional goals. Capstone research opportunities and internships might be
explored as additional learning opportunities. Discussions should be held annually
between the RBCD and the MPA Tribal faculty to coordinate and understand each
other’s curriculum.


Reinstate writing sample

Recommendation: Do ongoing assessment of student readiness and progress in
writing. Provide avenues for resolving identified issues.


Deepen external relationships with tribes, Indian organizations and agencies

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Recommendation: Reinstate and redefine the role of a Tribal Advisory Board that
operates more like the University of Washington Annual Summit including and
focusing on all of Evergreen’s Native initiatives. Consider offering a yearly Native
student recruitment event. Widely publicize events such as Zoltan Grossman’s recent
climate change symposium to Evergreen and the larger Indian community outside
Evergreen. Consider re-instating the all-Native initiatives newsletter. The President
and Provost should reach out to tribes through a face-to-face visit similar to what
SPSCC and Peninsula College have done.


Strengthen student advising.

Recommendation: Strengthen student advising. Student advising is currently done at
multiple levels—through the program director, the site faculty, and sometimes
advisers in Evergreen’s advising center. This is always something that continues to
need improvement. Having student services staff available at Saturday classes is
helpful but not enough, and they have not been at the RBCD program for over two
years. Regular individual advising more like what Peninsula College does around an
academic plan that is regularly reviewed and revised might be better. A number of
our students got to the end of their senior year and wanted to go to graduate school
but still did not seem to understand the vast differences between the admissions
requirements for Evergreen’s three graduate programs. The academic statement can
be a tool for increased dialogue with students about their educational goals.


Redefine program director role and responsibilities.
Recommendation: Restore regular faculty status for the director in accordance
with the usual institutional practices in hiring faculty.

The directors responsibilities should be clearly specified and include contributing to
the evaluation of faculty in the program. The division of the director’s time in the
classroom vs administrative responsibilities should be reasonable with the overall
allocation of effort focused primarily on program administration and support of the
approved changes suggested in this report. Program Directors who carry ILCs in the
summer months should be compensated for them, as this work extends beyond the
nature of their contractual obligation.


Institutional Support and Commitment.
Recommendation: provide timely and appropriate institutional support to
implement the recommended changes.

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Any of the changes described in this report to improve and build the program will
require a firm institutional commitment and an investment of resources. Serving
the most challenging ethnic group in the US should not be treated as a “fund as
usual” project if we are truly committed to diversity and social justice. In 2014,
RBCD site faculty salaries were adjusted downward and are now based on a
proportion of credit generated against the usual faculty FTE although these
faculty have larger responsibilities than campus faculty. The outstanding large
budget cost now is the director’s salary. At the same time, it is clear that the
current funding and staffing level is not sustainable. More investment is needed to
make this program thrive and grow. A comparison with the investment in the
Tacoma campus is instructive in terms of the administrative staffing and support
investment.

The figure below summarizes the recommended steps for the RBCD’s future development. With
solid institutional support this program can stay the course of effectively serving Native American
students and communities and enlarge the vision for the future in response to changing
circumstances.

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STAYING THE COURSE, EXPANDING THE VISION
Steps for implementing Change to Reservation Based Program

Step 1: Change Name

Step 2: Add urban Sites

Step 3: Add Lower Division
Program

Step 4: Add New
Teaching/Learning
Modalities

Step 5: Add other overall
Improvements

Step 6: Increase Overall
Institutional Support

Seattle
and/or
Tacoma

Evergreen Lower
Division ? Bridge
programs?

Add Hybrid
Online Options

Strengthen Relations with Tribes
Add Electives
Increase Advising
Strengthen Writing Components
Increase Faculty Evaluation and
training

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Additional Thoughts and Possibilities
Reconsider offering a joint MES and MPA degree with some reduction in the
number of courses and length of the joint programs. This option was available for a
time and graduated a few students. There is significant interest among Washington
Tribes to build capacity in natural resource management and training more people
from their own communities in this area. Cross listing electives between MES and
MPA is ongoing and very desirable to continue.
Further explore the possibilities for serving Native communities and students in
our teacher education program. With the mandating of inclusion of Native
American history and culture in all schools, there are many opportunities for
Evergreen to play some role in educating teachers, continuing education, and
curriculum development. There is a pipeline of Native people in paraprofessional
roles in many schools. Our existing program is probably too long and too full-time to
accommodate this population. Community colleges are now also beginning to offer
bachelor’s degree teacher education programs. We recently lost a Makah student who
joined WGU to get her bachelor’s degree in teacher education. Competition is
heating in this area!
Consider hiring someone who can work with all the Native initiatives as a fund
raiser. Evergreen would benefit from having someone whose primary responsibility
was focused on the “big picture” possibilities for Native funding. Some of these
needs are specific to the individual initiatives and we would not want them to stop
doing their own fundraising, but no one is really pursuing other possibilities. There is
also an issue about administrative support and long term staffing of some orphan
programs such as the Native Cases Initiative which has always been self-supporting
and largely staffed by volunteer effort.

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References
Akweks, K., N. Bill, L. Seppanen, and B. Smith. (2009). Pathways for Native American
Students” A Report on Colleges and Universities in Washington State. The Evergreen
State College. Olympia, Wa.
Aguilar-Wells, M. (November 2008). Site Factor report-Fall 2008 Discussion Paper.
Unpublished report. The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wa.
American Indian Higher Education Consortium website www.aihec.org
Antonelis-Lapp, J. (2001). Meeting the Higher Education Needs of Indian People in
Western Washington: The Evergreen State College Reservation Based/Community
Determined Program.
RBCD (2005) The Evergreen State College Reservation Based Program review 19982004.
Education Week. (June 6,2013). Diplomas Count: Second Chances: Turning Dropouts
into Graduates . Washington State Report.
Education Week (2013) High School Graduation Rate Approaching Milestone: Reaches
Highest Point in 40 Years. Press Release
EOGOAC. (21015) Closing the Opportunity Gap, Annual Report from the Educational
Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee.
http://www.k12.was.us/Workgroups/EOGOAC.
Faircloth, S. and Tippeconnic, JH. (2010) The dropout/graduation crisis among
American Indian and Alaska Native Students: Failure to Respond Places the Future of
Native Peoples at Risk.
Marchand-Cecil, Cindy. (2014). The Evergreen State College RBCD Recruitment
Strategy and Recruitment Strategies for Recruitment and Retention for all Native
Programing/Native Student Recruitment and Retention
Morris, Gail. (undated) Native American Education Overview and Update .Native
Education Services Office, Seattle.

75

National Center for Education Statistics (August 2012). Higher Education: Gaps in
Access and Persistence Study.
Native American Studies DTF Report (1986-1988). The Evergreen State College
Nihoa, Puanani (2016). Transfer institutions of MPA Tribal alumni. Unpublished report.
The Evergreen State College.
Northwest Indian College (February 2007). Substantive Change Prospectus to Northwest
Commission on Colleges for Bachelor of Science in Native Environmental Science
Northwest Indian College (April 2012). Substantive Change Prospectus to Northwest
Commission on Colleges for Bachelor of Arts in Native Studies Leadership
Northwest Indian College (December 2012). Substantive Change Prospectus to
Northwest Commission on Colleges for Bachelor of Arts in Tribal Governance and
Business Management.
Northwest Indian College Strategic Plan 2010-2017.
Northwest Indian College. Annual Enrollment Report, 2014-2015.
Northwest Indian College. Student Success Report 2012-2013.
Patterson, Butler-Barnes and Zile-Tamsen. (2015). American Indian/Alaskan Native
College Dropout: recommendations for Increasing Retention and Graduation.
Washington University in St Louis. Center for Social Development.
Pauley, Gayle. Report To The Legislature Update: The State of Native Education
Olympia, Washington. December 2015
Pavel, M., Banks-Joseph, MCCubbin, and Sievers (2009). From Where the Sun Rises:
Addressing the Educational Achievement Gap of Native Americans in Washington State.
Smith, Barbara (2009). Grays Harbor College Student Progress and Developmental Ed
Report.
Smith, Barbara (2014). Changes made to the GHC program over the years.

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State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (December 2005). Access and
Success for System Goals for People of Color in Washington Community and Technical
Colleges: Progress Report. Olympia, Wa.
State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (November 2014). Community and
Technical College Student Access and Success by Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic
Status : 2014 Progress Report. Olympia, Wa.
United State Census. (2010) The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010.
Washington D.C.
United States Census. American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November
2011. Newsroom Profile American Facts.
US Census Bureau, 2015 American Community Survey 1-year estimates
Washington Student Achievement Council (November 2016) Southeast King Country
Higher Education Needs Assessment and Operating Plan. Preliminary Report.
White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education,
http://sites.ed.gov.whiaiane
Wilkinson, Charles. (2005). Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations.
Norton and Co.

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Attachments
Attachment 1- UW Know before U Go flyer, UW Tacoma Native Symposium, SPSCC
Event
Attachment 2- Native American Studies DTF 1988
Attachment 3 - Evergreen/Northwest Indian College MOA 1994 and 2002
Attachment 4- Faculty (Native and other) teaching in Native Studies programs, 1972-to
date
Attachment 5 - Evergreen Request to Higher Education Coordinating Board and NW
Association of Colleges for statewide approval to offer RBCD, April 22, 1999 and NW
Association of Colleges Approval to offer RBCD Statewide, May 11, 1999
Attachment 6 –RBCD Three year curriculum
Attachment 7 - Aguilar Wells, Site Factor Report. Fall 2008
Attachment 8 –Grays Harbor College Curriculum
Attachment 9 – Smith, Dev Ed Report GHC
Attachment 10–GHC Achieving the Dream Report
Attachment 11 – Peninsula College Curriculum
Attachment 12- Peninsula College Student Success Project
Attachment 13-Marchand, Recruitment Plan
Attachment 14- Board of Trustees Proposal to Establish an MPA program at Tacoma
campus
Attachment 15- Email from Laura Coghlan to Barbara Smith about accreditation and
online programs
Attachment 16- Information on online training for faculty from the State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges

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Item sets

The Evergreen State College Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Media

RBCD_report.pdf