What happened to the American Indian Teacher Training Program?

In July of 2007, the University of Utah’s American Indian Teacher Training Program (AITTP) received nearly $2 million in federal grant monies from the Office of Indian Education. This money was to be used to recruit 20 American Indian students to the university to be trained as educators so they could return to their communities and teach in schools that serve Indian children. AITTP is a program run by Indigenous people, for Indigenous people and their communities. AITTP’s mission is based on years of research that suggests that Indigenous children do better in school when they have Indigenous teachers who look like them, understand their language, and understand their cultural background. AITTP has been a national success, graduating 30 educators over the past five years, with nine others on track for graduation in May 2008.

Since the receipt of the $2 million in grant monies, university senior administration in partnership with member of the College of Education, including the Dean, Michael Hardman, have incessantly attacked AITTP, its directors, both past and present, and its students. They have refused to let AITTP directors recruit new students, publicly and incorrectly framed the program as “mismanaged,” taken away signatory authority from the director, withheld the director’s salary, and more importantly, failed to support the current AITTP students by not providing necessary things such as textbooks and tutors. AITTP staff jobs have been repeatedly threatened and one staff member was even told that she was not “genetically engineered” to run the grants. In addition, students have been framed as liars and not trustworthy by the College of Education. These are just a few of the examples of the ways in which Indigenous peoples have been attacked on a campus that exploits them on a daily basis with their mascot, the “Ute.”

On 15 February 2008, Dean Michael Hardman proposed to terminate the grant projects and on 22 February 2008 Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, David Pershing, agreed. AITTP directors were not consulted regarding this decision, rather, they were told that the projects were terminated only after the decision was final. AITTP, a successful program that took over five arduous years to build, was decimated in a matter of months. Sending millions (in this case $2 million) in grant money back to the funding source is an act previously unheard of at the university. What kind of university would deliberately deny support and access to education to Indigenous people in this way? What kind of university would treat indigenous students and staff like this? What kind of university would target a specific group of people, and their community, and not take responsibilities for their actions through formal apologies and recompense?

To further understand the impact of this decision, consider that since the inception of the University of Utah’s College of Education in 1979 up to 2002 (a span of 26 years), university records suggest only 14 American Indians graduated from the department. However, since AITTP emerged as a force on campus, a total of 39 American Indian students have graduated or will graduate. That is nearly triple the number in less than a quarter of the time!

The Coalition to Protect American Indian Education Rights believe the situation at the University of Utah is a classic case of Indigenous peoples’ fight for sovereignty and for the right to equal access to education. The fight is against those in power who want Indigenous people and their children to fail. Therefore, we have compiled a list of initiatives to correct this horrendous injustice. To see a list of these initiatives please click here.

History of the American Indian Teacher Training Program

Background of AITTP
The University of Utah’s American Indian Teacher Training Program (AITTP) was created in 2002 when the university applied for and was awarded a professional training grant from the United States’ Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education. The creation of these grants is rooted in Title VII of the Public Law 107-110 (115 STAT. 1907), also known as the No Child Left Behind Act. On p. B-27, the Act states, “It is the policy of the United States to fulfill the federal Government’s unique and continuing trust relationship with and responsibility to the Indian people for the education of Indian children” (20 USC 7401). Later, the same document argues that part of this commitment includes “The training of Indian persons as educators and counselors and in other professions serving Indian people” (p. B-28). It is from these professional grants that Section 7121: Improvement of Educational Opportunities for Indian Children” (20 USC 7441) created, that the program was born. The original grant, just shy of $1 million dollars, provided funding to prepare twelve American Indian pre-service teachers to teach in schools that served American Indian populations. After being awarded the grant in 2002, the public relations department at the University of Utah created press releases to tout the program and newspapers picked up the press releases across the country. As a result of this, the program was deluged by interested applicants. 132 applications were examined for the twelve spots. Twelve students were admitted to the University and the program. These students began classes in June 2003. Since 2002, the program received three additional grants from the U.S. Department of education to continue training new students.

What AITTP offers
The University of Utah’s American Indian Teacher Training Program grant is a three-year program that includes one year of professional induction services. In essence, students come to the university as having a range of college experience including having begun but not completed a bachelor’s degree, to having completed a bachelor’s degree and working toward completing a master’s degree. Enrolled AITTP students receive their teacher preparation (leading to licensure) before entering the teaching work force. AITTP students receive a monthly stipend to be used for living expenses, tuition, a laptop computer and printer for use while in the program, health insurance, dependent assistance, books, training fees, tutoring services, closely supervised programs, and moving expenses. The hope of AITTP creators and personnel is that students can focus on the business of completing their preparation programs without financial, academic, social, or emotional concerns.

AITTP is not a scholarship program
However, this grant comes with a hook as AITTP renders services and offers financial and academic supports that participants are required to pay back to the federal government by teaching in Indian serving schools. In other words, AITTP is a payback program (not a scholarship that carries no obligations) in which program participants are required to teach in Indian-serving schools (as defined by the Office of Indian Education) for the same number of years they receive federal/programmatic support. Each participant signs a payback agreement in which they agree to this commitment. If they fail to earn licensure, they must reimburse the federal government for the services received from the University. The relationship between the U.S. government and tribal sovereigns enables programs that carry payback agreements to be federally funded.

Qualifications interested applicants meet
AITTP students are admitted to the University under regular admissions policies and to the teacher education program with qualifications that meet the minimum requirements for admission. Historically, the students who participate in AITTP are among some of the strongest academic minds entering the academy. Each of the four AITTP cohorts has had, at least, a cumulative grade point average of just over 3.5 (on a scale of 4.0).