Founding Fathers

"Founding Fathers": Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Red Cloud,

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln.

Used by permission of

artist David Behrens

(Behrens, D. C. n.d; Founding Fathers « Galloway. n.d.).

   

    Although my Father Tex Baker was born and raised in Texas and Oklahoma, and was of Cherokee, Comanche descent, he treasured the beauty of the Pacific North West. Thus our family has been here four generations. Here is a link to current valid studies on the achievement gap and its results on the minority populations in WA. State:


http://www.k12.wa.us/AchievementGap/Studies.aspx


     The link to the study dealing with Native American students in particular in WA State is called From Where the Sun Rises: Addressing the Educational Achievement of Native Americans in Washington State (PDF)
Submitted to the Governor’s Office on Indian Affairs. It can be found at the above cite also. It is filled with information, charts, and research into the problem. 
Here is a quote from that study:

"...the achievement gap paradigm has one significant bias: using European Americans and European American standards as the ―norm‖ means that other racial minority groups are left in the category as ―deficient‖ unless they comply and are proficient with European American cultural competencies focused predominantly on middle class, male values. Yet there is limited (if any) empirical evidence to support that white, middle class, male values, standards and benchmarks are superior to other cultures‘ values, standards and benchmarks. Even how one defines success and achievement is based on a culture‘s value system." (Achievement Gap - Studies. n.d)

FIRST STEP IN THIS PROCESS: RECOGNIZING THAT  RESEARCH, TESTS, AND EVALUATIONS ARE BIASED

REFERENCES.

Achievement Gap - Studies. (n.d.). Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Retrieved June 3, 2011, from http://www.k12.wa.us/AchievementGap/Studies.aspx   


Behrens, D. C. (n.d.). About David C Behrens . David C. Behrens Studio. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from www.davidbehrens.com/about.html 

Founding Fathers « Galloway. (n.d.). Galloway. Retrieved June 3, 2011, from http://galloway.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/founding-fathers/