Washington award follows better test scores

Changing school culture - and incorporating more of the local Ojibwe culture - has paid off for Cloquet's Washington Elementary School, in test scores, recognition and especially the well-being of its American Indian students.

Washington principal Robbi Mondati recently learned the school has been designated a National ESEA Distinguished School, an unexpected honor promoted by better test scores.

ESEA, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, aims to close the skill gap between students. The national program recognizes schools for three categories: exceptional student performance, closing the achievement gap between student groups, and excellence in serving special populations. Washington was nominated for success in serving American Indian students, which make up 23 percent of the students at the Cloquet school.

While the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores are impressive (see "By the numbers"), Mondati and her staff believe, more importantly, that they show students do better when they are happier in school.

Changes

It all started several years ago, when Mondati and American Indian education teacher Kyra Paitrick worked together to change the program model at Washington, and think of the needs of their American Indian students as people, not just students. Simply focusing on the academic needs - reading, writing and arithmetic - wasn't enough.

Paitrick, then the school's only American Indian Education teacher, was too busy tutoring students in reading and math to do any cultural work.

"I went to Robbi and told her our kids need cultural learning, and that's my background," Paitrick said. "I could provide that and our families wanted it."

After talking, she and Mondati - with help from district American Indian Ed director Teresa Angell - found the money to hire a second Indian Ed teacher part-time. The new teacher took some of the academic load, which allowed Paitrick to do more cultural teaching with her students and across the school.

Paitrick started lunch meetings once a week with every American Indian student in the school.

"We meet with other Native students from their class in a talking circle format and do social/emotional-style activities: Ojibwe language, cultural activities," Paitrick said. "Before Thanksgiving the kindergarten and first-graders were coloring a turkey by numbers, but the numbers and colors were in Ojibwe, so they were learning the language. We also talked about our cultural traditions and things we do with our families for the holiday."

It isn't only the American Indian students who have benefited.

The school has embedded the Ojibwe Seven Grandfathers teachings (humility, bravery, honesty, wisdom, truth, respect and love) into its Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) program, which promotes positive student behaviors.

"It's really a value system, a way to live a good life - character education from a cultural perspective," Paitrick said.

She also provides three schoolwide programs each year, teaching each grade level (building on the previous lessons) about wild rice in the fall, storytelling in the winter and powwows in the spring.

Celebrating and normalizing the American Indian culture schoolwide has had a ripple effect.

"What it does is help our Native students be more engaged in school," she said. "They have a better sense of belonging and feel more included so they want to be there. That leads to a better relationship with their teachers, which means the students become more invested. Attendance is better, and if students are in school, they can learn."

Additionally, Paitrick is helping other teachers better understand Ojibwe culture and why a student or family might react a certain way, along with issues the Indigenous community faces.

In October, the entire student body gathered for an Indigenous Day program, which Paitrick organized after the state legislature required schools to devote at least an hour on the former Columbus Day holiday to learning about Indigenous culture.

An American Indian paraprofessional working in the school told Paitrick the program "helped heal her inner child."

"To know they could be proud of who they were, and celebrated as a Native," Paitrick said. "It was a pretty momentous day for a lot of people."

Team effort

Paitrick and Mondati both stressed that the changes have been a team effort. Mondati pointed out that the MCA scores are just a tiny piece of the overall puzzle, but they are an important measurement for school districts.

Mondati said the school saw growth in 13 of 15 categories on standardized tests from the student body as a whole and a lot of improvement in almost every area from the school's American Indian students.

"We outpaced the state average and blew away the subgroup average," Mondati said of the school's performance on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment.

Mondati credited both academic and cultural education and support by the American Indian Ed department and other teachers, for improved work on attendance, and incorporating Native culture.

"It's nice to see all the pieces come together," the principal said. "I'm super proud of our students and staff, to see them recognized for their hard work."

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By the numbers

The numbers demonstrate why Washington Elementary School was designated a National ESEA Distinguished School.

According to the 2023 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) in both reading and math, nearly 87 percent of the American Indian student group at Washington showed reading progress and 82 percent showed math progress.

Additionally, 59 percent of the American Indian student group at Washington is proficient in mathematics, compared to the statewide average of 42.8 percent and the statewide average for this student group of 23.6 percent.

In reading, 47 percent of American Indian students at Washington Elementary are proficient in reading. The statewide average proficiency in reading is 47.6 percent and the statewide average proficiency for this student group is 32 percent.