North Dakota State University CI Report – Interim

What has been most instrumental to your progress?

The Bush Community Innovative Administrative (BCIA) Team became a formal team with members from Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) and North Dakota State University School of Nursing (NDSU SON). The purpose of this collaborative team is to manage, implement, and evaluate the overall grant activities. The first team meeting was held in June 2015 and the team decided to initiate the activities after high school started in the fall because school was not in session during the summer and it would be difficult to convene the Community Stakeholder Group (CSG). Additionally, the Community Stakeholder Committee (CSC) was established and membership includes: District Judge, Associate Judge, Juvenile Court, BIA police, lawyer, Tribal Health Council Chairperson and members, Tribal Health Director, high school principals and superintendents, high school councilors, Director of Student Success, Director of Employment and Training, public health nurse, Spirit Lake Casino, CCCC President, CCCC Next Steps Director, CCCC Next Steps Assistant Director, CCCC Job Placement Specialist, CCCC GED Director, CCCC Professional Tutor- GED, CCCC TRIO, CCCC Board of Regents, CCCC faculty and staff.

The CSC members were provided an overview of the Bush Community Innovation Grant, purpose, and proposed activities. Dr. Heuer presented the preliminary results of the Education and Employment Hope (Self-Reliance) Assessment of High School Juniors and Seniors on ND American Indian Reservations research study. The purpose of this study was to assess American Indian 11th and 12th grade high school students’ hope for obtaining their future goals in higher education and employment. While 12 high schools on or near the four North Dakota reservations were surveyed, aggregate results were presented on the Spirit Lake Nation schools which included Devils Lake, Four Winds, Minnewaukan and Warwick high schools. CSC members discussed the need for the program. For example, one superintendent shared, ‘This year we had 7 students graduate high school but when those students started their freshman year, there were 24 students. The majority of the students who did not graduate are still in the community.’ CSC members agreed, ‘The students will lead us in this grant effort by sharing their concerns, needs, and by telling us what needs done. They are the future leaders. They will be good leaders.’

CSC members agreed the group should assist in the development of the interview questions. By using Survey Monkey, CSC requested an introduction to the activity and then general words with the request they develop the questions. They chose the following words: Involvement, expectations, school engagement, bullying, culture, discrimination, isolation, academic achievement, belonging, feeling unsafe, homelessness, literacy, suspended or expelled, friends, peers, dating, school climate, drugs, alcohol, tired, abuse, violence, physical illness (student and/or family member), pregnancy, anger, mental illness, trauma, PTSD, poverty, transportation, teachers, counselors, parental support, alternative school models, and “other”. When a draft of the survey was sent to BCIA team, it was decided the questions should be developed and the CSC would edit the questions. After reviewing the literature and high school study results, 28 questions were developed for each group. CSC members responded to the Survey Monkey questions and the results were tabulated and presented back to CSC members for discussion. CSC members finalized 2 sets of interview questions (Enrolled students/drop out students).

Key lessons learned

By involving CSC members in this project, the interview questions will capture and record the students’ life experiences through higher quality and more in-depth interview questions for both youth groups. Committee members decided these sensitive, in-depth questions need to be addressed so they have the data needed to develop an intervention that addresses the needs of the students. While some of the information about reasons why students drop-out of high school can be gained from the literature such as the impact of violence close to home, negative peer influences, and a sense of responsibility for others, there was other information gathered from the CSC that was related to the SLN youth. For example, there was discussion of student homelessness, students moving from friends homes to friends homes so they have a place to live, students not having food to eat especially on the weekends, students moving from school to school, tracking of students. While this process took an extensive amount of time, I learned that patience is a virtue because the CSC members addressed topics that I would not have known about as an outsider.

During the BCIA team meetings and the CSC meetings, there was extensive discussion about who should be the interviewer. Should it be someone from Spirit Lake Nation or an outsider? Some of the team members believed the youth would be more forthcoming if they were interviewed from someone from Spirit Lake whereas, others thought the opposite. Although the Tribal Resolution was approved before we received the grant, we still needed to submit the protocol to NDSU IRB and interviewer needed completed IRB Training. The BCIA team discussed potential interviewers from CCCC but it was finally decided that I would complete the interviews. The NDSU IRB Protocol packet was submitted to NDSU IRB about 2 weeks ago and we are waiting to hear if we need to make revisions or if it is approved. If students are of age 16-17, then we will gain the parental waived consent and the student assent. If the youth is over the age of 17 years old, we will then use the adult consent form. Again, the process has taken an extensive amount of time but I can start the interviews once I have NDSU IRB approval. While I have learned a number of lessons, I do not characterize anything so far as a failure.

Reflections on inclusive, collaborative or resourceful problem-solving

There are two elements that have been important to the success of this project. The first element is inclusive and is reflected by our invitation to over 40 interdisciplinary community members. The knowledge and expertise of all these individuals are needed to address the issues surrounding high school drop on Spirit Lake Nation. All of these individuals are needed around the table in order to make the second element, collaboration successful. I have been very impressed with the CSC members and the discussion that has taken place at the meetings. When I brought the edited questions to the group, I thought they would provide general feedback but we reviewed each question. With each question, they either agreed with the original question, agreed with one of the edits or provided additional edits. Of the 28 questions presented for each youth group, they deleted two questions and added four questions including the topics of literacy, homelessness, food and family structure. I thought the CSC members would delete some of the questions since there were so many but they expressed the need to have a full understanding of the students’ perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes toward high school.

Other key elements of Community Innovation

We have brought in our knowledge, experience and resources from the Next Steps Program (Health Professions Occupations Grant) and the University and Community Partnership Health Professional Health Occupations Grant. For example, we have extensive data from the students enrolled in the Next Steps Program which include students from across the state plus all the data collected through the University and Community Partnership Health Professional Health Occupations Grant.

Understanding the problem

Additional clarity as been provided through the CSC discussion at the meetings. For example, members discussed student homelessness and the lack of food for youth especially on the weekends. High School principals discussed that they realize some of the students may have little food to eat over the weekend so they serve a larger breakfast a the school on Monday mornings. Their knowledge of the students and community issues strengthened this project. Additionally clarity will come as we get further along with the project.

If you could do it all over again…

Be prepared for the amount of time that it will take to implement a community project. Also through my time working with the Next Steps Program, CCCC and Spirit Lake Nation, I have learned that things will happen when they are meant to. By taking your time and being flexible, the end outcome is usually a much better product.

One last thought

Nothing more that this time. Thank you again for funding this work.