Native Language and Culture in Development: AI/AN Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey Findings

• In Event: Language, Culture, and Resiliency in National Participatory Studies with Young Indigenous Children and Families

Abstract

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children grow up in communities rich in cultural beliefs and practices that support development (Sarche, Tafoya, Hill, and Croy, 2017). These beliefs, and the practices that follow, provide children with a deep sense of belonging and an understanding of who they are and how to live life in a good way. Native culture and language are intimately connected. Native languages embody cultural beliefs and often defy translation into English without the loss of meaning. For example, the Lakota word for child is “wakanyeja” – which does not translate to “child,” rather to sacred little one, reflecting a profoundly spiritual orientation to the very essence of who a child is, where they come from, and how they must be treated. Given the significance of Native culture and language for children’s development, it is not surprising that their loss due to colonization is believed to account for the struggles faced by Native communities today. Revitalization is therefore seen as central for healing and resilience against the intergenerational effects of the traumas perpetrated on Native people throughout the history of these United States (Braveheart and Spicer, 2000; Sarche and Spicer, 2008).

In 2015, the first national study of Head Start programs operated by grants to federally recognized AI/AN tribes was conducted (Bernstein et al., 2018). Known as Head Start Region XI, these programs serve just over half of all AI/AN children in Head Start. Region XI Head Start programs play an important role in many tribal communities’ efforts to revitalize Native language and culture (Sarche et al., 2020). The AI/AN Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) was designed with guidance from a workgroup of tribal program, federal, and research partners who worked to ensure that best practices for research with AI/AN communities were followed and that AI/AN community priorities were at the forefront of the study’s design. Native language and culture in children’s classrooms, programs, homes, and communities were central study constructs, and aligned with the workgroup’s goal of documenting children’s Native language and culture experiences and their relationship to children’s development. In this paper, a team of workgroup authors will provide background on the foundational role of language and culture in Native children’s development, the history of language and culture loss endured by Native communities, and the revitalization of Native language and culture, including through Head Start. The paper will also share findings from the AI/AN FACES 2015 and 2019 studies about children’s Native language and culture experiences in Head Start and in their homes, and the relationship of home and community experiences to their development. The paper will share how this national study with over 20 diverse AI/AN communities was informed by the tenets of community-based participatory research and AI/AN cultural and community protocols for research.

Group Authors

Michelle Sarche, Jessica Barnes-Najor, Ann Cameron, Lana Garcia, Liza Malone, Sara Bernstein, Laura Hoard, and Meryl Barofsky

Authors

• Michelle Sarche, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
  Presenting Author

• Jessica V Barnes-Najor, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ann Cameron, Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc.
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lana Garcia, Pueblo of Jemez Walatowa Head Start
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sara Bernstein, Mathematica Policy Research - District of Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lizabeth Malone, Mathematica Policy Research - District of Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Hoard, United States Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meryl Yoches Barofsky, United States Office of Child Care
  Non-Presenting Author