Bilingual Education at Rock Point: Some Early Results

A basic assumption of the bilingual program at Rock Point is that learning to read in the language one speaks will probably result in better reading skills, which will later result in better reading in the second language (English), as measured by achievement test scores. The authors believe that critical thinking is developed through language, and that cognitive development is fostered by education in the native language. Nevertheless, good English reading is important, and the authors report significant increases in English achievement tests scores of 4th and 5th grade Navajo students who learned to read in Navajo and continued to have content instruction in Navajo while they learned English. The biliterate students at Rock Point scored significantly higher in Total Reading on the Stanford Achievement Test than Navajo students in monolingual BIA schools on the Navajo reservation. The yearly rate of growth of Rock Point students was almost double that of the BIA sample population. Apparently the effects of initial literacy in Navajo are cumulative. Rock Point's bilingual-biliterate program demonstrates that instruction in Navajo is both practical and beneficial for Navajo speaking students.