A Little School That Could
By Mary Kathryn Hassett

This year at the Core Knowledge conference in Atlanta one may have noticed some thirty conference attendees from the American Horse School in South Dakota?teachers, paraprofessionals, and even one board member. In their second year of implementing Core Knowledge, this school, chartered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is pleased to be part of the Core Knowledge network and proud to be the only one of seven schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation to make its annual yearly progress goals for 2003. The story of how the American Horse School came to adopt Core Knowledge is instructive and shows, for one thing, how appropriate it is that Principal Gloria Coats-Kitsopoulos counts among her ancestors the intrepid warrior and accomplished diplomat, Chief Red Cloud.

When Gloria Coats-Kitsopoulos retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army, she was living in Texas . However, she didn't head for Padre Island or for a golf resort in the Rio Grande Valley . Instead, she headed back to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota where she grew up. She was determined to find some way to relieve the impoverished conditions of life in that place. She focused on helping children by improving schools. Within a year she was principal of the American Horse School in Allen , South Dakota .

“When I came here,” she said, “there was no structured curriculum, and the library had been converted to classroom space. I found this dusty book in the corner of a classroom, No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High Performing, High Poverty Schools , and was electrified by the description of a school that was using a curriculum called Core Knowledge.” After doing some research and convincing a number of skeptics, she secured a grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, brought in a Core Knowledge consultant, Jane Brower, and began the long process of implementing the exciting and challenging Core Knowledge curriculum that offered students the same rich content they might receive at an expensive private school. Ninety-nine percent of her students were eligible for free lunch; however, as with other Core Knowledge students, they began to study Mayan civilization in first grade and elements of geometry in second grade. In third grade they donned togas and celebrated holidays related to their study unit on ancient Rome .

"Some people," she said, “continued to scoff, asking why Native Americans needed to know about ancient Rome .” "However," she added, “they study their own culture, too.” The school teaches the Lakota language and integrates many other local elements into the Core Knowledge curriculum. The town of Allen is close to many iconic locations in American history, among them the Badlands , the Crazy Horse Monument , and Mt. Rushmore . All of the schools in the area, including hers, are named after famous Lakota Sioux chiefs.

Since adopting the Core Knowledge curriculum, Ms. Coats-Kitsopoulos has observed that her students' attitudes have improved dramatically. They can't wait to show off their accomplishments. “Our teachers can't wait to learn more either,” Ms. Coats-Kitsopoulos said, “That's why so many came to Atlanta, even though each teacher had to write five Core Knowledge units to qualify for the trip.” Phoebe Tallman, a paraprofessional who helped her teacher write her units, remarked that she appreciated the opportunity to hear other teachers give their presentations in the Saturday sessions. Ms. Tallman has been at the school for eleven years and is working on a degree in Lakota Studies at the Ogallala Lakota College .

Ms. Coats-Kitsopoulos is particularly proud of having reclaimed space for the school library by adding five new classrooms. She secured a library grant of $13,000 and let each teacher select 500 books. More remarkably, a retired reading teacher and friend of the Lakotas drove a U-Haul from Virginia to South Dakota with a gift of 5,000 books to stock the new library.

Connie Smith-Hammock, the librarian and newsletter editor, reports a new enthusiasm for reading among the students. This is no doubt reflected in the 30-point gain the school has made in language arts testing. Sharlene May, a member of the school board, confirmed this impression and added, “I see a big difference. Parents now have to sign off on their children's reading, and the little ones insist that their parents listen to them read.”

The first three years at the American Horse School are ungraded in order to accommodate the various levels of reading readiness displayed by entering students. Children are enrolled in little communities called Tiospayes in Lakota fashion. The communities are named after animals, such as squirrels, robins, owls, foxes, and coyotes. Next year the school hopes to obtain a grant to implement a preschool program, which will enable all children to be ready to learn at grade level. “We will do whatever it takes,” said Ms. Coats-Kitsoupoulos, “to identify early reading problems and to solve them. We are happy to have the books to work with and the guidance of the Core Knowledge curriculum.” Among the improvements at the American Horse School is the attendance, which now averages 90 percent. “I'm a little worried,” Ms. Coats Kitsoupoulos said, “that we may have jumped too high. How can we beat that next year?”

Principal Coats-Kitsoupoulos is already looking forward to the conference in Philadelphia , and hopes to encourage some of her teachers to make presentations. She even hopes to raise money to bring her student dance group, Teci Wacipi, to perform at the conference. “This plan,” she said, “would serve two purposes. They could share their heritage with hundreds of other schools, and they could see all the historic sites in Philadelphia?and maybe we could even take them to Washington , D.C. ” Her enthusiasm mounted as she spoke. Ms. Coats-Kitsoupoulos may have retired from the army, but her service is not over. EM

Mary Kathryn Hassett joined the Core Knowledge Foundation in 2002 as public relations specialist. Prior to this she spent ten years in academic publishing, five of them as Assistant Director of the University of Virginia Press . The early part of her career encompassed ten years of teaching as an adjunct university instructor and high school English teacher. She is trilled to be even a bit player in the mission of Core Knowledge—instilling a life-long love of learning in every child and making educational equality a new civil right.

For more information about Core Knowledge Foundation, visit our website www.aaeteachers.org/resources.htm .