Government agencies removed about a third of indigenous children from their families over the 1950s and 60s, and about 85% of those children were then placed with non-indigenous families. Sometimes called the Sixties Scoop, the period spurred federal legislation requiring child welfare officials to seek indigenous families when placing children for foster care or adoption.
Now, a divided Supreme Court is debating the Indian Child Welfare Act, which provided those protections – and nowadays, nobody can reliably predict just what the Justices might do.
One bright spot for Oregon tribes, our legislature passed a state specific version of the federal legislation back in 2020, the Oregon Indian Child Welfare Act. Tribal attorneys crafted much of the language, and it saw further expansion in 2021.
Oregon is one of only seven states nationwide to protect indigenous children in this way. Last week, in this same column, we also informed readers that our state was among the first nine in the country to pass paid family legislation.
In More Oregon Got This Right News: In 2023, when the public health emergency is expected to end, Oregon will become the first state to allow children who qualify for Medicaid at birth, to enroll and stay enrolled, until they turn age six – regardless of changes in family income.
This is important because children’s eligibility can swing back and forth, which means their healthcare, in turn, becomes unpredictable and unstable.
“This is really a no-brainer in terms of supporting kids,” said Jenifer Wagley, executive director of Our Children Oregon, an advocacy group. She said that keeping kids insured — particularly at the youngest ages, when their bodies and minds are still developing — will ensure they don’t miss important checkups and care because of gaps in coverage.
Now, Washington, California and New Mexico are looking at similar changes.
School District’s New Tech Chief: Brian Schaffeld has been hired as Director of Technology Services for Corvallis Public Schools, he assumed his new duties on December 1.
Schaffeld has been with the Corvallis School District since 2016, beginning as a Computer Lab Assistant and most recently as the Data Integration and Systems Analyst. He also has experience as a classroom teacher, working for five years at Central School District as a bilingual teacher and instructional technology leader.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Software Development from Western Governors University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Early Childhood/Elementary Education with a Bilingual/ESOL Endorsement from Western Oregon University.
“I am confident in the leader Brian will be for our district, and I am excited to partner with him in the work ahead,” said Assistant Superintendent Melissa Harder. “Brian has worked hard to immerse himself in his leadership role showing vulnerability, effective listening skills, and a commitment to his Technology Services team.”
New Teen Mental Health Approach: Could prevention be the key to overcoming our society’s adolescent mental health crisis. Mark Van Ryzin, a University of Oregon research professor in the College of Education thinks it could. Instead of targeting at-risk teens, his approach puts all students into small peer groups, so every student is forming bonds, and none are stigmatized.
These structured classroom groups learn about peer relations and mental health. Initial results have been so encouraging that the National Institutes of Mental Health has granted $3.7 million for Van Ryzin to both widen his work in Oregon, and spread his research to two other states.
Van Ryzin had achieved favorable results in prior studies with middle-school-age kids and a pilot study conducted at the UO in 2019 into how structured, cooperative, small-group learning affects young people’s behavior, mental health and academic success.
Now, with this new funding, a five-year study will measure the mental health behaviors of students in 24 high schools in Oregon, Arizona and Wisconsin.
The project comes at a critical time. Reports have shown that a major consequence of the pandemic is that it not only put kids behind academically, but also exacerbated their mental health in terms of isolation, especially in at-risk kids. Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called mental health among young people a national emergency.
Focusing on prevention rather than treatment, Van Ryzin’s structured, small-group approach to learning, which combines technology with an instructor’s existing curriculum, aims to improve peer relations and reduce the incidence of anxiety, symptoms of depression and suicidality in a regular high school population.
That Van Ryzin’s approach means all students participate is a key component. “Some of the biggest risk factors in adolescents for developing mental health problems has to do with peer relations,” Van Ryzin said. “Among teenagers, it is important to be accepted by your peers and to have a group that you hang with, where you belong.”
Teachers will randomly place students in small groups and assign each student a unique role or task, which ensures that they can be held accountable by both the teacher and the other members of the group. The approach also emphasizes positive interdependence — in other words, one can gain personally from promoting the success of others — and practicing collaborative skills.
“Students are still learning. Teachers are still teaching their core content. Everything is happening according to the syllabus,” Van Ryzin said, “but they’re getting an additional bonus; they’re getting to know one another and building positive peer relationships.”
The benefits of highly structured, small-group learning, he said, is that it encourages inclusiveness and a sense of belonging among students as well. It also reinforces positive social interactions and reduces situations where students feel left out, or when one student does all the work for the group. Teachers also share the benefits.
“It’s an entirely new experience for some teachers when they don’t have to be in the spotlight,” he said. “They don’t have to be the ‘sage on stage’ for an hour all day long, which can be stressful. When using structured small groups, the students are actively engaged in their learning, they’re having conversations in a group, and because their peers are counting on them to fulfill their role, even more at-risk students will get involved in the lesson.”
The study also will test the technology developed to support teachers. Pre-made templates that teachers can plug into any curriculum and learning materials will provide detailed guidelines to make group work a seamless and easy process for teachers and students alike.
When the study begins in January, Van Ryzin, who is the principal investigator on the project, and his team will start laying the groundwork, developing assessments, recruiting schools and conducting teacher training before classes begin in the fall. The project will monitor incoming ninth graders through their senior year at high school.
To measure progress, student and teacher surveys will be conducted in the fall and spring over the course of the study.
