Wellpinit School District’s Indian Programs Recognized

Fri., Nov. 1, 1996

From Staff And Wire Reports

The Wellpinit School District has one of the best Indian educational programs in the nation, according to the non-profit Native American Scholarship Fund.

The organization awarded the school district its 1996 Indian Education Award - and $5,000 - because of “dramatic increases in student test scores,” Director Dean Chavers said.

“In one grade level, students went from the 25th percentile in math to the 71st percentile from 1992 to 1996,” Chavers said.

Superintendent Reid Riedlinger said some scores were less impressive, but Wellpinit students showed strong gains in all subjects.

The school district serves the Spokane Indian Reservation. It is part of the Washington state school system.

Wellpinit was one of 10 districts to apply for the Native American Scholarship Fund award. Judging was by the Albuquerque-based scholarship program’s five Native American directors.

Wellpinit administrators and teachers will be invited to share their methods with other districts at a seminar early next year in Gallup, N.M. The district also will be listed in a book of “exemplary” programs the scholarship organization publishes to encourage schools to prepare Indian students for college. , DataTimes

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