Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Education

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Tribal Education Department serves tribal and community members and public schools on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana. CSKT is composed of the Bitterroot Salish, Upper Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai tribes.

JBA provided evaluation technical assistance to build the capacity of CSKT Tribal Education Department staff to track activities and outcomes across programs, including—

• Facilitating a collaborative process to develop targeted logic models that articulate program goals, objectives, inputs, activities, outputs, and intended outcomes
• Providing training to program staff to conduct evaluation efforts and determine appropriate data sources that ensure useful and meaningful data collection
• Providing technical assistance to collect, analyze, and use data to improve department services and strengthen partnerships between reservation schools and the department
• Promoting effective and ethical data dissemination to tribal council leadership, community members, and local schools

The department’s programs and services include—

• A Higher Education and Vocational Training Scholarship Program, which provides financial aid to tribal members pursuing higher education and vocational training
• Community development specialists, who serve as liaisons among parents, students, and schools to improve relationships and trust
• The State Tribal Education Partnership Program, which aims to address gaps in Native American education and student achievement by increasing collaboration among schools, the Tribal Education Department, and the Montana Office of Public Instruction
• The Native Youth Community Project, which provides college and career readiness coaching to reservation students seeking education and employment opportunities
• The People’s Center, which serves as the tribe’s museum and gift shop and educates the public on traditional lifestyles and histories of the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille people as sanctioned by tribal elders and culture committees