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Article: The school that Loren built; Native American children lag behind other minorities in academic achievement. One Rhode Island woman wants to change that.(FEATURES)(LEARNING)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- July 29, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Marjorie Coeyman Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
EXETER, R.I. -- Loren Spears tries not to be angry, but some of the memories still sting. As a first-grader and the only native American in her public school class in rural Rhode Island, she yearned to blend in. Shy but dutiful, she succeeded at pleasing her teacher, who regularly sent home report cards stamped "Commendable."
It wasn't until June that the teacher mentioned Spears wasn't reading at a first-grade level. Her mother was stunned, but later in life Spears came to understand the omission only too well.
"It was the perfect story of the low expectations white ...