WSU's partnership

A partnership between the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and Washington State University is a good step toward strengthening the education of Native Americans.

The pilot program is intended to raise test scores and make graduation a reality for the nearly 62 percent of Coeur d'Alene reservation students who do not graduate. The program takes advantage of technology by placing via the Internet WSU education majors in classrooms at the tribe's high school. The eight participating students from Lakeside High School, which is about 30 miles southeast of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, get two hours of extra instruction a week.

The education flows both ways. The WSU students will learn about a culture many of them know nothing about. This new awareness can only strengthen them as teachers and perhaps inspire them to take on a tough assignment after graduation.

The education of Coeur d'Alene children has been a losing battle that is shown in the numbers. The Associated Press reported that according to Idaho's standardized test, only 44 percent of Lakeside's students are proficient in math and 56 percent in reading. Dismal results that plead for some kind of intervention.