Communication Gatekeeping: A Response to Mediating Conditions in American Indian and School Personnel Interactions

Abstract

The findings reported in this paper indicate the need for a more robust explanation of communication failure between American Indian parents and school personnel than cultural discontinuity provides. According to the data, conditions that constrain interactions between American Indian families and educators in one consolidated school district lie within the bounds of politics, economics, and social circumstance. The conditions of distrust, racial tension, maintenance of tribal identity, dependence, and isolation inform the perceptual frame that influences the ways American Indian people interact with school personnel. Through “gatekeeping,” American Indian parents act to control the dilemma they face in American public education. Proposed solutions to problematic American Indian educational issues suggest that transformative school leaders must create inclusive learning communities in which American Indian students have opportunities to thrive.