University of Oregon and Sapsik’ʷałá (MS ’14 Special Education) alumnus Ron Worst (Yup’ik) has been serving in various roles in Indian Education for the past 20 years. Ron’s current position is with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) as an Education Program Specialist with the Division of Performance & Accountability. His division serves Native students, teachers, and staff through improvement of special education services in 174 schools across 23 different states. Prior to the Education Program Specialist position, Ron was a high school special education teacher for the Cascade School District (Turner, Oregon) and Chemawa Indian School (Salem, Oregon). He served in the BIE as an Educational Technician for a number of years before choosing to pursue a master’s degree and endorsement in special education through Sapsik’ʷałá.
His time at Chemawa as an Educational Technician motivated him to choose UO’s nationally ranked Special Education program. Ron credits Sapsik’ʷałá with preparing him for his career. “The value of being a part of a community, cohort, and program that prepares teachers to serve Native students, families, and schools through integration of cultural values in education has been important in every position and school I’ve served.” Ron’s time at Chemawa was fruitful for a number of reasons as he explained that the ability to integrate culture practices into learning and teaching math was a new concept for him. He says the students were the driving force for wanting to find different ways to frame math concepts that were relevant to students’ life; incorporating traditional teachings into school can be layered when teaching students from numerous Native communities.
Ron’s career motivation centers the success of Native special education students and teaching them that anything can be accomplished through family, community, friends, teachers, and school staff. One of the most impactful classes he taught was a 2nd year Transitions course at Chemawa where he provided students opportunities to tell their stories. That simple act of “talking with students about what is meaningful to them,” and asking “what is their story?” was key to his practice as an Indigenous educator. “We can learn so much when students tell their stories, yet, just as impactful is watching students find their story.” As an Indigenous educator, he says working with Native students and families provides a foundational understanding for his work because there is a common history with boarding schools and shared history; building trust with students and families is assisted with this common history.
Although his current work is at a different level now, he enjoys when programs and schools serving Native students and families can thrive and become more successful, which he states, “if schools are providing better special education services, they are helping Native students succeed.” Ron acknowledges that working in Indian Education is not easy, there is continued need for Native teachers at all levels and the value for Native educators cannot be overstated.