Dr. Lila Burdett

Yes Indeed! It Takes a Village!: Model for Education Dr. Lila Burdett

Yes Indeed! It Takes A Village! is a success story about Native Indian education in British Columbia, Canada. It is based on interviews with members of the Similkameen Indian Band and local school district personnel. It describes the factors that have led to the graduation of 93% of high school students from the Similkameen Indian Bands in the past 50 years, while the average graduation rate for Native Indian students in Canada and the United States remains less than 50%. The author Lila Burdett grew up in the Similkameen Valley. When she was in school it was taken for granted that the Native students would graduate with their classmates. It wasn't until she became a teacher and taught Native students in several school districts throughout British Columbia that she realized what a unique situation existed in the Similkameen Valley. When she returned to university to study for a Doctorate in Education she decided to investigate the reasons for this success. Many of the factors she discovered could be adopted by other communities to graduate more of their students.