BOZEMAN - When Julie Schildt, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe, graduated with a bachelor's degree from Montana State University, she did so through a program that allowed her to continue living at home in her small community and working full time.

"I didn't have to make any moves to attend school, and it enabled me to keep working," said Schildt, 54, who lives near Browning. "That made it more affordable."

MSU's Early Childhood Education Distance Partnership program, from which Schildt graduated, and another program called Indian Leadership and Development provide access to degree programs for students throughout the state who have historically been underserved, said Larry Baker, dean of MSU's College of Education, Health and Human Development, which houses the programs.

"Students are able to pursue their degrees without leaving professional positions, families and communities," he said.

ECEDP helps Head Start teachers and early-childhood educators in tribal communities throughout Montana complete bachelor's degrees in early-childhood education from MSU. Online courses enable ECEDP students to live and work in their home communities while connecting with other Head Start teachers throughout reservations in Montana.

"What I liked about it was the coursework was really helpful to me in my position here at Head Start as a teacher," said Schildt, who has been working with the Head Start program for nearly 30 years.

"I was able to talk with other students (over the discussion boards) and hear what they were doing, as well as some of their questions and ideas. It really helped me."

The ECEDP program has graduated 35 students from American Indian communities across the state since its inception in 2000. Another 29 students are enrolled and will graduate next spring.

Meanwhile, the I LEAD program celebrated its first graduating class at commencement this spring, with 21 students earning master's degrees in educational leadership. Four more students have completed the program's principal certification licensure program.

Forty more American Indian students are enrolled in the program.

The I LEAD program offers American Indian teachers in Montana an opportunity to earn a master's degree in school administration without having to leave their jobs.

Expanding program

The program aims to place 55 new American Indian principals and superintendents in Montana by 2012. The program also recently expanded to include South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Alaska.

The people who created the I LEAD program, MSU education professors Joanne Erickson and Bill Ruff, said they did so simply because they saw a need in reservation communities.

"Historically, the schools serving Native American children have not enjoyed the same levels of achievement as other schools in the state," Erickson said.

Nearly all reservation schools in Montana were identified as in need of improvement after the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, she added, but little had been done to work on the aspect of leadership, which she said is critical to a school's success.

Each summer, all I LEAD students spend six weeks on the MSU campus. Throughout the rest of the year, I LEAD participants from Montana meet once a month as a group at either Fort Peck Community College or Little Big Horn Community College, which both are program partners.

All participants also receive online education.

The curriculum is designed so participants can use their class work to solve problems confronting their schools.

The program pays the tuition of participants who commit to teaching for two years in a school with a significant portion of American Indian students.

A need for a distance-based program in early childhood education also existed, said Laura Massey, who started and directs the ECEDP program.

Rural challenges

Tribal colleges in several of Montana's reservation communities offer associate's degrees in early childhood education. However, until the ECEDP program began, a bachelor's degree had been out of reach for many Head Start educators because of the distance from a university, Massey said.

The program also helps Montana tribal Head Start programs meet the National Head Start Association and congressional mandates that demand that at least 50 percent of all Head Start teachers obtain a bachelor's degree in early childhood education by 2010.

Federally funded by the Office of Indian Education, the ECEDP covers tuition and fees, a laptop computer and three years of home Internet service for each student participant who has completed an associate's degree in early childhood education.

It takes two years of coursework for these students to earn bachelor's degrees at MSU.