College Orientation Program for Alaskan Natives COPAN : Education for Survival / Lee Salisbury.

While Natives in Alaska comprise almost one-third of the population, over 50% of Native students entering the university are likely to drop out at the end of their first year and only one in fifty is likely to complete the baccalaureate degree. In an effort to increase Native student's chances of success and social adjustment, the University of Alaska's Division of Statewide Services, in cooperation with the U.S. Office of Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, initiated a six-week summer program in 1964 to encourage the development of self-determination in each student, to enable him to assess his own capabilities more objectively, to help him view the career alternatives available to him realistically, and to allow him to choose freely the one he considers to be most rewarding. The College Orientation Program for Alaska Natives (COPAN) procedures included seminar discussions of contemporary Native social issues and problems, rooming and boarding with a Western professional family during the six-week program, field trips and visits to institutions illustrating Western urban culture; guided reading; interpersonal communication and writing; workshops in study skills and test-taking; and individual testing and counseling. From the data collected over the four year period of the program, it is apparent that COPAN accomplished much of what it set out to do. A higher survival rate supported by psychometric data shows increased personality integration and lowered anxiety levels of COPAN students. (Author/NEC)

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