Using meaning-based activities such as plays, writing, and arts activities, children learn to converse, read, and write in Navajo. Approximately half the teachers are Navajo, as are most assistants and support staff. After one year in the program, most students advanced to the level of top- achieving readers. In the school's publications laboratory, students have created, typed, formatted, and bound almost 700 books. Fundamental, Inc. also promote literacy.
All students have daily access to classroom computers and computer laboratories.
Since beginning the schoolwide project, Ganado has purchased 137 new computers and plans to add at least 20 more during the 1993-94 school year. With Chapter 1 and district funds, Ganado also provides counseling programs for students and families that address topics such as drug prevention, addiction, co-dependency, parenting, marriage, and family issues. Students are assigned randomly to one of the three schools when they begin at Ganado, and unless parents request a change they remain with the same teachers for all three years. The collaborative planning and cooperation among South teachers met with such success that another group of teachers established the East School in 1990. In Project Success, special education students are matched with an equal or larger group of accelerated students.