Drawing on experiences across Fourth World contexts, with an emphasis on the Alaska context, this article seeks to extend our understandings of the learning processes within and at the intersection of diverse worldviews and knowledge systems. We outline the rationale for a comprehensive program of educational initiatives closely articulated with…

Alaska Native peoples and other Indigenous peoples must relearn their languages as part of relearning to live close to nature in their own place. The links between traditional Yupiaq teaching stories and scientific concepts are discussed in relation to Indigenous world views, which are more relevant to environmental understanding than Eurocentric…

Indigenous peoples throughout the world have sustained their unique world views and associated knowledge systems for millennia. Many core values, beliefs, and practices associated with those world views have an adaptive integrity that is as valid today as in the past. However, traditional educational processes to transmit indigenous beliefs and…

Two features limit the value of legislatively mandated high-stakes tests such as Alaska's Benchmark and High School Graduation Qualifying Exam as accountability tools in the current standards-driven environment. First, the sheer numbers of tests administered have led to a reliance on multiple choice and short-answer questions, with only minimal…

As part of a larger study of systemic education reform in rural Alaska, this case study examines the school improvement process undertaken in Yupiit School District (YSD). YSD consists of three Yupiaq villages in southwest Alaska that joined together in 1984 to form the Yupiit Nation and to run their own schools. In 1992 a district-level…

Examines ways of learning and knowing among the Yupiaq people of Alaska. Discusses traditional Yupiaq lifeways based on connection to nature, and the consequences of acculturation. Outlines suggestions for seasonal camps in which elders would teach Native language, culture, environmental knowledge, and subsistence skills, as well as the means of…

The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI) was established in 1994 under the auspices of the Alaska Native/Rural Education Consortium, representing over 50 organizations concerned with education in rural Alaska. Its purpose is to implement initiatives that systematically document the indigenous knowledge systems of Alaska Native peoples and…