The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological research study is to understand which factors influence the academic persistence of Native American students in higher education. In 2019, it was reported only 16% of those college students who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native attained a bachelor's degree or higher and in 2023, that…

All people deserve the opportunity to earn a better living and build a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities through a postsecondary education. But that opportunity is not available equally to all in the United States, and current postsecondary data sets and collection practices at the federal, state, and institutional…

Wisconsin's Circles of Reflection (CoR) addresses early learning challenges and opportunities for American Indian or Alaskan Native (AI/AN) children and families. Developed by the National Comprehensive Center's Native Education Collaborative, CoR engages state, tribal, and local education agencies in cycles of issue discovery, stakeholder…

This qualitative study explores the strategies employed by selected principals in rural Alaska who have demonstrated success in retaining teachers above the state's retention rate. Guided by the research question, "What do selected principals do that supports or contributes to successful teacher retention in their rural-remote areas?"…

Sociocultural theories and Indigenous epistemologies inform approaches to teaching and learning with K-12 multilingual learners and Indigenous students in the United States, and center instruction in the cultural and linguistic identities of children and their communities. Teacher preparation programs often incorporate readings and opportunities…

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities are disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic. AI/AN emerging adults (ages 18-25) in urban areas are at particularly high risk, with the overdose death rate among urban-dwelling AI/AN people 1.4 times higher than rural-dwelling AI/AN people. Despite these challenges, there are no…

This brief highlights the urgent need to address chronic absenteeism among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. It explores the challenges that AI/AN students and their families face in terms of regular school attendance. Systemic barriers, unwelcoming?school environments, biased disciplinary practices, and a…

American Indian Alaska Native (AIAN) youth have disproportionately higher rates of commercial tobacco product use compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. These rates underscore a need for commercial tobacco product cessation interventions that are culturally informed. This project studied the development, implementation, and some…

This quantitative study was designed to understand the relationship between the variables of student attendance, educator experience and turnover, and student achievement at the Molly Hootch schools in rural Alaska in an effort to understand the current state of achievement according to data from 2002-2019 collected from the Alaska Department of…

Background: Pilot project programs offer early-stage and other investigators support to pursue emerging research areas, explore new methodologies, gain experience as principal investigators, and collect pilot data needed to pursue larger extramural research funding, such as from the National Institutes of Health. Pilot project programs may be…

Indigenous educators are critical levers in promoting positive Indigenous student outcomes. This overview, based on the webinar series "Making a Difference for American Indian and Alaska Native Students: Innovations and Wise Practices," describes key considerations for opening Indigenous educator pathways. These considerations emerged…

This qualitative study examined the experiences of ten American Indian/Alaska Native transfer students attending a four-year land grant research institution. It used semi-structured interviews utilizing a narrative inquiry when telling their story. The theoretical frameworks used in the study were the Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) and…

Indigenous Peoples (Native American, American Indian, and Alaska Native) have experienced high rates of violence and victimization since colonization -- which continues to present day. However, little is known regarding the victimization experiences of Indigenous college students. Furthermore, universities are struggling to recruit and retain…

This phenomenological study explored the perspectives of American Indian/Alaska Native students who had all graduated from the same Northeast-Nebraska public school located on a federally recognized Indian reservation and completed at least a four-year degree. To that end, the central research question addressed by this dissertation is, "Why…

The academic idea of a community of practice--a group of people who come together to share and learn from one another--has been used to understand learning structures in a wide array of fields. This conceptual framework, however, is rooted in human exceptionalism, considering anything other-than-human to be a resource instead of an active and…