Multicultural music education and diversity in the elementary general music classroom continue to lie at the center of music education discourse seeking to decolonize elementary general music programs. There are many non-canonical music teaching resources available to 21st-century music educators, however, little is known about the presence of…

While Montana teachers are tasked with including American Indian culture when teaching science, barriers exist, such as no knowledge of American Indian cultures or low efficacy for teaching science. In an exploratory study, survey responses were collected from elementary (K-8) preservice teachers in a science methods course about their perspective…

The Native American Medicine Wheel is a powerful tool to bring alive curricular connections from science and history to mathematics and civics as part of schoolyard gardening initiatives. As a living lab these gardens also serve as valuable tools to reinforce lessons on habitat enhancement. However, deeper lessons connected to the cultures of…

The passage of Washington State Senate Bill 5433 made the teaching of state tribal history, culture, and government mandatory in Washington's public schools and teacher preparation programs; requiring teacher candidates to show competence in demonstrating the intersection of cultural competence, equity, and pedagogy. This survey study aims to…

Overwhelmingly, elementary social studies standards focus on Native Americans in past tense. If elementary teachers follow state curriculum for social studies, students are often not provided the opportunity to learn about Native people in the present. The purposes of this study were to (a) determine the number of current state elementary (K-5)…

The United States is divided into 15 broad ecological regions, each one home to a variety of fascinating native plants. In the Southwest, creosote bushes are found in and around the Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Sonoran deserts at elevations below 5,000 feet and is one of the oldest living things on Earth--approximately 11,700 years old. This evergreen…

A quick look at the Native American academic achievement gap illustrates Native American students are more likely to live in areas of poverty, less likely to graduate from high school, and less likely to go on to college (Annie E. Casey Foundation 2017; 2018). The Next Generation Science Standards and others recommend that teachers trained in…

This qualitative study explored the dynamic aspects of American Indian language integration in education along with language revitalization efforts. Due to the special government to government relationship between the Tribes and the federal government, formal Native American education began with forced assimilation and language loss was linked to…

This article is situated within ongoing efforts in early childhood education to unsettle extractive relations with the more-than-human world and efforts to situate children's learning within current conditions of environmental vulnerability. The authors discuss some pedagogical and curricular interruptions that emerged from foregrounding…

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, a historically American Indian university that is experiencing major climate change impacts from hurricanes, was the setting for four service-learning projects seeking to advance sustainability in a racially diverse community. Courses in American Indian Studies, English, and Social Work, in…

Many of us have multiple stories that would be appropriate to tell given the theme of this Special Issue. I am compelled to tell a story about my work with teachers, teacher leaders, and other allies on the Navajo Nation. The Diné Institute for Navajo Nation Educators (DINÉ) was started by teacher leaders who envisioned a collaborative…

This five-part playbook was created to provide practical, proven methods to improve the reading outcomes of all learners in Alaska. It defines and provides clear, step-by-step evidence-based strategies for five elements of reading instruction: (1) phonological awareness; (2) phonics; (3) fluency; (4) vocabulary; and (5) comprehension. When…

Evidence shows that marginalized students reach higher levels of success and empowerment in mathematics courses when role models from their own cultural communities participate in the classroom experience. Discourse, respect, and collaboration are highly valued in Lakota culture, so it is natural to include these protocols in the normative culture…

Native American youth face a number of challenges that affect their academic success and wellbeing. In schools, Native American youth are presented with textbooks that include stereotyped and distorted information about their peoples' history. However, there is a gap in the literature showing whether these textbooks contain microaggressive…

While literature on multicultural education indicates that Human Relations approaches to multicultural education are the most commonly practiced, such approaches also tend to be the most heavily critiqued by theorists. Scholars often offer speculative theoretical suggestions on how to improve upon Human Relations approaches. However, ethnographic…