We, four teachers in Ojibwe or majority-Ojibwe schools and three teachers in teacher preparation at a small ecologically focused liberal arts college, tell stories to reorient ourselves, centering place in ways accessible to our emerging practice. In these narratives, anchored in the seasons, we describe our challenges and successes in adapting…

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is an enduring systemic problem. This study is based on a collaboration with 14 school stakeholders: American Indian students, parents, community members, and educators at a high school in a community-driven problem-solving process called Indigenous Learning Lab (ILL). ILL members addressed the root…

Each day when the sun rises at tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) professors reach back to the traditional teachings of their elders to prepare lessons for the students of today. It is the connection to Native cultures, attitudes, and philosophy that is what sets TCUs apart from mainstream colleges and universities. For most, teaching…

Collaboration among Tribes, state educational agencies (SEAs), and local educational agencies (LEAs) is essential for supporting Native students and their education. This infographic highlights the importance of Native education and provides resources, examples, and funding opportunities to enhance collaboration.

The College of Menominee Nation (CMN) in Keshena, Wisconsin, is an intersection of educational services and community programs. CMN offers avenues for community members to connect in different ways. The campus can be a place of transition: a point of departure and a point of return. High school students and young adults can begin their education…

Susan Finkel-Hoffman, Ed.D. is the interim director of outreach for the Department of Special and Early Childhood Education at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and a coordinator for the Northern Arapaho Teacher Education Program. In this memior Finkel-Hoffman, recalls the journey of a group of teacher education students which began almost 10…

The low representation of Indigenous people in the sciences is often described as an effect of colonization and the result of a dominant western science paradigm that ignores or dismisses Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Initiated by Indigenous faculty of the University of Wisconsin, the Tribal Youth…

The Obama administration is committed to the needs of Indian Country and to the education of Native American youth. U.S. Department of Education (ED) Secretary Arne Duncan has made it a priority to strengthen opportunities and outcomes for all students, including Native American students. As a result of the secretary's commitment to Native youth…

The concept of a community college implies some connection to the community beyond mere setting. A tribal community college suggests even more--a college which maintains its roots in traditional Native culture and serves the tribal community in a unique way. Located in northwest Wisconsin within the traditional homelands of the Ojibwe people, the…

Culture plays a large but often unnoticeable role in what we teach and how we teach children. We are a country of immense diversity, but in classrooms the dominant European-American culture has become the language of learning.

The college classroom at a tribal college offers a dynamic perspective on the discussion of traditional ecological knowledge. It provides a unique view because it is one of the very few settings in higher education where the majority of students in the class are American Indian. It is here where traditional ecological knowledge should become…

Healthy Children, Strong Families (HCSF) is a 2-year, community-driven, family-based randomized controlled trial of a healthy lifestyles intervention conducted in partnership with four Wisconsin American Indian tribes. HCSF is composed of 1 year of targeted home visits to deliver nutritional and physical activity curricula. During Year 1, trained…

Endangered Indigenous languages have received little attention within the American educational research community. However, within Native American communities, language revitalization is pushing education beyond former iterations of culturally relevant curriculum and has the potential to radically alter how we understand culture and language in…

In the wild river region of northeastern Wisconsin, the Menominee people conserved a portion of their ancient homelands now known as the Menominee Indian Reservation. The Menominee are nationally known for their majestic forests. The Wolf River flows southward for more than 200 miles from its headwaters in Pine Lake to Lake Poygan near the city of…

Twenty-five years ago a "perfect storm" of economic, environmental, and social conditions swirled in northern Wisconsin and battered attempts by the Ojibwe to exercise their treaty-based fishing rights. This article examines the socioeconomic, political, and cultural factors that contributed to the spearfishing crisis twenty-five years…