Provides an overview of the articles in this issue of the Tribal College Journal, which demonstrate how tribal colleges are gradually creating places where Native languages are safe. Asserts that a place where the language is honored is a place that education, too, becomes honored, and that recognizing Native languages leads to self-esteem and…

School District 52 (Prince Rupert, British Columbia) is committed to providing support for the renewal of Sm'algyax, the language of the Tsimshian Nation. However, the Tsimshian Nation must provide guidance and establish a positive direction for Sm'algyax language programs. This paper examines language renewal issues and options as a basis for…

The Inupiaq of Alaska's North Slope are the first Inupiaq to have achieved self-government. The greatest significance of home rule is that it enables the Inupiaq to regain control of their children's education. The North Slope Borough schools must implement a bilingual and bicultural program that teaches children in their Inupiat language, with…

Survey responses concerning the status of American Indian education were received from 142 Native American tribal leaders (out of 511 surveyed) and compared to responses from a similar 1990 survey. A major finding of the study is that, as in 1990, approximately 90 percent of all American Indian children attend state public schools. The remaining…

Sets forth the five-year development history of Bay Mills Community College's Nishnaabemowin Language Instructors' Institute, which provided a pathway for regaining the Ojibwe or Chippewa language of the Anishnabeg people. Presents an early history of efforts to preserve the language and the development of a three-summer holistic curriculum for…

Traumas from the Canadian residential school system have been transmitted through generations of Canada Natives, which has interfered with learning. Curricula need to be developed by and for First Nations people. Strategies are presented for working with Native learners and for developing language instructional materials. To become fluent in…

Calls upon Canadian Aboriginal communities to take control of their children's education by breaking free of inappropriate Western educational practices; moving from rhetoric to action in the areas of native language instruction, outdoor learning, involvement of Elders, and parent participation; and developing community-based evaluations of…

Advocates change in the way American Indian languages are taught in schools and by tribal elders, specifically that they should be taught orally in the classroom. Asserts that American Indian languages must be taught in the context of everyday conversation, not as isolated words, and that new words should also be invented in response to the…

This report outlines a comprehensive research agenda for Indian education from the Native perspective. It resulted from a meeting held in Albuquerque, New Mexico in April 2000, planned by a national steering committee of Indian education researchers, administrators, and association executives. The introduction describes four traits of research in…

This study examined the underlying tensions between three school decision-making groups regarding the inclusion of Native cultural and language content in the curriculum of a tribally-controlled elementary school in a Canadian Anishinabek community. Except for one teacher, all members of the parent school advisory group, the tribal education…

The 20th Arizona Indian Town Hall considered the issues of cultural and native language instruction for American Indian students and the impact of new state standards. Representatives of 17 tribes, state officials, educators, school board members, parents, and students participated. In the area of culture and language instruction, recommendations…

Executive Order 13096 gave the U.S. Department of Education the responsibility for developing a research agenda for American Indian and Alaska Native education. The Department established a working group composed of various government agencies and American Indian groups, committees, and associations, that solicited ideas and comments from Native…