Grounded in Indigenous core beliefs with an eye toward the future of higher education, Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC) represents a fixture in the tribal college landscape. NICC was founded in 1973, chartered by the Umonhon and Isanti nations, and created to broaden access to higher education, increase economic opportunities, and preserve…

Advanced adult Indigenous language speakers are essential in Indigenous language revitalization (ILR). As first language speakers age and pass away, communities increasingly depend on adults with high proficiency to carry the language forward (Fishman, 1991; Hinton, 2011; W.H. Wilson, 2018). Yet, few studies in ILR focus on adult learners, and…

The newly created Office of Indian Education (OIE) at the Oregon Department of Education is pleased to share the new strategic American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Student Success Plan. This five-year state plan will guide agency decision-making through 2020-2025. This plan provides Oregon communities with a refreshed mission that centers shared…

When the first tribal colleges were established over 50 years ago, Native American languages were more widely used than today. Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) were envisioned to offer a base for the retention and development of Indigenous languages and cultures, and they would establish archival collections to support this mission.…

This paper focuses on the development, planning, and implementation of Numu (Northern Paiute) language classes at the University of Nevada, Reno. The authors' engagement with the Numu classes as well as the description and analysis presented in this paper are guided by principles of decolonization, language reclamation, and community-based…

The New Mexico Public Education Department's (PED) mission is to ensure all students in New Mexico receive the education they deserve and that students are prepared for college, career, and lifelong learning. To do this, the department is focused on supporting sustained learning and outreach to districts, charter schools, tribal education…

The Dena'ina language is a well-documented Northern Dene Alaska Native language in south-central Alaska. The Dena'ina language is on the brink of going to sleep. The Dena'ina community strongly desires for the Dena'ina language to once again thrive in the community. Language-use within the community is a contributing factor to the health of the…

Using a sociocultural approach with Indigenous epistemology, we examine language policies related to Lau. We researched how Lau impacted Native language policies through the "Sinajini v. Board of Education of San Juan School District." Native education rights are embedded in treaty rights. As such, Native students have unique statuses…

The Tribal Education Status Report (TESR), mandated by New Mexico's Indian Education Act, delivers a snapshot of efforts to support Native American students. The report highlights key initiatives, tracks educational trends, and proposes strategies to improve outcomes for these students across the state. The report breaks down New Mexico's public…

This article outlines Indigenous data collection as a methodology that expands a sampling frame by using tribal Indigenous cultural knowledge, such as creation stories like those of the Cocopah and Quechan nations, to address limitations found in the methodological quality of Native American survey data in currently available datasets. Indigenous…

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…

Research Connections developed this document in collaboration with the Tribal Child Care Capacity Building Center for use during the OCC National Tribal Conference 2024 on April 9-11, 2024. This resource list highlights sample resources from the Research Connections library on the Conference topic areas. It also includes links to additional…

Native education is rooted in the Native cultures and languages of North America. This brief provides key insights and examples of the work accomplished in Native education across the United States to revitalize and strengthen Native cultures and languages. This brief focuses on the following themes: (1) History and culture in curriculum for all…

When Vernon Lambert and Lorraine Greybear graduated from the Fort Totten, North Dakota, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) community school in 1957 and 1959, respectively, Dakota language and culture were not even taught. Lambert's mother had stopped speaking Dakota to him at home so he wouldn't have to learn English the hard way at school as she had.…

In response to widespread language loss, many Native American communities are engaged in revitalizing their languages. This dissertation is a systematic account of a tribal member learning Mutsun in the context of a language reclamation project. The last fluent speaker of Mutsun, a Costanoan language of central California, died in 1930. This study…