When a school district in North Dakota began having hard conversations about its struggling status, a simple, yet crucial, contributor to academic success became abundantly clear: student attendance. That conversation laid the groundwork for a districtwide project, enacted in partnership with the Region 11 Comprehensive Center (R11CC), North…

The rising costs of college attendance and the diminishing availability of viable funding sources cause students to incur debt in order to pursue postsecondary education. This dissertation in practice examines how one tribal education funding program contributed to the successful transition between high school and college for the enrolled members…

There are conflicting ideas about how to develop effective research partnerships between tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) and research institutions. Central to this conflict are considerations about who benefits when partnerships are developed and how to create collaborations that center on the needs of the Native communities they are…

Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) is a tribally controlled institution of higher learning that always has its eye on cultural inclusion, whether in STEM or any other program. The mathematics program at CCCC is the underlying force that ties everything together. Each of the Associate of Science degree programs requires that students pass…

An Indigenous research paradigm collectively described by Wilson (2008), Archibald (2008), and Kovach (2009) has yet to be applied to research in undergraduate math education, and specifically at a Tribally Controlled College/University (TCU). Research at TCUs does not require the use of an Indigenous research paradigm, however at the outset, this…

The Native American Needs Assessment Action Plan is designed to assist educators and administrators in addressing the needs and areas of possible opportunity that have been identified through the annual Native American Needs Assessment conducted by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. The Action Plan is organized around areas of need…

Traditionally, care for the environment has always played a role in the Dakota-Lakota way of life, which includes taking care of the air. As a tribal college originally chartered by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Sitting Bull College (SBC) takes seriously its role as an institution guided by Lakota-Dakota culture, values, and language. These…

Indigenous language revitalization (ILR), or the act of reversing the language shift from English back to Native languages, is an essential task. Since their inception, tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) have worked to support and often lead language communities in this task. Since its beginning, Sitting Bull College (SBC), located on the…

Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) in North Dakota recognized the need for health education access and the benefits of training American Indian healthcare professionals in a rural setting, thus leading the college to pursue Health Profession Opportunity grants (HPOG) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Education…

Within weeks of school building closings in spring 2020, it became clear to many educators that the fear and isolation experienced by students and educators would force changes to schooling in ways that will reverberate for a long time to come. Many educators were particularly concerned about students and communities of color that were already…

Approximately 2,000 teams in the U.S. utilize Native American mascots, the majority of which are associated with schools. Across the nation there continue to be many intense conflicts over these mascots. Most conflicts focus on differences in opinion, rather than on the effects of these mascots. The purpose of this article is to provide…

Twenty-two percent of students at United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) in Bismarck, North Dakota, have dependents. UTTC offers a wide array of family support, including a wellness center complete with fitness classes and personal trainers, a full-time safety and security department, childcare from infants to school age, housing with multiple…

The close-knit, personal nature of small rural communities results in school and community operating as a single integrated social structure. Useful rural school improvement strategies must, therefore, address needs that are recognized by both the local school and the community and must operate in a style congruent with the local setting. Although…

The Native American Needs Assessment Action Plan is designed to assist educators and administrators in addressing the needs and areas of possible opportunity that have been identified through the annual Native American Needs Assessment conducted by the North Dakota (ND) Department of Public Instruction. The Action Plan is organized around areas of…

While a good amount is known in education research about approaches to individualized learning (e.g. differentiated instruction, personalized learning plans), little is known about the scope and scale of efforts to individualize learning in the Bush Foundation's region of focus. To support its learning and future investments, the Bush Foundation…