The Johnson-O'Malley (JOM) program provides academic and cultural supports to meet the specialized and unique educational needs of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students enrolled in public schools and select tribal schools. The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), within the Department of the Interior, contracts with Tribes, tribal…

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities are disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic. AI/AN emerging adults (ages 18-25) in urban areas are at particularly high risk, with the overdose death rate among urban-dwelling AI/AN people 1.4 times higher than rural-dwelling AI/AN people. Despite these challenges, there are no…

Native Americans are a critically underserved and under researched population in the United States (US) higher education system. Not only do American Indians (AIs) and Alaska Natives (ANs) enroll in vastly lower percentages than their nonnative peers, but they are also far less likely to persist to graduation and attend graduate school than other…

This phenomenological study explored the perspectives of American Indian/Alaska Native students who had all graduated from the same Northeast-Nebraska public school located on a federally recognized Indian reservation and completed at least a four-year degree. To that end, the central research question addressed by this dissertation is, "Why…

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…

Culturally-adapted evidence-based programs (EBPs) are needed to promote healthy behaviors among Native teens and young adults. Little is known about the facilitators and barriers of implementing and sustaining EBPs in Native communities. This paper aims to identify those factors described by educators who implemented the Native Students Together…

Plant blindness, the inability of people to notice plants, is of current interest in the natural sciences community. It has been hypothesized that communities of varying cultures may have improved plant sight. Researchers used an online survey to assess citizens ability to identify plants. The survey also intended to address the concern of elders…

The very low college success rate of American Indians and Alaska Natives has inspired a scholarly literature that seeks to explain this outcome and, more recently, to account for why some Native students persist in college. Few studies, however, look at Native students who actually have graduated from college, and these rarely reflect Native…

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth exhibit multiple health disparities, including high rates of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, violence and delinquency, and mental health problems. Approximately 70% of AI/AN youth reside in urban areas, where negative outcomes on behavioral health and well-being are often high. Identity development…

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.…

The federal government provides child development, elementary and secondary education, and educational assistance to Indian children, in a federal school system and in public school systems that predominantly receive state and local funding. The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) oversees the federally…

All people deserve the opportunity to earn a better living and build a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities through a postsecondary education. But that opportunity is not available equally to all in the United States, and current postsecondary data sets and collection practices at the federal, state, and institutional…

Wisconsin's Circles of Reflection (CoR) addresses early learning challenges and opportunities for American Indian or Alaskan Native (AI/AN) children and families. Developed by the National Comprehensive Center's Native Education Collaborative, CoR engages state, tribal, and local education agencies in cycles of issue discovery, stakeholder…

The American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2015 (AI/AN FACES 2015) is the first national descriptive study of children and families enrolled in Head Start programs operated by federally recognized tribes. AI/AN FACES 2015 was informed by a workgroup comprised of Region XI Head Start directors, researchers…

Learning across the disciplines (e.g., mathematics, science, art) can be enhanced for all students by grounding learning in historical and cultural (Western and Native) knowledge and context. The survival of Native knowledge in the United States depends on the leadership and teaching skills of many traditional and non-traditional educators. The…