Within higher education institutions, Latinas are grossly underrepresented, inadequately supported, and often face discrimination within their academic environment. Overall, Latinx populations encounter racism, sexism, familial and cultural expectations, as well as societal pressures, that impact their educational journey and perceptions of self.…

This study aims at describing the self-knowledge of students and their ongoing development as Anishinaabe (Ojibway), Ininiw (Cree), Oji-Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, or mixed Indigenous nation adolescents who left their homogenous home communities during a crucial time in their social, emotional, and cultural development to attend high school. The study…

This study examined the fundamental values, beliefs and principles that guided the work of Native Hawaiian principals (po?okumu) in Hawaiian-focused charter schools. Through an ethnographic case study, the lived experiences of seven Kanaka po?okumu/po?okula (of 14 possible participants) were collected through surveys, individual and group…

The vision of this doctoral project was to document Native educational leaders who center their school leadership in ancestral knowledge and the cultural practices of their communities as they lead from the middle. Leading from the middle acknowledges a cultural lens to compare that approach to the indigenous. Leading from the middle acknowledges…

This dissertation aimed to expand the current literature's understanding of Indigenous epistemology within contemporary social media environments. The qualitative study used social descriptive analysis from forty TikTok videos and comment threads. The descriptive analysis captured major cultural themes, common informal learning behaviors, and…

In the face of colonial efforts to extinguish Indigenous language and culture, Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk people) have been working to revitalize Kanien'keha (the Mohawk language) since the 1970s. However, Kanien'keha continues to experience greater speaker loss than gain. Through a comprehensive vitality assessment, this dissertation examines the…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to increase grit, growth mindset, and self-efficacy in pre-adolescent students attending a K-5 public elementary school in Northwest New Mexico by implementing intervention activities in which students were given opportunities to learn and develop grit and growth mindset, thus resulting in improved…

This 3-article dissertation seeks theoretical and pedagogical alternatives for English Language Teaching (ELT) within a linguistic ecology of knowledges in plurinational Ecuador. The main concern is how teacher educators of the hegemonic English language define knowledge in constructing a knowledge-based society and what initiatives are undertaken…

Purpose and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to review a Cherokee language immersion school's effort to revitalize the Cherokee language and contribute to the knowledge base of native language immersion school leaders regarding the revival of Native American languages. The research design for this study was a qualitative evaluative…

Native men in higher education experience among the lowest persistence and graduation rates in the United States (Condition of Education, 2020). Native men are subjected to systemic barriers brought by settler colonialism such as racism and patriarchal hegemony which negatively impact their perceptions of masculinity and forces them to move away…

The University of Hawai?i is the only public higher education provider in Hawai?i. Starting in 1907 with Western academic ideologies, the Native Hawaiian (NH) ?ike and ?olelo were not a priority despite being the indigenous culture and language. More recently, the University has committed to becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning and a…

In K-12 education, student voice is not often considered when establishing curriculum, addressing school policy, or creating a climate that reflects culturally inclusive teaching practices. Across education systems serving Indigenous communities within the United States, the voices of youth as a form of contribution are silenced, which echoes…

The goals of this research are twofold: (1) This research explores decision making and college experiences of Alaska Native undergraduates pursuing degrees in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; and (2) this research, using participant observation explores the Indigenous metaphor of "the trail" to frame…

The University of Hawai'i (UH) is among the many colleges and universities worldwide taking steps to integrate Indigenous people, cultures, and histories into its structure, policies, and institutional culture to close achievement gaps and empower Indigenous scholars and their communities. As one of ten campuses in the UH system, Leeward Community…

Many working understandings of giftedness exist within dominating Western frameworks, gatekeeping gifted education from students who do not "fit" inside such frameworks (Owens et al., 2018; Rinn et al., 2020; Sternberg et al., 2021). As a result, K-12 Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students are underrepresented in…