Ms. Lewis, a Native American parent has a son named Ashkii who receives special education services in a rural elementary school located on a reservation. She has not received support from the individual education program team regarding Ashkii's academic progress due to COVID-19. The challenges in accessing special education services for Ms. Lewis…

"Dikos Nitsaaígíí-19" or COVID-19 has threatened the lives of people of color and Indigenous communities at a higher rate. Across the Navajo reservation, these emergencies have motivated Diné communities to step up and help their people as quickly as possible by distributing care packages to families; providing computers, laptops, free…

"Digital Divide: How Technology Access Impacts Community Colleges Across the United States During a Pandemic" looks at the current state of the digital divide in the United States and how it is affecting community college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders at community colleges in Spokane, Washington, Los Angeles, California,…

The preferred learning style of American-Indians is a constructivist approach that is student-centered rather than teacher-led. Educators would have an interest in this study as the findings may have use as an alternative teaching method assimilating constructivist teaching principles while adding diversity and valuable learning experiences to the…

Working with Navajo Indian informants in Arizona, USA we became aware of the capabilities of children and adults to find their way in vast and clearly "chaotic" canyons. One thing we did was describe what people actually did and said about their ways to find the way back home in such contexts. A second one was to use these data in order…

Evidence from over four decades of research affirms that family involvement in a child's learning is one of the strongest predictors of social, emotional, and academic development; however, Euro-American, middle-class families tend to be more involved in schools than minority and low-income families. A major factor influencing family involvement…

The Cultural Immersion Projects at Indiana University offer teacher education majors the opportunity to be placed in culturally-diverse settings, where full-time student teaching, required community participation, ongoing reflection, and academic reporting combine to provide experiences that go well beyond the common foci of conventional student…

Hantavirus, caused due to close contact with mice in a dwelling, first emerged in the spring of 1993 on the Navajo Reservation and although it is by no means an Indian disease, there are four times as many cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) among non-Indians. Inadequate rural housing, especially common in western Indian Country,…

Data from a longitudinal survey of families from three reservations (Navajo Nation, San Carlos, and Salt River) in Arizona were used to examine their probability of welfare use. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the effects of individual, family, and structural factors on welfare exit. Results indicate that their probability of…

Employers (N=1,369) on the Navajo reservation were identified, and a subgroup (N=122) participated in an Employer Account System (EAS) to provide detailed information about types of jobs available at their organizations. In addition, 239 closed client case files from the Navajo Vocational Rehabilitation Program (NVRP) were reviewed to determine…

Promoting educational resilience is integral to prevention of maladaptive outcomes for children and adolescents in general, but is a particularly pressing need for Native students. The discontinuity between indigenous and dominant culture worldviews creates a sense of disorientation and distress for many Native students. Moreover, students from…

An employer survey was conducted as part of a larger study to develop a labor market analysis model to identify employment opportunities for persons with disabilities living on reservations. Employers on the Navajo reservation were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward hiring persons with disabilities, past experiences with persons with…

Arizona has begun an organized effort at career planning designed to create graduates who know who they are, know where they are going and know how they are going to get there. The Navajos are well on their way to achieving these kinds of student outcomes. This article focuses on two Navajo schools: Ganado High School, a comprehensive high school…

Navajo students have a 31% dropout rate, and it has been getting worse. Although considerable research has examined the reasons behind this dropout rate, little attention has been given to parental expectations of their children's education. Interviews with 45 parents of students attending Montezuma Creek Elementary School, a public school on the…

Internalizing symptoms, which include anxiety and depression, may be the most common pattern of psychopathology found in children. However, the knowledge base targeting internalizing symptomology in Native American children of the Southwest is surprisingly limited. This paper reports on a study of prevalence rates of internalizing disorders among…