Dine, the very first tribal college in the United States, and the tribal college movement are both celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. The seeds of the movement were sown many decades before the debut of the Navajo Community College. Indeed, since native peoples began attending mainstream U.S. colleges and universities 350 years ago,…

Since its founding in 1968, Dine College in Tsaile, Arizona, has centered the curriculum on Dine language, history, and philosophy. "Sa'ah Naaghai Bik'eh Hozhoon," the Dine traditional living system, places human life in harmony with the natural world and the universe, providing protection from the imperfections in life and development of…

In this interpretive analysis elucidating fundamental tensions of the implementation of the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act within Native-serving schools, we point to ways in which NCLB further limits the already contested sovereignty tribes exercise over how, and in what language their children are instructed. We discuss issues related to…

Collapsing the Fear of Mathematics: A Study of the Effects of Navajo Culture on Navajo Student Performance in Mathematics by Henry H Fowler Abstract American schools are in a state of "mediocrity" because of the low expectations in math (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983; No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; Duncan,…

Worldview of any culture and society is explicated through epistemological principles that frame the way one sees the world. Dine (Navajo) worldview is explicated through epistemology that has been rejected and debased by the dominant society since contact centuries ago. However, enduring powerful Dine (Navajo) worldview persists in contemporary…

This bibliography explores tribally controlled colleges, an area of research that is often neglected by mainstream academia. Unlike other American minorities, Native Americans make up sovereign nations. American Indian tribal members retain their rights to land and self-government, and since 1924 they hold dual citizenship in their Native…

This article examines storytelling practices among Navajos as one example of a non-Western approach to education. The article discusses two stories--one regarding the perspectives of Navajo storytellers concerning the importance of the context of storytelling practices and the other about the research process that led to these perspectives. Eight…

Three Navajo teachers' conceptions of culturally appropriate curriculum and pedagogy highlight the benefits of reflective practice within different educational and school contexts. Each teacher provides a way of thinking about culturally appropriate curriculum, and its implementation in classroom practice for different Navajo students. The ways in…

The Navajo Language Immersion School--"Tsehootsooi Dine Bi'olta'," to use its Navajo name--made adequate yearly progress in all subgroups under the No Child Left Behind Act during the 2005-2006 school year because "the teachers know exactly where their students are in terms of data." The K-8 school with 235 students in the…

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…

Warrior Elementary is a pubic school within the Navajo Nation. District and school reforms fought against school closure or private restructuring due to pressures associated with repeated failure on standardized tests under the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Warrior Elementary saw tremendous academic gains on these tests one year after a…

In the spring of 1977, members of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), along with the Coalition for Navajo Liberation, barraged the Secretary of the Interior and the chairman of the Navajo Nation with petitions calling for a halt to the proposed construction of several coal gasification plants on the Navajo Reservation in northwestern New…

The concomitant secondary consequences of an electrification program and the potential long-term benefits of such a program are described. An electrification program can stimulate a move toward true self-determination and self-sufficiency for the Navajo nation.

Results of a 10-year ethnographic study of Navajo youth show that racial and cultural differences intertwine with power relations and that Navajos' success or failure in school is part of the process of racial conflict. Subject to discrimination in workplaces and curricula, they are more academically successful when more secure in their…

Describes the baccalaureate nursing program for Native Americans in Ganado, Arizona. Closed in 1951, it is reopening with an emphasis on community health. The program, run by Northern Arizona University, is the first school of nursing for Native Americans. (JOW)