Sovereignty in Education: Creating Culturally-Based Charter Schools in Native Communities - A NIEA Handbook (2018)
The National Indian Education Association (NIEA), a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening Native education, released this 2018 handbook entitled “Sovereignty in Education: Creating Culturally-Based Charter Schools in Native Communities.” For nonprofit organizations working within Native communities and those considering starting charter schools, this handbook provides several key insights to understanding the unique landscape within Native communities in a way that respects their cultural heritage as well as their sovereignty.
Charter Schools Listing
This resource provides a listing of charter schools oriented towards native American students. This list was compiled by Kerry R. Venegas, National Indian Education Association, High School Policy Initiative. The Central and South Central Comprehensive Centers have not reviewed these schools nor endorses their programming.
Native American Language Immersion: Innovative Native Education
This report is a project of the American Indian College Fund and written by Janine Pease-Pretty On Top with the introduction by Richard Littlebear with research supported by the W.K.Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan. The focus of this study is of a people’s initiative, Native American language immersion encompasses educational practices and social development that lie outside the mainstream language teaching, education, and socializing methods of American children.
Northern Michigan University Tribal Charter Schools
Northern Michigan University serves as the authorizer for two tribal charter schools, Bahweting Anishnabe and Nah Tah Wahsh. The Charter Schools Office at Northern Michigan University is responsible for the oversight of NMU’s 10 public school academies or charter schools. A public school academy is a state-supported public school that may include any grade up to grade 12.
Public Charter Schools Growing on Native American Reservations
In this 2013 National Alliance for public charter schools article, new data from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools shows that public charter schools are growing on Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) lands across the country. Between 2005 and 2010, the number of public charter schools on reservations increased from 19 to 31, accounting for 15 percent of all public schools on reservations. Public charter schools are on reservations located in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. Most Native American charter schools 61 percent are on reservations geographically located in Arizona and California. Between the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years, there was a 100 percent increase in the number of public charter schools and charter school enrollment on Native lands geographically located in California.
Research and Resources on Charter Schools and American Indian Students
This resource provides a compilation of academic dissertations addressing issues associated with charter schools and American Indian students. This list was compiled by Kerry R. Venegas, National Indian Education Association, High School Policy Initiative.
Tribes Look to Charter Schools for Help
This resource is a MSNBC news story about how American Indian tribes are looking to charter schools as a means to help Indian students who've dropped out or drifted through traditional public schools.
Tribes Turn to Charter Schools
A 2004 news article from the Washington Charter School Resource Center recounting the trials of a new charter school on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. It illustrates the many challenges that reservation based charter schools face in getting organized and embracing the students.
What Role Can Charter Schools Play in Preserving American Indian Sovereignty?
This Nonprofit Quarterly publication introduces the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening Native education, released a handbook entitled “Sovereignty in Education: Creating Culturally-Based Charter Schools in Native Communities.” For nonprofit organizations working within Native communities and those considering starting charter schools, the handbook provides several key insights to understanding the unique landscape within Native communities in a way that respects their cultural heritage as well as their sovereignty. The background and history of Native education cannot be ignored, as the need to reexamine and change policies and practices dates back to the founding of boarding schools as early the mid-1750s.
The Power of Place: Creating An Indigenous Charter School
In this 2009, Volume 47, Issue 2, article from the Journal of American Indian Education, author J. Kay Fenimore-Smith presents the findings of a two-year study, which examined the struggles of the school staff as they sought to provide a culturally rich environment and curriculum that would engage and challenge students academically. Cummins’ (1992) theory of cultural differences provides a schema for discussion of the findings. Analysis of the issues raised by the study foregrounds the complexity of factors affecting both the development of a culturally grounded charter school and the achievement of students attending the school.
An Exploration of Best Practices Among Charter Schools Serving Native Students
This Harvard University study and report outlines the attributes and practices of three successful charter schools serving native youth. The report includes a review of research on the topic and case studies of three schools: Klamath River Early College of the Redwoods of Klamath, California; Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Immersion School off Haywood, Wisconsin; and Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School of Okeechobee, Florida.
Deep Community Engagement at the Native American Community Academy (NACA)
This National Charter School Resource Center website states students who attend the Native American Community Academy (NACA), who are a part of the NACA Inspired Schools Network (NISN), demonstrate academic achievement, proficiency, retention, graduation, and college attendance rates that far outpace their Native American peers at the district, state, and national levels. This is just one proof point that NACA, a charter school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is delivering on its mission. It was founded in response to community demand for a school that addresses the identity, wellness, and college preparation of Native American Indian and Indigenous students.
Bay Mills Community College
Bay Mills Community College, a community college in Michigan controlled by the Bay Mills Indian Community, authorized its first two public charter schools in 2001 and now authorizes 44 charter schools. One of the charter schools, Ojibwe Charter School, is located on BIA lands and serves a majority Native American population. The other charter schools are located in 27 non-reservation cities throughout the state and enroll largely African-American students, consistent with the colleges mission to serve students who are urban, minority and/or poor.
Charter School Blooms for Indian Students in Arizona Desert
Charter schools provide an opportunity for innovation in K–12 education, but succeeding typically requires getting over a wide range of barriers. An Arizona charter school located on an American Indian reservation provides an example of how a charter school has progressed in a complex regulatory setting while addressing unique educational needs of students. This feature of the National Charter School Resource Center January 2013 newsletter focuses on the development, leadership, and instruction methods of the Akimel O'Otham Pee Posh Charter School, located on the Gila River Indian Reservation south of Phoenix, Arizona.
Charter Schools Serving Native American Students
Native American students have been historically underserved by our nation's public schools, but research shows an incorporation of cultural content into the curriculum can have a promising impact on student academic success. In this report, prepared for the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), case studies are presented exploring the attributes and practices of 3 charter schools serving Native youth.
Charter Schools Serving Native American Students
Native American students have been historically underserved by our nation's public schools, but research shows an incorporation of cultural content into the curriculum can have a promising impact on student academic success. In this report, prepared for the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), case studies are presented exploring the attributes and practices of 3 charter schools serving Native youth.