How fear of extinction is driving new trends in indigenous education
Schools across the country have been celebrating Native American Heritage Month, but for a new crop of public charter schools, festivities honoring our country’s ancestors don’t stop there.
From weekly Navajo language immersion classes at the STAR School in Arizona to teaching methods rooted in the ancient Hawaiian philosophy of Papakū Makawalu at Ka ‘Umeke Kā’eo, indigenous education is being transformed as schools with culturally focused curricula pop up across the U.S. — moving beyond one-off classes, electives, and activities to year-round celebrations of Native identity and customs.
The epitome of the place-based learning model, the majority of these schools have been established at the request of community members who feared the extinction of their traditions, language, and teachings. Kara Bobroff, the founding principal at the Native American Community Academy in New Mexico, has one grandmother after another raving about how they can now speak to their grandchildren in their native tongue. The schools are connecting generations.
And in the spirit of public charter schools as incubators, they’re sharing best practices across the education community and with school leaders in other countries. For example, the Culturally Relevant Assessment (CRA), created by Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, has been presented at conferences in New Zealand and Canada. The CRA posits that schools with Native populations aren’t underperforming, but rather are being measured the wrong way. The CRA is a suite of assessment tools for schools with culturally focused curricula, and Kamehameha has been in touch with educators around the world about implementation.
From forced assimilation to celebrating Native culture
The Native American Community Academy (NACA) in Albuquerque, New Mexico recently hosted their annual Feast Day. From a sunrise blessing and jingle dress dancing to a potluck meal featuring frijoles and mutton stew, NACA’s Feast Day is an annual celebration of diversity and gratitude for all who support the school’s culturally focused education model. Open to the public and 12 years in the running, 1,000 students, families, and community members attended this year’s festivities.
The day began with a dawn blessing, followed by a public procession of students donning traditional regalia specific to their tribe, a speaking program, and the feast — with music and dancing throughout. 60 different tribes are represented in the NACA student body, and each tribe’s language — from Lakota to Navajo — was woven into an element of the programming.
This year’s Feast Day occurred the same week as Indigenous People’s Day: a holiday communities, cities, and states across the country have opted to celebrate instead of the nationally recognized Columbus Day. Championed by Native leadership, this shift has been propelled by the advocacy of indigenous youth and the rise of indigenous public charter schools that embrace a culturally responsive and responsible pedagogy, such as NACA.
NACA’s main campus is, in fact, a reclaimed American Indian Boarding School originally established by the U.S. government to assimilate Native children, but is now home to a school with a philosophy grounded in the Native American perspective and built on the essential values expressed by its community. NACA believes the school experience must reach and honor the child on many levels and thus integrates cultural identity, language, personal wellness, family support, community service, leadership preparedness, and college readiness into its academic curriculum. All NACA students have access to on-site free health care and dental services, as well as emotional and behavioral health counseling.
A new path forward
From the islands to the mainland, this growing trend in expanding cultural curriculum is connecting our nation’s Native youth to their roots, deepening community and family engagement, and preserving customs feared at risk of extinction. Indigenous children across the globe have long faced educational barriers, often denied the chance to honor their ancestral traditions, languages, and teachings. But schools like NACA and others across the country are tearing down these walls that for far too long have denied indigenous students the education they deserve.
