 Districts with significant populations of American Indian students are teaming up to identify barriers to learning that limit American Indian students.
Priority Initiatives
In the group’s first meeting, 35 people from 21 school districts throughout Wisconsin met in Wausau and identified three priority initiatives:
- Belonging – The group identified that it is often difficult for Native American students to feel they belong in a school setting.
- Culture and Curriculum – The group is interesting in seeing how Native American culture is infused into the curriculum.
- Act 31 enforcement – This Act specifies the teaching of Native American issues, but no group has taken up enforcement of this act.
Approach
In order to address these issues, the group has devised a three-pronged approach:
- Identify what districts can do to create a sense of belonging for Native American students and ensure their culture is included as part of the curriculum.
- Bring together Native American teachers to understand the resources they can provide to districts with significant populations of Native American students. With a strong understanding of the needs of Native American students, this group of teachers may be able to provide classroom instruction, professional development, coaching or other resources.
- Work with home-school coordinators. These are important links between families and schools. They may be able to help Native American families better connect with their child’s classroom and/or school resources.
The American Indian Student Achievement Network has established an online community of practice, using Moodle.
Additionally, the American Indian Student Achievement Network plans to gather in conjunction with the 2009 National Indian Education Association Conference, which is being held in Milwaukee.
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