Research To Support Improved Practice in Indian Education / Karen Gayton Swisher and John W. Tippeconnic, III.

In recent years, various task forces and studies, including the White House Conference on Indian Education, have established that research on Indian education, history, and culture must consider the Native perspective and involve Native researchers. Improving Indian education depends upon good research. Aspects of Indigenous education and community life that need study include: the teaching-learning relationship between Native students and teachers and how a good Native teacher can enhance that relationship; how to attract and retain effective principals or leadership teams in order to maintain stability for planning and implementing improvements; school collaborations with nearby colleges, including distance learning and culturally appropriate programs; how agency workers serving youth and families can collaborate more fully in creating conditions for educational success; developing systems to help students with the transition from one phase of schooling to the next; expunging stereotypes about Native peoples from curricula and teacher education programs; broadening Native education research beyond the reservation context; how Native Americans can educate America and the rest of the world about the unique Native political status; building coalitions between Native Americans and Indigenous people from other countries; educational effects of recent tribal economic development programs such as gambling operations; how to make more connections between schooling and daily life, consistent with the holistic nature of Native worldviews; and building coalitions for research and development among tribal governments, federal agencies, colleges, and the private sector. Contains endnotes. (TD)

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.