Strengthening Teaching in Rural, Indigenous-Serving Schools: Lessons From the Diné Institute for Navajo Nation Educators

• In Event: Collaborations and Strategies for Transformative Teacher Learning

Abstract

We know that teacher quality is one of the most important school-based factors impacting K12 students’ learning and engagement in schools. We also know that Indigenous students experience persistent inequitable outcomes in schools. And yet, the published work on professional development among teachers in rural, Indigenous-serving schools is appallingly sparse. Our work begins to fill this void by reporting on a relatively new effort to strengthen teaching in Indigenous-serving schools on and bordering the Navajo Nation. We provide an overview of our efforts, and advance the idea that teachers are front-line-workers in nation building and that more attention ought to be directed to their professional growth.

Authors

• Angelina E. Castagno, Northern Arizona University

• Jolene Smith, Kayenta Unified School Dsitrict

• Hosava Kretzmann

• Breanna Davis, Northern Arizona University