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School Environment Listening Sessions

FINAL REPORT

October 2015

White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education

U.S. Department of Education
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This report was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract Nos. EDOOS-14-A-0004/0001 

and EDOOS-14-A-0004/0002 with Kaufman & Associates, Incorporated. Cindy Dixon served as the 

contracting officer’s technical representative. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the 

positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of 

Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or 

should be inferred.

U.S. Department of Education

Arne Duncan

Secretary

White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education

William Mendoza

Executive Director

October 2015

This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While 

permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of 

Education, White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, School Environment 

Listening Sessions Final Report, Washington, D.C., 2015.

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Department of Education, Information Resource Center, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20202.
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Contents

Letter From the Executive Director........................................................................v

Acknowledgments..........................................................................................vii

Executive Summary.............................................................................................. 1

Administration Initiatives.................................................................. ............... 3

2014 Student Environment Listening Sessions .......................................................................... 5

 Listening Session Locations ...........................................................................5

Introductory Presentations.......................................................................... ... 6

Local Presentations...................................................................................... .7

Franklin, WI............................................................................................. .7

Anchorage, AK.................................................................................... .... ..8

La Crosse, WI.................................................................................... ...... ..8

Troy, NY................................................................................................ ..9

Los Angeles, CA....................................................................................... 10

Oklahoma City, OK.............................................................................................10

East Lansing, MI........................................................................................10

Tulsa, OK....................................................................................................... 11

Seattle, WA............................................................................................. 11

Student Voices Session..................................................................................11

Tribal Consultations .............................................................................. ..... 12

Issues and Recommendations........................................................................ .... 12

Positive Community Practices..................................................................... .. 12

Issues and Concerns..................................................................................... 15

Hesitancy to File Civil Rights Complaints................................................... ...... 15

Lack of Detailed Racial and Ethnic Data........................................................... 16

Native Languages...................................................................................... 18

School Discipline..................................................................................................... 20

Hostile Learning Environments...................................................................... 22 

Teacher and School Staff Attitudes and Behavior................................................... 24

Student Attitudes and Bullying...................................................................................................... 27

Lack of Cultural Awareness............................................................................... 31

Mascots and Imagery.......................................................................................................... ....39

Access and Equity Challenges......................................................................... .....44

Misidentification of Students With Disabilities.................................................... 47

Looking Forward........................................................................................ ... 50

Endnotes...............................................................................................................51

Tables

 Table 1. Listening Session Locations and Dates.......................................................5
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Letter From the Executive Director

October 2015

Dear Federal, Tribal, State, and Local Leaders:

The Obama administration is committed to the needs of Indian Country and to the education of 

Native American youth. U.S. Department of Education (ED) Secretary Arne Duncan has made it 

a priority to strengthen opportunities and outcomes for all students, including Native American 

students. As a result of the secretary’s commitment to Native youth and ED’s consultations and 

listening sessions with tribal leaders and tribal communities, the White House Initiative on 

American Indian and Alaska Native Education (WHIAIANE or initiative) and ED’s Office for 

Civil Rights (OCR) began a series of listening sessions to hear directly from Native youth, 

parents, school officials, and tribal communities regarding school environments — the first 

nationwide effort of its kind. 

We met with students, teachers, and their advocates across the nation to hear their stories and 

experiences firsthand. Through their tears, hurt, and anger, participants voiced their concerns 

regarding the conditions they experience in schools and institutions of higher education. They 

shared that, for a variety of reasons, school environment improvement efforts are not reaching 

Native American youth. Many issues remain unaddressed, including the harm that is created by 

the use of Native mascots and logos. Additionally, they shared that when raising concerns or 

seeking recourse for harms, they are frequently dismissed or met with hostility. Native youth,

parents, and advocates say they are alone in their efforts to address these issues and that 

circumstances are often unbearable. They asserted that the failure to address these concerns 

limits our Native youth opportunities and life outcomes. This, they say, ultimately is detrimental 

to their tribes, states, and our nation as a whole. 

We thank and commend Native youth and others who bravely spoke out about the painful 

experiences they have endured and continue to endure in schools and institutions of higher 

education across the country. Their struggles and continued efforts will not go ignored by this 

administration. Moving forward, we intend to honor these stories shared with us by working with 

you to help ensure that every Native American has the opportunity to receive a complete and 

competitive education in a safe and healthy school environment. 

Sincerely,

William Mendoza

Executive Director

White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education
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Acknowledgments 

The White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education (WHIAIANE) is 

very grateful to those who have contributed to the creation of the School Environment Listening 

Sessions Final Report. We appreciate the hard work of the 2014–15 WHIAIANE policy 

assistants who contributed research to, and wrote and edited the report. We thank the U.S. 

Department of Education’s (ED’s) Office for Civil Rights (both in ED’s Washington, D.C. 

headquarters as well as in the department’s regional offices) for its support and leadership 

throughout the listening sessions and the development of this report. We also want to extend our 

appreciation to ED’s Office of the General Counsel and Office of the Secretary for their ongoing 

guidance and assistance. 

Without the commitment and diligence of the local planning committees, our nine listening 

sessions would not have occurred. These committees of state and tribal community members 

worked to identify panelists, enlisted and prepared youths for sharing their stories, and engaged 

with the communities. We are grateful for all of their hard work. We would also like to 

acknowledge the generous support of parents and families who also took time and trusted us with 

their experiences and stories during the listening sessions. Finally, a special thanks to the tribal 

leaders who participated in the listening sessions and provided continuing support. It has been 

amazing to experience this process and to work beside the many dedicated individuals without 

whom the listening sessions and report would not have been realized.

We would like to thank the following individuals and entities and anyone we have inadvertently 

forgotten:

Individuals

Tracy Bayles

Andrew Blackhawk 

Sheila Briggs

Melissa Claramunt

Priscilla Cleveland

Larry Cordier

Anthony Craig

Liz Medicine Crow

John D’Agati

Maren Dougherty

Valerie Davidson

Emilio De Torre

James Fenelon

Matthew Fletcher

Kathryn Fort

David O’Connor

Councilman Mitch O’Farrell

Rudy Ortega Jr.

Jorie Paoli

MaryAnn Peltier 

Dwight Pickering

Glenn Pinkham

Tom Porter

Lori Quigley

Marty Reyes

Ray Rodgers

Richard Rose

Paul Rykken

Madrienne Salgado

Jacqueline Schram
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Katsitsionni Fox

Madeline Freeman 

Jon Greendeer

Trevor Greene

Brent Greenwood

Raphael Guillory

Jessica Haase

Lucyann Harjo

Pauline Harris

Dirk Hunter

Lyle Ignace

Brian Jackson

Lynnette Jordan

Richanda Kaquatosh

Claudia Kauffman

JP Leary

Aurora Lehr

Stacy Lieberman

Tracy Littlejohn

Robert Mann

San Manuel

Kim Marcus

Mitch McGehee

Gail Morris

Neil Morton

Barbara Munson

Tommy Segundo 

Sarah Sense-Wilson 

Shelly Severson

Wenona Singel

Paula Starr

Tatum Steele

Lee Stepha

Carolyn Stanford Taylor

Michael Taylor

John Teller

Diana Terrazas

Adrienne Thunder

George Tiger

Ella Tonuchuk

Amy Tromp

Jacob Tsotigh

Niki Vandenberg Bullying

Pamela Villesenor

Kyle Wark 

Doreen Wawronowicz

Aubree Wensman

Kevin White

Patricia Whitefoot

Mary Wilber

Mark Wilson

Star Yellowfish

Entities

American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin

Autry National Center of the American West

Bartlesville School District

Black River Falls School District

California Bird Singers

Cherokee Nation

College of Indian Community School of

 Milwaukee

Eastern Washington University 

Edison Reserve Officers' Training Corps

Edmond Indian Education

Eklutna Tribal Council

Esteves School of Education

Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians

First Alaskans Institute 

Muscogee Nation

Native American Indian Education Association

 of New York

New York State Education Department

Noli Indian School

Oklahoma Advisory Council for Indian

 Education

Oklahoma City Public Schools Native

 American Student Color Guard 

Oklahoma State Department of Indian

 Education

Owasso School District

Pechanga Tribe

Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Tribe

Renton School District
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First Nations Studies, UW-Green Bay

Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center 

Ho-Chunk Nation

Indian Community School of Milwaukee

Indian Community School of Milwaukee Eagle

 Singers

Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa

Instructional Leadership Executive Directors 

Highline School District

Ithaca College

La Crosse School District

Lac du Flambeau / ENVISION

Legion Post 129

Little Thunder Drum Group

Los Angeles City County Native American

 Indian Commission

Los Angeles Unified School District

Marquette University

Menominee Nation

Michigan Department of Civil Rights

Michigan State University

Milwaukee Public Schools

Muckleshoot Indian Tribe

Sapulpa School District

Schenectady Community College

Seattle Clear Sky Native Youth Council

Seattle Public Schools

Sherman Indian High School 

Sherman Indian High School White Rose

 Singers

South Central Comprehensive Center

State of Wisconsin 

State of Wisconsin Department of Public

 Instruction

Tataviam American Indian Education Center

Tomah School District

Toppenish School District

Torres Martinez Tribe

Tulsa Public Schools

United Indians of All Tribes Foundation

United Native Education Alliance

University of Wisconsin

Viejas Tribe

Widening the Circle

Wisconsin Indian Education Association

Wisconsin Indian Education Association

 Indian Mascot and Logo Task Force
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Executive Summary

To improve education for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students, tribal leaders, 

educators, and Native youth called upon WHIAIANE to collect information on school 

environment experiences — from teachers, parents, community members, and the students 

themselves. Tribal leaders and tribal communities wanted members of the initiative to hear about 

the challenges these students face in gaining high-quality education, with a focus on the quality 

of their school environments. 

To meet this need, WHIAIANE, in collaboration with OCR, worked with tribal leaders and 

communities to design and execute a series of nationwide listening sessions regarding the school 

environments of AI/AN students. In October and November 2014, nine gatherings were held in 

seven states from New York to California to Alaska.

These sessions drew over 1,000 attendees in total and allowed WHIAIANE and OCR to gather 

information from all stakeholders in AI/AN education. WHIAIANE acted as a listener, allowing 

students and others to speak openly about their school environments. 

“You just have to be you, and you just have to be real. The only way to change things is to hear 

from real people,” said Valerie Davidson, trustee of the First Alaskans Institute, who served as 

the moderator for the listening session in Anchorage, Alaska. WHIAIANE imparted similar 

instructions at each session in an effort to encourage a safe environment for participants to share 

their stories.

Throughout the sessions, the initiative collected information about the challenges related to 

school climate, including bullying, student discipline, potentially harmful Native imagery and 

symbolism, and the implications of all of these school climate issues. With regard to Native 

school mascots and symbols, the initiative is aware that some people strongly favor retaining 

their school mascots. During the listening sessions, however, initiative staff members did not 

hear this viewpoint; thus it is not reflected in this report.

WHIAIANE found feedback from these sessions invaluable in forming its recommended next 

steps. The initiative further expects that information from these sessions will guide its future 

work and goals — to address the unique and culturally related academic needs of AI/AN 

students and to ensure that they receive an excellent education.

 Recommendations primarily pertaining to the federal government include the 

following:

 Identify and share positive community practices. Identify current school programs as 

models for implementing change and share best practices among grantees funded by the 

U.S. Department of Education.
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 Conduct outreach and engagement regarding the civil rights complaints process.

OCR, in coordination with WHIAIANE, should conduct outreach regarding the process 

for filing a civil rights complaint. Parents and students should have easy access to the 

procedures and resources for doing so.

 Provide guidance regarding mascots and imagery. OCR should explore ways to guide 

schools and institutions of higher education regarding the potentially harmful effects of

Native imagery and symbolism, including school mascots and logos, especially on Native 

youth.

 Better identify and report the race and ethnicity of students. Conduct outreach to 

encourage states and school districts to improve Native students’ self-identification of 

race and ethnicity. To help meet the needs of AI/AN students, support the disaggregation 

of racial and ethnic data-reporting at the state and district levels through the use of 

subcategories for students in the Hispanic and “two or more races” categories.

 Recommendations primarily pertaining to states and local districts include the 

following:

 Support Native American languages. As a foundation to providing a better 

environment for Native students, where appropriate, states and school districts should 

support the preservation and revitalization of Native languages and the worldviews 

embedded in them. One way this could be done is through in-school and out-of-school 

programs and credit-bearing coursework.

 Promote positive school discipline. Promote school discipline policies that encourage 

effective and culturally responsive strategies for avoiding inequitable application of 

suspensions and expulsions. Examples include peer-to-peer mediation and restorative 

justice.

 Address teacher and school staff attitudes and behavior. Encourage educators and

school staffs nationwide to complete cultural competence training to better understand 

the cultural, social, linguistic, and historical context AI/AN students bring with them to

school. 

 Address negative student attitudes and bullying. Encourage schools to implement 

policies that discourage bullying. Promptly and effectively remedy the bullying when it 

happens, and provide more support to victims. Train school staffs on recognizing and 

addressing bullying. Additionally, encourage schools to offer programs that promote 

inclusion, and educate students and families about reporting bullying. 

 Promote cultural awareness. Promote the accurate instruction of Native American 

history and culture to all school staffs and create initiatives for parents and tribal leaders 

to engage with students. States and districts should analyze resources, strategies, and 

professional development opportunities to ensure that tribal histories are included 

accurately. 
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 Analyze mascots and imagery. States and local school districts should consider the 

historical significance and context of Native school mascots and imagery in determining 

whether they have a negative effect on students, including Native American students.

States and districts should also work with schools to develop and implement actions to 

change potentially harmful imagery and symbolism present in their student environments. 

 Address access and equity challenges. States and local districts should promote better 

understanding among schools about the access and equity challenges that AI/AN students 

may face, such as inadequate facilities and transportation, and encourage the 

development of culturally responsive, flexible school policies and resources necessary to 

support students.

 Appropriately identify students with disabilities. Promote training for educators on 

effectively distinguishing AI/AN cultural and language differences from disabilities.

Administration Initiatives

In 2011, President Obama signed Executive Order 13592, titled Improving American Indian and 

Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities. 

The White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education (WHIAIANE) was 

created by the executive order. The initiative resides within the U.S. Department of Education. 

WHIAIANE actively promotes better educational opportunities and outcomes for American 

Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. It is committed to furthering tribal selfdetermination and helping to ensure that AI/AN students, at all levels of education, have an 

opportunity to learn their Native languages and histories, and receive complete and competitive 

educations, preparing them for college, careers, and productive and satisfying lives.

As part of its effort to better understand the educational disparities faced by AI/AN youth, the 

White House compiled the 2014 Native Youth Report. In addition to addressing the historical 

consequences of misguided federal policies, the report provides valuable insight into young 

Native Americans’ educational experiences, including high school completion rates, school 

environment statistics, and information on the numerous educational obstacles currently faced by 

Native students.1

Research has shown that opportunity gaps involving education frequently occur for young people 

of color.2 Within these communities, President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) initiative 

was created to help resolve these gaps for boys and young men. The initiative promotes equal 

opportunities for all young men, regardless of their circumstances, by aiming to ensure the 

following six milestones:

1. All children enter school cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally ready.

2. All children read at grade level by third grade.

3. All youths graduate from high school.
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4. All youths complete postsecondary education or training.

5. All youths out of school are employed.

6. All youths remain safe from violent crime.

A private-sector effort called Boys and Men of Color is also available to marginalized youths.

This group strives for student success and has goals similar to those of the MBK initiative.

To assist schools in better serving all students, the U.S. departments of Education (ED) and 

Justice (DOJ) have also launched the Supportive School Discipline Initiative (SSDI) to support 

the use of school discipline practices that foster safe, supportive, and productive learning 

environments while keeping students in school. SSDI focuses on partnerships between 

education, police, and court officials that aim to reduce the disproportionate exclusionary 

discipline and youth arrests or referrals to the juvenile justice system experienced by students of 

color and students with disabilities. A major SSDI milestone was the ED and DOJ release of a 

school discipline guidance package that includes a letter explaining how schools can administer 

student discipline without discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin; guiding 

principles for improving school climate and discipline drawn from emerging research and best 

practices; a directory of federal school climate and discipline resources; and a compendium of 

pertinent state school discipline laws and regulations. The guidance package and related 

materials are available at www2.ed.gov/school-discipline.

During the first few months of his presidency, President Obama created the White House 

Council on Women and Girls (the council) to ensure that every agency, department, and office in 

the federal government accounts for the needs and aspirations of women and girls in every aspect 

of their work. The council and presidential administration have demonstrated dedication to 

providing better access to education for women and girls of color. The council’s November 2014 

report, Women and Girls of Color: Addressing Challenges and Expanding Opportunity, cited 

improved educational achievement outcomes for women and girls of color. From 2009 to 2012, 

the graduation rate at four-year colleges and universities increased by 2.7 percentage points for 

AI/AN women, the second highest increase during this period for any race or ethnicity.3

To help begin a national dialogue about creating policies and programs to mobilize and cultivate 

the next generation of Native leaders, the president announced the Generation Indigenous (GenI) initiative in December 2014. Gen-I is a comprehensive effort designed to address the 

educational needs, physical health, mental health, and social service needs of Native youth to 

ensure all of them can reach their full potential. The initiative focuses on improving the lives of 

Native youth through new investments and increased engagement, including a targeted youthengagement program, a new demonstration grant priority through the U.S. Department of 

Education, and a continuation of Bureau of Indian Education reform efforts. Key programs 

address education, health and nutrition, juvenile justice, housing, and youth engagement.
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2014 Student Environment Listening Sessions

The WHIAIANE collaborated with tribal leaders and communities to design and execute the 

school environment listening sessions. The sessions involved on-site meetings at nine locations 

across the country during October and November 2014. Along with opportunities to participate 

in person at the events, the public could submit comments for the record via e-mail at

tribalconsultation@ed.gov.

In these listening sessions, WHIAIANE and OCR requested to hear testimony from students, 

school staff, and community members on school environments for AI/AN students, with the goal 

of better understanding the challenges and opportunities that AI/AN students face. While 

focusing on the voices of Native youth, the listening sessions were also open for input from 

teachers, school administrators, parents, and community advocates. 

Listening Session Locations

WHIAIANE and OCR held listening sessions in nine locations across the nation. This report 

includes testimony gathered from these sessions.

Table 1. Listening Session Locations and Dates

City State Location Date

Franklin Wisconsin Indian Community School 

of Milwaukee

10/10/14

Anchorage Alaska Dena'ina Civic and 

Convention Center

10/21/14

La Crosse Wisconsin La Crosse Center 10/26/14

Troy New York Russell Sage College 11/5/14

Los Angeles California Autry National Center of 

the American West

11/13/14

Oklahoma City Oklahoma Oklahoma City Public 

Schools Administration 

Building

11/18/14

East Lansing Michigan Kellogg Conference Center 11/19/14

Tulsa Oklahoma Wilson Teaching and 

Learning Academy

11/21/14

Seattle Washington Daybreak Star Cultural 

Center

11/24/14
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Introductory Presentations

At each listening session, federal staffs delivered introductory presentations to the local audience 

to introduce WHIAIANE, its goals, and its major topics of concern, and to explain the U.S. 

Department of Education’s commitment to equal access and educational excellence for all 

students through OCR. The presentations covered information on several topics, including nondiscriminatory discipline in schools, the potential harm caused by Native school mascots, and the 

process to file a complaint with OCR.

Discipline Issues. Presentations by federal staff members included information on school 

discipline. Data shows that many schools rely heavily on suspension and expulsion for 

disciplinary actions.4The use of suspension as discipline has steadily increased over the last 40 

years. About 95 percent of suspensions occur over nonviolent, disruptive behavior.5 Overall, 

students of color, including AI/AN students, are suspended and expelled at a rate that is 

disproportionately higher than their white classmates’ rate. Schools suspend AI/AN boys at more 

than twice the rate of white boys and AI/AN girls at more than three times the rate of white 

girls.6

Suspension and expulsion negatively affect students by causing loss of instructional time and 

missed opportunities. Affected students are

 less likely to graduate on time;

 more likely to be suspended again;

 more likely to repeat a grade;

 more likely to drop out; and 

 more likely to become involved in the juvenile justice system.

The wide-reaching impact of suspension and expulsion make it imperative to address disparities 

in rates of school discipline. 

Mascots and Imagery. There are approximately 2,400 public schools in the United States with 

Native mascots or nicknames that incorporate American Indian caricatures. WHIAIANE 

estimates that 64 percent of these are of particular concern because they depict a demeaning 

combination of two-dimensional or three-dimensional caricatures of Native Americans. These 

schools are frequently distant from tribal support centers like tribal reservations, Indian lands, or 

urban native centers. Nationwide, WHIAIANE estimates that 94 percent of school districts, 

including Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools, had 10 percent or fewer AI/AN students 

in their student body during the 2012–13 school year.

7 As a result, their schools contain low 

numbers of AI/AN students. Therefore, AI/AN students who may be harmed by those mascots 

are often isolated from AI/AN support networks. 

Civil Rights. Federal staffs shared that there are several federal resources available to aid the 

improvement of school environments for AI/AN students. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
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protects students from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. Title VI prohibits 

differing treatment based on race. Title VI also forbids schools from adopting rules that, although 

not implemented for a racially discriminatory purpose, result in students of a certain race being 

disproportionately affected without an educational justification. 

Students themselves may file discrimination complaints with OCR. Parents, teachers, or others 

who are aware of discrimination may file a complaint on behalf of the student. Usually, the 

complaint must be filed within 180 days of the incident. OCR investigates complaints to 

determine if a school discriminated, encourages schools to voluntarily resolve such concerns, and 

monitors agreements by schools to remedy discrimination. 

Local Presentations 

In each listening session, local experts led a presentation related to school environments for 

AI/AN students. While many of the presentations communicated messages of hope, the 

presenters also called attention to the unfair and harmful treatment many AI/AN students 

experience within their learning environments, especially those in schools away from tribal 

support networks and with low AI/AN enrollment. The following section provides highlights, 

drafted by WHIAIANE, of the introductory presentations provided at each site. The content of 

each highlight reflects our understanding of the speaker’s research and opinions.

Franklin, Wisconsin

Dr. Lyle Ignace (Coeur d’Alene), Executive Director of the Gerald L. Ignace Indian 

Health Center

The story of a young Wisconsin student provides a helpful case study to understand Native 

student environments. A young boy, who initially was living with his great grandmother on the 

reservation, was transferred to a public school hundreds of miles away. After being separated 

from his tribal community and brought to an entirely new environment, he experienced a rough 

transition into his new school. Despite never having been identified as needing additional 

behavioral support, within his first two weeks he was targeted as a “bad kid” and set apart from 

the other students. In one instance, the youth’s gym teacher forced him to stand by himself on the 

red line of the gym floor during class time. This experience was isolating and damaging as the 

child transitioned to a new school. 

After the transfer, the staff responsible for the student, who was eligible for special education 

services and who had an Individualized Education Program, quickly shifted its focus from 

helping him adjust to his new school environment to implementing strict behavioral 

interventions.

Through Dr. Ignace’s presentation of this case study, youths, parents, and community members 

at the listening session were able to begin the conversation about what AI/AN students 
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experience in their school environments and how the environment deeply impacts their ability to 

receive a quality education. 

Anchorage, Alaska

Kyle Wark (Tlingit), Researcher and Policy Analyst, Alaska Native Policy Center, 

First Alaskans Institute

Alaska Natives endured many hardships in the past, and the pain of those hardships exists today, 

manifesting in a variety of ways. Alaska Natives suffered the traumas of forced assimilation; 

both boarding schools and applications for U.S. citizenship required denying connections to 

tribal communities and cultures. Alaska Natives are struggling to recover from these hardships 

and still face frequent discrimination, which has an adverse effect on many of the students’ 

academic experiences.

La Crosse, Wisconsin

Barbara Munson (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin), Board Member, Wisconsin Indian 

Education Association 

Wisconsin Indian people have been actively educating the public about and advocating for the 

elimination of Native team names and logo stereotypes in K–12 public education settings since 

Carol Hand, a Sokaogan Chippewa woman, filed a discrimination complaint against the Milton 

School District on behalf of her daughter in 1991. When Hand's daughter received recognition 

for academic excellence in French language studies, her award certificate was printed over the 

Milton School District's Redman logo, which depicted the head of a Plains Indian warrior in 

feathered headdress. This symbolism turned the intended honor into a mockery of the younger 

Hand's culture, and instead of feeling pride, she experienced revulsion. Her mother tried to 

educate school officials, and when that failed, she filed a discrimination complaint against the 

school district. The Hand family experienced verbal threats and eventually moved from the area. 

The case was not decided by the courts because the complainant no longer resided in the district.

David O’Connor (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), American Indian 

Studies Consultant, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Wisconsin has 11 federally recognized American Indian nations and tribal communities in the 

state. About 13,000 American Indian students attend public, charter, private, or tribally

controlled schools in Wisconsin. Educational decision making is becoming increasingly data 

driven, and in Wisconsin there is a great deal of information publicly available for schools, 

parents, families, and community members to monitor and analyze student progress. The 

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction encourages the examination of this education data.
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Troy, New York

Dr. Michael Taylor (Seneca Nation), Visiting Professor, Ithaca College; and Dr. 

Richard Rose (Cherokee), Adjunct Professor, Schenectady Community College 

Inaccurate data, showing fewer AI/AN students than there really are, may lead to difficulty in 

hearing and addressing student concerns. For example, in 2010, the U.S. Census reported the 

number of AI/AN students at almost twice the number calculated by the state of New York. The 

state may have failed to count many urban Indians living in New York City. The inaccuracy of 

this type of data is a huge issue, with federal and New York state population data matching only 

14 percent of the time. Inaccurate data likely means that many student concerns are never 

identified and subsequently not addressed.

In a 2014 article published by the Center for American Progress, the authors state that research 

has shown that the use of Native mascots can cause AI/AN youth to internalize cultural abuse.

8

These Native stereotypes are so powerful that a young Native man was cajoled into dressing up 

and playing the “Plains Indian” during a school assembly. Not realizing he was subscribing to an 

unhealthy stereotype, he grew confused and unhappy when classmates stood up and started 

shouting at him in disapproval.

Negative depictions of Native Americans can make students feel stressed, anxious, confused, or 

embarrassed, leading them to feel increasingly uncomfortable in their student environment. 

Because AI/ANs are perceived as conquered, their identity effectively becomes a commodity and 

form of entertainment. The commonly seen caricature of a “Plains Indian” wearing a “war 

bonnet” and “war paint” becomes a metaphor in the public eye, obstructing the view of the real 

Native Americans who are a vastly diverse people. Native mascots persist because they are 

profitable for private corporations. However, this type of imagery is damaging to AI/AN youth 

because it interferes with their sense of identity.
1 0

Los Angeles, California

James V. Fenelon, Professor of Sociology and Director at Center for Indigenous 

Peoples Studies, California State University, San Bernardino

California has one of the largest AI/AN populations of any state in the nation. Among that 

population, students face discrimination against their heritage, internalized oppression, and 

stereotyping. Native mascots reinforce negative stereotypes. 

Historically, the Native Americans of California endured time at missions that attempted to snuff 

out Native culture. California data shows that AI/AN students in California still experience 

disadvantages due to their history and the issues they face. These disadvantages often inhibit 

AI/AN student success and must be addressed so that students may succeed.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Tribal Leaders: Archie Mason, Speaker, Osage Nation Congress; and Edwina 

Butler-Wolfe, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe

Tribal leaders have continually witnessed issues in the school system related to Native youth. 

Complaints to federal agencies seem to go unheard. Educators often ask the tribal leaders for 

help; they need someone to hear them and know the tribes will listen, even if they cannot help. 

Problems facing AI/AN students need national attention.

Community Leaders: Sydna Yellowfish, American Indian Education Coordinator, 

Edmond Public Schools; and Susan Whitehorse Johnson, Indian Education Director, 

Walters Public Schools

Positive events, like Indian Youth Career Day, encourage Native youth by providing examples of 

Native American professional successes. The Edmond Public Schools also run an Oklahoma 

Indian Student Honor Society and host the annual Oklahoma Indian Challenge Bowl, an 

academic competition about Oklahoma tribal and U.S. history. These programs improve school 

for many AI/AN students because participation affirms their cultures and identities. These 

programs also support and promote student identities. More funding for Indian education is 

needed to continue these types of programs.

East Lansing, Michigan

Matthew Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), Director, and Melissa Claramunt, 

Native American Liaison, Michigan Department of Civil Rights

Research supports the negative impact of Native mascots and imagery. When youths see their 

tribes’ sacred icons, images, and artifacts used as props, self-esteem and cultural pride suffer. 

Ultimately, harmful imagery perpetuates stereotypes and condones cultural abuse from others. 
1 1

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Jacob Tsotigh (Kiowa), Indian Education Technical Assistant Coordinator, South 

Central Comprehensive Center; and Dwight Pickering, Director of American Indian 

Education Culture/Heritage, Oklahoma State Department of Indian Education

Oklahoma shows opportunity for progress in AI/AN education. Several initiatives, such as the 

Native American taskforce, are working to improve education for AI/AN students. The taskforce 

assesses education and provides suggestions to school superintendents, who share those 

suggestions with state officials. After this process, schools realized the possibility of teaching 

Native languages. 

Many aspects of Oklahoma’s education for AI/AN students still need improvement. For 

example, minority students need more support to ultimately decrease their overrepresentation 

within the juvenile justice system.

Seattle, Washington

Patricia Whitefoot, Yakama Nation, President-Elect, Board of Directors, National 

Indian Education Association; and John McCoy, Tulalip Tribes of Washington, 

Washington State Senator

The health and well-being of Native children are central to tribal sovereignty and to the success 

of tribal communities. The Native Children’s Agenda is an initiative that aims to improve the 

social, emotional, and mental health of children to set them on the path to a successful future. 

AI/AN students need increased support from the schools that serve them to overcome the 

disadvantages they face. Improving school environments will be a critical component of 

improving school outcomes for AI/AN students. 

Student Voices Session

WHIAIANE heard through the listening sessions that some students, parents, or school staff may 

fear retaliation for verbalizing negative educational experiences. While the listening sessions 

aided in collecting many useful findings about AI/AN school environments, Secretary of 

Education Arne Duncan also chose to conduct a Student Voices session where students could 

discuss concerns with the secretary and his senior staff, including Assistant Secretary for Civil 

Rights Catherine Lhamon. The Student Voices session allowed those interested in sharing their 

stories in a less public forum to connect with Secretary Duncan directly. Fifteen students who 

participated in the 2014 school environment listening tour joined the secretary on Dec. 8, 2014 at 

the U.S. Department of Education’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. This session acted as a

capstone to the listening sessions in collecting information on school environments. Testimony 

from this session appears throughout this report. 
1 2

Tribal Consultations

Throughout the U.S. Department of Education’s consultations with tribes and tribal 

communities, tribal leaders have urged the department to gather information from Native youth 

about the quality of their school environments and to take action to improve Native students’ 

school experiences. WHIAIANE’s school environment listening sessions emerged from the 

department’s previous listening sessions with tribal leaders as well as formal tribal consultations. 

Testimony from these efforts regarding Native student environments appears throughout this 

report. 

Issues and Recommendations

During the listening sessions, WHIAIANE gathered information from participants on many 

issues such as bullying, student mental health, instructional content, and Native languages. This 

report summarizes that information. Each section includes a brief description of a common 

theme found across listening sessions followed by supporting data and testimonies from youths,

parents, teachers, and others affected by these issues. The report also discusses community 

programs that bring hope and success to AI/AN students and present areas in need of 

improvement. To convey speaker thoughts and attitudes as authentically as possible, this report 

includes direct quotes from the listening sessions and from previous tribal consultations. Please 

be advised that some of the language included in the direct quotes may be graphic. The report 

also includes summaries of select testimonies; within the testimony sections of the report, any 

statement attributed to a participant that is not in direct quotations is a paraphrase of the 

participant’s statement. Where possible, the report reflects participants’ tribal affiliations based 

on available public information. Within this report, the terms “American Indian and Alaska 

Native,” “Native American,” and “indigenous” are used interchangeably as is necessary for each

term’s specific use.

Positive Community Practices

WHIAIANE heard that many schools, tribes, and urban 

Indian communities already institute practices to improve 

educational experiences for AI/AN students. Existing 

efforts incorporate culture and languages in the school 

curricula and provide these students with extracurricular 

programming. These practices report successes for the 

children they serve. A next step involves learning from

these practices and scaling them to a larger level, enabling

other communities across the nation to build from these 

positive practices.

Students brainstorming ideas
1 3

Recommendation

Study and learn from successful community practices to inform actions for similar 

programs in the future.

The following quotations and summarized testimonies from WHIAIANE’s listening sessions 

demonstrate the many positive efforts already in place to support positive environments for 

Native students:

Testimony

“We go to Anchorage area high schools and bring [Alaska Native youth] to the [Alaska 

Native] Heritage Center, and they take dance or art classes, and those [who] are involved 

increase their graduation rates. ... Heritage Center has kept one hundred percent of our 

middle school students going to the next level.”

Annette Evans Smith (Yup'ik, Suqpiaq, Athabascan), President, 

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Anchorage Listening Session

“We focus on the emotional impact of school on boys. One of the major projects is an 

after-school club. We have community members come and interact with the boys to help 

them discover who they are. We have two camps every summer for younger kids. ... We do 

a ‘dreams’ process graphic illustration setting for the boys that they do with their parents and 

teachers to build relationships and set goals with them. We do family nights at the schools, 

and it’s been a great program to be a part of. This is the last year, but we are trying to get 

more funding.”

Lori Moore, Project Coordinator, Project Ki’L

Anchorage Listening Session

According to Native American Liaison Melissa Claramunt, the Michigan Department of 

Civil Rights incentivizes AI/AN students to seek higher education by providing the Michigan 

Indian Tuition Waiver. This waiver allows eligible students to attend public Michigan higher 

education institutions free of tuition.

Lansing Listening Session
1 4

“I work at an elementary school with five Native students. One of the things I feel is a big 

issue with school discipline is we don’t have Native identity in the schools. They don’t see 

successful Natives where they are. ... When we talk about Native history, I always dress ...

in my traditional dress, and for my Native students, that’s always their highlight because 

they are represented.”

Cho Werito (Muscogee [Creek]/Navajo), Teacher

Oklahoma City Listening Session

The Rural Alaska Community Program provides children with resources for success. The 

program’s community development director, Cathie Clements, shared that these resources 

include child success programs and an elder mentoring program in which elder volunteers 

tutor children and pass along cultural teachings.

Anchorage Listening Session

Bunky Echo-hawk (Pawnee/Yakama), an artist and activist, spoke about the importance of 

cultural education, along with classroom education, to help Native Americans heal from 

centuries of educational injustice by fostering pride in what makes them unique. 

“Education is a foundation of what we need to heal as individual nations and as individuals

... The stories that were presented [today] were stories I experienced, as well, in my own 

education. It made me look back a few more generations to the boarding school era, where 

things have changed. There has been some progress.”

Tulsa Listening Session

The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School has addressed some of the issues facing Alaska 

Native students, said Principal Patsy Shaha (Alutiiq). It adheres to a different curriculum 

than traditional schools. For example, the school offers two hours per week of Yup’ik 

instruction. Elders visit the school to speak each week. The school offers a berry-picking trip 

in the summer and an ice-fishing expedition in the winter. 

Anchorage Listening Session
1 5

Issues and Concerns

Although positive community programs have succeeded in improving educational experiences 

for many AI/AN students, WHIAIANE heard from participants that issues such as cultural 

shaming and negative teacher attitudes persist in many learning environments. The following 

sections describe issues that WHIAIANE identified as harmful to students and others.

Hesitancy to File Civil Rights Complaints

During the listening sessions, people experiencing alleged civil rights offenses reported to 

WHIAIANE that they hesitated to file formal complaints with OCR. Often, the victims 

expressed fear of retaliation in the forms of isolation, loss of employment, or even endangerment 

of one’s self or family.

Although OCR has taken several steps to simplify the process for filing complaints of civil rights 

violations and to inform communities of schools’ obligations to prevent discrimination and 

retaliation, some students and community members 

reported that they found the filing process too difficult to 

complete. WHIAIANE also heard, due in part to the lack of 

consistent reporting, that many harmful actions and 

attitudes exist within school environments. Increasing 

victims’ comfort in the process of filing complaints is 

crucial to effectively addressing these issues and improving 

school environments.

Recommendation

WHIAIANE and OCR should conduct outreach to inform people about what constitutes a 

civil rights violation and the procedure for filing complaints of discrimination with OCR. 

The U.S. Department of Education should provide technical support throughout the 

process to those who choose to file.

Testimony

“I also want to thank OCR for their information [on filing a civil rights complaint] today. 

We need to make sure that everyone has this information because if more people had it, you 

would be flooded with reports. I wish I had this information a few years ago because I 

would have been using it a ton.” 

Sarah Adams-Cornell (Choctaw), Parent

Oklahoma City Listening Session

Students sharing their experiences
1 6

“The accessibility for parents to the enforcement agency — at the federal level, this process 

of justice is broken. The due process to file a complaint and to get school districts to comply 

with plans. ... the barriers are put up at the federal level. The Office [for Civil Rights] cuts 

parents off. Something has to change — process, policies. ... We even had lunch with upper 

people in the department of education, and we couldn’t access the department of education 

for the particular case. If we are having trouble trying to access this, imagine the parents 

who are on their own.”

Deborah Sioux Cano-Lee, Board President, Washington Indian Civil Rights Commission

Seattle Listening Session

Lack of Detailed Racial and Ethnic Data

Numerous factors beyond the classroom impact the school environment. For example, 

WHIAIANE heard that when students who self-identify as fully or partially AI/AN are underreported, they do not receive important school services for 

Native students. ED’s 2007 Final Guidance on 

Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic 

Data to the U.S. Department of Education implements the 

Office of Management and Budget’s 1997 governmentwide standards and requires the collection of racial and 

ethnic information from individuals and the reporting of 

aggregate data collected in seven categories.9The 2007 

guidance permits states and districts to create racial or 

ethnic categories that are subcategories of the seven 

reporting categories if the school or state collecting the data 

deems such distinctions valuable. For example, if there is a 

diverse population of Hispanics who are also AI/AN, and 

differentiation of the multiple subcategories is worthwhile to the state or school, data within the 

Hispanic category may be collected. These subcategories would be for the use of the state or 

educational institution and would not be reported to the department.

Multiracial school districts and schools are encouraged to consider the use of subcategories of 

data about students who identify as AI/AN to inform actions that will help students succeed.

Participants during the listening sessions also encouraged the federal government to explore 

revising its government-wide racial and ethnic reporting categories.

Nationally, approximately 31,000 fewer AI/AN students were reported in 2010–11 than 2009–10 

after the U.S. Department of Education’s new guidelines for reporting race and ethnicity data on 

students went into effect. In some states, this cut the number identified as AI/AN in their school 

systems by 30 percent.

10 Due to the updated two-part question format in the reporting procedure, 

most of these students were identified as Hispanic despite their connections to tribal 

communities. In WHIAIANE’s listening sessions, participants raised concerns that underEducators listening to 

presentations
1 7

identification of AI/AN students has resulted in those students not receiving important school 

services available for Native students.

Recommendation

To more effectively highlight and address AI/AN student issues, states and local districts 

should ensure that students and staff are provided with the opportunity to self-identify 

their ethnicity and race on the two-part data collection form. If one or both parts of the 

two-part question are unanswered, school officials should take steps to ensure that the 

respondent has intentionally refused to complete both parts of the question before using 

observer identification if there is not enough information in the response to allow for 

proper reporting within one of the seven racial categories. In addition, ED should provide 

technical assistance to states and districts to improve implementation of the department’s 

2007 guidance on the collection and reporting of race and ethnicity, including technical 

assistance for creating subcategories of the reported Hispanic and races categories at the 

state and school levels for those who are American Indian/Alaska Native. 

Testimony

“Data reports are great, but we are losing data on mixed race [students]. We need data to be 

American Indian and Alaska Native alone and American Indian and Alaska Native mixed. 

We need the Department of Education to report this out.”

Malia Villegas (Sugpiaq/Alutiiq), Kodiak Council Member

Anchorage Listening Session

“I go to education conferences, but they mostly deal with reservations and rural 

environments. They don’t mention urban communities and the issues facing urban Native 

education.”

Philip Hale (Navajo), Education Director, Southern California Indian Center, Inc.

Los Angeles Listening Session

“Because Native students are dispersed as a sprinkling across the districts here and there, change 

is not deemed as important since their numbers are not noticeable and our students are less likely 

to speak out ... or are patronized or not listened to if they do.”

Alana Tsotigh, (Kiowa), Former Teacher

Written Testimony
1 8

“The education of American Indians and Alaska Natives is very complex. There is no one 

way to address local situations. We know that one size does not fit all. It takes an effort that 

is holistic in nature.”

John Tippeconnic (Comanche/Cherokee), Director, American Indian Studies Program

Arizona State University

Written Testimony Los Angeles Listening Session

Native Languages

Native languages across the United States are dying, and the worldviews embedded within them 

perish along with the languages. WHIAIANE heard that 

excluding Native cultures and history from classrooms 

harms the identities of AI/AN students. Including Native 

languages and cultures in curricula is healing for students 

and can begin to address a history of exclusion that began 

with mission and boarding schools and continues today. 

Existing research supports a need for further integration 

of Native languages into school curricula:

 In 2011, 33 percent of AI/AN students in grade eight had reading teachers who reported 

integrating AI/AN culture and history into instruction at least once a month.11 While 

some teachers clearly strive to support Native languages, there is room for improvement. 

During the listening sessions, WHIAIANE heard that many youths are concerned about 

the loss of Native languages and need opportunities to embrace and preserve the 

languages.

 Of American Indians and Alaska Natives ages 5 and older, 27 percent speak a language 

other than English at home.12 This significant number of AI/AN students would benefit 

from further support of their Native languages, which are a crucial component of their 

cultural identities.

Recommendation

State and local districts should seek support from schools and communities to help ensure 

the preservation and revitalization of Native languages through the development of 

culturally appropriate opportunities, such as through in-school and out-of-school 

programming and credit-bearing coursework.

Student welcoming song
1 9

Testimony

“Most teachers promote Spanish as the dominant language to learn, yet we live on an Indian 

reservation. I think ... the Seneca language will disappear if nothing changes.”

Raienkonnis Edwards (Mohawk), Recent High School Graduate

Troy Listening Session

“I would like to bring languages into our schools — our Native languages and many more; it 

spreads our language around. Our languages are dying. One Native language just died away 

because the last man who spoke it died.” 

Charitie Ropati (Yup’ik), Student

Anchorage Listening Session

“How many people can understand our language that are in this room today? That’s where 

we need to start with our curriculum and our education... It doesn’t matter what language or 

what tribe you’re from. It’s important that we emphasize our culture, and our culture is very 

important... If you take a look at this circle — sovereignty, culture, identity, language —

which one supersedes the other? If we take care of our culture, our language, and our 

identity, we take care of sovereignty. ... We need to take a look at the cultural component 

that’s implemented in the school.”

Robert Van Zile (Sokaogon Ojibwe), Ojibwe Language and Culture Teacher, 

Indian Community School of Milwaukee

Franklin Listening Session

“Research indicates Native students who have a strong foundation in their language and 

culture perform better academically. ... People always ask, ‘Why do you think that is?’ 

Because they see themselves in that situation. They see themselves represented.”

David O’Connor (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa)

American Indian Studies Consultant, 

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Franklin Listening Session

“The No Child Left Behind Act requires that a teacher be considered ‘highly qualified’ in 

order to teach a language for school credit. Most of our fluent tribal speakers are elders and 

do not always have a degree or certification to become ‘highly qualified.’ ... The tribes are 

the best judge to say who is an expert speaker of their language.”

Edwina Butler-Wolfe, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe

Oklahoma City Listening Session
2 0

School Discipline

Disciplinary practices that are based on a student’s race, color, or national origin violate federal 

law and are detrimental to the success and self-esteem of AI/AN students. Several instances of 

discriminatory discipline were reported during the listening sessions. 

Over the last 10 years, almost half of all youths in the federal justice system were tribal youth. A

tribe’s court system and ability to provide rehabilitative services are major factors in determining 

which courts handle youth offenses. Tribal officials often express concerns that exposing youths 

to the federal justice system could have long-term negative influences that they would carry with 

them upon exiting the system.13

Additionally, other existing research highlights disproportionate disciplinary measures: 

 AI/AN students represent less than 1 percent of the student population but 2 percent of 

out-of-school suspensions and 3 percent of expulsions.14

 Schools suspend AI/AN boys at more than twice the rate of white boys (13 percent of 

AI/AN boys receive an out-of-school suspension, compared to 6 percent of white boys).15

 Schools suspend AI/AN girls at more than three times the rate of white girls (7 percent of 

AI/AN girls students are suspended, compared to 2 percent of white girls).16

 About 95 percent of suspensions occur over nonviolent, disruptive behavior.17

Recommendation 

States and local districts should promote school discipline policies that are culturally 

responsive, consistently applied, and non-discriminatory.

Testimony

“When I was in 10th grade, I got randomly pulled out of class because [the teacher] thought 

I was high. They scared me and brought [me] to the nurse’s office. I asked what was going 

on, and it was awful because I am not one of the kids who causes trouble. She took my 

blood pressure and asked if I was high. They searched my bag and emptied my pockets. 

After I went to the vice principal’s office, they found pepper spray because I live in a bad 

neighborhood. I was transferred to an alternative school and wasn’t notified. My mom had 

to get an attorney to get me back into school. It shut me down and threw my year off.”

Student

Seattle Listening Session
2 1

“I’ve seen people be [beaten] and jumped. During my first few weeks in high school, there 

were a lot of fights. I’ve been told Natives are weak and dumb and no one likes them. One 

time, I went to the restroom, [and] I got hit and beat up and got suspended and kicked off the 

basketball team. The principal said, ‘Natives love starting fights.’ I didn’t even start the

fight. Our school now has a thing called ‘breaking down the walls,’ which brings kids 

together to talk about the things we like about each other, and that’s really helped.”

Student

Los Angeles Listening Session

“We view them as criminals, and then we expect them to get in the classroom ready to learn. 

... I want our kids to show up to school knowing they are coming to an educational facility, 

not jail.” 

Cedric Sunray (MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians), Teacher

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“Some people are bullying me because they are doing stuff, and I get blamed for it. ... The 

boys are calling me a girl because of my long hair.”

Christopher “Benton” Covarrubias (Jicarilla Apache, Ohkay Owingeh, Ute, Basque, Maya)

First-Grade Student

“When my son [Benton] got in a mutual fight, I was the only parent notified of the fight.” 

Laurie Covarrubias (Jicarilla Apache, Ohkay Owingeh, Ute and Basque), Parent

Los Angeles Listening Session

“[There is] a four-year-old boy from the Lac du Flambeau Tribe who recently began 

attending a public school hundreds of miles away from his tribal community. ... At this 

point, the ... boy has only been in his new school for two weeks. Immediately, he began to 

have problems in school. The teachers complained that he was out of control and couldn’t 

keep his hands to himself. He is yelled at in front of other staff and told to ‘stop it.’ ... As 

his punishment, he was told to spend the entire gym period standing on a red line on the gym 

floor on the far side of the gym because he can’t control himself. Within only two weeks, the 

staff at his new school has deemed him as a bad kid.” 

Dr. Lyle Ignace (Coeur d’Alene), Executive Director of the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center

Franklin Listening Session
2 2

Hostile Learning Environments

Research shows that hostile school environments are known to damage students’ self-esteem and 

make them feel unsafe in the classroom, decreasing their likelihood of success.18 WHIAIANE

heard during the listening sessions that many students experience hostile or discriminatory 

behavior from teachers, school administrators, or 

classmates. 

While some student testimonies were positive, most 

reflected struggles with teachers, fellow students, or both. 

Many students perceived low expectations or unfair 

disciplinary actions from educators. Students also shared 

numerous instances of being bullied or isolated by their 

classmates.

The following speaker testimonies demonstrate an overall concern about hostile learning 

environments.

Testimony

“I am concerned about the Native American students within our public school systems based 

on the alarming nationwide statistical data I have seen. It shows victimization, bullying, 

cyber bullying, racial tensions, substance abuse, gang activities, and the need for additional 

safety measures for both student and teacher.”

Edwina Butler-Wolfe, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“We shouldn’t be put into a category by the color of our skin. ... Being categorized is a big 

problem for our youth. ... When people talk down on you, that kind of makes you feel like 

‘what am I?’ ... It makes you question who you are, and you shouldn’t have to question who 

you are because you are who you are.”

Silvia Jacobs (Menominee), Recent High School Graduate

Franklin Listening Session

“My name is Hau’olihiwahiwa Moniz. There’s no nice way to make it sound white, so it 

stuck out... and I think that a lot of Natives can speak to [the] importance of a name, 

because it is who we are. We stand behind our name. That was one of the biggest culture 

Students reflecting on testimony
2 3

shock[s]. People butchered my name through ignorance, through the inability to pronounce 

it, but what I found was this overwhelming sense of ‘I will not try to pronounce it.’... They 

nicknamed me ‘Hawaii’ instead. It [is] hard when you go somewhere and no one calls you 

your actual name. ... Six months without someone referring to who you are, that’s not fun.”

Hau’olihiwahiwa Moniz (Native Hawaiian), College Student

Student Voices Session

“I have seen in the schools, and what has been brought to my attention in the court, were not 

only the bullying in schools, but the discrimination that the schools allow to happen in their 

institutions.”

Mary Ann Mills, Council Member, Kenaitze Indian Tribe

Reno Tribal Consultation

“In my many years of experience working in the educational field, I witnessed inequitable 

education and disadvantages to minority groups — and fastidiously to Native American 

students. ... I and many other Native leaders have stated our concerns, and not much has 

improved. The uphill battle for many tribes is the tumultuous relationship with local school 

district administration, teachers, and the undemocratic curriculum and state standardized 

tests that are geared towards upper- and middle-class society.

We need culturally responsive education. We need programs that are fully funded, and 

schools need to hire educators that create holistic educational systems. I believe states need 

to mandate that all schools ... teach Native American content even if they do not have 

Native American students enrolled in their schools. Our country additionally needs schools 

that consider the whole child. ... Schools need instructional leaders who can create 

supportive strategies that enhance cultural values and who are willing to explore promising 

practices to improve school designs to meet the multifaceted needs of our Native American 

students. Moreover, we need to require states to create school climates and curriculum that 

are conducive to our Native American students’ learning styles. Plus, we need to demand 

that [the] state standardized test be culturally sensitive to Native American learners.”

Juanita Holtyn (Port Gamble S’Klallam), Career and Education Director

Written Testimony
2 4

Teacher and School Staff Attitudes and Behavior

WHIAIANE heard that attitudes and actions of teachers and school administrators often 

contribute to students’ discomfort or frustration about their learning environments. Some 

students who attended listening sessions reported unfair assumptions about Native Americans 

from teachers or other school staff, resulting in low expectations or creating an environment of 

subtle racism that students may endure and often internalize.

Recommendation

States and local school districts should encourage cultural competence training for teachers

and school staff to reduce misconceptions and stereotyping.

Testimony

“Being Native at public school is really hard. ... My teachers don’t understand me. ... I feel 

like an outcast.” 

Blue Haase (Cherokee), Student

Tulsa Listening Session

A student recalled needing assistance with explaining Native American culture for a cultural 

identity assignment. When she approached her teacher for assistance, the teacher 

commented that all Native Americans are alcoholics.

Seattle Listening Session

“In my eighth-grade history class, my teacher gave a lesson about Natives in general and 

said Natives were ‘violent, vicious vermin,’ and this made me really mad. The teacher used 

the word ‘cannibal,’ and after, my classmates turned to me and said, ‘Are you a cannibal?’ 

This is direct bullying, but nothing can be done about it because that’s what the teacher said. 

So my sister, mother, and I came into the school and presented on the actual history of 

Columbus. We shouldn’t have to do this. The teacher should know the correct history. We 

gave another perspective. The teacher should know both sides.”

Isabella Cornell (Choctaw), Student

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“[My teacher] began making remarks on [Columbus Day], and I thought it was really mean and 

unprofessional of him. I remember defending myself and saying something like, ‘At least my 

people don’t go around raping other people’s women,’ and [my teacher] said, ‘Yeah, and my 

people’s women don’t go around raping other people’s men.’ For me, it was a really weird and 

confusing remark that he made because it wasn’t true. 
2 5

There’s another comment he made when my sister said, ‘My president didn’t go around 

randomly killing 38 people.’ I think he said, ‘Well, my people didn’t go around scalping 

random people.’ I am just really mad, and during the debate I was mad. The teacher could 

have stopped it and been professional about the topic. He didn’t have to continue his 

remarks. He should have had the upper hand and said that this is not okay. He also could 

have said, ‘end of argument.’

I know that claims are past history and that it has already happened, but if that’s true, why 

didn’t his comments stop? People who are racist have no respect. I know that this was very 

wrong, and I also know that I could have stopped the argument, but so much of me wanted 

to prove how my people actually are. I know for a fact that if this were some other kind of 

event, say, like the Pearl Harbor attack or 9/11, if we were to make jokes about these things, 

it wouldn’t be funny and people would get really offended. So I don’t think it’s okay to start 

making jokes about Native people and how our history was. 

Through the whole thing, I feel like I did the right thing. I need to stand up for my people 

and myself, but at the end of that class, [my teacher] said that me and my sister won the 

argument, and as a prize, we will win a [smallpox] blanket. He didn’t have to say that to 

make himself feel good or better about himself. This whole thing made me mad, and it 

probably would have made thousands of other Native people mad or even angrier than that.”

Sarah Rave, Student

La Crosse Listening Session

“The research tells us that ... if somebody is more grounded in their culture and has more of 

a sense of self and identity, then they’re more likely to succeed in the classroom.”

Russ McDonald (Dakota/Arikara), President, United Tribes Technical College

Fort Yates Tribal Consultation

Tatiana Ticknor (Tlingit, Dena'ina, Yup'ik), a student, indicated that teachers at her 

previous school often treated her like she needed special help when she did not, perhaps 

because she spoke in her Native tongue. In fact, at the time of the session, she was on track 

to graduate early. 

Anchorage Listening Session

“My sister ... is a freshman at Albuquerque High School. ... Earlier this year, in her health class, 

they had studied statistics of diabetes among Native Americans. ... She said her teacher, during 

their class time, he was giving a lecture on obesity, and at the end he said, ‘If you want to know 

more, just ask anyone who is Native or in the Native community.’ My sister, being a freshman 

this year and the only Native American in that classroom, felt the pressure and felt all the rest of 
2 6

the students’ eyes looking at her. ... I applauded her for speaking out right away and not holding 

it in. She addressed her teacher by saying she did not think what he said was right and found it 

offensive. ... Later that evening, the teacher apologized by calling our mother. My mother ...

shared with him the negative impact of what he said had on her [daughter] and the rest of the 

students.”

Shandiin Church (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi/Navajo), College Student

Lansing Listening Session

“This past year I graduated [high school], and I went through 4 years of being harassed by 

my band director. He would address me as ‘squaw.’ Over the years, he would make jokes 

about my heritage. ‘Oh, are you doing something Cherokee? Are you going to become a 

princess or something?’”

Liz Burns (Cherokee), Recent High School Graduate

Anchorage Listening Session

“I have nieces who are having issues getting access to information about college because 

their school guidance counselors are telling them that Indians don’t normally make it to 

college. (Instead, they end up pregnant.)”

Cheri Thomas, (Quinault/Yurok), Commissioner, Los Angeles Native American Indian Commission

Los Angeles Listening Session

“There was this teacher in the high school who was a history teacher. Two of my friends 

were talking to the teacher about Native Americans, and he brought up bad stuff about 

Native Americans. They fought that response. ... [My friend] said that their white men 

raped our Native women and he said, ‘Well, they are Native women. They’re all bound by 

white men,’ and the students were really hurt by that. All the other kids just laughed; they 

thought it was just a funny joke.”

Calista Stumblingbear (Ho-Chunk), Student

Student Voices Session

“If you are brown enough, you don’t belong in the advanced classes.”

This is how Valerie Davidson (Yup’ik), Trustee of the First Alaskans Institute, summarized 

low teacher expectations for AI/AN students. She shared a story of a student who earned a 

perfect score on a test; yet, her teachers told her the class was too difficult for her. 

Valerie Davidson (Yupik), Trustee, First Alaskans Institute

Anchorage Listening Session
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“The biggest issues are ... not those incredible good and bad stories; it’s a more subtle 

racism of low expectations.”

Janelle Vanasse, Director of Secondary Education at Lower Kuskokwim School District 

Anchorage Listening Session

“I remember being in high school and my teacher ... said, ‘All Indians are on food stamps.’ 

I was the only Native in class and was really embarrassed.”

Jacqueline Holder (Comanche), Chair, Indian Education Parent Advisory Committee

Oklahoma City Listening Session

Student Attitudes and Bullying

Bullying fosters a climate of fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the physical and 

psychological health of its victims. It also creates conditions that negatively affect learning, 

thereby undermining the ability of students to achieve their full potential. Some bullying may 

qualify as harassment under federal antidiscrimination laws enforced by OCR. 

Bullying and harassment may take many forms, including verbal acts and name‐calling; graphic 

and written statements, which may include the use of cell phones or the Internet; or other 

conduct that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating. They do not have to include 

intent to harm, be directed at a specific target, or involve repeated incidents. Harassment creates 

a hostile environment when the conduct is sufficiently serious. Such hostility interferes with or 

limits a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or opportunities 

offered by a school. When such harassment is based on race, color, national origin, sex, or 

disability, and a school fails to respond appropriately if it knew or reasonably should have known 

about the harassment, it violates the civil rights laws that OCR enforces.

A 2013 study by Evelyn M. Campbell and Susan E. Smalling reported that 54 percent of AI/AN

students participating in the 2010 Minnesota Student Survey experienced some form of bullying. 

Of those students, 29.3 percent experienced threats, 47.5 percent experienced physical violence, 

and 23.5 percent experienced both.19 Additionally, in several states with high Native student 

populations, including New York, Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and 

Maryland, AI/AN students were the most likely or second most likely to be bullied of any racial

or ethnic group.20 Campbell and Smalling’s study demonstrated that “these high levels of 

victimization and potential bullying experienced may lead to several issues for students, 

including not feeling safe in school, problems with academics, and potentially dropping out.”21

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2011 through 2013, the rate 

of suicides among AI/AN students ages 10 through 17 reached 6.5 percent, the highest rate for

any race or ethnicity during this same two-year period.

22 A 2011 study linked bullying as a 

contributing factor to the rising suicide rate among AI/AN youth, reiterating the sense of urgency 
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around bullying that the listening sessions highlighted. The study advises that “culturally 

responsive educators teach skills related to empathy and compassion, and establish social norms 

and rules that respect all students.” The study continues, “AI/AN students attending culturally 

responsive and inclusive schools will feel connected, empowered, and better prepared to address 

discriminatory bullying and harassment.”23

During the listening sessions, many speakers shared stories of bullying and harassment that 

ranged from name-calling to physical attacks. Several students reported distress due to being 

isolated from others at school. WHIAIANE heard evidence of inadequate counseling and 

behavioral health support to address such harm. Specifically, WHIAIANE heard that bullying of 

AI/AN students is commonly ignored by teachers and school staff, and that AI/AN students who 

respond to racial affronts are often punished as the instigators of misconduct. 

Recommendation

States and local school districts should promote training for all school staff so they can 

fairly and effectively recognize and respond to incidents of bullying. In addition, schools 

should provide counseling and support to victims of bullying, publicly affirm that incidents 

of misconduct are unacceptable, implement policies that promptly and effectively address 

bullying (including a mechanism for Native students, teachers, and staff to provide 

feedback on a school’s efforts), offer age-appropriate programs that promote acceptance, 

educate students and families about how to report bullying, and institute school climate 

assessments that address these issues and that are more inclusive of AI/AN students.

Testimony

“A kid in my class said, ‘Do you want a blanket to celebrate Columbus Day?’ I laughed, but 

he kept asking me as if it was a joke. Well, I know he took it as a joke, but to me, I thought 

it was really messed up and it wasn’t okay.” 

Sarah Rave, Student

La Crosse Listening Session

I’m a sixth-grader at the Black River Falls Middle School. We were playing ‘lightning,’ and, 

basically, people call me ‘Big Brown.’ When I’m playing football, basketball, or baseball, I 

usually beat them, and then they are mean to me. They call me a ‘Redskin,’ ‘Brown Head,’ 

‘Black Head,’ and I really don’t like it. On the playground, while playing kickball, the other 

team is all white, and they wanted our team to be the Redskins. ... When the white team 

would get us out, they would say, ‘Cowboys attacked the Redskins!’ I don’t like how they 

came up with names like Redskins. I don’t like that. It’s mean.”

Dontay Cloud, (Ho-Chunk), Student

La Crosse Listening Session
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“I had a friend named Hunter Deer. Due to tragic events, he had committed suicide. ... Upon 

hearing the news, there is this kid, and you want to know what he said? ...‘Well, if I was Native 

too, I’d kill myself as well.”

Raienkonnis Edwards (Mohawk), Recent High School Graduate

Troy Listening Session

“[Other students] always thought that I wasn’t a part of them. They always used to have 

groups, and they never let me be a part of it. They always excluded me from everything.” 

Ralph Williams-Humphries, Student

Franklin Listening Session

“My first winter was really harsh. I couldn’t really afford to get a coat by myself, so I was 

walking class to class with a quilt, ... so a lot of classmates really thought that that was quite 

hilarious, ... and my classmates called me ‘Hawaii cow tipping,’ where they would come up 

behind me and scare me on the ice to make me fall because they thought it was really 

funny.”

Hau’olihiwahiwa Moniz (Native Hawaiian), College Student

Student Voices Session

“We also have to look at our bullying programs because, as much as I support anti-bullying 

programs, many that I have seen claim to be race-neutral. They don’t deal with the fact that 

much of our bullying — not all, certainly — but much of it is race-based. We need 

conversations about that. As a white person, I’d say white people don’t have many 

conversations about race. Race is not an issue on the table. One of the privileges of being 

white is that you don’t have to think about race very much, and that is something that we, as 

educators, have to confront with our colleagues, but more importantly, those in higher-ups 

should also address it.”

Bob Peterson, Then-President of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association

Franklin Listening Session
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“There were two students having a very heated debate about a girl and trashing her. I didn’t 

like that, and I said, ‘What the heck are you doing? Why are talking like this [about] her?’

And he ... looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘Shut up, you stinky savage,’ and he spit in 

my face. ... I like to be a peaceful kind of guy, but I stood up ready for a fight, and I was 

quite angry. The teacher had seen the whole thing, and he only reacted when I stood up. I 

had a teacher restrain me, and I got into trouble and the teacher played it off like some kind 

of joke.”

Raienkonnis Edwards (Mohawk), Recent High School Graduate

Troy Listening Session

“We brought two girls to a teacher training — high school girls, and they had thick accents

— brilliant, lovely girls. In the Anchorage school district, they don’t talk because they are 

made fun of because of their thick accents. So they went through all of their schooling 

without speaking.”

Annette Evans Smith, President, Alaska Native Heritage Center

Anchorage Listening Session

“Our school has been using the term ‘Wahoo,’ which is a derogatory term used in the early 

ages of the United States. ... I wasn’t too happy with that, but nobody else seems to care 

because they are already so used to the bullying and name-calling that they are just like, 

‘Oh, I’m just going to give up.’ Some have dropped out.”

Autumn Martin (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), Student

Student Voices Session

Susan Wells (Kenaitze Indian Tribe/ Dena’ina), a teacher, reported that being Native 

American can mark students or teachers for bullying. Because she “doesn’t look Native,” 

she worked at a school for five years before the human resources office learned of her 

heritage. They approached her and told her that she needed to transfer, saying, “If they 

know you are Native, you become a target.”

Anchorage Listening Session

“I have been in public school forever. Since I was 5 years old, I’ve been passed around to 

different family members and foster parents. Growing up, I was in foster care, and I was the 

only Native kid around. I was separated out and no one wanted to play with me. ... I went to 

live with my uncle on [the] Navajo reservation, and even though I was Native, I was bullied 
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because I didn’t understand my culture. There is discrimination everywhere. At first I was 

discriminated [against] because I was Native and then because I wasn’t Native enough.”

Student

Los Angeles Listening Session

Lack of Cultural Awareness

WHIAIANE heard testimony regarding cultural repression or a lack of cultural awareness from 

teachers, administrators, and students. Whether unintentional or deliberate, such intolerance is 

multifaceted and creates uncomfortable or hostile situations for AI/AN students. 

In 2011, 56 percent of AI/AN students in grade four reported knowing some or a lot about their 

tribe or group’s history or traditions. Additionally, 43 percent of students in grade eight reported 

having some or a lot of knowledge of current issues important to AI/AN people.24 These 

numbers illustrate much room for improvement in encouraging cultural pride and knowledge 

among students.

Approximately a quarter of AI/AN students in grades four and eight received instruction from 

teachers who had acquired knowledge “to a large extent” from living and working in an AI/AN 

community.

25 Further, only 30 percent of school administrators serving AI/AN fourth-graders 

reported having AI/AN community members visit the school to share tribal nation history and 

traditions more than three or more times a year in 2011.26 As demonstrated by numerous 

listening session testimonies dealing with culturally insensitive teachers, formal training on 

working with AI/AN students could help improve teachers’ cultural knowledge and sensitivity. 

Cornell Pewewardy of Portland State University writes that 

culturally responsive teaching uses the child's culture to build a bridge to success in 

school achievement. Building such a bridge requires a degree of cultural literacy often 

absent in mainstream classrooms where the vast majority of AI/AN students are taught by 

non-Native teachers. Some research has shown that where the students and teachers 

share the same culture, learning is enhanced. This may be the result of AI/AN teachers' 

increased awareness of Native learning styles and their ability to fine-tune their teaching 

to their students' learning needs.27

Throughout the listening sessions, WHIAIANE heard testimony related to the concerns 

surrounding irrelevant, inaccurate, and potentially harmful effects of history lessons, as well as 

inappropriate use of Native American clothing, songs, dances, customs, and arts. Participants 

conveyed that these erroneous lessons often force Native youth into the position of having to 

correct the teacher, which marks them as targets for further bullying if the issue is not handled 

appropriately. WHIAIANE heard that history lessons, in particular, may be harmful because they 

often fail to report accurate Native American history. 
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Recommendation

States and school districts should consider including Native American history and culture 

in their curricula, including treaty rights and tribal sovereignty. An examination of 

resources, strategies, and professional development, as well as strengthened parental and 

tribal engagement with students, can help address persistent educational knowledge gaps.

Testimony

“At school there is not much covered on Native Americans. Our teachers only talk about 

Natives sometimes, usually in November around Thanksgiving. That’s not really the right 

time because Native people are here all the time. They teach us about friendly pilgrims and 

Indians—that white people and Indians have been friends all along, but we know another 

story. ... I would like our teachers to change the way they teach so Indians are not just about 

[the] past, but in the present, and we learn more than one story.”

Kiki Shawnee, Student

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“I was taught to learn our ways and respect them, but that’s not what other kids were taught. 

They were taught to be ashamed of our culture. It’s considered lame to be a bird dancer. ... 

Schools don’t teach enough about how important our history is and how the tribes are

dwindling. We are losing our language and our culture, but it’s hard to share that with our 

peers. We need to be taught about where we came from.”

Student

Los Angeles Listening Session

“I would sink down in my seat,” said Conrad Church (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), a 

parent, when recalling how Native Americans were portrayed as “savages” in history 

lessons at his school.

Lansing Listening Session

“After centuries of colonization, I find it hard to feel that my opinions or perspectives matter 

or have value in the dominant culture. ... Many times, we are the only Native students in the 

classroom. Most times, we are also the first Native person encountered by the mainly white 

student population. Sometimes, it is hard to not feel like the ‘token Indian.’ Somehow, we 

end up being representative of an entire race, rather than an individual with the same wants 

and needs as everyone else.”

Terry Jones (Seneca), College Student

Los Angeles Listening Session
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“My people are smart; we’re hard working; we’re not losers. Thousands and thousands of 

years of ancestral rights gets boiled down to coconut bras, grass skirts, and nice beaches. ...

Our Kaponapona Program [is] supposed to help our students. It’s supposed to teach them 

about basic Hawaiian things like our culture, our language. However, it seems to have been 

watered down in the past years to nothing more than paper cutouts of flowers and macaroni 

strings.”

Hau’olihiwahiwa Moniz (Native Hawaiian), College Student

Student Voices Student

Isabella Cornell, a student, reported that her teachers lectured about the first Thanksgiving 

every November, dressing the children up in headdresses. This bothered her because 

headdresses are sacred items.

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“In my history class, my history teacher asked [a group of students] to forget who [they]

were, and they would become part of the Lakota. He would be represented as Chief Black 

Buffalo. We had to write a speech on Lewis and Clark. We had to share those with the class, 

and he asked the other group to hiss to disagree or bang on the tables if they agreed to it. For 

him to teach that in high school was incorrect.”

E. A. Molly Pinkham (Nimi’ipuu/Tlingit), Student

Seattle Listening Session

“I have tried to bring many of my friends that are not Nishnabe to as many powwows or 

youth council things. ... We have an arena, which is the one that we dance around. [It’s a] 

circle, which is the heartbeat of our songs. When I took [my friend] over there and tried to

... explain, she was like, ‘Do you kill people there?’ and she kept going on with questions 

like, ‘Do you still have tomahawks? Do you use them? Have you ever scalped somebody?’ 

and I wasn’t mad. She had been programmed by regular schools to say [Natives] were 

savages.”

Autumn Martin (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi), Student

Student Voices Session

“Our music teacher makes us sing patriotic songs with lyrics like, ‘pilgrims’ pride; land 

where my fathers died; let freedom ring.’ This is offensive to me.”

Lakota Dimond (Hunkpapa Lakota), Student

Seattle Listening Session
3 4

“I think teaching more on the high school level and being more proactive on history [is 

important]. In Hollywood, there is this romanticized version. It plays into the problems we 

tend to face — we don’t exist or we are drunks. We bring no value to this world.”

Tamera Begay (Navajo), Law Student

Lansing Listening Session

“I am sad to hear that the land run [reenactments] are still happening. I remember doing 

them in school, and I have always hoped they would stop. When I was in fourth grade, my 

teacher asked my parents if I could be the first kid to walk out for the land runs to make it 

more authentic and let the kids take my land. My parents were very upset by this.”

Corey Still (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians), Listening Session Moderator

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“When I was in kindergarten, my class did a land run reenactment. We ran on the 

playground and put flags in the ground and claimed the land. I don’t remember the teachers 

telling us it was Indian land and people were taking it from them. It makes me feel 

frustrated, mad, and sad that we had to do this. Why do teachers teach something that isn’t 

right? I want land run reenactments to stop. My mom made a deal with the principal. She 

said we can do Native American presentations at the school to teach about Native history, 

language, dance, and the awesomeness of our culture if [the school] will stop doing land run 

reenactments, and my principal said yes! They promised to never do land run reenactments 

again, but not everyone can go to my school. I think all schools should do this.” 

Gabby Cornell (Choctaw), Student

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“I have been working with Native American services in Oklahoma City, and I was able to 

get advice from a lot of the people here to talk about the land run reenactments... It’s worth 

talking about again because it’s something we can change. They changed it in Norman, so 

they can change it here. We can’t just bring complaints; we have to bring solutions.”

Sarah Adams-Cornell (Choctaw), Parent

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“[Early elementary school years] are very formative years in our education system. They lay 

the foundation for all the knowledge that is gained later in life. [As a future teacher,] I am 

already contemplating how I’m going to handle in-class discussion about topics such as 

Thanksgiving. While it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to discuss how the first 

Thanksgiving was really a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women, and 
3 5

children by a colonial war party with a group of kindergarteners, I also don’t want to 

‘reenact’ a ‘first Thanksgiving’ by having half the class dress as pilgrims and the other half 

dress as Indians wearing war bonnets. The tribes in that area didn’t even wear war bonnets. 

No educator should have to face such a significant moral conflict on how to teach history.”

Amanda Anderson (Choctaw), College Student

Oklahoma City Listening Session

Gabriel de los Angeles (Snoqualmie), a doctoral student, indicated that current teachings 

about AI/AN culture tend to lack positivity and hope. He stated that schools need to inject 

joy into Native studies, whether that is through art, theater, storytelling, music, or other 

forms of “play.” 

“Play is exploration. Play is power. ... Play is hope. Play is healing.”

Seattle Listening Session

“When I was in first grade, we were doing a Thanksgiving project, and we had to decorate 

war bonnets, and I was told mine was wrong when I did it based on my Native culture.”

Walter Ahhaitty (Kiowa/Comanche/Cherokee), Planner and Grant Writer, 

Southern California Indian Center

Los Angeles Listening Session

“I never learned about any other tribes or even my own tribe in my school sometimes. Not 

seeing myself within the school textbooks definitely harmed, especially if someone is trying 

to tell you to be a lawyer or teacher someday. If you don’t see yourself in that context, or see 

it as some type of negative, it definitely has an impression on you.” 

David O’Connor (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), American Indian Studies 

Consultant, 

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Franklin Listening Session

Hau’olihiwahiwa Moniz, a Native Hawaiian student who moved to the mainland to attend 

school, encountered many stereotypes from other students. She was told she did not look 

Native Hawaiian because she does not have curly hair and is not “very dark.” They asked 

questions such as, “Do you like pineapple?” and “Have you ever seen an airplane?”

Troy Listening Session
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“There’s different definitions of success from federal government versus tribal governments. 

... Honor and respect for the Native way of life should be taught. This should be done

because our people have been here for thousands of years, teaching success in a different 

way.”

Rick Rowland (Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak), Construction Management Apprentice at Alutiiq, LLC

Anchorage Listening Session 

Tee Shawnee, an educator and parent, reported that her oldest son’s school forced him to 

read multiple textbooks with inaccurate and archaic depictions of Native Americans. 

“He would come home aggravated and upset, saying the books they were forced to read and 

write reports on were grossly inaccurate and one-sided. Our third-grade student asks 

questions as to why they only talk about Native people in the past tense and Thanksgiving 

seems to be the only time of year we are mentioned.”

Oklahoma City Listening Session

Laurie Covarrubias spoke about teaching her son the truth of Columbus Day and how that 

has affected and continues to affect American Indian people. However, she shared her 

concerns that society forces her son to celebrate it. Her son, Christopher “Benton” 

Covarrubias, a first-grader, reported that he was sent to the principal’s office after he 

discouraged his classmates from celebrating Columbus Day.

Los Angeles Listening Session

“Oftentimes, if you are a Native teacher, your role becomes multifaceted. ... For instance, if 

there is a problem with a Native student or family, [other teachers] hand it to you as though 

it is a foreign topic that they need translated.”

Tee Shawnee, Educator

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“It’s not right for Native kids to go to school and have people look at them and say, ‘You are 

not worth understanding.’ There’s an attitude of, ‘Since I don’t understand you, I’m not 

accountable to you.”

Dr. Bradley Scott, Director of Educational Transformation and Innovation,

Intercultural Development Research Association

Oklahoma City Listening Session
3 7

“There was one incident when a teacher was talking to my daughter ... and told her, ‘You 

all lived in teepees,’ and my daughter said, ‘No, we lived in ciporokes,’ meaning wigwams. 

It all comes back to identity for our kids. ... I just want the White House to know ... about 

the loss of identity. It’s here. It’s happening. Something has to happen with school systems.”

Samson Falcon (Ho-Chunk), Parent

La Crosse Listening Session

“We need to make Native American studies a mandatory course, even if just for one credit. 

Washington State is working on incorporating lesson plans based on Washington tribes’ 

language and history. This is a thing we could do in Oklahoma because we have a large 

Native population. Teachers could pull lesson plans from a website and implement them into 

their already written plans. In Washington, they are incorporating indigenous people into 

American history. When they do talk about our history, they lump us into one people group, 

‘Native American,’ and I think that’s why it’s easy to use us as mascots.”

Johnnie Jae Morris (Otoe-Missouria/Choctaw), “Not Your Mascot” Board Member

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“My pre-kindergarten child was asked to make an Indian costume (headband with paper 

feather) for their class Thanksgiving feast. The class made items and decided whether or not 

they wanted to be Indians or pilgrims. I have met with the school to bring up the issue, but 

the school said it was part of the curriculum. However, they don’t ask kids to dress up as 

other races. I also asked them to address the kids being taught the ‘10 little Indians’ song, 

which is about massacring Indians. They changed that, but won’t change the costumes for 

the feast.” 

Lucinda Myers, (Muscogee Creek), Parent

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“Our son came home and told us about being taught a ‘Native American’ song in class. I 

asked him what tribe the song was from. He didn’t know. He told his dad that the teacher 

said the music wasn’t specific to a tribe and that it was a Native American song. ... He 

should not be singing a song that he did not know or understand the words to, especially a 

Native song. My husband also explained ... that the song probably is [or] was used in 

ceremony or for a specific purpose, and to be truly honorable, we should know why we are 

singing that song before singing it.”

Donna Chrisjohn, Parent

Written Testimony
3 8

“He who controls the past, controls the future,” said a school activities coordinator who 

noted the need to present history to more accurately reflect the past.

Tulsa Listening Session

“Eighty-seven percent of the representations of Native Americans in the curriculum today in 

the United States are pre-1900. That’s ridiculous in 2014.” 

Chad Uran (White Earth Anishinaabe), Anthropologist

Seattle Listening Session

“Native people are still facing termination — termination by erasure. The exclusion of the 

hundreds upon hundreds of contributions of Native American people to this world erased 

from school [curricula] significantly impacts not only the way society views us, but the way 

our people view themselves.”

Sarah Adams-Cornell (Choctaw), Parent

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“Our staff realizes that we are Indian 12 months out of the year, and not just November. 

However, we still get some hesitation from the teachers allowing our lessons into the 

classroom the other months of the year.”

Raymond Rodgers (Seneca-Cayuga/Cherokee), Director for Indian Education

Sapulpa School District

Tulsa Listening Session

“Elementary schools, which are the foundation for learning and identity, can be the worst. 

Many teachers at this level continue to perpetuate the lies, myths, and stereotypes that have 

been there for eons, simply because ‘It's always been that way’, and ‘That's how I was 

taught.’”

Alana Tsotigh, (Kiowa), Former Teacher

Written Testimony 

“My students say, ‘How did I not know about this stuff or this history?’ I say, ‘Because it’s 

not a requirement or a part of the curriculum.’ We need to talk about this stuff in public to 

allow people to cry and laugh and work through what’s happened to us.”

Victoria Hykes Steere (Iñupiaq), Professor and Parent

Anchorage Listening Session
3 9

Mascots and Imagery

The use of Native school mascots, such as “Chiefs” or “R--skins,” has long been a concern for 

tribal communities. WHIAIANE has gathered much information from students and other 

advocates who oppose these mascots. Numerous testimonies during the listening sessions 

illustrated how stereotypical imagery and symbolism harm all students, especially AI/AN 

students, by interfering with self-identity, perpetuating 

negative stereotypes, encouraging bullying and teasing, and 

creating unhealthy learning environments. Often, students 

may not even be aware of or able to articulate the 

subconscious influence such images and symbolism can 

have on their psychological development. These harms 

have spurred many schools, colleges, and boards of 

education to eliminate such mascots, and have led many 

associations and civil rights organizations to call for ending 

their use.

28 Though a considerable number of institutions 

have changed their mascots, over 2,400 schools have yet to do so. Listening session participants 

indicated that the federal government must do more to help schools and institutions understand 

the harmful effects that stereotypes, including imagery and symbolism in the form of mascots or 

logos, have on all students, particularly AI/AN students. 

Harmful stereotypes, including via imagery and symbolism in the school environment, impact 

many vulnerable populations, including those identified on the basis of race, ethnicity, and 

disabilities. During the listening sessions, WHIAIANE heard concerns that the continual 

presence of stereotypes in schools also psychologically damages the students who perpetuate 

them. Research supports this idea, indicating that perpetuators experience increased self-esteem 

while engaging with stereotypes at the expense of Native students. 29 However, perpetuators of 

these stereotypes are not developing holistic and multi-dimensional understandings of other 

people, which can result in lower levels of empathy and hinder cross-cultural communication 

skills. 

Many tribes and tribal councils have issued formal statements and resolutions urging the removal 

of Native mascots. The Inter-Tribal Council of Five Civilized Tribes asserts, “Negative images 

and stereotypes about American Indians as mascots contribute to a hostile learning environment 

that affirms the negative images and stereotypes that persist in America about American 

Indians.” Over 40 other tribes and councils have issued similar formal statements opposing 

Native mascots, including the 20 tribes of the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, the Juaneño Band 

of Mission Indians, the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, the 12 tribes of the Great Lakes 

Inter-Tribal Council, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, and the Oneida Tribe of Indians 

of Wisconsin.

Young student prepares testimony.
4 0

In addition to issuing formal statements and resolutions, many tribes and tribal organizations 

have publicly supported efforts to eliminate Native mascots. The United South and Eastern 

Tribes, Inc. have affirmed their support of the Oneida Indian Nation’s “Change the Mascot” 

campaign. In 2011, the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association (GPTA) testified before the 

U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the stereotypical representation of Native 

Americans as mascots. In its testimony, GPTA asserted, “We find the use of Native American 

mascots to be dehumanizing and disrespectful.”30 Executive Director Scott Vele of the Midwest 

Alliance of Sovereign Tribes has also spoken out on multiple occasions against Native mascots 

and imagery. 

Likewise, in 2013, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) stated, 

When exposed to these images, the self-esteem of Native youth is harmfully impacted, 

their self-confidence erodes, and their sense of identity is severely damaged. Specifically, 

these stereotypes affect how Native youth view the world and their place in society, while 

also affecting how society views Native peoples. This creates an inaccurate portrayal of 

Native peoples and their contributions to society. Creating positive images and role 

models is essential in helping Native youth more fully and fairly establish themselves in 

today’s society.31

The listening sessions gathered numerous testimonies that validated NCAI’s concerns regarding 

mascots and imagery.

The American Psychological Association issued a statement in 2005 affirming that 

the continued use of American Indian mascots, symbols, images, and personalities ... is a 

form of discrimination against Indigenous Nations that can lead to negative relations 

between groups ... [and] has a negative impact on other communities by allowing for the 

perpetuation of stereotypes and stigmatization of another cultural group.32

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights similarly commented,

The stereotyping of any racial, ethnic, religious or other groups when promoted by our 

public educational institutions, teach all students that stereotyping of minority groups is 

acceptable, a dangerous lesson in a diverse society. Schools have a responsibility to 

educate their students; they should not use their influence to perpetuate 

misrepresentations of any culture or people. Children at the elementary and secondary 

level usually have no choice about which school they attend. Further, the assumption that 

a college student may freely choose another educational institution if she feels 

uncomfortable around mascots and imagery is a false one. Many factors, from 

educational programs to financial aid to proximity to home, limit a college student's 

choices. It is particularly onerous if the student must also consider whether or not the 

institution is maintaining a racially hostile environment for Indian students.33
4 1

Recommendation

States and local school districts should consider the historical significance and context of 

Native school mascots and imagery in determining whether they have a negative effect on 

students, including Native American students. OCR should explore providing guidance to 

schools, districts, states, and institutions of higher education regarding civil rights 

compliance when hostile environments are created by the potentially harmful Native 

imagery and symbolism, including school mascots and logos. OCR, states, and school 

districts should work with schools to develop and implement actions to change potentially 

harmful imagery and symbolism. 

Testimony

“In high school, my mascot was the ‘Redskins’ and I had to watch my classmates make 

posters saying we are going to ‘skin’ our sports opponents. The other teams would make 

posters that said they are going to send us home on a ‘trail of tears.’ 

I’m now in college, and I recently had to write a peer-review paper, and I wrote on the 

mascot issue. I had a classmate say that Natives don’t exist anymore, so no one should be 

upset by the mascot issue. I asked, ‘Well, am I real?’ He said, ‘You don’t live in a teepee, so 

no.’ It’s still a slap in the face every time. I thought I had moved on, but it still hurts every 

time.”

Amanda Anderson (Choctaw), College Student

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“We are not token Indians. We are people. We are important.” 

Katsitsionni Fox (Mohawk), Artist and Documentarian

Troy Listening Session

“We should be worried. We should be more than worried. We should demand that our 

school systems at the department of education ... at the local, state, and national level[s] 

take these issues up with diligence. We know that the promotion of mascots, logos, and 

nicknames has a very negative effect on students of all races. We also know anti-education 

has to be deep. It has to deal with stereotypes. It also has to deal with accurate history.” 

Bob Peterson, Then-President, Milwaukee Teachers Education Association

Franklin Listening Session
4 2

“One of the public schools in Oklahoma City did change their mascot name from Redskins. 

... They are getting ready to vote on a new mascot. They wanted to know how they could 

work better with the tribes.” 

Edwina Butler-Wolfe, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe

Reno Tribal Consultation

“We need to build allies — allies who are non-Native, to introduce [the issue of mascots]. 

Whenever I was talking to someone, they would say that, for Natives, it is too sensitive. It is 

not that they are too sensitive. It is overly offensive.” 

Roderick Cook (St. Regis Mohawk), Director, 

Mohawk Higher Education Program, SUNY Fredonia

Troy Listening Session

“I’ve been in many schools with Native mascots. The kids I work with around that subject 

come and talk about how hurtful that is. It’s hard for them to go into school rallies because 

of all the war cries and whooping.”

Michael Folsom (Choctaw), School Psychiatrist

Los Angeles Listening Session

“I think there’s a disconnect between tribal leaders and youth. ... You don’t get a lot of 

complaints [about the mascot issue] because we’ve been taught that that’s just how things 

are, and we’ve just accepted that.”

Mahgan Miles (Cheyenne and Arapaho), State Tribal Education Partnership (STEP) Program 

Coordinator

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“[My grandsons] have long hair, and last spring, I got a call from my youngest grandson, 

and he said, ‘I want to come home. Some of the kids are teasing me because we are ‘braves,’ 

and they say I’m the mascot.’ They are the only Native kids there, and so they are alone. 

That’s exactly why I have been an advocate for change all these years because of kids [who] 

have to endure this type of discrimination. Seemingly harmless kidding can have a lasting 

impact.”

Jacob Tsotigh (Kiowa), Grandfather

Oklahoma City Listening Session
4 3

“I am afraid to attend any football games in the community I live in because I’m not sure 

how I would react toward those expressing derogatory remarks or behavior toward my race. 

... I do not feel honored or respected and fear for any young indigenous [people] still 

finding themselves.”

Tosawi Saddler (Chippewa/Cree), Cofounder, Indigenize, Inc.

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“Some people say that we have more important issues to worry about. I believe that the 

dehumanization caused by the use of derogatory mascots is a major contributing factor as to 

why we have more important issues to worry about.

It is a dehumanization tactic, born of institutional racism, similar to the derogatory terms and 

imagery ... used by Hitler to usher in the Jewish holocaust. ... The use of derogatory and 

stereotypical caricatures used to falsely depict Native Americans ... hold an eerie 

resemblance to the caricature-like pictures of people with exaggerated facial features ...

used in old Nazi propaganda newspapers, ... which were used to influence and incite 

negative public opinion, and thus the dehumanization of Jewish people. ... It seems to me 

that we allow those who profit from its offensiveness to lead the discussion. It’s dangerous 

because it ignores atrocities. ...We are not just offended. We are scared.”

Alecia Onzahwah (Kickapoo), Cofounder, Indigenize, Inc.

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“The use of Native American imagery not only harms [those] students, but contributes to the 

enhanced ... self-image of non-Native students. This ... results in the widening of the 

opportunity gap. It is only those who have the power — those in the majority — [who] have 

the ability to caricaturize, symbolize, or create a mascot of another group of people. Hence, 

the equality gap. ... It is not about what is offensive or who finds something offensive, but 

how the presence of that ‘something’ impacts the learning environment, alters the climate, 

and negatively influences how a student can participate in it and benefit from it.” 

Melissa Claramunt, Native American Liaison, Michigan Department of Civil Rights

Lansing Listening Session

“[School mascots represent] bullying at its worst because it is done openly ... and our youth, 

who face some difficult challenges and often struggle to find a reason not to exit this world 

by their own hand, see that an entire school, an entire community, an entire nation, allows it. 

... When will this nation accept our word as truth for how derogatory mascot[s] and imagery 

affects us and our children? When will the truth be admitted that the ‘redskins’ term was 

historically used as a reference for the outright genocide of our people by the offering of 
4 4

monetary rewards for the bloody scalps of our men, women, and children? When 

discussions occur that reference historical atrocities, Native people are often told, ‘get over 

it; it’s in the past,’ but the belief that it is in the past is erroneous. It is not in the past when 

we are reminded of the brutal genocide on a daily basis. ... How is a ... Native child 

supposed to feel safe in a world where a term once used to offer monetary rewards for the 

bloody scalps of children is so acceptable?”

Sarah Adams-Cornell (Choctaw), Parent

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“[After complaining about the school mascot], our country mailboxes were destroyed, two 

windshields in our cars were smashed, and I received anonymous letters and phone calls calling 

me scurrilous names. ... Comments in the news articles locally, statewide, and even nationally 

were unbelievable. Much hatefulness and untruth was printed. A pickup truck filled with people 

drove past my house shouting ‘Indians forever.’ Four years later there are many, many local 

residents who refuse to speak to me, even to just nod. ... Although many residents have moved 

on to a healthier place with a non-racist name, a few continue to remind me through their actions 

of their extreme unhappiness because I ‘took away their Indians.’ As a 67-year-old white

woman, I feel able to remain in my home. I can live with those poor, sad, uneducated adults who 

continue to be angry with me. Can you imagine what life would have been like and would 

continue to be like for a First Nation adult, or worse, a student? I can’t.”

Marsha J. Beggs Brown, Former Teacher

Written Testimony

Access and Equity Challenges

During the listening sessions, WHIAIANE heard that, both 

inside and outside school, many AI/AN youth lack access to 

the resources they need. Homelessness, a significant issue 

among this student population, directs a student’s attention

to his or her fundamental needs rather than academic 

success. Lack of Internet access at home or the lack of

college advisors in school are other common issues that 

interfere with AI/AN students’ abilities to succeed 

academically.

Some Native students may also need to travel or work 

during certain weeks of the year. Schools should accommodate student schedules when they 

pertain to cultural activities and responsibilities. 

Students prepare testimony.
4 5

Connectivity and the infrastructure necessary to bridge the digital divide continue to be 

challenging across tribal communities, as almost a third of AI/AN families lack basic telephone 

service. As Katia Savchuk indicated, “The rapid pace of technology risks leaving Native 

populations even further behind.”

34 During the listening sessions, WHIAIANE gathered 

testimonies to support the existence of these gaps in access, ranging from a lack of Internet 

access to school closure. WHIAIANE also heard that inadequate and inconsistent funding for 

AI/AN education often hinders progress in the improvement of school environments, which 

ultimately subjects students to unhealthy or unsafe learning atmospheres.

In 2011, 49 percent of AI/AN students in grades four and eight attended rural schools. This 

percentage is significantly higher than for any other racial or ethnic group. The same study found 

that only 78 percent of students in grade four and 83 percent of students in grade eight had 

computers in their homes, which made AI/AN students the least likely of any racial group to 

have computer access at home.35 Further, over 30 percent of AI/AN students were enrolled in 

high-poverty public schools in 2011.36 The poverty rate among AI/ANs was 27 percent in 2012 

compared to 15 percent for the nation, and, at 34 percent, AI/AN child poverty was 13 

percentage points higher than the national average of 21 percent.

37

Native American children are between six and nine times more likely than white children to live 

in areas of concentrated poverty.38 Many of the students living in these communities do not have 

consistent access to transportation or adequate resources to complete school assignments. In 

2011, 72 percent of AI/AN students in grade four and 66 percent of AI/AN students in grade 

eight qualified for free and reduced-price lunch under the National School Lunch Program.39

Recommendation

States and local districts should inform schools about the access and equity challenges

AI/AN students, including those with disabilities, may face and encourage the development 

of culturally responsive, flexible school policies, resources, and services necessary to 

support students.

Testimony

“You also have to look at the testing protocol that’s being forced on all of us. ... We have 

kids [who] didn’t get diplomas because they didn’t pass their exit exams. The tests were in 

April, and that’s during whaling season. There is only one time to take the test.”

Debby Edwardson, Board of Education President, North Slope Borough School District

Anchorage Listening Session
4 6

“Native American advisors are the first link for children who don’t have much knowledge of 

their culture and also play an important role to those children who do have knowledge, but 

may feel isolated because there is nobody like them in their classrooms. They also provide a 

role model as someone who has gone on to gain a higher education.”

Amanda Anderson (Choctaw), College Student

Oklahoma City Listening Session

“At the school, we need more funding. We also need more mentors. I want to study forensic 

science. I haven’t met anyone who has studied that. I want to hear from successful Natives in a 

variety of jobs who beat the odds. Bring these good examples in to show us what’s possible —

people who didn’t end up back on the reservation pregnant.”

Rachel Neskahi (Navajo, Fort Mohave, Ute Mountain), Student

Los Angeles Listening Session

Danny Littlejohn (Ho-Chunk), a parent, spoke about difficulties with school transportation. 

He noted that his son rides the metro city bus, but that younger students often cannot utilize 

public transportation to get to school. This limits students’ attendance and opportunities. 

Seattle Listening Session

“Having a counselor is more important than algebra because I’ve never used [algebra]. But 

having someone to say, ‘You are beautiful. Do you want to go to college? Did you eat 

today? What’s wrong?’ is important.”

Cynthia Erickson, (Athabascan), 4H Group 

Anchorage Listening Session

“Additional funding would make it possible to help us to help more students with issues that 

they face, such as not having the ability to participate in school sports and programs or even 

having the proper clothes to be in the choir or debate teams.” 

Raymond Rodgers (Seneca-Cayuga/Cherokee), Director for Indian Education 

Sapulpa School District

Tulsa Listening Session
4 7

“We need more funding to meet our education goals. Grant moneys cannot make up the lack 

of funding. We’ve had to cut back on our reading and cultural programs, which teach our 

kids about our language and our ways. A people without language cannot call itself a people. 

In California there have been major cuts to public schools. This leads to larger classes. I fear 

that my school will become like public schools with overcrowded classes. I want more for 

my school.”

Lucille Briones, Board Chair, Noli Indian School Board

Los Angeles Listening Session

“Many of our schools in rural Alaska are dilapidated. There is no running water [and] no

indoor toilets.”

Mary Ann Mills, Council Member, Kenaitze Indian Tribe

Reno Tribal Consultation

“The state of Oklahoma gets money from our casinos [that is] earmarked for education. 

Where is that money? Do we get it back? How is it helping our schools?”

Archie Mason (Osage), Speaker, Osage Nation Congress

Tulsa Listening Session

“School systems could become more accountable for the education of Native American 

students if funding for Indian education programs, like Impact Aid and Title VII, were 

administered by the tribal education agencies in that respective area. Currently, schools are 

only required to have public hearings or oversight committees appointed by school 

administration. Tribes are often not given adequate notification for these hearings and may 

not be asked to participate at all. As a result, the funds are often spent for educational 

services for the entire school population, not the Native American students for [whom] the 

funds are allocated.”

Edwina Butler-Wolfe, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe

Oklahoma City Listening Session

Misidentification of Students With Disabilities

Appropriately serving students with disabilities is a complex and ongoing issue. During the 

listening sessions, participants shared two areas of concern related to special education that 

negatively impact AI/AN students.
4 8

First, Native students are often overrepresented in special 

education.40 During the listening sessions, WHIAIANE also heard 

from parents and others that they feel misunderstandings related to 

cultural or language differences are often a factor in identifying 

students as having disabilities. Additionally, WHIAIANE heard 

that teachers often have low expectations of AI/AN students, 

which, if internalized, may discourage the students’ academic 

efforts.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), states are required to review the 

districts in their state to determine the extent to which the disproportionate representation of 

racial and ethnic groups in special education is the result of inappropriate identification. States 

also are required to collect and examine data to determine whether “significant 

disproportionality” based on race and ethnicity, is occurring in the state and local districts with 

respect to (1) the identification and discipline of students with disabilities; (2) the placement in 

particular educational settings of children with disabilities; and (3) the incidence, duration, and 

type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions of students with disabilities. 

When a significantly disproportionate number of students from a particular race or ethnicity is 

identified, states must: (1) provide for the review and, if appropriate, revision of policies, 

practices, and procedures used in identification, placement, or discipline to ensure that they 

comply with the requirements of the IDEA; (2) require the district to publicly report on the 

revision of policies, practices, and procedures; and (3) require the district to reserve 15 percent of 

its IDEA Part B funds to provide comprehensive, coordinated early intervention services to 

children in the district, particularly, but not exclusively, children in those groups that were 

significantly over-identified.

The department has afforded states broad discretion in defining significant disproportionality and 

in establishing procedures for identifying its existence within their states. Consequently, there is 

wide variation in how significant disproportionality is defined and identified in districts across 

states. 

Dr. John Tippeconnic has noted that AI/AN students are disproportionately represented in 

special education compared to students in any other racial or ethnic group.

41 In 2012–13, 16.3

percent of AI/AN students received special education services under IDEA, which was the 

highest rate for any racial/ethnic group.

42

In 2012, AI/AN students ages 6 through 21 were 90 percent more likely to be identified with a

specific learning disability, compared to children ages 6 through 21 in all other racial or ethnic 

groups combined.43 AI/AN students were also 70 percent more likely than their non-Native peers 

to be identified as having a significant emotional disturbance.44 During the listening sessions, 

Adult presenting his 

concerns
4 9

WHIAIANE heard evidence of these disproportionate identifications, as well as other challenges 

related to serving students with disabilities.

The second issue that participants raised during the listening sessions was that, due to the overidentification of AI/AN students as having disabilities, schools sometimes fail to effectively 

identify and serve AI/AN students who actually do have disabilities. 

Research suggests that, to help alleviate erroneous identification of students with disabilities and 

to effectively serve those with disabilities, educators assessing AI/AN students should: (1) apply 

a combination of formal and informal assessments; (2) involve parents and families in the 

assessments; (3) be aware of cultural and linguistic differences; and (4) interpret results of 

standardized tests with caution.45

Recommendation 

States and local school districts should promote training for all school staff so that they can

appropriately identify AI/AN students with disabilities and ensure that the processes for

identifying and serving AI/AN students with disabilities take into account their unique 

needs, including Native American language and culture.

Testimony

“I noticed a lot of my peers were in special education, but they are not special ed. ... They 

just do not have the support at home or the extra guidelines for someone to reach out and 

give them what they need.” 

Katie Laroque (Oneida/Ojibwe), Student

Franklin Listening Session

Robyn Chaney (Curyung Tribal Council), a parent, expressed that the schools ignore 

students with disabilities. For a full year, her child’s school denied her the services she 

needed. 

“We’ve gone through a grievance process with the state because there are kids getting 

neglected.” 

Anchorage Listening Session

“One-third of our kids in our focus schools are special ed. They are coming with social 

issues and acting out, and all of a sudden they are in the IEP process. When I look at the kids 

that I know, they are not special ed.”

Richanda Kaquatosh (Menominee), Program Coordinator, First Nations Studies

Franklin Listening Session
5 0

“So many Native kids are labeled as disabled when it’s not a disability — it’s cultural. They 

are brilliant; they are just expected to perform in a world they don’t connect to.”

Mike O’Connor, Adult Participant

Los Angeles Listening Session

Shandiin Church (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and Navajo), the adult sister of a high school student, 

reported that many schools are not wheelchair accessible. After breaking both legs in an accident, she 

temporarily used a wheelchair. She attended her sister’s basketball game and found there was no 

designated space for someone in a wheelchair to sit.

“It is the adults. They know what is wrong, but it is now on the students to make a 

complaint.” 

She suggested mandatory Americans with Disabilities Act training for all public school 

administrators.

Lansing Listening Session

Looking Forward 

The courageous testimony during the 2014 school environment listening sessions highlighted 

several critically important themes, including bullying, stereotypes, harmful imagery and 

symbolism, and school discipline. These issues deeply impact AI/AN student experiences, and it 

is the priority of WHIAIANE and the president’s administration to ensure safe, appropriate, 

inclusive, and nondiscriminatory learning environments for all students. Significant work 

remains to be done to ensure student environment issues are addressed for the long term to fulfill 

the president’s and the secretary’s priorities for Native youth, and to address the problems 

detailed in this report. In response to the impactful testimony given by the listening session 

participants, WHIAIANE is partnering with offices across the U.S. Department of Education to

develop initiatives, bring awareness to the concerns of Native youth, and encourage positive, 

safe, and productive learning spaces for all students.
5 1

Endnotes

 

1 Executive Office of the President, 2014 Native Youth Report, December 2014,

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/20141129nativeyouthreport_final.pdf.

2 U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, “Dear Colleague Letter: Resource Comparability,” Oct. 1, 

2014, http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-resourcecomp-201410.pdf.

3 The White House Council on Women and Girls, Women and Girls of Color: Addressing Challenges and 

Expanding Opportunity, November 2014, 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/cwg_women_and_girls_of_color_report_112014.pdf. 

4 U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection Data Snapshot: Discipline, 

Issue Brief No. 1, March 2014, http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-snapshot.pdf.

5 U.S. Department of Education, “Rethinking School Discipline: Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne 

Duncan at the Release of the Joint DOJ-ED School Discipline Guidance Package,” Jan. 8, 2014, 

http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/rethinking-school-discipline.

6

 Civil Rights Data Collection Data Snapshot: Discipline.

7 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, District Enrollments by Race/Ethnicity 

2012–13, compiled from the Elementary/Secondary Information System, 

https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/tableGenerator.aspx.

8 Erik Stegman and Victoria Phillips, “Missing the Point: The Real Impact of Native Mascots and Team Names on 

American Indian and Alaska Native Youth,” Center for American Progress, July 22, 2014, 

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2014/07/22/94214/missing-the-point.

9

“Final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic Data to the U.S. Department of 

Education,” Federal Register, Vol. 72, No. 202, Oct. 19, 2007, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2007-10-

19/pdf/E7-20613.pdf.

10 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, State Enrollments by Race/Ethnicity 

2009–10 and 2010–11, compiled from the Elementary/Secondary Information System, 

http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/./expressTables.aspx.

11 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Indian Education Study 2011: 

The Educational Experiences of American Indian and Alaska Native Students at Grades 4 and 8, 2012, 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2012466.pdf.

12 U.S. Department of Commerce, “Profile America Facts for Features: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage 

Month,” U.S. Census Bureau News, November 2012, http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/cb12ff22_aian.pdf.

13 William Adams and Julie Samuels, Tribal Youth in the Federal Justice System, Final Report (revised), Urban 

Institute, Justice Policy Center, 2011, http://www.urban.org/research/publication/tribal-youth-federaljustice-system/view/full_report.

14 Civil Rights Data Collection Data Snapshot: Discipline.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17

“Rethinking School Discipline.”

18 Stegman and Phillips, “Missing the Point.”

19 Evelyn M. Campbell and Susan E. Smalling, “American Indians and Bullying in Schools,” Journal of Indigenous 

Social Development, Vol. 2, Issue 1, September 2013, 

http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/29815/v2i1_03campbell.pdf?sequence=1.

20 Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Online, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, accessed 

Feb. 1, 2013, https://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Default.aspx.

21 Campbell and Smalling, “American Indians and Bullying in Schools.” 

22 Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Health Data Interactive,

accessed Feb. 1, 2013, www.cdc.gov/nchs/hdi.htm. 

23 National Education Association, Focus on American Indians and Alaska Natives, “Bullying Emerges as a 

Contributing Factor: The Scourge of Suicides among American Indian and Alaska Native Youth,” September 

2011, http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/aianfocus2011-2012.pdf.

24 National Indian Education Study 2011.
5 2

 

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 Cornel Pewewardy and Patricia Cahape Hammer, “Culturally Responsive Teaching for American Indian 

Students,” ERIC Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 2003, 

http://www.ericdigests.org/2005-1/teaching.htm.

28 Stegman and Phillips “Missing the Point.”

29 Stephanie Ann Fryberg, “Really? You Don’t Look Like an American Indian: Social Representations and Group 

Identities,” Doctoral dissertation presented to Stanford University, December 2002, 

http://www.indianmascots.com/ex-17---fryberg-final_disse.pdf.

30 Honorary Tex G. Hall, “Testimony of Hon. Tex G. Hall, Chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation and 

Chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association on Mascots, Stereotypes, and Native Americans 

Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,” May 5, 2011, 

http://www.indian.senate.gov/sites/default/files/upload/files/Tex-G-Hall-testimony.pdf.

31 National Congress of American Indians, “Ending the Legacy of Racism in Sports & the Era of Harmful ‘Indian’ 

Sports Mascots,” 2013, 

http://www.ncai.org/attachments/PolicyPaper_mijApMoUWDbjqFtjAYzQWlqLdrwZvsYfakBwTHpMA

TcOroYolpN_NCAI_Harmful_Mascots_Report_Ending_the_Legacy_of_Racism_10_2013.pdf.

32 “American Psychological Association, Summary of the APA Resolution Recommending Retirement of American 

Indian Mascots,” 2005, http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/indian-mascots.aspx.

33 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Statement of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the Use of Native American 

Images and Nicknames as Sports Symbols,”, 2001, http://www.usccr.gov/press/archives/2001/041601st.htm. 

34 Katia Savchuk, “Massive Digital Divide for Native Americans is ‘A Travesty,’” MediaShift, May 12, 2011, 

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/05/massive-digital-divide-for-native-americans-is-a-travesty132/.

35 National Indian Education Study 2011.

36 Terris Ross, et al., Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study (NCES 2012-046), U.S. Department 

of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. August 2012, 

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED534691.pdf.

37 2014 Native Youth Report.

38 The Annie E. Casey Foundation, “Kids Count Data Snapshot on High-Poverty Communities," February 2012, 

http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Initiatives/KIDS%20COUNT/D/DataSnapshotonHighPovertyCommun

ities/KIDSCOUNTDataSnapshot_HighPovertyCommunities.pdf.

39 National Indian Education Study 2011.

40 U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 36th Annual Report to 

Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2014, December 2014, 

http://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/2014/parts-b-c/36th-idea-arc.pdf.

41 John W. Tippeconnic, III and Susan C. Faircloth, “Using Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Assessments 

To Ensure that American Indian and Alaska Native Students Receive the Special Education Programs and 

Services They Need,” ERIC Digest, Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 2003, 

http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-4/special-education.html.

42 Grace Kena et. al, The Condition of Education 2015, (NCES 2015-144), U.S. Department of Education, National 

Center for Education Statistics, May 2015, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015144.pdf

43 My Brother’s Keeper Task Force: Report to the President, May 2014,

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/053014_mbk_report.pdf.

44 Ibid.

45 Susan C. Faircloth and John W Tippeconnic, III, “Issues in the Education of American Indian and Alaska Native 

Students with Disabilities,” ERIC Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools 

Charleston, 2000, http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/alaska.htm.