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Empowering Teachers to Empower Students: Native American Education Curriculum Guide Grades K-12
This nearly 300-page publication is based on the work of teachers from schools in Northeast Nebraska serving primarily Native American students. The collection of curriculum units for K-12 students incorporates Native American literature and activities into academic areas so that instruction becomes more culturally relevant, with students more engaged in learning. The units incorporate the standards from the Center for Research on Educational Diversity and Excellence (CREDE), the 2004 Nebraska State Standards, and the American Indian Content Standards. Assessment and evaluation ideas are provided for many of the activities, as well as links to online resources and suggestions for library materials. A second volume, published in 2005, can be found here.
The content of this publication is diverse, broad, and based on a reasonable amount of research. Each activity is described in about 2-5 pages, incorporating a cross-set of standards listed in the summary. Although rubrics and actual assessments are generally not provided, the comprehensive nature of this resource should allow teachers to select grades K-12 activities that are aligned to existing state standards, primarily in English language arts (ELA), science, and history/social studies. The publication’s communications quality is excellent, and the additional references to other resources and library materials may be useful to teachers. The evidence of effectiveness is reasonable, based on a study that indicated a statistically significant increase in reading achievement of the Creating Sacred Places program that is integrated into this resource.