Foundation supports Indian education

Foundation supports Indian education
Indian Land Tenure awards $90,094 for curriculum development in South Dakota, Montana
By Staff reports

Story Published: Oct 16, 2008

LITTLE CANADA, Minn. – The Indian Land Tenure Foundation board of directors recently awarded $90,094 in grants and contracts for curriculum development and implementation in South Dakota and Montana.


Developing core concepts in South Dakota


The Indian Land Tenure Foundation awarded $40,094 to the South Dakota Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education to support the development of state academic standards in American Indian history and culture for the state’s K-12 programs.

The grant will allow members of a steering committee, made up of educators and representatives from each of South Dakota’s nine reservations, to develop the core concepts essential to understanding and teaching the history and culture of American Indian tribes in the state.

These core concepts will be used to modify existing state academic standards, establish new standards that include Indian history and culture, and develop the supporting curriculum and coursework for use in the classroom and for teacher training.

“This grant will allow us to weave the important story of South Dakota’s Dakota, Lakota and Nakota people into the state’s standards and assessment system,” said Keith Moore, director of Indian education for the South Dakota Department of Education. “By infusing key concepts into the standards, we should see a more consistent approach regarding how districts teach their students about Native culture. This process will be an important step in providing a more culturally relevant and inclusive curriculum to all South Dakota students.”

Terry Janis, program officer for the ILTF and an Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, is optimistic that the Department of Education’s commitment to this project reflects a growing statewide recognition that classroom instruction in the history and culture of South Dakota’s American Indian tribes should be mandatory. Indian Land Tenure Foundation awards $207,124 in additional grants and contracts


The Indian Land Tenure Foundation board of directors recently awarded grants and contracts totaling $207,124 for curriculum development, sacred site protection and land management.

Part of that is the recently awarded $90,094 in grants and contracts for curriculum development and implementation in South Dakota and Montana. Both projects will support ILTF’s efforts to expand education about Indian land tenure issues nationwide.

• $58,656 to Fort Belknap Planning and Development Corp. of Harlem, Mont., to develop a comprehensive, culturally appropriate and sustainable sacred site protection and preservation plan for locations within Grinnell Notch, an area where the tribe’s sacred sites are in danger of desecration from mining activities.

Two local elder/culture advisory groups – the Buffalo Chasers and the White Clay societies – are working closely with the PDC to accurately identify and document the sacred sites in this area and provide input for the protection plan.

“We are deeply honored by the opportunity to collaborate with these two groups on this project,” said Todd Hanson, PDC project development specialist.

“They have a vast knowledge of the history and the cultural and spiritual importance of this area and of these sacred places. We are very grateful that they are willing to share that knowledge with us and actively participate in developing this plan to protect and preserve these sites for future generations.”

Fort Belknap PDC has also partnered with the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council on these efforts. It will use the plan, which includes identifying, describing and mapping the sacred sites, as the basis for negotiations with public and private entities to prevent further mining on or near the reservation.

• $58,374 to the Fort Peck Landowners Association of Wolf Point, Mont., to develop a workforce training program on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation that will train tribal members for jobs in land and resource development and management while developing 172 acres of allotted and tribal land for irrigation and operation by the FPLA.

In addition to work force training and land development, FPLA will also create a training manual on constructing irrigation systems designed to increase production and promote more effective land management practices.


“For too long, mainstream education has avoided its obligation to teach the story of Native peoples. It’s encouraging to see South Dakota, a state where 9 percent of the population and over 11 percent of public school students are Native American, take a leadership role in this area.”

In 2007, South Dakota passed an Indian Education Act that ensures ongoing support for several existing statewide programs and includes new provisions for teacher training in South Dakota Indian studies and the development of curriculum on American Indian history and culture.


Supporting Montana’s statewide commitment


The ILTF also recently awarded up to $50,000 in contracts for tribe-specific curriculum development in Montana to Julie Cajune, a curriculum specialist working out of Pablo, Mont. Cajune will consult with individual tribes and tribal members to develop tribe- and reservation-specific lessons for the Indian Land Tenure Curriculum that align with the existing Montana content standards as well as the “Essential Understandings of Montana Tribes.”

“The seven reservations in Montana are home to several very distinct tribes with very different land histories, experiences and cultural practices,” Janis explained. “Julie’s work will help to highlight these unique differences. It will also add depth and localized tribal stories and histories to enrich curriculum content for all grade levels.”

Janis also said that he hopes that Cajune’s work in Montana will “serve as a catalyst” for other states with significant Indian populations, such as South Dakota, that are taking steps to ensure that their academic standards reflect the history and diversity of
their regions.

In 1999, the Montana Legislature passed the Indian Education for All Act, requiring all public schools throughout the state to include coursework in the history and culture of Indian tribes in the state. As a part of this mandate, the Montana Office of Public Instruction, Indian Education Division, has made the Indian Land Tenure Curriculum available to educators, administrators and other educational partners.

Cajune, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, is tribal history project director for Salish Kootenai College and is lead consultant with the Montana Indian Education Division’s curriculum development initiative.

The Indian Land Tenure Curriculum, which is used by educators throughout Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota and several other states, is a free, interdisciplinary Indian land curriculum for Head Start, K – 12 and college. To download the curriculum, request a copy of the entire curriculum on CD or learn about curriculum implementation grants available through ILTF, visit www.indianlandtenure.org.

The ILTF is a community foundation whose primary aim is to support the acquisition, ownership and management of land by tribes and Indian people. It works directly with community members to develop strategies that help Indian people to regain full control of their homelands so they can create opportunities for themselves and for future generations

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com:80/living/education/31129504.html