Equitable Assessment of Gifted Students Using the Naglieri General Ability Tests

Even though it is well documented that Black, Hispanic, Native American students have been denied access to gifted education for decades, injustice continues. The authors present research showing that traditional IQ tests with their verbal and quantitative questions contribute to under-representation because they yield large differences for students of color. Some (e.g., NNAT), but not all, nonverbal tests help but verbal and quantitative content is omitted. The authors suggest that students of color who are intellectually capable (gifted) but perhaps not talented (knowledgeable) could be more equitably evaluated if the verbal comprehension of instructions and verbal and quantitative knowledge were taken out of the tests used for identification. Research evidence is provided which shows that the Naglieri General Ability Tests: Verbal, Nonverbal, and Quantitative, which have nonverbal directions, do not demand knowledge acquired at school and do not require verbal response yield small differences by gender, race, ethnicity, and parental education.

Native Americans and Science: Enhancing Participation of Native Americans in the Science and Technology Workforce through Culturally Responsive Science Education

A major issue that directly affects the participation of Native Americans in the science and technology workforce is the lack of preparation in science and math. This lack of preparation has many causes, but one of the most strategically important issues is the lack of culturally relevant curricula that engage Native American students in learning science in personal, social and culturally meaningful ways. This essay explores the needs, issues, research, and development of culturally responsive science education for Native American learners. A curriculum model created by the author at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from 1974 to 1994 based on Native American cultural orientations is explored as a case study as one example of how to engage Native American students in science learning and become more prepared to participate in science and technology-related professions. As such, it presents a methodology for how trans-systemic work might be approached in building conceptual bridges between Indigenous and Western views of science.

Connecting Native Students to STEM Research Using Virtual Archaeology

ABSTRACT Universities struggle to provide meaningful education and mentorship to Native American students, especially in STEM fields such as archaeology and geography. The Native American Summer Mentorship Program (NASMP) at Utah State University is designed to address Native student retention and representation, and it fosters collaboration between mentors and mentees. In spring 2020, as university instruction went online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NASMP mentors were faced with adapting hands-on activities and face-to-face interaction to an online format. Using our Water Heritage Anthropological Project as a case study, we show how virtual archaeological, archival, spatial, and anthropological labs can be adapted for online delivery. This approach may be especially useful for reaching students in rural settings but also for engaging students in virtual or remote research in the field sciences.

Challenges for Rural Native American Students With Disabilities During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly changed almost all aspects of people’s everyday lives. This included new challenges in the education of Native American students with disabilities who live in rural and remote areas of the United States. Native American students with disabilities living on reservations are served by local schools, tribally controlled schools, and Bureau of Indian Education schools under the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In rural reservation communities during COVID-19, special education services for students with disabilities were significantly disrupted. Contributing factors were high rates of poverty, lack of adequate funding and staffing for health care, populations with higher rates of chronic illness, high percentages of homes with no running water or electricity, shortages of certified special educators, and barriers to alternative forms of education due to lack of access to high-speed internet and technology.

What Is It Like to Be a Minority Student at a Predominantly White Institution?

This study examines the differences in experiences and perceptions of campus climate of 38 minority students enrolled in a predominantly white institution (PWI). African American students, Native American students, gender and sexually diverse students, students with disabilities, Latinx students, and international students participated in the study. About half of the participants reported negative experiences with racism and discrimination on campus whereas the other half reported the opposite. Attribution to discrimination theory informed the theoretical framework of this study and the data analysis. Policy recommendations to improve the climate of diversity on university campus are provided.

A Qualitative Study of Native American Higher Education and Student Resiliency

This chapter explores the degree to which Native American culture impacts the resiliency of Native American students earning degrees at three tribal colleges in the southwestern part of the United States. This is a qualitative case study that was based on the following research question: “How does Native American culture contribute to the resiliency of Native American students who are earning a degree at a tribal college?” This chapter focuses on the concerns of Native American students, and the cultural events they may have encountered during their educational journey. The research data were collected from interviews of 18 Native American students who were in their last year of college. Themes surrounding culture, resiliency, tribal colleges, academics, and Native American role models were discovered and used to determine the impact Native American culture has on the resiliency of Native American students.

Intergenerational Trauma and Other Unique Challenges as Barriers to Native American Educational Success

This chapter examines unique challenges in the way of Native American educational success as well as solutions to overcoming. The chapter addresses why intergenerational trauma matters, the impacts of public policy on Native American people such as the Native American Languages Act of 1990, and the importance of Native American people being connected to the land, protecting traditions, language, and their ancestors. The purpose of this literature review is to shed light on Native American educational barriers and to critique existing literature. Areas analyzed include the trend of low rates of educational attainment among Native Americans, the history of abuse towards Indigenous people and other minorities, the impact on individuals, and solutions for the future. There is a need for Native American students to stay connected to cultural tradition, cultural relevancy in education, role models for Native American people, and an importance of Native American students staying connected to family.

Culturally Responsive Instruction as Computer-Based Reading Engagement and Literacy Among Native American Students

The chapter presents a review of the literature on Native American education and the use of culturally responsive instruction to guide the implementation of a computer-based reading program to increase engagement and reading levels for Native American secondary students for a quantitative single-case study on the effects of using Achieve3000 while using a culturally responsive model for selecting reading samples. Study findings noted though student reading levels increased and reading engagement improved in some key areas, no significant difference was found between groups. The implications of these findings are that use of a culturally responsive pedagogy to select self-relevant materials for a computer-based reading program may help Native American students to increase their reading levels and reading engagement scores, but not at a significant rate. Future research should consider whether these pedagogies and other strategies may improve Native American reading literacy.