#EducationSovereignty

NIEA Community Talk Series

Why We Meet

The purpose of the Community Talk Series is to provide opportunities for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians to discuss Education Sovereignty from their personal and professional lens as Indigenous peoples. In these discussions, we have and will explore how community, history, language, policy, and tribes have informed and shifted their experiences working to develop, integrate, and sustain educational systems that shift toward the realization of educational sovereignty for their community.  During these panels, we engage in conversations about current educational systems and theories, and how the reclamation and sustaining of educational systems have been informed by community-based approaches, culturally and linguistically responsive best practices, and language immersion programs.

2023: Our Languages

SESSION ONE
Language Users and Learners 
Wednesday, May 3, 2023 

 

We heard from language users and learners during our first community conversation. Those who are currently working through their language learning journey were encouraged to join and share thoughts about their own language communities, resources and needs. We explored the successes, roadblocks, tips, and provided encouragement for one another. It was also an opportunity to speak directly to the unique needs of language learners.

 

SESSION TWO
Capacity Building and Planning Needs
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 

 

Fall 2023 marks the beginning of the White House 10 Year National Plan on Native Language Revitalization. This conversation focused on the next ten years of federal policy and advocacy that will impact Native language. We are leading change through traditional knowledge and doing the work on the ground, it is time to collectively define the immediate needs of language programs. This second session focused on what is needed to increase language program capacity and planning needs.

 

SESSION THREE
Best Practices & Government Accountability
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 

 

The White House 10 Year National Plan on Native Language Revitalization coincides with the United Nations International Decade of Indigenous Languages. The topic of best practices in language planning and maintenance as well as government accountability have been brought to the forefront of discussions about long-term and future planning for Native language programs. Following the call for a generationally aligned Plan, this third session looked to empower those involved in language planning and maintenance to speak to the strengths and areas of improvement for government agencies as well as how to best keep the federal government accountable to their deliverables as the plan continues to be developed. 

 

2022 Community Talk Series

Community Talk Series: Education Sovereignty | Hawai‘i Part I – June 15th (2022)

 

The focus of the panel was Native Hawaiian reclamation of education systems from advocacy and culturally grounded processes. This panel discussed the high-level theories and systems process to how Native Hawaiian immersion learning developed.

 

Moderator: Ka’ano’i Walk, NIEA Board Hawai‘i Representative & Senior Policy Analyst, Hiʻialo Group, Kamehameha Schools

Panelists: Kamoa’e and Ka’umealani Walk
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Culture, Language & Performing Arts, Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian & Pacific Studies & Kula Kaiapuni (Hawaiian Language Immersion) teacher at Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Kahuku Academy at Kahaku High & Intermediate

Kauanoe Kamanā
President of ʻAha Pūnana Leo & Principal of Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu School

Dr. Walter Kahumoku III
Executive Assistant to the Chancellor at UH West Oʻahu and the former Director of the Kauhale Kīpaipai (Educator Professional Development) department of the Kamehameha Schools

Community Talk Series: Education Sovereignty | Hawai‘i Part II – June 29th (2022)

 

The focus of the second panel was the continuing advancement of Native Hawaiian immersion learning and education with a discussion curriculum and tactical aspects of building culturally responsive teaching in the classroom.

 

Moderator: Francis Vigil, NIEA Tribal Education Specialist

Panelists: Dawn Kauʻi Sang
Director, Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, Office of Hawaiian Education

Dr. Kalehua Krug
Principal at Ka Waihona o ka Naʻauao Public Charter School

Kahea Faria
Instructor/Cohort Coordinator, MEdT Program

Community Talk Series: Education Sovereignty | Alaska – July 8th (2022)

 

The focus of the panel was around Alaska Native education systems from historical, community, language and culturally grounded processes. This panel discussed the high-level theories and systems process for Alaska Native immersion learning, how to build culturally responsive teaching practices, and current challenges Native communities face.

 

How We Meet

  • We all come to these discussions with a vast and diverse experiences in both our personal and professional lives.

  • Participants will draw from their intersecting experiences to provide a deeper context for what educational sovereignty means for their community, family, and tribe.

  • These panels are not meant to be academic in nature, and the audience for these panels represent a wide spectrum of educational stakeholders.

  • NIEA realizes that educational sovereignty may “feel” and “look” different between Indigenous communities and tribes, but those unique vantage points are what we seek to uphold and uplift so that we can learn and share amongst each other.