Dissertation Articles

Academic achievement concerns are common among reservation schools in North and South Dakota and elicit numerous questions regarding how to address these concerns to improve educational outcomes for Native American students.

The fact that American Indian college students pursuing postsecondary educational opportunities have lower retention and completion rates than their peers is well documented. Additionally, the use of mentoring as a means of social support for AI students have been increasingly recognized as an important factor in a successful educational experience.

The purpose of this arts-based, and Indigenous research study was to explore how Native Americans understand ‘place-based imagery’ through an Indigenous art making and storytelling experience in order to illuminate perspectives and experiences of a ‘sense of place’.

The result of this research is a framework to support Indigenous Teacher Preparation within the Native Studies department at Northwest Indian College. I attempted to answer three main questions in the duration of this dissertation research.