This article examines five interrelated methodological and ethical opportunities and challenges embedded within qualitative research projects that seek to partner with Indigenous young people, from ...different tribal communities. Drawing from two separate educational research studies conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand, the researchers identified these opportunities and challenges as: insiders and outsiders working to negotiate entry and gain consent; the need for a strengths-based approach; developing and maintaining respectful relationships; ensuring genuine ownership of the process; and authentic dissemination and benefits. Whilst similar in nature, they played out differently across the two research projects, highlighting the influence of context, culture, and community. The authors conclude with lessons learned, including the importance of researcher reflexivity, when conducting research with Indigenous youth and communities.
The Problem
This article draws on the author’s experiences as an American Indian administrator and faculty member in a public university. The dilemma presented here revolves around her struggle to ...reconcile her identity as an Indigenous person with the values, beliefs, and priorities of an academic institution solidly rooted in Western structures and traditions.
The Solution
The author draws on this dilemma as she reflects on the concept of authentic leadership as a practicable goal for Indigenous leaders within the academy. In doing so, she cites the need for a nuanced conception of authentic leadership that takes into account the complex identities of Indigenous peoples.
The Stakeholders
The dilemma presented here can be used by human resource development scholars and practitioners as a tool for examining and understanding the ways in which the concept of authentic leadership both conflicts and resonates with the personal and professional values of Indigenous scholars/leaders within academic environments.
In this manuscript, I outline what I perceive to be the potential implications of the Trump presidency for the education of American Indian children and youth. In doing so, I argue that failure to ...provide adequate educational programs and services for American Indian children and youth represents an abrogation of the federal government's trust responsibilities for American Indian people and places the futures of American Indian tribes and their members at risk.
In this paper, we present preliminary findings from a unique collaborative research project involving six Deaf Māori rangatahi (youth) in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Aotearoa New Zealand. This study ...utilized kaupapa whānau (research family) protocols, established in consultation with two cultural advisory groups within New Zealand and the young people themselves, combined with elements of photovoice methodology, to explore the identities of these youth. Emerging findings highlight the complex nature of these youth's cultural identity as well as specific issues related to access to and participation within te ao Māori (the Māori world). Specific and critical reflections on the research process are also included.
Purpose: Given the increasing role of the principal in the administrative and supervision of special education programs and services, this research examines how elementary principals interpret their ...experience of leadership decision making as a moral activity in relation to the Ethic of the Profession and Model for Students’ Best Interests. Method: A phenomenological-like research method was used to capture administrators’ perspectives involving moral practice and ethical decision making as it relates to students with disabilities. The primary data collection strategy was participant interviews by means of purposeful sampling. Findings: Findings challenge the Ethic of the Profession’s injunction, “the best interests of the student,” as a central guiding moral principle in decision making. Evidence exists that the expression does hold some insight as a maxim to guide behavior, especially when principals decide for one student against all or most students within special education contexts. Theoretical Implications: Participants indicated a distinction and clear difference between the best interests of one student and the best interests of students as a group. Participants viewed the work of deciding and acting in the best interests of the student body as being qualitatively different than working and acting in the best interests of individual students. Practical Value: Dynamic ethical thinking expressed by most school leaders in this study involved a thick and rich combination of rule referencing; maximizing benefit and promoting nonmoral good; assessing one’s character, motivation, and disposition and responding with empathy and personal investment; being reflective; and maintaining an open posture. Classification: This is a work of empirical research.
This article builds upon a review of the literature originally commissioned by the Office of Indian Education and the U.S. Department of Education and expanded as part of a 2010 symposium on American ...Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) education sponsored by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and hosted by Arizona State University. The goal is to provide a snapshot of the state of the research in early childhood education for AI/AN children and to offer potential implications for practice and future research.
We propose the use of an ontological perspective to shift current thinking about the phenomenon of home/school partnerships, particularly through an examination of school leaders (leadership team) — ...community relationships that seek to better serve Indigenous students and their communities. We reanalysed focus group interviews of indigenous Māori students and their whānau/families from a wider New Zealand study that investigated the development of culturally responsive leadership in 84 secondary schools. The aim of the leadership intervention was to improve school practices and enable Indigenous Māori students to achieve and enjoy educational success as Māori. Reanalysis of interview material revealed categories related to relational being that highlight both opportunities and impediments to authentic relationships between schools and communities and the development of culturally responsive leadership. This paper attempts to create a framework in regards to relational ontology within a broader struggle for transformative praxis and to provide direction for further theoretical and practical investigation within schools.
In this article, Jacob Hibel, Susan Faircloth, and George Farkas investigate the persistent finding that American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students are overrepresented in special education. ...Using data from the kindergarten cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, the authors compare the third-grade special education placement rate of AI/AN students to that of other racial/ethnic groups. They find that approximately 15 percent of AI/AN third-graders received special education services, a rate far higher than that of the other racial and ethnic groups. However, using multilevel regression analysis to control for a number of confounding factors, including socioeconomic status and test scores at school entry, they find no statistically significant difference between the special education placement rates of AI/AN and non-Hispanic white students. Controlling for a range of school characteristics, they also find that schools with a higher proportion of AI/AN students place these students in special education at rates similar to those of other schools in the United States. The authors conclude that the strongest predictor of special education placement is a student's academic readiness on entering kindergarten as measured by the student's pre-reading and pre-mathematics scores. They discuss the implications of these findings for future research and practice in the education of AI/AN students. (Contains 3 tables and 12 notes.)
This article reviews extant research and scholarship on the role of leadership preparation for aspiring American Indian school leaders (e.g., principals). Although a review of the literature ...indicates a lack of published scholarship on this topic, what is published evidences the requirement for ongoing attention to the preparation of future school leaders to better meet the cultural, linguistic, and academic needs of American Indian students, their families, and their communities. The authors conclude with recommendations for research, policy, and practice.
This article is an extension of previous research conducted by Indigenous scholars Susan C. Faircloth and John W. Tippeconnic III (2010). It begins with an overview of the literature, followed by recommendations for future research and implications for policy.
