Friday, August 28, 2026 — Two states make progress in Native-focused education

(https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/friday-august-28-2026-two-states-make-progress-in-native-focused-education/)

Efforts to improve representation of Native American perspectives in historical and cultural lessons just made considerable progress in two states. A curriculum developed by the Suquamish Tribe (https://suquamish.nsn.us/sstic-resources/) over the past decade is now available for Washington States schools. Organizers say it fleshes out the details of past events that previous history lessons portrayed as favorable to colonizing forces and people at the expense of the area’s tribes. And in Montana, state officials settled a lawsuit demanding public schools show accountability in how they adhere to constitutionally mandated instruction on the history of the state’s tribes (https://opi.mt.gov/Educators/Teaching-Learning/Indian-Education-for-All/) .

We’ll also zoom out to get a broader view of how Native students fit in across the country with the evolving efforts to connect with them amid persistently low test scores and educational attainment.

GUESTS

Chairman Leonard Forsman (https://suquamish.nsn.us/sstic-home/) (Suquamish)

Cammie DuPuis-Pablo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cammie-dupuis-pablo-a486b128b/) (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes), plaintiff in the DuPuis-Pablo v. Montana Office of Public Instruction class action lawsuit

Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy (https://sesp.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/bryan-brayboy.html) (Lumbee), professor and dean of the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University

Alex Rate (https://www.aclumontana.org/) , legal director for the ACLU of Montana

Break 1 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynw63RXWzKs) (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

Break 2 Music: Indian Rock N Roll (song) Marc Brown & the Blues Crew (artist) The Blues Crew Compilation (album)

Written by Native Voice One