Jonathan Santos Silva, Host (00:00):
Hi, Changing Course listeners. We are hard at work on season two's finale, but instead of keeping you waiting, we wanted to offer you a treat. In this special bonus episode, we'll be hearing from our Native brothers and sisters in the Teach For America Corps and beyond who are on the front lines of indigenizing and re-imagining our education system.
(00:21)
As we've heard all throughout this season, students experience tremendous benefits when taught by teachers who share their identity. Some of those benefits include improved grades and increased classroom attendance, as well as greater social awareness, self-management and resilience. Representation in the classroom is especially key when it comes to Native students who make up only 1% of public school students in America. Native teachers represent even less than that at only 0.5% of the teacher workforce nationally.
(00:55)
Today, our guest host Kayla Camacho, a 2014 Teach For America Dallas-Fort Worth alum, will help us take a closer look at the barriers that keep Native educators out of the classroom, how TFA's network is indigenizing qualification processes to remove those barriers, and how this work has positively impacted Native students.
Josie Green, Guest (01:18):
My son, Ellis Chika, who is six years old, a few weeks back during an education conference, I pulled him aside and asked him, "What is it that I do? What do you think my job is?" And his response was, "You are trying to make school like home. You're trying to make school reflective of our home." And I think that that, in large, is what it is that we're trying to do is find home in a place that is very much originally not supposed to be that.
Jonathan (02:01):
From Teach For America's One Day Studio, you're listening to Changing Course. I'm Jonathan Santos Silva, A 2010 Teach For America alum on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. And since leaving the classroom, I haven't stopped partnering with educators, students, and communities to reimagine education.
(02:21)
This season, we're talking to innovative nonprofits from across the country that are committed to attracting, training and retaining BIPOC educators and providing opportunities where they can flourish. We have so much to learn from leaders across America moving education in a new direction and a change in course will happen, one school at a time.
Kayla Camacho, Narrator (02:51):
I'm Kayla Camacho. I became an educator through Teacher for America in the 2014 Dallas-Fort Worth Teacher's Corps where I taught high school English.
(03:00)
As a child growing up in public schools, I never got to see my mixed Native heritage acknowledged or celebrated. These experiences, or lack thereof, would leave me struggling with my identity and longing to connect with my community's history and culture and I know I'm not alone. Erasure and false narratives continue to undermine Native communities.
(03:20)
In this story, we invite you to hear how educators, administrators, and thought leaders across the Teach For America network are working towards an education system which serves Native students by changing the ways we recruit and retain Native educators.
(03:34)
Alec Dugin is a high school biology teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He's in his second year of teaching as a Teach For America Corps member.
Alec Dugin, Guest (03:42):
Tatasa Alec, [Pawnee 00:03:45], so my name is Alec, I'm Skidi Pawnee. My tribe traditionally is from Nebraska, but currently resides in Oklahoma. I work currently on Muscogee Creek Nation lands. I teach biology for freshman and then I teach AP Biology for juniors and seniors.
(04:00)
I wanted to serve a Native population of students to really empower and to encourage Native students to not give up on themselves. Regardless of everything that's happened historically and in the modern era, you can make something yourself and really have a good impact on your fellow Native students or your Native community.
Kayla (04:17):
Native students rarely have the opportunity to see themselves represented in faculty like Alec Dugin. While Native students make up about 13% of Oklahoma's student body, only 8% of teachers in Oklahoma identify as Native or Alaska Native. Nationally, Native students make up 1% of the public school population. Meanwhile, teachers who are Native or Alaska Native make up only 0.5% of the teaching force nationwide.
(04:43)
Jurrien Fowlkes is a senior in high school and a student of Mr. Dugin's. He feels deeply impacted by having a teacher who is Native.
Jurrien Fowlkes, Guest (04:52):
I identify as African-American and Indigenous-American and I am part of the Muscogee Creek tribe. Working with Mr. Dugin And learning from Mr. Dugin Brought so much. I want to be involved and help the people in my community more. He brought a new outlook on how I view myself as a Native American.
Kayla (05:16):
Jurrien's experiences are in line with the research on the value of shared identity between teachers and students. When Native students learn under Native educators, they experience outsized impacts.
(05:28)
Studies show that increased exposure to same-race teachers leads to increased student attendance, grit and interpersonal self-management, working memory, and improvements in academic measures, including grades. Research also shows positive impacts on graduation rates for students of color with teachers from their same backgrounds. This is especially critical for Native students who have the lowest high school graduation rate of any racial or ethnic group.
(05:59)
In 2009, Teach For America launched the Native Alliance. Its mission? To grow the number of Native teachers working in schools, build support for Native education, and expand opportunities for Native youth across the country. Since its founding, nearly 400 Native teachers have been recruited into classrooms across Teach For America's national network. 50% of those educators continue to work in pre-K through 12th grade classrooms.
(06:24)
WaziHanska Cook leads the Native Alliance.
WaziHanska Cook, Guest (06:28):
[Foreign language 00:06:28]. I'm an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and reside in the He Sapa, the Sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, western South Dakota, the ancestral home of the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires of the Lakota, Nakota, Dakota speakers.
(06:51)
For over 30 years, I've been involved in wanting to bring more Native teachers who look like me, who look like our students. We partnered with some of the national organizations that I've worked with, NIEE and others to actually build a national Native teacher recruitment campaign. And through this campaign, Teach For America, at one time, became the largest recruiter of Native teachers.
Kayla (07:15):
Krystian Sisson is a recruiter for Teach For America in Oklahoma. As a recruiter, Sisson identifies working professionals who may want a career change into teaching. Sisson then supports candidates through the process of applying to Teach For America. She's a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and is personally invested in recruiting Native educators.
Krystian Sisson, Guest (07:35):
When I think about my own daughter and the experiences I want her to have in education, I want her Native identity to be part of her education growing up. I want her to learn our language. I want her to have the opportunity to learn it alongside her friends. That's way more fun than mom asking you, "What is the Muscogee word for cow or dog?"
(07:57)
And again, having an experience like that is only possible if you have a Native educator in the classroom and somebody who is from your community and can provide not only a traditional classroom experience, but also a cultural experience that's relevant to the kids from that community.
Kayla (08:17):
Cultural relevance is woven through Sisson's approach as a recruiter. Together, she and Teach For America colleagues who are focused on Native recruitment offer workshops for Native candidates. These workshops are meant to offer a safe space for candidates to support each other and forge community through the application process.
Krystian (08:34):
One thing I do as a recruiter when I am communicating with Native people is to share with them my tribal community and let them know that I want to provide them support so that they personally feel like they have somebody that they can talk with.
(08:50)
It's really never our intention to convince Native candidates to get into teaching, but rather to provide support to those who have that desire.
Kayla (09:05):
Guiding Native candidates through the application process can also mean reckoning with historic and harmful relationships between Native communities and educational institutions. Here's WaziHanska Cook.
WaziHanska (09:16):
What's the best way to bring leaders and educators into a system that, for over 100 years, has gained so much mistrust and has really disenfranchised our communities in terms of that historical trauma of language, of culture, of spirituality, all of those things?
Kayla (09:41):
Executive Director of Teach For America South Dakota region, Josie Green agrees.
Josie (09:46):
Indigenous educators are navigating a system that was not only not meant for them, it was meant to eliminate their existence.
Kayla (09:55):
The roots of schooling in this country, says Green, are planted in the erasure of Native cultures and identities.
Josie (10:01):
Originally, there was the boarding school era, which the entire purpose was to kill the Indians, save the man.
Kayla (10:07):
Given these histories, Green advocates for credentialing protocols which are responsive to and reflective of the lived experiences and needs of Native peoples. Otherwise, Green argues, we risk gatekeeping against highly qualified educators.
Josie (10:22):
The four-year degree tends to be the biggest barrier to getting folks who should be in classrooms, in classrooms. Given how our school systems are failing Native kids, Native kids are not graduating, they're not going to get a four-year degree. Therefore, our population to then get certified, especially through Teach For America, is very limited.
(10:43)
I think there's a ton of people who would be incredible educators or already are educators in the community. They may be a leader in their family. They may have the skills that show a resilience and the sustainability and persistence and strength. And we don't have systems that are set up to fairly dig into what type of qualifications are needed in a classroom.
Kayla (11:06):
One way for the profession to recognize a wider range of candidates and qualifications is to remove barriers to licensure. Teach For America's New Mexico region is innovating in this effort by providing micro-grants to first-time teachers and working professionals who have a commitment to teach anywhere in New Mexico.
(11:23)
Missy Wauneka is the region's Executive Director.
Missy Wauneka, Guest (11:25):
My husband's from the Navajo Nation and we have a fifth, seventh, and 10th grader and none of them have ever had an Indigenous teacher. We know barriers such as upfront costs for licensure and background checks can be especially burdensome for Indigenous teachers who, because of systemic oppression, are more likely to come from low-income households or to be caregivers to relatives.
(11:45)
This is where the idea for Transition to Teaching microgrants came from. If you keep hitting barrier after barrier, it can feel like, "Well, maybe I'm not cut out for this," or, "It's not worth it," and that's just not true. Your ability to pay upfront costs or fill out paperwork have nothing to do with how good of a teacher you'll become.
(12:00)
We provided $500 grants to new teachers in high-needs New Mexico schools with an emphasis on teachers who are from the communities where they'll be teaching. We also offered one-on-one support throughout the process. We wanted to do all we could do to ensure teachers, in particular Indigenous teachers, have a strong start.
Kayla (12:17):
In addition to direct supports to teachers, Teach For America New Mexico also partners with organizations who are advocating for and even successfully changing teacher certification requirements across the state. Leading Educators through Alternative Pathways, or LEAP, is one such TFA New Mexico partner. LEAP was the first program in the state to remove the GPA requirement of a 3.0. In its place, the team has a portfolio model and conversations with applicants to learn about their college experience.
(12:44)
Dr. Kim Lanoy-Sandoval is LEAP's co-founder and program administrator.
Dr. Kim Lanoy-Sandoval, Guest (12:48):
I was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation and I'm an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and my maternal clan is Tó díchʼíiʼnii, which is Bitter Water, and my paternal clan is billagáana, or Polish, on my father's side.
(13:04)
LEAP was first to remove the high GPA requirement of a 3.0. We will allow you to come in with below a 3.0, but what we do is have a conversation with the candidate of, "Can you tell us about what happened? Can you tell us about your college experiences?" And we found time and time again that it was either a struggle at first entering into college or they had to work multiple jobs or maybe they were a single parent who was navigating the college system. So we lowered the GPA requirement and we found that, many times, those teaching candidates were our best teachers because they had perseverance like we hadn't seen.
Ali Nava, Guest (13:51):
I'm Ali Nava. I'm one of the regional coaches and facilitators for the LEAP program.
(13:57)
So when we most recently presented at this conference in Phoenix, and I distinctly remember talking about the removal of these barriers and someone in the audience had shouted, "Well, what you're doing is you're lowering the bar then. You're letting just anybody into the profession." And our response was, no, we're not lowering the bar, we're keeping the bar up high. We're just creating different avenues in which candidates and teachers can reach that bar.
Dr. Kim (14:24):
The bar is a good teacher and there is many ways to demonstrate you're a good teacher: perseverance, caring about kids, creating environment of care, safety, knowing the content, incorporating universal design for learning in your ways of teaching. That's the bar, that's what we want. We're not looking for good test takers. We're looking for good teachers.
Kayla (14:49):
In six regions which predominantly serve Native students across the Teach For American network, the search for good teachers is evolving beyond traditional interviews to explore ways to include and center community perspectives.
(15:00)
In South Dakota in the fall of 2022, the region piloted a community-based selection model. In this model, the South Dakota team partnered with local community members and youth to interview teaching applicants and collaboratively decide who to hire to teach in their schools.
(15:18)
Here's Josie Green who leads Teach For America's South Dakota region.
Josie (15:21):
We ask applicants the question that is important for our community. What are the convictions that have brought you to South Dakota? What is important about you being here?
(15:35)
The second question that we ask is for folks to actually describe, in whatever way makes sense to them, what does decolonization mean to you? What does tribal sovereignty mean to you? What does indigenizing education? What is land back? What is kinship? What do those words mean for the power and future of youth?
(15:58)
And those are big questions and we're not necessarily looking for a right answer whatsoever. We're just looking to see if you have a connection to what is important to our community. And then our community gets to deliberate together and decide, how are we feeling? Does this feel like the right move for this person and does this feel like the right person for our community? Both of those pieces coming together are really important to make sure that everyone is involved in the process.
(16:30)
What excites me about the community admissions model is that we get to be a part of the journey that folks are on much earlier in their process. And not only do we as a team get to be involved, community gets to be involved, and community should be involved, given the history of Indigenous education that so many things are imposed. Our community has always wanted to be the ones who decide who it is that is going to teach their children.
Kayla (17:03):
A selection model which seeks to identify teachers who do in fact have a connection to what is important to a local community becomes even more necessary given national efforts to encourage teachers longevity in the classroom and in the profession.
(17:16)
The team at LEAP in New Mexico is aiming to strengthen commitment to the profession by nurturing teachers leadership. Here's Diane Katzenmeyer-Delgado, a teacher's coach with LEAP.
Diane Katzenmeyer-Delgado (17:26):
We develop really close coaching relationships. We get to know our teachers. They're able to get to know us and share their challenges, and we help them with those challenges to forge and celebrate and support them connecting their culture, the content, and their communities and their languages within their classrooms because when they feel supported, they're going to stay and they're going to take more risks and they're going to improve their practice.
Kayla (17:53):
Alec Dugin agrees, but adds the need for systemic changes to sustain educators who are aiming to build generational wealth for their communities.
Alec (18:01):
Ultimately, to be super successful, you do need to reform the whole thing in terms of ensuring that this work is sustainable. Because if you're someone's doing 60 to 80 hours a week and only being paid for the 40 of it, you're not going to keep those people, especially for Native people where they need to help their community. They want to, especially in higher paying jobs, they're going to be able to more easily accumulate capital to then create different programs to help their own communities.
(18:27)
That doesn't happen if you don't have a baseline to work with, that's sustainable at least.
Kayla (18:32):
Ultimately, says recruiter Krystian Sisson, solutions to recruitment and retention have to be as diverse as Native communities themselves.
Krystian (18:40):
Native communities are innovative, full of vibrant people. We are so diverse. There's just not one community that's the same across the nation. So strategies that may work for one community may not work for another.
Kayla (18:57):
For Josie Green, what unites these myriad efforts across recruitment and retention is the urgent need for schools to be transformed into extensions of community, into spaces of welcome for Native students and educators alike.
Josie (19:10):
I live in the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and this is home for me. This is where my ancestors are from, various parts along this land, and this is also where I grew up.
(19:26)
My son, Ellis Chika, who is six years old, a few weeks back during an education conference, I pulled him aside and asked him, "What is it that I do? What sense are you making in this education conference? What do you think my job is?" And his response was, "You are trying to make school like home. You are trying to make school reflective of our home." And I think that, in large, is what it is that we're trying to do is find home in a place that is very much originally not supposed to be that.
Jonathan (20:15):
Every day young people are inundated with images on the internet and in the media telling them who they can and can't be. At the same time, many BIPOC educators are stepping out to be the teachers they wish they had as kids. Supporting the next generation of leaders requires ensuring that students are confident and secure in their identities. Now more than ever, it's important that young people are exposed to positive reflections of themselves, and what better place to do that than where they spend the most time, their classrooms?
(20:50)
Inclusive learning environments help young people thrive in the modern world. It goes without saying that the places we gather on a regular basis to become the best versions of ourselves should be safe and ripe with possibility. Schools should be an environment where a student's culture isn't just tolerated but deeply respected and celebrated. All students should feel seen, heard, affirmed, and supported. It really makes a difference. Creating a classroom that feels like home means creating an environment where students and teachers know that they aren't just welcome but truly belong.
(21:30)
We hope you enjoyed this special bonus episode of Changing Course. For more information, be sure to visit our Native Alliance website at teachforamerica.org/Native-Alliance. Next time, we'll be back with our season two finale where we'll explore how Teach For America is investing in BIPIC educators.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
As people of color, we have been expected to be strong. Cue the trope. We have been expected to be Black Girl Magic. Cue the trope. We've been set up to think that we are somehow going to be superhuman, and the reality is we're actually still just people. And so how do we make what we're asking folks to do in these jobs more sustainable so that folks can actually stay in it with the help and support and guidance that they need?
Jonathan (22:21):
That's next time on Changing Course. And if you love the podcast, be sure to rate, review, and follow Changing Course on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
(22:35)
Changing Course is produced by Teach For America's One Day Studio in partnership with Pod People. Special thanks to the Pod Father, Michael Kress, Georgia Davis, Stephanie Garcia, and Akande Simons from Teach For America, and the production team at Pod People: Rachel King, Matt Sav, Aimee Machado, "Killer B" Bryan Rivers, Danielle Roth, and too legit to quit, Chris Jacobs and Shaneez Tyndall, and Carter Wogahn.
(23:06)
This special episode of Changing Course is produced, written and edited by Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz, Faviola Leyva, Stephanie Garcia and Marquita Brown. Kelly Pratt puts brilliant polish on all One Day Studio writing. Kayla Camacho is the expert narrator and voice leading you through this story.
(23:29)
The music you heard is from Olivia Komahcheet, also known as Liv the Artist. The team is grateful for production and research support from WaziHanska Cook, Terrius Harris, Amber Masters, Rebecca Boleto, and Stephen Bell. Many thanks to all the educators and regional leaders who participated, including the Los Angeles, South Dakota, Greater Tulsa, and New Mexico TFA regions.
(23:59)
Last but certainly not least, thank you to Josie Green, Alec Dugin, Jurrien Fowlkes, Krystian Sisson, Missy Wauneka, and the team at LEAP for sharing your time and experiences and telling this important story.
(24:15)
I'm Jonathan Santos Silva. Peace.