Training and supporting school-community leadership teams in American Indian communities

The challenge

Indigenous and Native American learners, families and communities have historically been underserved and harmed by education systems in the United States. Often, schooling has subtracted linguistic, ethnic and cultural resources and expertise from them.

Although 22 tribes are recognized in Arizona, there is still much to do in attending to Indigenous and Native American learners throughout the education system. Arizona has the largest number of Native Americans — 332, 273 — living within its state borders. Northern Arizona is part of the Navajo Nation, the largest land area held by a Native American tribe in the U.S. The COVID-19 pandemic was disproportionally devastating to the Navajo Nation residents and other members of tribes, nations and communities in Arizona.

Schools where Indigenous and Native American learners attend and their communities are intricately and necessarily linked. It's also known that schools serve learners, their families and educators best when they are embedded in invested communities. And, if supported, a community’s knowledge can strengthen a school if done in culturally responsive, decolonizing and distributed ways. Community educators in Indigenous  communities can help affect change in schools and throughout their regions and strong schools can become places of safety and strength in the communities

The approach

Collaborative Leading in Indigenous Communities, or CLIC, is an expansion of Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College project, Preparing Educators for Arizona’s Indigenous Communities, or PEAIC. Whereas PEAIC focused on preparing American Indian teachers to serve Indigenous learners, CLIC aims to train and support school-community leadership teams in Indigenous communities in Arizona. 

Spearheaded by Jill Koyama, vice dean and professor and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, CLIC will train 10 leadership teams — a total of 70 team members — which will include a combination of formal school and community leaders, as well as extended family members and school network educators serving Indigenous communities. 

The project’s goal is to drive and support systemic change by introducing distributive team-based models that leverage the expertise of all members, regardless of formal leadership positions.

The central component of CLIC is a series of evidence-based learning laboratories aimed at creating sustainable and collaborative leadership teams, which traverse schools and help to create and sustain systemic change in Indigenous communities. The laboratories will offer professional learning workshops and a combination of synchronous and asynchronous training. The materials and modules will be developed and facilitated by Arizona State University faculty and staff, and Indigenous educators who’ve engaged in community leadership work will be hired as consultants to ensure the laboratories are customized to meet the needs of each team. 

Core training includes: Principled Innovation, Crucial Conversations, Shared Leadership, Family and Community Engagement, Facilitating Solutions to big problems and Leading Change. In addition to training, CLIC will offer ongoing multi-level leadership coaching to participants. 

CLIC participants will be offered the opportunity to enroll in 9 credits of coursework at MLFTC, summer 2024, that directly supports their role as leaders of Indigenous students. The nine credits may be used toward the MLFTC’s Educational Leadership (Principalship), MEd program or other ASU programs, including undergraduate and professional learning opportunities. Registration must be completed before the end of the grant funding cycle.

Evaluation will be conducted throughout the project, through surveys and interviews with participants.