Montana State, Blackfeet Community College, partners launch program to prepare secondary educators to work in Indigenous communities

BOZEMAN - A collaborative program that aims to prepare middle school and high school educators to serve Indigenous communities across Montana recently received a $500,000 grant to support the work.

The three-year grant from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies is for the Educator Development with Indigenous Nations of Montana (ED IN MT) Amskaapi Piikani Pilot Project, a collaborative 2+2 program where students will complete their first two years of coursework at Blackfeet Community College and then transfer to MSU for two years. The MSU coursework will be completed in Browning rather than on the university campus in Bozeman.

Students in the program will earn a bachelor's degree from MSU in secondary education with a general science or social studies focus. Project partners include community members, as well as leaders and teacher educators from MSU, Blackfeet Community College, the Amskaapi Piikani - or Blackfeet - Nation, and school districts serving the Blackfeet Nation.

"This grant will allow for the development of teachers who will be able to stay in our community while they complete their education and utilize our traditional homelands as classrooms," said Betty Henderson-Matthews, Math-Science Division chair at Blackfeet Community College and a member of the project team. "Our traditional homelands offer our teachers and students a classroom like no other. The students who participate in the project will have the support and traditional knowledge they can utilize in their classrooms to reinforce traditional practices and identify their place in today's society."

According to Christine Stanton, professor in the MSU Department of Education, a nationwide teacher shortage has reached a "crisis level" in Montana, and those shortages bring unique challenges in schools serving Indian reservation communities. Teacher shortages can infringe upon educational sovereignty, contribute to cycles of trauma and poverty, and exacerbate learning and opportunity gaps for Indigenous students.

According to data for the 2023-2024 school year, nearly 1 in 10 teaching positions in the state were vacant or filled by someone who did not meet the state's definition of a "qualified educator," Stanton noted.

"The shortage more acutely affects schools on or near the state's seven Indian reservations, which experience unique challenges related to recruiting and retaining highly qualified secondary teachers," she said. Those schools, Stanton said, may be under-resourced, without access to reliable technology, current textbooks and equipment, and safe facilities. What's more, teachers in these schools often work with students experiencing trauma, food or housing insecurity, and systemic racism.

"Despite the challenges, reservation communities have powerful knowledge systems and resilient modes of transferring knowledge between generations," Stanton said. "The pilot project seeks to recognize these strengths while addressing challenges specific to teacher education."

Stanton added that most secondary educator preparation programs do not effectively prepare teacher candidates to work in reservation communities, and the way secondary educator preparation programs are set up - often requiring in-person class attendance on a campus that may not be close by - can inhibit access to bachelor's degrees and licensure for candidates in reservation communities. Further, she said, Indigenous community expertise is often marginalized throughout secondary educator preparation programs' planning and leadership.

"Supporting preparation of Indigenous teachers with and in the community is vital for educational sovereignty, which recognizes the need for learning that is not only culturally relevant, but that actively revitalizes knowledges and experiences specific to individual Indigenous Nations," Stanton said.

"Our people have always been the best scientists," Henderson-Matthews said. "By embedding our traditional knowledge within the classroom, teachers and students can utilize past practices to teach future students and scientists about the importance of keeping and implementing practices developed by our ancestors and used for thousands of years."

To address the challenges, the Amskaapi Piikani Pilot Project is developing a model for preparation of secondary educators who are highly qualified to serve Indigenous communities across Montana. The model is intended to be culturally revitalizing, community-centered and place-based, Stanton said.

The resulting 2+2 program will be a fully place-based offering, meaning students won't need to relocate to the MSU campus in Bozeman for coursework or field experiences such as student teaching. Stanton added that the program will not simply adapt existing coursework to be delivered remotely - rather, it will modify existing coursework so that it takes into account the unique experiences and cultural knowledges of the students and community.

"We're integrating community knowledge in meaningful ways across all four years, and community partners will be really involved from the very beginning," Stanton said. "We're putting together a community advisory council, and those individuals will serve as mentors to the project team."

Stanton noted that the program also intends to offer students well-being workshops that are led by community members.

"We know that teachers, especially in contexts like reservation communities, can experience lots of secondary trauma - and primary trauma, too," Stanton said. "There are some incredible experts in the community with lots of experience and knowledge in terms of trauma-informed and trauma-healing practices in schools and beyond, so we hope having those individuals facilitate these workshops can help future teachers."

Stanton said that project partners are currently recruiting four students to be ED IN MT Scholars and members of the first group. Tuition and other funding support is available. For more information, people are invited to contact Stanton at [email protected] or Henderson-Matthews at [email protected].

Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies supports efforts to enhance quality of life, and prevent and relieve suffering of children, families and seniors; preserve and promote the environment and the arts; and encourage the humane treatment of animals. Founded by the late Margaret A. Cargill, the foundation partners with organizations to make a lasting difference for individuals and communities, with particular attention to overlooked causes.