Native Educator Cultivation Program

Contact Information

Rebecca Purser
Native Educator Cultivation Program Supervisor

The Native Educator Cultivation Program is a funded project that will support the capacity to identify, support, recruit, and retain Native American educators. The program aims to:

  1. Listen, learn, and respond to the recommendations brought forward by Tribal Elders, leaders, families, and students;
  2. Create and support multiple pathways to recruit and retain future AI/AN educators; and
  3. Create access to reliable AI/AN educator and student data.

House Bill (HB) 1139: Expanding the Current and Future Educator Workforce Supply details an act relating to expanding the current and future educator workforce supply through evidence-based strategies to improve and incentivize the recruitment and retention of highly effective educators, especially in high-need subject, grade-level, and geographic areas, and to establish a cohesive continuum of high-quality professional learning from preparation programs to job-embedded induction, mentoring, collaboration, and other professional development opportunities.

Program Goals
  • Develop a Native American Educator Pathways Advisory to develop, articulate and communicate pathways including creating structures of support.
  • Develop and implement innovative Native American Educator Cultivation grants to ESDs, Tribes, STEC schools and other LEAs, Higher Education, non-profit organizations, and other partners.
  • Develop and implement contracts for regional, local and STEC group Cultivation facilitators to help move innovative pathway ideas forward.
  • Make improvements to data systems for collecting Native American educator data.
  • Improve programming updates to CEDARS to enable CEDARS and Native American Student Information System (NASIS) to connect.
  • Create, improve, and manage system and respond to requests, including capacity building and support for grant writing.

As funding is available, future work involves Tribal Governed Teacher Preparation and Residency programs.

Historic Timeline: A Weave of Tribal Sovereignty, Policy, and Leadership
  • 1989: Centennial Accord
  • 2003: First Peoples’ Language, Culture and Oral Traditions Certificate Pilot
  • 2008: From Where the Sun Rises Report
  • 2009: Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC)
  • 2010: Native American Language Act
  • 2011: Office of Native Education (ONE) in statute
  • 2019: Region 16 Comprehensive Center
  • 2020: Circles of Reflection
  • 2020: HB 1139 Regional Recruiting Initiative
  • 2021: Comprehensive Native American Educator Pathways Program
  • 2022: Native Educator Cultivation Program (ARP Funding)
  • 2023: Tribal Governed Teacher Prep/Residency Workgroup

Opportunities to Build Community

Tribal Language Educators Professional Learning Community
Held on the first and third Thursday of every month from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Resources