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American Indian Student Achievement
This month TSAR Achievement Specialists were pleased to provide professional development for Hot Springs for utilizing the Wraparound Model. Specialists also visited virtually with school leadership in Pryor, Wolf Point, Frazer, Brockton and Poplar. TSAR continues to accompany Coordinated School Improvement team members on visits to schools around the state. The team is excited to share that the Creating Conditions podcast will publish two new episodes this month, so look for those in the coming weeks. Episodes one through five are available at https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/rhoffmanfbjzgxwj
The TSAR team is happy to have completed some new guidance for using the Indigenous Whole Learner Relational Framework in the classroom. These one-pagers cover identity, teaching and learning guidance for each of the IWLRF domains, including: Knowing, Doing, Being, and Belonging. These items are available upon request and will be published following the website migration.
The Tribal Student Achievement Team is happy to share the official 2026 RISE Summit Save The Date. RISE 2026 Tribal Education Summit - April 27-29, 2026 at Montana State University Bozeman. Contact Michele Henson at michele.henson@mt.gov
Look for news about this year’s student selected theme in the next Current.
About RISE: The RISE Native Student Leadership group brings Native students from across the state together to foster positive peer connections, celebrate indigenous identities, share cultures, and prepare students to be leaders in their schools, communities, and in life after high school.
The students meet bi-monthly via Zoom (Wednesdays from 2:00-3:00); student groups from participating schools take turns hosting the meetings and creating the meeting agendas. Students also help organize a yearly, in-person summit where they have the opportunity to connect with Knowledge Keepers and other Indigenous leaders. RISE meetings and Summits aim to strengthen all students’ self-esteem, build leadership skills, create positive connections to school and peers, and provide opportunities for connection to cultures and holistic supportive experiences rooted in Indigenous world-view.
Culture and Language
Ą́ba Wašté Konábi
We hope you are well this Winter season!
As we are (still) in the decade of Indigenous Languages, we encourage students and educators to visit our Language and Culture Page to find language learning apps from tribes across the state as well as the UNESCO site https://www.unesco.org/en/decades/indigenous-languages for more information:
The tribes from Fort Belknap have two recent apps created for the Aaniiih and Nakoda languages. Below are the links:
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nakoda-keyboard/id6463821086 [apps.apple.com]
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aaniiih-keyboard/id6463756395 [apps.apple.com]
These are specifically for iPhones and iPads, yet very useful.
We also hope your schools take the opportunity to share traditional stories with the students. While many publications continue to reach the shelves in schools, we also encourage communities to invite and celebrate local language and culture specialists from the regional tribes.
Please let us know if you would like assistance in connecting with elders and knowledge keepers for your classroom experience. As we move towards 2026, we invite educators to look for Human Expression and Transmission of Culture – Winter Counts and our upcoming guide to enjoying Powwows from the OPI website
Aké wacímnagkta!
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