The Secretary of South Dakota's Department of Education says stakeholders are working to integrate Native American language and culture into schools. It's through a project that brings the voices of elders together with learning materials to foster greater understanding. The initiative is providing curriculum on a shoestring budget.
Some South Dakota students are now learning from a multi-faceted project to preserve Native American history the state. Secretary of Education Melody Schopp says Indian educators, leaders, and elders now identify 10 core understandings called the Oceti Sakowin standards.
"We've taken it one step further in that a lot of the history of Native American culture is oral, and we're losing a lot of those individuals who have that oral history to share," Schopp says. "So in the last year, last probably two years, we've gone out and capturing those stories and putting them and aligning them to each one of these essential understandings of these Native American elders who are telling their stories and and really giving this rich history that we will never really be able to give on paper."
Schopp says incorporating the audio is essential, because the columns of Indian history and culture can be difficult to teach without in-depth understanding.
"The standard itself is that, 'The Oceti Sakowin kinship systems provide a framework for both individual and group behavior. Its unwritten rules provide harmony, a sense of compromise and group harmony,'" Schopp says.
Schopp says hearing Native American voices explain the broad, overarching concepts makes the material more relevant to students.
Senator Chuck Jones is on a state education committee. He's a member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. Jones commends the Department of Education for working to inspire Indian communities, including Flandreau.
"And they seem to have a good working relationship, not only the public school but the tribe, and I know they've made efforts to integrate some of the things you've talked about, and maybe that's a model for other reservations," Jones says. "With that said, I think that Flandreau sometimes is different from the other tribes. We don't necessarily have all of the economic challenges, but they do exist. And then that people like me have opportunities when it was geographically or just access to jobs, to take advantage of opportunities."
Some schools are piloting the history curriculum. Secretary Melody Schopp points to McLaughlin where educators are embracing the opportunity to study compelling Native American history. Schopp says the work doesn't have designated funding, but the project is important.
Click here to view the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards.