Wisconsin Indian Education Association Conference
Native Pedagogy


By Jonathan Gramling

Part 2 of 2

     As with any other education conference, the Wisconsin Indian Education Association Conference, held at the Concourse Hotel April 6-8, is a means by
which educators can network and share information about what is happening in their schools and communities. It’s just that it is focused on what works for
American Indian children.
     One of the featured speakers at this year’s conference was Dr. Thomas Peacock, a professor of American Indian Education and associate dean at the
University of Minnesota-Duluth. Peacock is on the cutting edge of developing teacher education programs that focus on Indian pedagogy and the instruction of
American Indian languages as a part of the regular school curriculum.
     Peacock’s work has attracted the attention of many American Indian educators, including Joni Theobold, coordinator of Title IX-Indian Education for the
Madison Metropolitan School District, who attained her Master’s degree in the Duluth program.
     Theobold is now married and has children, yet she would like to attain her Ph.D. in education, focusing on an Indian pedagogy model. “In the past three
years, we’ve had a group of about 12 Native educators who are interested in entering the graduate program,” Theobold said. “But the way we were looking at it, it
just didn’t seem like the structure that would meet our needs. We wanted something that was conducive to Native education and our tribal schools and things
very specific to our tribal communities. Right now we have five Native licensed principals and superintendents in the state of Wisconsin. So this could potentially
triple the number of licensed principals and superintendents. More than likely, they would serve in tribal schools or schools with a significant population of
Native American students.”
     While the UW School of Education is one of the top education schools in the country, it hasn’t developed an Indian pedagogy model, in part, because of
the low percentage of American Indians in Wisconsin’s general population. Theobald want to change that. “We approached Allan Phelps and the Educational
Leadership and Policy Analysis Program (ELPA) about applying for a grant that would financially support students and seminars because there weren’t any
faculty who were very experienced in Indian education in the UW-Madison program,” Theobald said. “We’ve been applying for funds and conducting focus
groups to try to get an idea of what is needed to have a successful cohort program that could meet the needs of tribal students in the graduate program.”
Theobald feels that the core curriculum of the Ph.D. program would remain the same, but components would be added on and other components transformed
to make the program more conducive to American Indian pedagogy, including allowing American Indian students to move through the program as a cohort. “I
think there would be more of a focus in the coursework on, for example, on Impact Aid,” Theobald said. “When schools are close to a reservation or have a
significant population of Native students, they receive federal dollars called Impact Aid. Understanding how these finances move into a school budget, I don’t
think Native and non-Native principals are prepared to deal with that. Or they may not understand how to work with tribes or reservation communities. Those
things aren’t currently reflected in the courses. Part of that change would be the faculty themselves would need to understand Indian education. I don’t believe
there are many faculty members who are experienced in working in Native communities, rural or urban.”
     In Theobald’s opinion, not only would this program expand the supply of American Indian principals and superintendents in the state, but it would also
strengthen the ELPA program. “Not only would we have up to 10 graduate students completing the ELPA program, but you could also be having a training
program for maybe somebody joining the ELPA staff,” Theobald said. “That could strengthen the ELPA program and make it more diverse. There can be more
Native principals and administrators, but the faculty is gaining that diverse experience. It’s almost like a ‘grow-your-own’ faculty program. Maybe ELPA could be
developing some of its future faculty and become a leader in Indian education.”
     And in the end, while Arizona State University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth are looked at as the leaders in American Indian education, developing
an Indian pedagogy at the UW School of Education would be seen as innovating, in Theobald’s view. And that would make it a win-win-win situation for the
university, American Indian educators, and most importantly, American Indian students.
(Above) Rachel Byington (l-r), Adrienne Thunder and Joni Theobold helped stage the
conference; (Right) Dr. Thomas Peacock