Reaching American Indian Special/ Elementary Educators Through a Partnership with a Navajo Nation School District

Abstract

This article describes the Reaching American Indian Special/Elementary Educators (RAISE) program, a community-based native teacher education program located on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Arizona. The RAISE program is a preservice teacher preparation partnership program between Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the Kayenta Unified School District (KUSD). RAISE is designed for two groups of students: uncertified Navajo special and elementary education preservice students who work with the local school district, and traditional teacher education students recruited from the main campus of NAU. The RAISE program prepares students to teach in impoverished rural and remote areas and to work in inclusive schools with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. On completion of the program, the students earn a dual teacher certification in special and elementary education.

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