This case study seeks to explain why a Yup'ik middle schooler, Nora, from a remote Alaskan village, was differently constructed as a math learner by her 6th- and 7th-grade math teachers. When a culturally relevant curriculum was used in 6th grade, Nora had a greater opportunity for leadership, ownership of knowledge, collaborative problem solving, conceptual learning, and participation in decolonized, culturally sustainable knowledge than when in a Western-style classroom based on the "No Child Left Behind Act"-motivated reforms 1 year later. (Contains 3 figures and 5 footnotes.)