Describes how educators at one Navajo community school are transforming assumptions about schooling for indigenous groups from a deficit model to one that views bilingualism, biculturalism, and multiculturalism as assets to be tapped. Bases the discussion on a long-term ethnographic study of the changes brought about through the implementation of…

Critical historical analysis of the apparently contradictory policies and practices within American Indian education reveals a patterned response to cultural and linguistic diversity, as the federal government has attempted to distinguish "safe" from "dangerous" Indian practices. (SLD)

This paper discusses the contribution of school-based mother-tongue literacy to the maintenance and renewal of endangered languages, with Navajo as the case in point. Although Navajo claims the most speakers among U.S. indigenous languages, the absolute number and relative proportion of Navajo speakers have declined drastically in the last 30…

This book presents the voices of Navajo parents, students, educators, administrators, school board members, and politicians in Rough Rock, Arizona, home of a community based school for American Indian students. The Rough Rock Demonstration School, started in 1966, is lauded as an exemplary "experiment" in American Indian education. It…

This paper describes the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), which can serve as a model for connecting school, community, and university resources to strengthen indigenous languages. Since 1978, AILDI has held annual summer institutes that team community-based native speakers of indigenous languages with academic linguists and…

Examines the efforts of indigenous communities in the United States to maintain and revitalize their languages by restoring traditional learning environments and creating new ones. Describes immersion programs in Hawaiian and Navajo, bilingual education programs, master-apprentice programs, development of a Hualapai writing system and resources,…

Indigenous literacy affirms indigenous identity; connects native speakers to the culture and each other; and stimulates other, more diffuse forces for language maintenance. Collaborative, grassroots Native language programs in the United States, New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada, and Puerto Rico are described. Immersion and literacy programs include…