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Blackfeet To Offer Four-Year Teaching Degrees On Reservation

Blackfeet teacher education
Aaron Jacob/Slate
/
Slate
Lona Running Wolf, a sixth grade teacher at Napi Elementary, teaches some important Blackfeet phrases. The board reads, "Try hard, Study hard, Never give up."

The Blackfeet Tribe is working to expand teacher education on the reservation. It will soon offer a full four-year degree program that will allow local residents to become fully qualified teachers without leaving the reservation. A goal is to increase the number of Native American teachers teaching Native students.

This week Slate magazine ran a story about the program as part of a series called, “Tomorrow’s Test - how race is transforming America’s classrooms." I spoke with Miriam Hall, who wrote it.

Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.
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