Using Culturally Based Education to Increase Academic Achievement and Graduation Rates

Overview & Synopsis

Culturally based education (CBE) grounds high quality instructional practices in culturally and linguistically relevant contexts. CBE is more than teaching language and culture as special projects, it is a systematic approach fully incorporating and integrating specific cultural ways of thinking, learning, and problem-solving into educational practice. For Native students these approaches include recognizing and utilizing Native languages as a first or second language, pedagogy that incorporates traditional cultural characteristics and involves teaching strategies that are harmonious with the Native culture knowledge and contemporary ways of knowing and learning. The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) is witnessing a broad-based reduction and diminishment of culturally based education in schools which provide an effective and meaningful education for Native students. This paper offers recommendations that will help expand culturally based education in schools.