Teacher "Thinking Circles" Reveal Protective and Risk Factors for Persistence of American Indian Students and Retention of Non-American Indian Teachers in Reservation Schools

This study engaged teachers in focus groups called Thinking Circles to gather valuable experiential data on perceived protective and risk factors for non-American Indian STEM teachers that potentially impact American Indian student and non-American Indian educator persistence in schools on Native Nations. Participants in this study were teachers (N=29) in a National Science Foundation funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program from 17 different tribes across the United States. All participants taught science or math in schools on or near Native Nations. Some participants were citizens of the Nations they taught on (n=9), while other teachers were non-American Indians contracted to teach (n=20) on indigenous lands. Three separate Thinking Circles were conducted each summer for three years during which participants were prompted to brainstorm protective and risk factors for: 1) non-American Indian STEM teachers’ relatability to their American Indian students; 2) American Indian student persistence in school; and 3) retention of non-American Indian STEM educators in Nation schools. Once data were transcribed and reviewed, several patterns of insights emerged across prompts. Common protective factors for all three prompts emphasized the need for non-American Indian STEM teachers to: 1) gain the trust of students; 2) build relationships with students’ families, 3) learn about and participate in the local culture and language; and 4) engage with community members to build rapport. Identified risk factors across prompts included: 1) student absences; 2) non-American Indian STEM teachers’ lack of understanding of tribal community hierarchy and culture; 3) non-American Indian STEM teachers feeling unwelcome to or uncomfortable to participate in community ceremonies, and 4) non-American Indian STEM teachers not understanding how to apply STEM concepts within their students’ cultural context and existing STEM knowledge. That these patterns of identified protective factors and risk factors appeared across prompts and across different tribal regions and grade levels suggests the potential benefit of a future larger study to further investigate the correlation between teacher training and improved American Indian student persistence in STEM. These results have the potential to transform precollege STEM classrooms in Nation schools, university recruitment programs, and university teacher preparation curriculum.