Alternative instruction opens path to an Indigenous education revolution in SD

The COVID-19 pandemic brought an opportunity for Bre Jackson.

She was disillusioned with the education her children received at Rapid City Area Schools.

She saw Native American students face more punishment than other students — an allegation later confirmed by a federal civil rights investigation — and educational outcomes for Native students compared poorly with other students not only in the district, but statewide. That primed her and other families to seek alternatives when schools temporarily closed and switched to remote instruction.

Jackson, who is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, virtually enrolled her sons in the Oglala Lakota County School District on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Her sons formed a “pod” with other Rapid City-based families, and parents used a grant to hire a fluent Lakota speaker to proctor tests and help with lessons. Oglala Lakota incorporated more culture into the classroom than Rapid City, pod students referred to each other in kinship terms consistent with Lakota culture, and they started each day by smudging — ceremonially burning sacred herbs — and praying.

“In that environment, my kids really thrived. I saw my kids go from the drudgery of school to being excited to go,” Jackson said. 

Alternative instruction has nearly tripled in South Dakota over the last decade from 3,933 students in 2014 to 11,489 — now making up about 7% of school-age children in the state, according to the latest enrollment data from the state Department of Education. That includes homeschooling and private schools — online, hybrid and microschools — that are unaccredited, or accredited by an entity other than the state.

Critics of South Dakota’s alternative instruction growth have raised concerns about the state’s lack of oversight. Such deregulation can feed into national attacks on public school systems, fitting into a larger effort to defund public schools and invest public funds in private education through universal vouchers or education savings accounts (ESAs).

Gov. Kristi Noem recently proposed a $4 million ESA program to provide public funding for families choosing private education or alternative instruction.

State Rep. Eric Emery, a Democrat and member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said that rather than fund alternative instruction as a state, the government could direct more resources toward culturally relevant education and Native language preservation in public schools.

That could help families like the Jacksons, whose pod didn’t last. Grant funding ran out, and Oglala Lakota returned to in-person lessons.

Jackson, who works as the legal coordinator for the NDN Collective, an Indigenous advocacy organization in Rapid City, couldn’t afford to move to the Pine Ridge Reservation or to homeschool her kids. Her sons returned to the Rapid City schools.

Her oldest is struggling with school again. He doesn’t feel like he belongs, she said.

“I feel like it’s hard for him to focus on lessons and learn when it’s obvious you’re different,” Jackson said, “and you’re not welcomed or encouraged to practice your culture and heritage in school.”

Native American students are a growing demographic of nontraditional schooling as options and schools dedicated to cultural teachings expand. At least three Indigenous-led alternative schools operate in the state and more are planned for the future.

That growth is something state Department of Education Secretary Joseph Graves applauds.

“This kind of grassroots approach holds promise for better meeting the needs of these students,” Graves told South Dakota Searchlight. In past interviews, Graves said he believes growth in nontraditional, Indigenous-led programs will encourage change in public schools to better address the needs of Native students.

Alternatives allow students to be ‘unapologetically Indigenous’

Jackson sees the promise in Native-led alternative schools.

Rapid City-based Oceti Sakowin Community Academy, created to affirm students’ culture and language in the classroom, is funded by the NDN Collective and founded by Jackson’s mother, Mary Bowman. It’s in a temporary location now, and a permanent campus is planned near an affordable housing area.

But Jackson’s sons are too old for the academy.

The school, which is tuition-free thanks to NDN Collective, opened in 2022 and serves 61 students, from kindergarten through second grade, split between five educators. Bowman, principal and founder, plans to serve K-12 by 2034.

Bowman worked in the Rapid City school district for 16 years as a mentor to students at risk of falling behind or expulsion, and she taught the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings for three years in the district. The understandings are a set of standards meant to introduce Native American culture, traditions and history into public schools.

She introduced the standards into math, history, reading and writing. Most children were fascinated by the lessons, she said, even if they weren’t Native American.

Bowman, who is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said “there are a lot of things that need to be done better” regarding the education of Native American students in South Dakota public education.

Indigenous students account for between 19% and 30% of the Rapid City Area Schools’ student body. They received 5.5 times more law enforcement referrals and were arrested 5.84 times more than white students during the 2021-2022 school year, according to a civil rights investigation into the school district’s use of discipline.

Chronic absenteeism among South Dakota’s Native American students attending public school increased from 31% to 54% from 2018 to 2023 — the highest numbers of any demographic group in the state. South Dakota has made efforts to curb chronic absenteeism, reducing the number to 47% among Native American students, according to the 2024 state report.

One-third of Native American public school students don’t complete high school and over 80% are not considered college and career ready, according to the latest data from the state Department of Education. Comparatively, 4% of white students don’t complete high school and 38% aren’t considered college and career ready.

“Indigenous students don’t really see themselves in anything they’re learning,” Bowman said.

Culturally responsive teaching attempts to change that by helping students build a strong cultural identity.

“When students and kids have that, that really takes them far in life,” Bowman said. “It gives them such confidence.”

Graves said new public school social studies standards implemented in 2025 will include more Native American history and culture “than ever before.”

But Bowman said it’s not enough for Indigenous students.

Alternative instruction allows families and teachers the freedom to incorporate more cultural lessons than a traditional public school can, she said. Beading can be used in math, a drum circle and other traditional instruments can be used in music, Lakota teachings about nature can be included in science, and Lakota stories can be used in reading and writing. All of the books at Oceti Sakowin Community Academy are from Indigenous authors, she added.

Students at Oceti Sakowin greet each other in kinship terms, like Jackson’s sons did in their COVID pod, and they smudge, pray and express gratitude at the start of each day.

Creating a system that sticks: ‘We can’t be dependent anymore’

Jackson’s grandmother was among the thousands of Indigenous children sent to boarding schools from the 1800s through the early 1900s, and Jackson has heard stories about her grandmother’s experience at the Flandreau Indian School.

Children sent to the schools were assimilated into white culture and forced into labor, and some were assaulted. 

Between the late 1800s and 1920, researchers estimate 83% of Native children, some as young as 5, were enrolled in one of the more than 500 boarding schools in the United States. At least 973 children died at the schools, according to reports by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including at least 33 students from tribes in South Dakota. Some were South Dakota children sent to out-of-state boarding schools. At least 32 boarding schools were located in South Dakota.

That scar has remained over a century later, said Celestine Stadnick, former associate administrator and vice principal of Lakota Waldorf on the Pine Ridge Reservation, another Indigenous-led nontraditional school.

“There’s been an intergenerational acceptance of horrible education here,” Stadnick said.

Efforts are underway to change that.

The Native Inspired Schools Network launched its first community-led school in New Mexico in 2006 aiming to increase the number of Native American students attending college. Since then, the network has expanded to over a dozen schools across five states preparing Indigenous students for college while also promoting Indigenous culture and identity.

The Oceti Sakowin Community Academy and Wak̇aŋyeja Ki Ṫokeyaḣc̄i (Children First Learning Center), a Lakota immersion elementary school on the Rosebud Reservation, are both network schools.

Lakota Waldorf is not part of the network but has similar goals. A Waldorf school is based on a German educational system similar to Montessori with child-led, hands-on learning methods. 

Lakota Waldorf, which is the only tuition-free Waldorf school on tribal land in the U.S. and serves children until eighth grade, is one of the longest standing alternative schools in the state. Tuition is covered through grants and donations to the school, Stadnick said.

The school, which serves about 60 children, was started in 1993 by Stadnick’s Lakota father and Swiss mother. The two saw a Waldorf education as the closest educational structure to traditional Indigenous beliefs. The school is accredited by the Association for Waldorf Schools of North America.

Lakota Waldorf teaches bead and quillwork, gardening, bow hunting, singing and dancing alongside reading, writing, math and other core classes. Stadnick said the method aligns with “human nature.”

“When they’re carving bows, they learn about the consistency of wood, talk about how trees grow, learn the science of wood and trees that exist in our environment,” Stadnick said. “When they garden, they learn about biology and math and the seasons. It’s just hands-on learning.”

She said it’s important to break away from the educational systems imposed on Native Americans.

“We can’t be dependent anymore. We have to do our own thing,” Stadnick said. “If you develop a system from the ground up, then it can really meet the needs of the people. If you impose systems where they don’t belong, it doesn’t work.”

Bowman, of the Oceti Sakowin Community Academy, said children in Indigenous-centered schools learn things about their language and culture that some of their ancestors were not allowed to in boarding schools and public schools. And the children are teaching their parents.

“Not only are they teaching it to their families but when cousins and relatives come around, too,” Bowman said. “They’re so excited about what they’re learning. Kids in public school don’t see that. They don’t have that experience.”

Influencing education beyond alternatives 

The growth in Native-led education is gradual in South Dakota, with some alternative schools increasing capacity by one grade level each year. Other schools, such as state-accredited private school Mahpíya Lúta (formerly Red Cloud Indian School), also offer cultural teachings and a Lakota immersion program.

The Office of Indian Education, in the state Department of Tribal Relations, advocates for culturally relevant education for all South Dakota students in public, private and tribal schools, according to the state Department of Education.

Jackson hopes to see more Native-led schools pop up, or see public schools learn from Indigenous-led education. With that, she hopes the academic success of Native children will increase.

Bowman plans to have her oldest students take a standardized test this school year to compare their academic performance with their peers. She’s also considering becoming a South Dakota accredited school, though she won’t pursue it if it could “change the school more than I’d like” by implementing academic practices and requirements that don’t fit into the culturally minded school.

Schools accredited by the South Dakota Department of Education adhere to state education standards, safety regulations and other regulations set by the department and state lawmakers. Accredited private schools are eligible for state-funded tax credits for student scholarships. Alternative schools do not receive funding from the state.

Stadnick left her role as principal and administrator at Lakota Waldorf this year, taking her experience to Little Wound Middle School, a federally funded tribal school in Kyle on the Pine Ridge Reservation, as an administrator. She won’t follow Waldorf ideology in new role, but she wants to learn how other schools work and how they can be improved for children — Native and non-Native. Stadnick’s mother remains the main administrator at Lakota Waldorf.

In the public White River School District, just north of the Rosebud Reservation, Norris Elementary School started a drum circle called Canup Sapa Oka (Black Pipe Singers) last school year. The elementary school’s population is 100% Native American and serves four communities within the Rosebud Reservation.

Principal Brian Brown attributes the school’s increased attendance rate and decrease in behavioral issues to the drum circle. Last month, the attendance rate stood at 98.2%. About 20 of the school’s 50 students participate in the drum circle.

The children gather each morning before school to sing the Lakota national anthem, a prayer and Victory song with Brown. Some children come to school just to be part of the drum circle, learn Lakota songs and learn the language.

The experience exposes children to their culture, and it gives them identity and self assurance, he said.

“They want to learn our ways,” Brown said. “They want to learn who they are and where they come from.”