Portland State awarded $1.2 million for Native American teacher education

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Indian Education has awarded $1.2 million to Portland State University’s Graduate School of Education to recruit and prepare Native American students for teaching licensure and master’s degrees over the next four years. 

This is PSU’s third Office of Indian Education professional development grant in six years. The first award, received in 2010, established the American Indian Teacher Preparation program.

“I am elated,” said Project Director Maria Tenorio. “I think this grant will help us sustain a lot of the work we want to continue with Oregon tribes—in fact, some of our first teachers are now ready to accept student teachers.”

The Portland metro area has the largest Native American population in Oregon, yet very few Native Americans are represented among the ranks of Oregon’s 33,000 teachers. Since 2011, a total of 17 Native American educators from many tribes and nations have graduated from PSU’s program. The number may seem relatively small, but it is a significant increase in Native American teachers in Oregon’s workforce, which is currently less than 1 percent.  

Micki Caskey, associate dean and principal investigator on the grant, praised the program’s success. 

“This American Indian Teacher Program award allows us to build on our proud and long-standing relationships with Oregon's tribal nations,” Caskey said. “Our partnerships with the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz and the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indians will continue to benefit the tribal and non-Native communities alike.”

Tenorio is assisted by Quang Phan and Cornel Pewewardy, director of Indigenous Nation Studies at PSU, who continues to serve as the program liaison.