This case study is part of an ongoing collaborative research project with Yup'ik teachers in southwest Alaska. On the surface, this lesson appears to be an art lesson, but a cultural interpretation suggests it is about subsistence and survival. Implicit in this case for minority education is the importance of adapting social interactions, knowledge, and values toward the minority culture as one possible means for improving schooling.

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A randomized controlled trial conducted in Alaska examined the efficacy of 2 second-grade modules of the reform-oriented and culturally based Math in a Cultural Context (MCC) teacher training and curriculum. The results show that the Picking Berries (representing and measuring) and Going to Egg Island (grouping and place value) modules significantly improved students' mathematics performance. The analysis also revealed that the impacts were broad based and significant for most of the subgroups of schools and students examined.

Here we present two cases in which indigenous teacher groups are transforming the culture of schooling. Working within a community school and on the margins of schooling, Navajo teachers at Rough Rock and Yup'ik teachers and elders in southwestern Alaska are finding creative ways to use their culture, their knowledge, and their language in the construction of curriculum and pedagogy. These teacher groups have created zones of safety in which resistance to conventional practices can be expressed and innovative approaches to schooling investigated and practiced. The work of these teacher groups has theoretical implications for community-based teacher preparation. The challenge remains in transferring these cultural creations to the wider institution of schooling.