Part of our commitment to supporting education for all includes connecting with tribal communities and enabling the success of American Indian students. We continue to foster an environment of opportunity through programs in American Indian Studies, which cover concentrations including American Indian Legal Studies and Indigenous conceptions of justice.
With this in mind, ASU’s School of Social Transformation recently announced the Master of Arts in Indigenous Education degree, offered 100% online, to further support improving the educational achievements of American Indian children, youth and adults. The online program will focus on Indigenous knowledge systems, current issues in American Indian education, the history of American Indian education, issues of Indigenous language and culture, American Indian education policy, American Indians in higher education, and critical Indigenous research methodologies.
Academic experts consider the state of Indigenous education to be a crisis for Native American students. They are subject to discrimination in public schools as they are disproportionately suspended and expelled, and higher poverty rates on Native American reservations continue to impact daily life and create additional barriers to education. Due to these obstacles ,statistics have shown that Native American students in both federally funded schools and community public schools are "some of the lowest performing students in the country." The launch of the online Master of Arts in Indigenous Education comes at a critical time for students in these communities. Launching in spring 2019, the program provides a meaningful and much-needed step in the advancement of Indigenous education; students who have a passion for these communities will now have the opportunity to pursue an online degree that enables them to better serve and impact the lives of the children within these education systems.
