ANC in the Media: Cultivating Native Student Success at Aaniiih Nakoda College

This piece was originally published on https://www.aacrao.org and was written by Scott Friskics

As one of 35 tribal colleges and universities in the United States, the core of Aaniiih Nakoda College’s mission is to “maintain and revitalize the Indigenous lifeways” of the people we serve: the Aaniinen (White Clay People or Gros Ventre) and Nakoda (Assiniboine) nations of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in northcentral Montana. 

This central element of our mission guides all that we do, whether that’s preparing the next generation of Aaniiih and Nakoda language teachers, conducting research with the tribal buffalo herd, or hosting a Native arts forum for the community. As an institution, the cultural core of our mission defines who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

Nowhere is this mission-guided approach more evident than in our efforts to foster and promote student success. The general operating assumption of the college’s Student Success team is simple: ANC students who have a basic knowledge of their traditional values, lifeways, and language, as well as a strong sense of cultural identity and community belonging, are much more likely to succeed in college and beyond. In other words, our students are more likely to succeed if they know who they are and where they come from. 

While many of our students enter college with this knowledge and a deeply ingrained sense of cultural identity, it is equally true that many of our students come to ANC with little or no knowledge of their language, lifeways, and traditional values. Through a combination of co-curricular events, advising strategies, and curriculum enhancements, ANC is making a concerted effort to provide all students with the cultural foundation and sense of belonging that will help them stay in school, succeed in their classes, earn their degrees, and live happy, productive lives. Assessment data from multiple sources tell us that, to date, this strategy is working. 

Co-Curricular Cultural Learning Activities Grow Student Success 

• From 2022 to 2023, the percentage of ANC students who participated in at least one co-curricular cultural event increased from 59% to 77%. These non-credit activities include things like stick games, beading classes, quilling workshops, Native language forums, art presentations, buffalo hide tanning, and much more. Over the past three years, ANC has significantly increased the number of these campus activities, resulting in a notable increase in student participation. Our data also show that these events have a positive impact on both student learning and sense of belonging. 

  
  

• When students were asked to rate the extent to which participation in a cultural learning activity increased their knowledge of Aaniiih and Nakoda lifeways and their sense of belonging, the average scores, on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the highest), were 4.24 and 3.98, respectively. 

The full impacts of these efforts are most clearly visible in student achievement data. 

• Students participating in co-curricular cultural learning events were five times more likely to return to school the following year (or graduate) than their peers who did not participate. For 2022 and 2023, the annual retention rates for students participating in at least one co-curricular cultural learning event averaged 73%.

• For non-participants, the retention rate was 14%. 

  
  

As these numbers show, participation in co-curricular cultural learning activities is a strong indicator and predictor of success among ANC students.

Learner Retention Improves Through Cultural Gateway Classes

Research shows that students who complete gateway classes in mathematics and English during their first year in college are more likely to stay in school and earn their degree. At ANC, we have extended the notion of first-year gateway course completion to what we call our “cultural gateway classes.” Specifically, these are required Native language courses (Aaniiih Language I or Nakoda Language I) and Introduction to American Indian Studies (AIS 100). 

Student achievement data gathered between 2017 and 2023 show that successful completion of one or more of these classes during a student’s first year in college is a strong indicator and predictor of their academic success. 

• The retention rate for students who successfully completed at least one cultural gateway class during their first year at the college was 79%, compared to only 13% for non-completers (students who enrolled in a cultural gateway class and received a grade of D, W or F) and 28% for non-attempters (students who did not enroll in any cultural gateway classes during their first year). 

• Among non-completers, the long-term graduation rate was 0% for the entire seven-year period. 

At ANC, data from these culturally based, early-momentum metrics inform a broad range of student success strategies related to academic advising, early alert systems, academic program planning, and course scheduling. And all of these efforts are united by a common goal: to increase the number of first-year students who acquire the foundational knowledge of Aaniiih and Nakoda language and lifeways that not only help them understand who they are and where they come from, but that also help them achieve academic success.

Centering Traditional Aaniiih and Nakoda Values Into College Curriculum

For ANC students, one key part of this foundational knowledge is learning traditional Aaniiih and Nakoda values. In 2023, ANC identified the following six institutional values: 

• Prosperity Niiʔiinʔikiikʔi; Ohídiga

• Generosity ʔaaʔéhkʔi; Oȟ’ą́pi

• Bravery Téiʔítaahaakʔi (harden your heart); Cądét’įza

• Determination/Persistence ʔiníitɔɔtéhkʔi (be fierce); Wógidą

• Honesty θɔnóoubéhkʔi; Wicóga

• Pride Neiʔíccɔɔkʔi; Agíc’isaza

These values are intended not only to guide and inform daily campus life, but they are also actively incorporated into the college curriculum. New students at ANC are now introduced to these values as soon as they begin their studies. Institutional values are taught in the college’s required first-year orientation class, which is titled Niibííʔínʔɔ ʔínʔ áatéhkʔi/Ou ́ye Iyégiye (“Finding Place”). These values are then reinforced in cultural gateway classes, as well as selected courses in various disciplines across the curriculum.

Student Voices Tell Their Own Story

There are many ways to measure the impacts of ANC’s mission-based student success efforts, including the quantitative student achievement data presented above. However, given the importance of storytelling and oral tradition among the Aaniinen and Nakoda people, perhaps the truly transformative impacts of these efforts are best described through the words of our students. 

What follows are three quotes selected from graduate interviews conducted over the past four years in which students express, in their own words, what a culturally grounded education means to them. 

“I’ve been able to take part in traditional games; right now, I’m actually tanning a buffalo hide. There’s been art classes … that I’ve been able to go to. And even at community events, medicine is always gifted to people. That’s a traditional value. It’s really intertwined with everything.”

“I wasn’t really very traditional growing up, so it [American Indian Studies] taught me a lot of stuff I feel like I should have already known. … The classes made me more eager to learn about my culture and language. … I would say I’ve learned how vital it is that we maintain and get back to our traditional cultures.”

“You could go into any environment in the college and see how Aaniiih and Nakoda values are championed and what impact that has on the culture and mental health over at the college.”

Collectively, these quotes speak to the different experiences that ANC students have, both in and out of the classroom, through which they may come to a deeper understanding of who they are and where they come from. And it’s this growing understanding, more than anything else, that provides the emotional, cognitive, and spiritual foundation that contributes to their academic and personal success.

See the original publication here: https://www.aacrao.org/resources/newsletters-blogs/aacrao-connect/article/cultivating-native-student-success-at-aaniiih-nakoda-college