Tribal Educator Apprenticeship Program
Uvagut
Who We Are
Our apprenticeship program allows prospective teachers who are working in schools to take classes and receive on-the-job training hours that count towards an occupational endorsement certificate in early childhood development. Our goal is to support educators as they live in our rural communities of Alaska and teach from a perspective that makes education relevant to our students.
Our 2024 Cohort
Place-based learning training in Hilo, Hawaii
“These are the people from the region. They are committed to home, they are committed to our children, and they work with them every day,” Terri Walker, the superintendent for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, said in an email. Walker said that “the solution to that turnover is to grow our teachers from those born and raised here, who live and breathe the Inupiaq lifestyle every day, to those who will be here long after others have gone.”
Excerpt from the Alaska Beacon
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Terri Walker, Superintendent of NWABSD
16
Teacher Apprentices
16
Mentors (Certified Teachers)
6
Participating Employers
Participating Employers
North Slope Borough School District
Nunamiut School (Anaktuvuk Pass)
Harold Kaveolook School (Kaktovik)
Northwest Arctic Borough School District
Kotzebue Middle School
Deering School
Aqqaluk Noorvik School
Knik Tribal Council
Knik Tribe STEAM Academy
We are in the news!
New tribal apprenticeship program provides a pathway to certify more local teachers
By Alena Naiden, June 2, 2024
Anaktuvuk Pass resident Jana Esmailka has been working as a paraprofessional at Nunamiut School for about eight years. She said she tried to get her teacher certificate several years ago but it was difficult for her as a mother with two small children…
Alaska teacher apprenticeship program approval unlocks millions to fuel workforce pipeline
By: Claire Stremple, July 25, 2024
When the only preschool teacher left Harold Kaveolook School in Kaktovik, a village of around 250 people on the northern coast of Alaska, Chelsea Brower was in charge. It was January and she had been the preschool aide for about a year-and-a-half…
“When we have local teachers, it really sends a message to our students that you can do it, you can be just like me. … It gives them confidence,” she said. “Creating this program to help communities recruit locals to become educators in the community — it benefits the family, it benefits the economy, it benefits the village because you create a position for a local and they become successful and it circulates.”
Excerpt from the Anchorage Daily News
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Heather Lujan, Teacher Apprentice
Suna aullaaġvik?
Tribal educators…
ground students in their cultural identities and equip students with 21st-century academic, job and career skills needed to be a successful graduate of K-12 education
know and use the core values and beliefs of the community as the basis for social and emotional instruction
use their own familiarity with the culture to anchor new learning and comprehension and use cultural best practices in communicating with families
understand best practices in dual language learning and have a specific interest in preserving students’ home language
facilitates and fosters the learning of students by blending western educational pedagogy and knowledge with best practices for cultural and traditional learning and training systems of the tribe they represent
and more…
Arctic Slope Community Foundation will not discriminate against apprenticeship applicants or apprentices based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), sexual orientation, genetic information, or because they are an individual with a disability or a person 40-years old or older.
Arctic Slope Community Foundation will take affirmative action to provide equal opportunity in apprenticeship and will operate the apprenticeship program as required under Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 30.