Boarding schools, treaties, and tribal sovereignty: What students should know about Native Americans

By the time Idaho students turn the tassels on their graduation caps, they should know about forced assimilation, boarding schools, treaties, and tribal sovereignty. 

They should be able to name the five tribes that live in Idaho and dispel misconceptions about Native American people. And they should be well aware that Native Americans exist beyond the pages of history books. 

Yet still today, Native Americans throughout the state experience vast ignorance from some non-Native people, who ask if they grew up with running water or live in teepees, or express surprise at meeting a Native person.

It sparks Indigenous communities to host powwows and field trips as a way to proclaim: ‘We are still here, and we are thriving.’

But it shouldn’t need saying.  

“…Perhaps one of the grossest injustices to American Indian people, is the narrative passed down through generations of students that is myopically focused on the history or historical view of Indigenous peoples.” — Johanna Jones, coordinator of State Department of Education’s Indian Education department

According to Idaho’s content standards — a comprehensive list of what every student should learn in every subject and grade level — students should be learning about Native Americans throughout their days in public school, from kindergarten through high school.

Johanna Jones, coordinator of State Department of Education’s Indian Education department

But when asked about the Native American curriculum in their schools, many education leaders point only to fourth grade, when Idaho history is featured (including information on tribes living in the Gem state). 

And it’s true that fourth graders are expected to learn more about Native Americans than at any other point in their K-12 career. 

But education about Native Americans is supposed to start years before and continue long after those nine and 10-year-olds sit in their fourth grade classrooms. And it’s supposed to be more than a history lesson. 

Students need to learn about “accurate historical AND contemporary aspects and perspectives of the five federally recognized tribes of Idaho,” Johanna Jones, coordinator of State Department of Education’s Indian Education department, wrote in an email.

“The most heard, and perhaps one of the grossest injustices to American Indian people, is the narrative passed down through generations of students that is myopically focused on the history or historical view of Indigenous peoples,” Jones wrote. “The very fact that this is a narrative that is still heard in classrooms today is why we collectively continue this critical work.”

Improving Idaho’s Native American curriculum hasn’t been easy — and there’s still work to do

For years, leaders in the Indian Education community — including Jones — have been striving to improve Idaho’s curriculum. But those efforts can stir controversy.

About eight years ago, the Indian Education Committee made recommendations for changes to Idaho’s social studies standards to improve the way teachers educate students about Native Americans. Eventually, many of those recommendations were accepted, “but not without a very arduous exchange of explaining and justifying” them, Jones wrote.

D’Lisa Penney, the principal at Lapwai Middle/High and a Nez Perce tribal member, said that she was involved in some of those past efforts to update Idaho’s social standards curriculum. At the time, one of the standards instructed teachers and students to celebrate Columbus Day.

“CE-LE-BRATE,” Penney said, incredulous and enunciating each syllable.

For Native American communities, Christopher Columbus symbolizes the beginning of centuries of oppression and is not a figure to revere.

D’Lisa Penney, is the principal at Lapwai Middle/High and one of just a few Native American education leaders in Idaho. Photo: lapwai.org

Penney remembers representatives from various tribes advocating for improved standards and getting some pushback.

“It was a fight,” she said.

Some people said more robust standards about Native Americans were important for her school that served primarily Indigenous students.

“I said, ‘No, they’re more important for all the rest of you,” Penney recalled.

Eventually, the standards did get updated — but they’re still not perfect, Penney said.

And the work on them continues.

Every six years, Idaho’s content standards are reviewed and adopted. In 2022, a committee was meeting regularly to review the social studies standards. One of their focuses was on standards pertaining to American Indian education.

However, since Superintendent Debbie Critchfield stepped into office, progress has been paused. An April meeting was postponed to ensure that “continued work aligns with (Critchfield’s) vision,” according to an email sent to committee members.

Scott Graf, the SDE’s communications director, said the committee “is now being modified to include a broader stakeholder group that can incorporate and advance the work already completed.” The committee will likely meet again this summer.

For now, here’s what the standards say.

What Idaho kids should be learning about Native Americans, from kindergarten to graduation

This list was compiled from Idaho’s social studies standards. Standards pertaining to Native Americans are not present in any other content area. 

K-4

While in these grades, students should:

  • Build an understanding of the cultural and social development of the United States.
  • Trace the role of migration and immigration of people in the development of the United States.
  • Identify the sovereign status and role of American Indians in the development of the United States.
  • Identify the sovereign status and role of American Indians in the development of the United States.

3rd Grade

By the end of grade three, students should be able to:

  • Compare different cultural groups in the community, including their distinctive foods, clothing styles, and traditions.
  • Identify and describe ways families, groups, tribes and communities influence the individual’s daily life and personal choices.
  • Identify characteristics of different cultural groups in your community including American Indians.

4th grade

By the end of fourth grade, students should be able to: 

  • Analyze and describe the effects of westward expansion and subsequent federal policies on Idaho’s American Indian tribes.
  • Identify the five federally recognized American Indian tribes in Idaho: Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai, Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce, and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes and current reservation lands. 
  • Discuss how Idaho’s tribes interacted with and impacted existing and newly arriving people. 
  •  Identify and discuss similar and different key characteristics of American Indian tribes in Idaho. 
  • Compare and contrast past and current American Indian life in Idaho. 
  •  Identify the meaning of tribal sovereignty and its relationship at the local, state, and federal levels of government. 
  • Describe the preservation of American Indian resources, including cultural materials, history, language, and culture. 
  •  Identify and dispel misconceptions about American Indians today.
  • Describe and analyze how American Indians and early settlers met their basic needs of food, shelter, and water.
  • Discuss the governing structure of American Indian tribes in Idaho.
  •  Identify the diversity within Idaho’s American Indian tribes and develop an awareness of the shared experiences of indigenous populations in the world. 
  • Discuss the impact of colonization on American Indian tribal lands in Idaho, such as aboriginal and/or ceded territories, and the Treaties of 1855 and 1863.

5th grade

By the end of fifth grade, students should be able to:

  • Discuss the American Indian groups encountered in western expansion.
  • Discuss that American Indians were the first inhabitants of the United States. 
  • Identify examples of American Indian individual and collective contributions and influences in the development of the United States. 
  • Define the terms treaty, reservation, and sovereignty. 
  • Explain that reservations are lands that have been reserved by the tribes for their own use through treaties or executive orders and were not “given” to them. The principle that land should be acquired from the Indians only through their consent with treaties involved three assumptions:  
    • That both parties to treaties were sovereign powers.  
    • That Indian tribes had some form of transferable title to the land.  
    • That acquisition of Indian land was solely a government matter not to be left to individual colonists or to the States.

Grades 6-12

By the end of grades 6-12, students should be able to:

  • Analyze the concept of Manifest Destiny and its impact on American Indians in the development of the United States.
  • Trace federal policies and treaties such as removal, reservations, and allotment that have impacted American Indians historically and currently. 
  • Explain how and why events may be interpreted differently according to the points of view of participants and observers. 
  •  Identify the impact termination practices such as removal policies, boarding schools, and forced assimilation had on American Indians.

Grades 9-12

By the end of grades 9-12, students should be able to:

  • Trace federal policies, such as Indian citizenship, Indian Reorganization Act, Termination, AIM, and self-determination which have impacted American Indians historically and currently. 
  • Discuss the impact of forced assimilation on the land, cultural practices, and identity of American Indians. 
  •  Identify and discuss the influences of American Indians on the history and culture of the United States.
  • Analyze and explain sovereignty and the treaty/trust relationship the United States has with American Indian tribes with emphasis on Idaho, such as hunting and fishing rights, and land leasing. 
  • Explain the implications of dual citizenship with regard to American Indians. 

*Editor’s note: In this story, the term “American Indians” was sometimes used to refer to Native American students in order to match the State Board and/or State Department of Education’s terminology.

This story is part of a series that was made possible with a generous grant from the Education Writers Association.

Carly Flandro

Carly Flandro

Carly Flandro reports from her hometown of Pocatello. Prior to joining EdNews, she taught English at Century High and was a reporter for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. She has won state and regional journalism awards, and her work has appeared in newspapers throughout the West. Flandro has a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and Spanish from the University of Montana, and a master’s degree in English from Idaho State University. You can email her at [email protected] or call or text her at (208) 317-4287.

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Still Here | Tribes fight to be seen in Idaho classrooms

About this series

Reporter Carly Flandro set out to answer this question: What most helps Native American students succeed?

She logged more than a thousand miles to visit four of Idaho’s five reservations from the Kootenai Reservation (near the Canadian border) to the Fort Hall reservation (adjacent to her hometown of Pocatello). Carly talked with tribal officials, school leaders, teachers and students.

Two answers emerged:

  1. Students need more Native American teachers in the classroom ...
  2. And more Native American perspectives and voices in the curriculum.

This series takes a look at the people and organizations who are cultivating those two ingredients for student success. At stake: elevating students who are too often overlooked and ensuring they have equitable access to bright futures.

These stories were supported with a generous grant from the Education Writers Association.

Here’s the reporting by the numbers:

Miles traveled: 1,265
Reservations visited: Fort Hall, Coeur d’Alene, Nez Perce, Kootenai
Schools visited: 9
Classrooms visited: 11

Shoshone-Bannock

Shoshone-Bannock (Newe)

Get to know the tribes: 

  • Their own bison herd: The tribes own a bison herd of about 500, keeping alive a connection to an animal with great cultural and historical significance.
  • Bareback horse racing: Every year, the tribes host an “Indian Relay racing” event to honor a sport that originated with the Shoshone-Bannock people; it involves a rider making three laps around a racetrack, jumping bareback onto a new horse each time. Three other team members keep horses calm, catch the incoming horse, and prepare the next horse for the rider.
  • Cultural event of the year: The relay races are just one part of the annual Shoshone Bannock Indian Festival, which also includes dancing, drumming, parades, traditional games, an art show, a rodeo, bull riding, and a buffalo and salmon feast.
  • Visit the Shoshone-Bannock tribes’ website for more information.

Local schools, by the numbers:

  • Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High: About 150 Native American students attend this 6-12 grade school, which is one of two Idaho schools run by tribal governments. It is located on the Fort Hall Reservation.
  • Chief Tahgee Elementary Academy: 126 students (all of whom are Native American) attend this K-7 charter school located on the Fort Hall Reservation. The school focuses on Shoshoni language and cultural immersion.
  • Blackfoot school district: According to the State Department of Education, 394 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 10% of the district’s student population. The district's records show it has 600-650 Native American students, comprising about 16% of the population. 
  • Pocatello-Chubbuck school district: According to the SDE, 420 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 3.5% of the district’s student population. The district's records show it has 846 Native American students, comprising about 7% of the population. 

Nez Perce

Nez Perce (Nimiipuu)

Get to know the tribe:

  • Chief Joseph: When the U.S. government forced the Nez Perce to move to the existing reservation, Chief Joseph led his tribe on a long trek to Canada to escape. However, they surrendered in the Bear Paw mountains of Montana, just 40 miles from Canada. “I will fight no more forever,” he said. His people were sent to reservations in Oklahoma, then Washington. The tribe is now located in north Idaho.
  • Saving the Snake River: The tribe’s Salmon Orca Project is dedicated to restoring the Snake River by removing its lower dams. The goal: protecting salmon and other fish — and the orcas who depend on them.
  • Energy self-reliance: Nimiipuu Energy, a tribally-owned energy cooperative, is working on creating a cross-country, tribal network of alternative energy sources. Along with Project 5311, they aim to replace the energy “Bonneville Power claims the dams provide.”
  • Tribal hemp farms: The tribe supports hemp farmers growing within the reservation boundaries. They aim to “create a viable hemp system that promotes tribal sovereignty and provides business opportunity to tribal farmers and land owners.”
  • Visit the Nez Perce tribe’s website for more information.

Local schools, by the numbers: .

  • Lapwai School District: According to the State Department of Education, 387 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 76% of the district’s student population. The district's records show it has 479 Native American students, comprising about 92% of the population.

Coeur d’Alene

Coeur d’Alene (Schitsu’umsh)

Get to know the tribe:

  • American heroes: Coeur d’Alene tribal members have served in every major U.S. conflict since WWII: “Brave men and women of our tribal families have landed on the shores of Normandy, and served in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.”
  • Cleaning up the Coeur d’Alene watershed: In 1991, the tribe filed a lawsuit to force restoration of the Coeur d’Alene watershed, where the mining industry dumped 72 million tons of waste into the water over a hundred-year period. Today, the Silver Valley is “the nation’s second largest Superfund site.” The tribe is among the entities leading cleanup efforts: “We do it not just for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, but for everybody.”
  • A casino, farms, and wellness center: The tribe owns the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel, which employs about 500 people and generates about $20 million in profits annually. The 6,000-acre tribal farm produces wheat, barley, peas, lentils, and canola. And the tribe’s wellness center includes a medical facility that “has evolved to be a national model for both Indian health care and rural health care.”
  • Visit the Coeur d’Alene tribe’s website for more information.

Local schools, by the numbers: .

  • Coeur d’Alene Tribal School: All of the school’s approximately 100 K-8 students are Native American. This is one of two Idaho schools run by tribal governments. It is located in DeSmet, on the southern end of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.
  • Plummer-Worley School District: 159 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 46% of the district’s student population.

Kootenai

Kootenai (Ktunaxa) 

Get to know the tribe:

  • Montana/Canada connection: The U.S.-Canadian border “split the Kootenai people into seven communities — the Kootenai tribe of Idaho, as well as bands and tribes at several locations in British Columbia and Montana.”
  • Saving the sturgeon: The Kootenai River white sturgeon was listed as an endangered species in 1994. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, state and federal agencies, and the Bonneville Power Administration, have worked to recover this species. The tribe also has its own sturgeon hatchery.
  • A 1974 war for land and services: In 1974, the then 67 members of the tribe declared war on the United States, which had threatened to sell the tribe’s land even though it had not signed a treaty. The war was peaceful, non-violent, and lasted only a few days. The government allocated 12.5 acres to the tribe, provided roads, a sewer, and city water, and access to education, employment, and social development funding.
  • Visit the Kootenai tribe’s website for more information.

Local schools, by the numbers: 

  • Boundary County School District: The district has 37 Native American students, making up about 2.6% of its population.

Shoshone-Paiute

Shoshone-Paiute (Numu)

Get to know the tribe:

  • The 101 Ranch: The tribes own and operate a cattle and crops ranch, known as the Wilson/101 Ranch. The property totals 938 acres and includes a ranch house, outbuildings, corrals, a barn, feedlot, and holding corrals.
  • Wetlands and a reservoir: The nearly-290,000 acre Duck Valley Reservation includes more than 22,000 acres of wetlands and the Wildhorse Reservoir, built in 1936 for irrigation. Today, the tribes maintain several camping areas at the reservoir.
  • Rainbow trout fisheries: Anglers can try their luck at Lake Billy Shaw, Mountain View Reservoir, and Sheep Creek Reservoir. The Owyhee River is also open to fishing (fishing permits are required for all).
  • Visit the Shoshone-Paiute tribes’ website for more information.

Local schools, by the numbers: 

  • Owyhee Combined School: This K-12 school serves 277 Native American students, who comprise about 92% of its student population. The school is located on the Duck Valley Reservation and serves Idaho students and tribes.