Tribal Education Department’s National Assembly (TEDNA) is a Native run non-profit that seeks to provide ongoing resources for professional development; providing technical assistance to tribal education departments looking to craft more comprehensive educational systems. Specifically, TEDNA seeks to assemble and collectively represent sovereign nations’ education departments. TEDNA accomplishes this by fostering effective relationships with government agencies, education agencies, and organizations, in addition to providing support and encouragement for each tribes’ right to define and achieve its own education goals specific to their community. TEDNA represents Tribal Nations reclaiming our sovereignty in education; through the empowerment of establishing tribal education departments or the re-establishment of the tribal education departments, tribal nations are positioning our Nations into the drivers’ seats of leading our nations through educational settings such as early childhood, K12, college, and/or career readiness initiatives.
(1) Promote Tribal self-determination in education;
(2) improve the academic achievement of Indian children and youth; and
(3) promote the coordination and collaboration of Tribal educational agencies (TEAs) (as defined in the official notice) with State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) to meet the unique education and culturally related academic needs of Indian students.
Google has created Teach From Homewhich is a temporary hub of information and tools to help teachers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. This hub of resources includes information on how to get started with your online classroom, provides tech support, as well as information on approaches that other teachers are taking.
TEDNA has created a resource document to support our communities and Education Specialists during the Coronavirus pandemic and throughout any prolonged school closures. It is maintained by Tribal Education Departments National Assembly, but as you will see, many of the resources were shared/created by external organizations and partners.
The U.S. Department of Education has created a FAQ page for grantees regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) answering questions about compensation, travel, and conference costs that are otherwise allowable costs under applicable program statutes and regulations.
If you have additional questions or comments related to these questions and answers, please contact your Department program officers or send your questions to the following email address: COVID-19@ed.gov.
Speaking Up Against Racism Around The New Coronavirus
When reports of this novel virus—first detected in China in December—started spreading to other countries, racialized fear began to manifest in public discourse.
Since the virus began to spread, people who identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander (AAPI) have been subjected to racist comments and jokes online or in person, and to isolating behavior from those who are afraid of catching the virus.
Times like these remind us that we must continuously disrupt and address issues of hate and bias, which often find their way into schools.
Supporting Students With Learning Disabilities During School Closures
Last month, as schools across the nation began to close, Teaching Tolerance reached out to our community to learn what you needed to support your students and their families through this crisis. One response that we received again and again a call for guidance about how to serve students with disabilities after transitioning to distance learning.
To provide that guidance, we reached out to our friends at the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence with a series of questions. We’re grateful to Dr. Judy Elliott and Dr. George Batsche for their answers.
District Responses to Coronavirus: Examples to Follow
Advocate for students and families during this crisis by using this resource to evaluate your district’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and offer recommendations for changes.