Tribes take content lead in updated Tribal curriculum guides for North Dakota schools, debut around corner
The Department of Public Instruction extends revision deadline for guidebooks to ensure accurate, up-to-date content
Indigenous Democracy Reporter
Sashay Schettler and Nick Asbury gave an update on the progress of the new curriculum guides at the 30th anniversary of the North Dakota Tribal College System at the North Dakota Heritage Center on Dec. 5. (Photo credit Adrianna Adame)
Nick Asbury, a website content specialist at the Department of Public Instruction, has been promoting the updated North Dakota Tribal History & Culture guides for the past year and a half. Originally scheduled for release this fall, DPI decided to delay the release to give Tribal leaders and educators more time to review and contribute to the content. Asbury said this additional time ensures the guidebooks are factually accurate and reflect modern-day perspectives, with the final deadline for input set for Jan. 1.
The updated guidebooks, release set for fall 2025-2026, will now include more contemporary information and insights. Lucy Fredericks, the director of Indian and Multicultural Education in North Dakota, has advocated for guidebook updates since joining the department in 2012. However, due to funding shortages and timing challenges, the project was delayed until 2023.
The new guidebooks aim to provide a more accurate, comprehensive portrayal of North Dakota’s Tribal history and culture. With input from Tribal nations, the text will help educators offer a more inclusive and up-to-date curriculum for students across the state.
“It is important to have the updated North Dakota Tribal History and Culture books in every school to guide the learning of both Native and Non-native students and to have authentic history and cultural content about the Indigenous Tribes in the state,” Fredericks said. “The books will increase learning, understanding and well-being among all North Dakota students, educators and communities.
“We’re really excited about this, because this isn’t coming from the Department of Public Instruction –– the content is coming from the tribal nations themselves.”
Sashay Schettler, the assistant director for the Office of Indian and Multicultural Education
The updated version will add 30 pages to the books with more contemporary information. The guides will examine the oil development in the MHA Nation, Standing Rock’s role in the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests in 2016 and other current affairs. The books will also feature new covers created by artists across North Dakota’s Tribal nations.
When the DPI published the guides, a set of four books, from 1995 to 2002, the agency sent out the first edition to all the North Dakota Tribal colleges and all middle and high schools in the state. The set covers the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Spirit Lake Tribe and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. The books contain timelines, pictures, demographics and the history of each Tribe. The original version ran from 80 to 180 pages each.
Each new guidebook is limited to 200 pages, primarily designed for eighth-grade students, under North Dakota Senate Bill 2304. The bill mandates that fourth and eighth graders receive Indigenous studies lessons focused on four of the state’s five federally recognized Tribes (The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Department of Education is currently developing its entry in the series).
According to DPI, approximately 70,000 eighth-grade students in North Dakota will use the books every year.
Asbury and Sashay Schettler, the assistant director for the Office of Indian and Multicultural Education, who used the original guidebooks when they were in school, wanted to ensure the new materials were written at an appropriate reading level for eighth graders.
“We need to take [into account] the non-college attention span involved,” Asbury said. “I use them in eighth grade, and so I’m trying to see how long I will be paying attention to them.”
DPI staff first digitalized the original guidebooks. The digital versions of the revised text will be available for free to the public on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Books, Apple Books and other major ebook services. It will also be free on scholarly databases, such as the Digital Commons, via the University of North Dakota’s Scholarly Commons. The previous edition can be viewed on the UND’s North Dakota Tribal History and Culture Series.
After scanning, the department sent the manuscript of the new guides to the Indigenous Education Coalition, which distributed it across North Dakota’s Tribal nations to identify sections that needed updating.
“This isn’t coming from the Department of Public Instruction. The content is coming from the tribal nations themselves,” said Schettler, a citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes.
DPI recently completed the guidebooks’ latest revisions and is now in a review period. Asbury said DPI is seeking additional feedback from Tribal college leaders and Tribal government education offices to confirm the content is finalized and ready for release.
Asbury also encourages those who want to be involved in the revision process to email DPI. “We will happily send you the whole collection of the manuscripts,” he said.
Once the revision process is complete, DPI will send the text to the University of North Dakota for print and digital distribution. The final version of the new guidebooks will be revealed at an event on April 10, 2025, where copies will be displayed at United Tribes Technical College.
All paper copies will be printed on Tribal land, at UTTC and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Publishing, the latter a part of the SWO Dakotah Language Institute. The books will be sold to the public on an ongoing basis. All proceeds will go to the involved colleges and language programs.