Sapsik’walá Project
The UO College of Education in consortium with the nine federally recognized tribes of the State of Oregon initiated the Sapsik’walá (Teacher) Project in 2002.
Nine Federally Recognized Tribes of the State of Oregon
• Burns Paiute Tribe
• Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians
• Coquille Indian Tribe
• Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians
• Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
• The Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin)
• Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon
• Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Tribes)
• Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation
Tribes as Partners
An advisory council of representatives from the tribal consortia, the local community, and the university will oversee grant activities. The recruitment, support, pre-service training, and in-service mentorship of American Indian teachers will be developed together with the oversight of the council.
Program components include the following partnership features:
• UO Office of Multicultural Education and the UO Native Student Enrollment Services will provide admissions and advisement support for the Sapsik’walá program.
• A cohort-within-a-cohort model brings Sapsik’walá program participants together monthly during the pre-service year for a seminar on issues of high concern for teachers of american Indian students.
• Induction year (first year teaching) services include the provision of a mentor, formative evaluations of teaching, support for attendance at a professional conference, cohort seminar meetings, on-site consuting, an electronic distribution and discussion list, and on-line consultation and website conferencing.