“Zero,” answers middle school teacher Aaron Dorsey G’03, G’17, to the question: “As a student, how many Indigenous teachers have you had?”
“Absolutely zero.”
Over his entire educational career—kindergarten to master’s degree—he says there was almost no one of color standing at the helm.
“In all of that time, maybe one or two of the teachers I interacted with were culturally diverse,” says Dorsey, a graduate of Syracuse University School of Education’s (SOE) master’s in English education and educational technology certificate programs. “I had very little contact with anybody Native, even at the college and graduate levels, and I think that’s unfortunate.”
Now, thanks to an anonymous benefactor, $150,000 has been provided to SOE to boost the pool of Indigenous educators. The Indigenous Teacher Preparation Fund will provide scholarships to at least seven undergraduate students in its first cohort, which will matriculate by the 2026-27 academic year.
Aaron Dorsey
Much of teaching benefits from the unique perspective a teacher brings, says Dorsey, who currently serves as English Department Chair and an eighth-grade teacher at Wellwood Middle School in the Fayetteville-Manlius school district near Syracuse. “Native teachers can create a curriculum that’s culturally responsive, so their culture bleeds into what they’re doing in the classroom,” he says. “Their presence creates a welcoming and affirming environment for Native students.”
“One thing that is very clear to me as a teacher is the lack of educators with Indigenous cultural heritage,” Dorsey continues. “It causes a dilemma because we have nation schools—such as the Onondaga Nation School in Lafayette, New York—and many throughout the country. But the reality is, because there aren’t a lot of people of Indigenous background becoming teachers, those children are not seeing themselves reflected in their educators.”
He adds: “It’s nice to see people who look like you, in stories you read, on TV, and especially in the classroom.”
Historically, forced relocation, genocide and the abduction of youth to more than 350 U.S. government-funded boarding schools created a shared sense of trauma among Indigenous communities. That mistrust still remains—with one result being a lack of Indigenous teachers.
Education schools have an obligation to educate about these legacies believes Heather Watts G’12, a former Haudenosaunee Promise scholar. “Teacher candidates need to understand how this trauma may show up in Indigenous communities,” says Watts, Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. “Grandparents, and even parents, may have experienced life in a boarding school, and they may have total mistrust for the education system.”
This apprehension may prevent guardians from visiting their children’s schools, which may be misinterpreted as a lack of care for their education. This mistrust may trickle down through generations, making Indigenous children view schools as unsafe spaces. Boarding schools also fostered a sense of “othering” of Indigenous peoples.
Today, Watts leads Canada-based consulting firm First Peoples Group, advocating for more Indigenous teachers to address educational gaps. She taught at various charter schools in New York State after graduating from SOE with a degree in inclusive education before pursuing graduate degrees in education policy. Currently, she is focusing her doctoral research on Indigenous reclamation of education systems.
Watts stresses that teachers must know how education has been used to perpetuate harm against Indigenous peoples and then “consider how education can be used as a vessel for healing, moving forward, and centering Indigenous knowledge.”
Watts suggests that SOE might forge a deeper relationship with the Onondaga Nation School—located less than 15 miles from campus—where she completed a placement: “It was incredible to think about the principles of inclusive education, which I so valued learning at Syracuse, and how that could be fostered at Onondaga Nation School. These principles of inclusion are very much echoed in Haudenosaunee ways of knowing.”
While her mentor teacher was non-Indigenous, Watts says the educator nevertheless knew when to seek guidance from Indigenous colleagues, “she included me in decisions around curriculum or on best practices for communicating with parents and families.”
Watts says she’s excited to see the journey the recipients of the Indigenous Teacher Preparation Fund will take. “It’s very much needed, especially in New York State,” she adds. “I hope SOE keenly listens to students’ suggestions on how programming and content can be improved. While SOE has so much to offer in terms of training future educators, it too is in a position to learn from Indigenous communities.”
To read the full story, visit the School of Education website.
Story by Ashley Kang ’04, G’11
