Indigenizing Assessment Using Community Funds of Knowledge: A Critical Action Research Study

Abstract

In light of attempts to build a stronger appreciation for knowledge that is often constructed by the dominant Western culture's standards, this article focuses on the efforts to create agency among classroom teachers who teach in rural Alaskan schools. In discussions around the theories of assessment—the focal point of a summer course examined herein—the seven teachers in this group gained agency and ownership to begin making critical changes toward assessment practices among Yup'ik children in Alaska. Using data collected through student and teacher dialogic reflections, field notes from the classroom, and individual construction of portfolios, the teachers combined elements of funds of knowledge and authentic assessment to reconstruct ways of assessing students' Yup'ik language development and English based on Indigenous ways of learning. The article demonstrates how teachers indigenized assessment by "drawing on the power of their place" to align assessments to the values, symbols and practices of their communities.