Will a Native Centered Education Reduce Unnecessary Placement in Special Education?

The Common Core State Standards are the most common policies set in place focused on grades kindergarten to twelfth grade Mathematics and Language Arts/Literacy. Students who do not meet these set standards may be falling behind in academic achievement or worse misplaced and mis-categorized when they're in need of specialized programs.  It has been recently changed in some schools and districts to provide alternative teaching strategies including use of cultural and linguistic sensitivity. However, these new strategies are beneficial to all sorts of learners, not just indigenous. In reviewing existing literature, it’s been concluded that a Native centered education will reduce unnecessary placement in Special Education. This paper examines why this is so with a specific look at Indigenous students. Through a review of the literature, it’s proposed that there are other instructional models to educate these youths so that their needs are met. Successful programs that offer culturally responsive educational programs areas are also looked at as examples to follow for a redesigned educational system.