Daphne Littlebear
Francis Vigil
A movement for data sovereignty in education is expanding as Tribal nations, schools, and Native educators work to reclaim how information about their students and community is interpreted and applied. This session positions Data Sovereignty in Education as a critical and timely discussion shaped by shifting governance landscapes, community priorities, and the need for ethical, place-based data practices grounded in Indigenous laws and protocols. Drawing on the Amplifying Data Sovereignty and Decolonizing Data for Native Education project by the National Indian Education Association, the workshop highlights findings from a national landscape analysis led by nine Native researchers. Their work shows that Native students remain largely invisible in federal and state data systems rooted in Western, deficit-based frameworks and emphasizes the need for Indigenous-led data governance, culturally grounded methodologies, and community-defined measures of success. To illustrate community-driven solutions, the session features a collaborative Tribal Data Dashboard created by Bernalillo Public Schools Indian Education Department and seven sovereign Tribal nations. Designed for reciprocal Tribal–school use, the dashboard offers Tribe-specific and disaggregated data, real-time reporting, longitudinal views, and tools to strengthen data literacy and capacity within Tribal communities. This session opens a broader conversation on building just, sovereign, and culturally grounded educational data systems, inviting participants to explore key questions about culturally governed data, protecting sensitive cultural knowledge, and redefining “evidence” and “success” from Indigenous standpoints.