Success? And the definition is?

I apologize for the clumping of my posts but it was not till last night (at the hockey game after a conversation with a local principal) that I decided upon a possible area of focus for investigation and perhaps research. Will academic or cultural support for our aboriginal students best increase their chances for success? And of course the next question is “What is the definition of success?”

Week 2 of Module 1 had the cohort question ” . . .based on the readings, how are Indigenous communities different from other ethnic or mainstream communities with regard to values about progress, tradition, and technology? ” Does the definition of success differ between Indigenous and Mainstream culture?

The CMEC Summit on Aboriginal Education spoke of success as “eliminating the gaps between the educational achievement of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in Canada.” Within the document was reference to the socioeconomic factors and cultural needs that need to be addressed within the context of furthering academic achievement.

Interestingly, I am having more success finding cited/peer reviewed research on this topic from an Australian indigenous perspective. (I find the same in the area of mathematics.) It was finally in an Ontario, What Works, Research into Practice, publication where I found not necessarily answers but the beginnings of a web of research.

Cmec summit on aboriginal education:strengthening aboriginal success. (2009, February). Retrieved fromhttp://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/221/aboriginal_summit_report.pdf

Integrating aboriginal teaching and values in the classrroom. (2008, March). What Works? Research into Practice in , (11), Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/Toulouse.pdf