Abstract
The low number of California Native American students, both rural and urban, graduating A through G ready prompted this study. Using a qualitative and Indigenous research approach, the research questions that guided this study were: (1) What are the perspectives and beliefs about postsecondary education among a group of Native American students at Hoopa Valley High School? (2) How, if at all, do a select group of Native students at Hoopa High discuss their community’s cultural wealth? (3) What are the college readiness courses and activities provided by Hoopa Valley High School and how do students access them? (4) What activities does Hoopa Valley High School facilitate (generally) for students to understand college access and what activities do counselors do (specifically) to prepare Native American students for college? Nine Native American Hoopa Valley High School students and the high school counselor were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was chosen due to the lack of research regarding California Native American High School reservation students and their post-secondary aspirations and readiness. Data was analyzed through the lens of Community Cultural Wealth. The findings indicated (1) Native students at Hoopa Valley High School have post-secondary aspirations, with six enrolled in college courses (2) Native students possess aspirational, navigational, resistant, familial and tribal culture capital; as a result tribal culture capital was added to the Community Culture Wealth model (Yosso, 2005), (3) the Hoopa Valley High School lacks college readiness resources (4) the findings led to the emergent grounded theory of Tribal Culture Endurance and Post-Secondary Aspirations.