The intersection of three knowledge forms: American Indian academic success factors in a large urban public high school

This dissertation provides narratives from Native American high school students regarding their academic success and "on track" to graduate status at a large, urban high school in Arizona. This qualitative study of 20 American Indian juniors and seniors, over a two year period, utilized focus group interviews and individual interviews to collect data. Data showed that the participants navigated barriers both in school and out of school that they responded to as challenges to overcome or persist through.;The research supported traditional measures of achievement such as grades, rigorous courses, college and career readiness, and graduation being applicable to this group. The study further illustrated how family relationships and mentorship by school personnel, peer relationships, self-advocacy, and both in and out of school factors played a role in their success. These factors were linked to the three types of knowledge that was defined by Brayboy (2006) in his explanation of Tribal Critical Race Theory: academic knowledge, cultural knowledge and survival knowledge. These students proved to be motivated, successful, and ready to improve the world they live in, with one foot in academic knowledge and one foot in cultural knowledge and a plan for the future survivance.