Mellon Tribal College Research Journal --- Volume I Carmelita Lamb Faculty and Staff Interview Analysis Data from the semi-structured group interviews conducted by the researcher with teacher education faculty and staff at each research site were processed in the same way as the student interview data. The faculty/staff interview data were analyzed by looking for evidence of the learning community criteria and extra-curricular activities to promote student-faculty collaboration, examination of the history of the cohort model at each independent case study site, elicitation of faculty and staff perceptions of what a learning community should actually look like, and opinions about the possible effect of a learning community on student persistence toward degree completion in teacher education in a tribal college.
Findings The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) provides leadership and influences public policy on issues related to American Indian higher education. Within the existing 37 tribal institutions, only six conferred a bachelor’s degree in teacher education at the time of the study: Salish Kootenai College (SKC), Pablo, Montana; Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU), Lawrence, Kansas; Sitting Bull College (SBC), Ft. Yates, North Dakota; Sinte Gleska University (SGU), Mission, South Dakota; Oglala Lakota College (OLC), Kyle, South Dakota; and Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), Belcourt, North Dakota. Oglala Lakota College contributed only to the faculty and staff interview data due to the recent dissolution of their cohort model learning community in teacher education. OLC operates 11 college centers across nine districts of the Pine Ridge Reservation, Rapid City, South Dakota, and the Cheyenne River Reservation in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Geographically, the cohort model learning community did not
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