Early Treaties with Native Americans: From colonial times through the early 20th century the American government entered into many treaties with Indian nations and tribes.  Early on, these treaties established a precedence of Native dependence on the government.  The displacement and loss of traditional Native ways of life manifested by the treaty arrangements were to be compensated for as described in the treaties.  This started a pattern of dependency and paternalism which carried over to Alaska Natives, and to today. 

Broken Treaties with Native Americans: Many treaties were broken with little thought, reflecting and establishing a devaluation of Native Americans, their traditions and cultures.  This lead to a climate of distrust by Natives for the government continues today.

The Civilization Fund Act (1819): Although this act was put into place long before Alaska was a territory, the effects can still be seen today. The federal government contracted with local missionary groups to run schools for Native American children with the purpose of “civilizing” them to live a more western life by instructing them with a strong Christian base. This belief on behalf of the federal government that was originally used with other Native American groups passed on to Alaska Natives when Alaska was obtained and attended to.  Since this time, Christianity has played a large role in Alaska Native education, and you can still see the influence of the strong religious beliefs that were  brought by missionaries. For example, dancing is still banned in some villages due to earlier beliefs. 

The Organic Act (1884): The first official legislation affecting Alaskan schooling. The act provided the first civil government of Alaska and stated that the Secretary of the Interior would make decisions regarding the needs of school age children in the state. At this time, all instruction was only allowed to take place in English and was primarily the three R's and some vocational training. Some schools were run directly by the Federal Government while others were “contract schools” run by missionaries. Although in modern times laws governing Native education are more culturally sensitive, English is still the primary language of instruction and the curriculum is limited due to school size and resources. 

The Nelson Act (1905):When more non-native people started to settle in the state, they formed small towns and demanded schooling for their children. Congress allowed small villages to incorporate and open schools using the taxes they collected, but did not include any provisions for villages to small to incorporate. Therefore, this act introduced a dual school system of education to Alaska by establishing schools outside of towns that had a large enough population to incorporate. These schools were only for the use of “white children and children of mixed blood leading a civilized life.” In essence, a segregated school system was formed. Even today in villages the majority of students are Alaskan Natives and opportunity is limited. 

The Meriam Report (1928): An in depth survey of the social and economic conditions in Indian communities that was commissioned by the United States government. It clearly pointed out the shortcomings of Native American education and called for a complete overhaul of the system with Native involvement at all levels. It called for such actions as boarding school improvement and culturally relevant curriculum. The Meriam Report spurred on changes and led to things such as The Indian Reorganization Act, which allowed tribes to incorporate and helped supply motivation for Native American self-government, and the Johnson-O'Malley Act which led to contracts with government entities to help pay for the educational costs of Alaska Natives and started negotiations to hand over control of school to local territories. This report is still relevant today and parts of it have still not been fully utilized.  

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1971): When oil was discovered in Alaska and the large oil companies wanted to build an extensive pipeline across part of the state, the federal government realized that they had no choice but to settle on a deal with Alaska Natives who had laid claim to the land, something the government had neglected to do for any Native group in the entire state. After 5 years of extensive negotiations, Alaska Natives settled on 40 million acres of land and $962.5 million, and 12 for-profit corporations were set up along with 12 non-profits, giving Alaska Natives serious wide ranging rights not only to land and money, but for the first time, Alaska Natives had the power to work together as a group and could demand what they needed for their people. This made the state pay attention to the unique situation and needs that Natives have and since this time, they have been standing up for legislation and reform in education and other areas as well. 

Formation of Regional Educational Attendance Areas (1975): Set up one system of education and established 21 separate rural school districts that are run much like an urban school district minus the tax base. Each REAA has a school board and administrators. The school boards are made up of local inhabitants and they have the flexibility to design more culturally appropriate curriculum and policies. REAA's are however funded by the legislature because they do lack a tax base . This system is still in place today and has eliminated the dual education system. It did not address the lack of high schools in most villages. 

Molly Hootch (1976):A class action lawsuit argued on the basis on discrimination. Most villages at this time still did not have a local high school and students had no choice but to be sent to a boarding school which were overcrowded and located in different states and had little regard for what was best for the student. However, similarly sized communities made up of predominantly non-native students did have high schools established. This settlement agreed to set up high schools in all Alaskan Native villages that had an elementary school, giving high school Native students the first opportunity to stay in their villages for school.