HISTORY
Chief Dull Knife College was originally chartered in September, 1975 by Tribal Ordinance as the Northern Cheyenne Indian Action Program, Incorporated, and granted funding by the Indian Technical Assistance Center of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council appointed six directors to manage the affairs of the corporation. Previously known as Dull Knife Memorial College, CDKC was renamed in 2001 to emphasize the significance of Dull Knife as a chief and respected historical leader of the Northern Cheyenne people. The College’s primary mission is to provide educational and cultural leadership to its constituents. Although CDKC’s original curriculum was directed at training students for mining jobs near the reservation, the College has quickly expanded its offerings to include post-secondary transfer programs. The College offers a variety of Associate degrees, certificate programs, and maintains articulation agreements with institution within the Montana University system that facilitate transfer for students.
CHARACTERISTICS
Total Enrollment: 472
% Admitted: open admission
% First-years receiving Pell Grants: 81%
Retention Rate: 66%
Six-year Graduation Rate: 45%
INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY
CDKC students have typically not graduated because they lack sufficient mathematics credits. Two primary content areas have been identified to facilitate this transition: (1) basic number theory and (2) graphing linear equations and systems. The basic number theory curriculum will be designed to re-introduce the entire concept of numbers to students, from the earliest incarnation of numbers and development of more abstract sets of numbers and symbols. As students progress through this coursework, using a combination of inquiry, manipulatives, lecture, group work, and computer-aided practice, they will have an increasing likelihood of making the transition from purely concrete arithmetic exercises to the abstract manipulation of symbols. Further, concepts requiring abstract reasoning will be separated from the rest of the mathematics program and a cohort course that combines real-world data, inquiry, and lecture will be designed to facilitate deeper understandings of graph representation and how their numerical representations contain identical information.