Sealaska Heritage concludes ninth annual education conference

Hundreds of people from Alaska, the Lower 48, Canada and New Zealand finished three days of training Thursday meant to deepen their knowledge of culturally responsive education and help them build curriculum that supports all students' success. The training closed the Sealaska Heritage Institute's ninth annual Culturally Responsive Education Conference in downtown Juneau. The 2026 conference ran Aug. 4-6 under the theme "Learning from Our Ancestors, Shaping Our Future."

Last year's conference drew about 440 people, some from as far as Greenland and Nova Scotia.

Author and former Alaska Writer Laureate Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes delivered the keynote. Lauren Eckert and Nasya Mo'osk'im gibuu Moore were featured speakers. More than 50 breakout sessions covered topics including place-based STEAM education, which stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math, and making medicines from plants. A day of field excursions included a weaving workshop, an interpretive tour of Kootéeyaa Deiyí, the Totem Pole Trail, a visit to the Alaska State Museum and a canoe trip with a dugout demonstration.

"When we launched the conference nine years ago, we had no idea how far reaching it would become," SHI President Rosita Worl said. "We had hoped to model cultural education for Alaskans, but it has impacted people internationally and become a model for inclusive education."

SHI describes the event on its conference page as one that "provides educators and administrators with a deep understanding of culturally responsive education and equips them to transform their classrooms, pedagogy, and curriculum to fully support all students' success—especially those who have been historically underserved, disenfranchised, and marginalized by colonized systems." Attending teachers, administrators, language specialists and presenters use the sessions to exchange methods and build relationships across communities, according to the conference materials.

The Juneau gathering is one instance of a broader movement in Indigenous education. That movement emphasizes culturally responsive, place-based and language-centered teaching as a response to historical exclusion from mainstream schooling.

SHI, a tribal nonprofit founded in 1980, is the only source of this account. Its release documents no student outcomes or policy changes tied to the training.