Expanding APU-Connect: Our Communities, Our Teachers, Our Future

APU-Connect is a workplace-as-credentialing teacher apprenticeship integrating Indigenous, place-based ways of teaching and learning with industry-recognized instructional frameworks. The solution enables Alaska Native women to earn wages, advance professionally, and meet caregiving responsibilities within their communities. Key features include shared instructional authority with local Expert Teachers, relational design, and rigorous accountability. By redesigning how learning, leadership, and promotion occur at work, APU-Connect strengthens the educator workforce and builds resilient, community-rooted education systems supporting economic vitality.