John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State

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In 2015, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5433 modifying the original 2005 legislation, now requiring the Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington state or other tribally-developed curriculum be taught in all schools.  In 2024, the Legislature passed House Bill 1879 naming the curriculum in honor of John McCoy (lulilaš).

The use of the John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial curriculum has been endorsed by all 29 federally recognized tribes. Select the link to listen to how lulilaš is pronounced.

Ready to Go Lessons

To support the continuous teaching and learning you are providing your students, these “Ready to Go” lessons have been shared by Tribes and educators to provide you with quick access to a variety of complete lessons to implement along with or in addition to the John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial tribal sovereignty curriculum. 

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Teacher to Teacher & Librarian Implementation Videos

Looking for ideas on how to implement the John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial tribal sovereignty curriculum in your classroom? Across your district? Educators across the state share their ideas, lessons, and resources with you.

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The John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial tribal sovereignty curriculum uses three approaches:

An inquiry based approach with five essential questions:
  1. How does physical geography affect the distribution, culture, and economic life of local tribes?
  2. What is the legal status of tribes who "negotiated" or who did not "negotiate" settlement for compensation for the loss of their sovereign homelands?
  3. What were the political, economic, and cultural forces consequential to the treaties that led to the movement of tribes from long-established homelands to reservations?
  4. What are ways in which Tribes respond to the threats and outside pressure to extinguish their cultures and independence?
  5. What do local Tribes do to meet the challenges of reservation life; and as sovereign nations, what do local Tribes do to meet the economic and cultural needs of their Tribal communities?

A place-based approach. Our approach encourages teachers and students to address the essential questions in the context of tribes in their own communities.

An integrated approach. Teachers choose how much time to spend on tribal sovereignty content to complete their units throughout the year. The integrated approach provides three levels of curriculum for each of the OSPI-recommended social studies units, each level building on the last. Tribal sovereignty lessons are aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts. Where appropriate, units build toward successful completion of Content Based Assessments (CBA).

The Office of Native Education within the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction frequently schedules John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial tribal sovereignty curriculum trainings.

This work has been created in partnership with private and public agencies and the Federally Recognized Tribes in Washington State. We express our gratitude to all the contributors to this effort. Without their support and expertise, this resource would not be possible. Please be aware that any adaptations should be considered carefully so as not to impact this thoughtfully crafted content design or introduce any unintended cultural bias.

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If this work is adapted, note the substantive changes and re-title, removing any Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction or Office of Native Education logos. Provide the following attribution: "This resource was adapted from original materials provided by the OSPI in partnership with the Federally Recognized Tribes in Washington state. Original materials may be accessed on the John McCoy (lulilaš) Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State website."

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Except where otherwise noted, "Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State" by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in partnership with the Federally Recognized Tribes in Washington State is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. All logos are property of their respective owners.