Standardized testing, mandated by NCLB, can act as a barrier to prevent Indigenous students from entering teacher training programs and achieving "highly-qualified" certification upon exiting. Such regulations work against the nation-to-nation trust agreements that would place Indigenous teachers within Native school systems. Although experiencing difficulty, when these students analyze the epistemological underpinnings of standardized examinations, experience individualized writing instruction, and participate in exam preparation workshops, they can reach their immediate goals of teacher training as well as their long-term career goals of becoming educators in their home communities. Even under less than ideal circumstances, they can exercise self- and community-determination.