American Indians and Alaska Natives

Abstract

In a searing testimony, in June 2010, to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, 19-year-old Alaska Native student Mariah Bowers described how the No Child Left Behind Act had let her down and left far too many Indian students behind. A conscientious student who had perfect attendance and always did her homework, Mariah struggled in school. Because of the pressures of NCLB, " my teachers were more concerned with teaching to the tests and getting through all the curriculum than making sure we actually understood the material, " Mariah told the Committee. By her freshman year of high school, Mariah was skipping classes, getting into trouble with other truant students, and on the verge of dropping out of school. If she hadn't transferred to a tribally operated public school that uses Native language and culture to teach all subjects , Mariah, now a college sophomore, might have been a statistic rather than a success story. The evidence is clear: NCLB, unveiled to great fanfare almost a decade ago, has done more harm than good to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students—making it absolutely imperative, say Indian leaders, that next time around, we get the nation's most important education law right. As Congress prepares to reauthorize NCLB, Indian leaders have presented comprehensive recommendations for the education of AI/AN students (see sidebar), whose performance has stagnated under NCLB due to narrowed curricula, the loss of Native language and cultural programs, and inappropriate use of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), particularly in Indian communities with high student mobility. losing ground with nClB Recent reports show that American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students have some of the highest dropout rates in the country and that Native children are the only students to show no significant progress in math and science scores since 2005 (AI/AN 8th graders had a slight increase in reading scores). In addition, American Indians and Alaska Natives are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to be targeted for special education services, while suspension and expulsion rates for Native students are second only to those for African Americans. Given the circumstances, the loss of native curricula is particularly damaging, say AI/AN educators, for students who are already isolated from their culture. The vast majority of Indian students attend public schools that are off-reservation, with highly diverse student bodies and a limited number of Native educators. As a result, …