New Report on Indian Education - Positive Legislation Stalled

Native American Legislative Update - July 2012

New Report on Indian Education - Positive Legislation Stalled

On July 3, the Department of Education issued the National Indian Education Study 2011. This study, which has recently been conducted every two years, describes the condition of education for American Indian and Alaska Native students in the United States, and includes information about academic performances in reading and mathematics of Native American fourth- and eighth-graders and their exposure to Native American culture in educational settings.

According to the report, average math scores for fourth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native students attending Bureau of Indian Education schools have improved since 2009, with about one-half to two-thirds of fourth- and eighth-graders scoring at or above the Basic level in mathematics. However, average reading scores for students in both grades in 2011 were not significantly different from scores in 2009 and 2005.

In October 2011, we reported that Senator Daniel Akaka’s (HI) bill, the Native CLASS Act (S.1262) passed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs unanimously. Since then, two versions of the Native CLASS Act have been introduced in the House: H.R.3568 by Rep Dale Kildee (MI) and H.R.3569 sponsored by Rep Joe Baca (CA). They have both been referred to committees but no action has been taken on them yet.

Unfortunately, given the press of other business in Congress, we do not expect action on the Native CLASS Act in either the House or the Senate anytime soon.

See more articles in the July 2012 NALU.