{ "id": "RL34205", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "RL", "number": "RL34205", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "Indian Elementary-Secondary Education: Programs, Background, and Issues", "retrieved": "2024-04-18T04:04:11.114623", "id": "RL34205_17_2024-03-12", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2024-03-12_RL34205_09aeaf4c932ff210de3e8ddd4f3002631c33e9d9.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL34205/17", "sha1": "09aeaf4c932ff210de3e8ddd4f3002631c33e9d9" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2024-03-12_RL34205_09aeaf4c932ff210de3e8ddd4f3002631c33e9d9.html" } ], "date": "2024-03-12", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "RL", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=RL34205", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "Indian Elementary-Secondary Education: Programs, Background, and Issues", "retrieved": "2024-04-18T04:04:11.113998", "id": "RL34205_16_2020-07-28", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2020-07-28_RL34205_74b7f8f799e5bcf7ed16397a1d4400a5f6a25cea.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL34205/16", "sha1": "74b7f8f799e5bcf7ed16397a1d4400a5f6a25cea" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2020-07-28_RL34205_74b7f8f799e5bcf7ed16397a1d4400a5f6a25cea.html" } ], "date": "2020-07-28", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "RL", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=RL34205", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 586517, "date": "2017-06-16", "retrieved": "2020-01-02T14:24:51.036029", "title": "Indian Elementary-Secondary Education: Programs, Background, and Issues", "summary": "The federal government provides elementary and secondary education and educational assistance to Indian children, either directly through federally funded schools or indirectly through educational assistance to public schools. Direct education is provided by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), through elementary and secondary schools funded by the BIE. Educational assistance to public schools is provided chiefly through programs of the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The student population served by federal Indian education programs consists of members (or descendants of members) of Indian tribes, not American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), as identified by race/ethnicity. Most of this Indian education population attends public schools. Most federal data on Indian students are based on race/ethnicity, however, which complicates analysis of results for the population served by federal Indian education programs.\nThe BIE was originally part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in DOI. The BIA began the current system of direct Indian education in the decades following the Civil War, with congressional approval and funding. The system developed gradually to its current structure. In the late 19th century, the BIA began placing a few students in public schools, a trend that accelerated after about 1910. At present, over 90% of the Indian student population attends public schools.\nThe BIE-funded education system for Indian students includes 169 schools (and 14 \u201cperipheral dormitories\u201d for students attending public schools nearby). Schools and dorms may be operated by the BIE itself or by tribes and tribal organizations. A number of BIE programs provide funding and services, supplemented by set-asides for BIE schools from ED programs. Federal funding for Indian students in public schools flows to school districts chiefly through ED programs, with a small addition from a single BIE program. Most of the ED funds are authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).\nA perennial issue regarding Indian education is comparatively poor academic achievement among students in BIE schools and AI/AN students in public schools. Since the 1970s, federal policies to address this issue include permitting greater tribal control and influence through tribally operated BIE schools and culturally relevant educational curriculum and language instruction, and encouraging collaboration between states, local educational agencies, and public schools and tribes and parents of Indian students. ESEA standards and accountability requirements also aim to promote the academic achievement of students. With respect to BIE schools, Congress has wrestled to find a BIE administrative structure that will support greater academic achievement of BIE students. Other issues that Congress and Administrations have attempted to address are the condition of school facilities, the incidence of violence and alcohol and drug use among Indian students, the differential administration of discipline in public schools, and the adequacy of funding.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34205", "sha1": "f49e6c3246f283a0514b2f9512aad4cafa3bb8a8", "filename": "files/20170616_RL34205_f49e6c3246f283a0514b2f9512aad4cafa3bb8a8.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34205_files&id=/1.png": "files/20170616_RL34205_images_f07d00c83e172fc89f1841698e964fc630c8661f.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34205_files&id=/2.png": "files/20170616_RL34205_images_128f9aaaf09cbbf1de5cfb4451ac9d00b2c2fc87.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34205_files&id=/0.png": "files/20170616_RL34205_images_108ace8efa2de515b70f4defcd2d3b7570019ff8.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34205", "sha1": "b021bdd7b3928e4b40fb2392135fefd52599f54c", "filename": "files/20170616_RL34205_b021bdd7b3928e4b40fb2392135fefd52599f54c.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4753, "name": "Indian Affairs" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4810, "name": "Elementary & Secondary Education" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 444201, "date": "2015-08-18", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:34:59.113715", "title": "Indian Elementary-Secondary Education: Programs, Background, and Issues", "summary": "Congressional Research Service\n7-5700\nwww.crs.gov\nRL34205\nSummary\nThe federal government provides elementary and secondary education and educational assistance to Indian children, either directly through federally funded schools or indirectly through educational assistance to public schools. Direct education is provided by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), through elementary and secondary schools funded by the BIE. Educational assistance to public schools is provided chiefly through programs of the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The student population served by federal Indian education programs consists of members (or descendants of members) of Indian tribes, not American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), as identified by race/ethnicity. Most of this Indian education population attends public schools. Most federal data on Indian students are based on race/ethnicity, however, which complicates analysis of results for the population served by federal Indian education programs.\nThe BIE was originally part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in DOI. The BIA began the current system of direct Indian education in the decades following the Civil War, with congressional approval and funding. The system developed gradually to its current structure. In the late 19th century, the BIA began placing a few students in public schools, a trend that accelerated after about 1910. At present, 90% or more of the Indian student population attends public schools.\nThe BIE-funded education system for Indian students includes 169 schools (and 14 \u201cperipheral dormitories\u201d for students attending public schools nearby). Schools and dorms may be operated by the BIE itself or by tribes and tribal organizations. A number of BIE programs provide funding and services, supplemented by set-asides for BIE schools from ED programs. Federal funding for Indian students in public schools flows to school districts chiefly through ED programs, with a small addition from a single BIE program. BIE and public schools are subject to the standards and accountability provisions in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, P.L. 107-110), although not all such provisions apply to BIE schools.\nA perennial issue regarding Indian education is comparatively poor academic achievement among students in BIE schools and AI/AN students in public schools. Since the 1970s, federal policies to address this issue include permitting greater tribal control and influence through tribally operated BIE schools and culturally relevant educational curriculum and language instruction, and encouraging collaboration between states, local educational agencies, and public schools and tribes and parents of Indian students. ESEA standards and accountability requirements also aim to promote the academic achievement of students. With respect to BIE schools, Congress has wrestled to find a BIE administrative structure that will support greater academic achievement of BIE students. Other issues that Congress and Administrations have attempted to address are the incidence of violence and alcohol and drug use among Indian students, the differential administration of discipline in public schools, and the adequacy of funding.\nContents\nIntroduction\t1\nBrief History of Federal Indian Education Activities\t2\nStudents Served by Federal Indian Education Programs\t7\nStatus of Indian and American Indian/Alaska Native Education\t8\nBIE Schools and Students\t8\nPublic Schools and AI/AN Students\t12\nFederal Indian Elementary and Secondary Education Programs and Services\t13\nStatutory Authority for BIE Elementary and Secondary Schools\t14\nSnyder Act of 1921\t14\nIndian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (ISDEAA)\t14\nEducation Amendments Act of 1978\t15\nTribally Controlled Schools Act (TCSA) of 1988\t15\nBIE Programs\t15\nIndian School Equalization Program (ISEP)\t15\nStudent Transportation\t16\nEarly Childhood Development\t16\nTribal Grant Support Costs (Administrative Cost Grants)\t17\nFacilities Operations\t17\nFacilities Maintenance\t17\nEducation Program Enhancements\t17\nResidential Education Placement Program\t18\nJuvenile Detention Education\t18\nTribal Education Department Grants\t18\nJohnson O\u2019Malley Program (BIE Assistance to Public Schools)\t18\nBIA School Facilities Repair and Construction and Faculty Housing\t19\nBIE and BIA Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations\t20\nU.S. Department of Education (ED) Indian Programs\t24\nESEA Title I-A Grants to Local Educational Agencies\t24\nESEA Title II-A Improving Teacher Quality State Grants\t25\nESEA Title IV-B 21st Century Community Learning Centers\t25\nIDEA Part B Special Education Grants to States\t25\nIDEA Part C Early Intervention for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities\t25\nESEA Title VIII Impact Aid\t25\nESEA Title VII-A Indian Education Programs\t26\nState-Tribal Education Partnership (STEP) Pilot\t27\nESEA Title VII-C Alaska Native Education Equity\t27\nED Indian Education Funding\t27\nIssues in Indian Education\t33\nPoor Academic Achievement and Outcomes\t33\nNative Language Instruction\t33\nDiscipline, Violence, Crime, and Alcohol and Drug Use\t35\nBIE School Issues\t36\nFederal Administration and Organization\t36\nAcademic Accountability Under ESEA, NCLB, and Waivers\t38\nBIA School Construction and Repair\t41\nTribal Grant Support Costs\t42\nPublic School Indian Education Issues\t43\nJohnson O\u2019Malley Program Freeze\t43\nIndian Control of Indian Education\t43\n\nFigures\nFigure 1. Number of Indian Students Enrolled in BIA, Public, and Private Schools, 1900-1975\t4\nFigure 2. Appropriations for BIE Operations and BIA Education Construction, FY2006-FY2015\t21\nFigure 3. Distribution of ED Funding for Indian Education Programs, FY2006-FY2015\t28\n\nTables\nTable 1. Number of BIE-Funded Schools and Peripheral Dormitories, March 2015\t9\nTable 2. BIE Schools and Peripheral Dormitories and Students: Number and Percent, by State, Average SY2012-2013 to SY2014-2015\t11\nTable 3. Average Scores in NAEP Reading and Math, by Assessment, and Type of School: 2013\t12\nTable 4. Average Public School Scores in NAEP Reading and Math, by Assessment and Select Student Characteristics: 2013\t13\nTable 5. Appropriations for BIE Elementary-Secondary Education Programs and BIA Education Construction, FY2006-FY2015\t22\nTable 6. Estimated Funding for Department of Education\u2019s Indian Elementary-Secondary Education Programs, in Descending Order of FY2015 Funding: FY2006-FY2015\t29\n\nContacts\nAuthor Contact Information\t44\nAcknowledgments\t44\n\nIntroduction\nThe federal government provides elementary and secondary education and educational assistance to Indian children, either directly through federally funded schools or indirectly through educational assistance to public schools. The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) oversees the federally funded BIE system of elementary and secondary schools. The BIE system is funded primarily by the BIE but also receives considerable funding from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The public school systems of the states receive federal funding from ED, the BIE, and other federal agencies. \nFederal provision of educational services and assistance to Indian children is based not on race/ethnicity but primarily on their membership in, eligibility for membership in, or familial relationship to members of Indian tribes, which are political entities. Federal Indian education programs are intended to serve Indian children who are members of, or, depending on the program, are at least second-degree descendants of members of, one of the 566 tribal entities recognized and eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) by virtue of their status as Indian tribes. The federal government considers its Indian education programs to be based on its trust relationship with Indian tribes, a responsibility derived from federal statutes, treaties, court decisions, executive actions, and the Constitution (which assigns authority over federal-Indian relations to Congress). Despite this trust relationship, Indian education programs are discretionary and not an entitlement like Medicare.\nIndian children, as enrollees in public education, are also eligible for the federal government\u2019s general programs of educational assistance, but such programs are not Indian education programs and will not be discussed in this report.\nThis report provides a brief history of federal Indian education programs, a discussion of students served by these programs, an overview of the programs and their funding, a discussion of the application to BIE schools of key provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (P.L. 107-110), and brief discussions of selected issues in Indian education.\nBrief History of Federal Indian Education Activities\nU.S. government concern with the education of Indians began with the Continental Congress, which in 1775 appropriated funds to pay expenses of 10 Indian students at Dartmouth College. Through the rest of the 18th century, the 19th century, and much of the 20th century, Congress\u2019s concern was for the civilization of the Indians, meaning their instruction in Euro-American agricultural methods, vocational skills, and habits, as well as in literacy, mathematics, and Christianity. The aim was to change Indians\u2019 cultural patterns into Euro-American ones\u2014in a word, to assimilate them.\nFrom the Revolution until after the Civil War, the federal government provided for Indian education either by directly funding teachers or schools on a tribe-by-tribe basis pursuant to treaty provisions or by funding religious and other charitable groups to establish schools where they saw fit. The first Indian treaty providing for any form of education for a tribe\u2014in this case, vocational\u2014was in 1794. The first treaty providing for academic instruction for a tribe was in 1803. Altogether over 150 treaties with individual tribes provided for instructors, teachers, or schools, whether vocational, academic, or both, either permanently or for a limited period of time. The first U.S. statute authorizing appropriations to \u201cpromote civilization\u201d among Indian tribes was the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1793, but the Civilization Act of 1819 was the first authorization and appropriation specifically for instruction of Indian children near frontier settlements in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Civilization Act funds were expended through contracts with missionary and benevolent societies. Besides treaty schools and \u201cmission\u201d schools, some additional schools were initiated and funded directly by Indian tribes. The state of New York also operated schools for its Indian tribes. The total of such treaty, mission, tribal, and New York schools reached into the hundreds by the Civil War.\nAfter the Civil War, the U.S. government began to create a federal Indian school system, with schools not only funded but also constructed and operated by DOI\u2019s BIA with central policies and oversight. In 1869, the Board of Indian Commissioners\u2014a federally appointed board that jointly controlled with DOI the disbursement of certain funds for Indians\u2014recommended the establishment of government schools and teachers. In 1870, Congress passed the first general appropriation for Indian schools not provided for under treaties. The initial appropriation was $100,000, but both the amount appropriated and the number of schools operated by the BIA rose swiftly thereafter. The BIA created both boarding and day schools, including off-reservation industrial boarding schools on the model of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (established in 1879). Most BIA students attended on- or off-reservation boarding schools. BIA schools were chiefly elementary and vocational schools.\nAn organizational structure for BIA education began with a Medical and Education Division during 1873-1881, appointment of a superintendent of education in 1883, and creation of an education division in 1884. The education of Alaska Native children, however, along with that of other Alaskan children, was assigned in 1885 to DOI\u2019s Office of Education, not the BIA. Mission, tribal, and New York state schools continued to operate, and the proportion of school-age Indian children attending a BIA, mission, tribal, or New York school rose slowly.\nA major long-term shift in federal Indian education policy, from federal schools to public schools, began in FY1890-FY1891 when the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, using his general authority in Indian affairs, contracted with a few local public school districts to educate nearby Indian children for whose schooling the BIA was responsible. After 1910, the BIA pushed to move Indian children to nearby public schools and to close BIA schools. Congress provided some appropriations to pay public schools for Indian students, although they were not always sufficient and moreover were not paid where state law entitled Indian students to public education.\nBy 1920, more Indian students were in public schools than BIA schools. Figure 1 displays the changing number of Indian students in BIA, public, and other schools from 1900 to 1975. The shift to public schools accompanied the increase in the percentage of Indian youths attending any school, which rose from 40% in 1900 to 60% in 1930. Comparable data are no longer available.\nFigure 1. Number of Indian Students Enrolled in BIA, Public, and Private Schools, 1900-1975\n\nSource: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Report on BIA Education. Final Review Draft (Washington: Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1988), Tables 1 and 8, pp. 15, 27.\nNotes: BIA data include students in peripheral dormitories but exclude students in Alaska BIA schools. Public school data are for Indian students living in BIA administrative or service areas.\nIn 1921, Congress passed the Snyder Act in order to authorize all programs the BIA was then carrying out. Most BIA programs at the time, including education, lacked authorizing legislation. The Snyder Act continues to provide broad and permanent authorization for federal Indian programs.\nIn 1934, to simplify the reimbursement of public schools for educating Indian students, Congress passed the Johnson-O\u2019Malley (JOM) Act, authorizing the BIA to contract with the states, except Oklahoma, and the territories for the education of Indians (and other services to Indians).\nIn the 1920s and 1930s, the BIA began expanding some of its own schools\u2019 grade levels to secondary education. Under the impetus of the Meriam Report and New Deal leadership, the BIA also began to shift its students toward its local day schools instead of its boarding schools, and, to some extent, to move its curriculum from solely Euro-American subjects to include Indian culture and vocational education. In addition in 1931, responsibility for Alaska Native education was transferred to the BIA.\nThe first major non-DOI federal funding for Indian education in the 20th century began in 1953, when the Federal Assistance for Local Educational Agencies Affected by Federal Activities program, now known as Impact Aid, was amended to cover Indian children eligible for BIA schools. Impact Aid pays public school districts to help fund the education of children in \u201cfederally impacted areas.\u201d Further changes to the Impact Aid law in 1958 and the 1970s increased the funding that was allocated according to the number of children on Indian lands. Congressional appropriations for Impact Aid increased as the JOM funding decreased. \nIn 1966 Congress added further non-DOI funding for Indian education by amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, the major act authorizing federal education aid to public school districts, to add set-asides for BIA schools to the program of grants to help educate students from low-income families; school library resources, textbook, and instructional materials; and supplementary educational centers and services.\nA congressional study of Indian education in the 1960s that was highly critical of federal Indian education programs led to further expansion of federal non-DOI assistance for Indian education, embodied in the Indian Education Act of 1972, now known as ESEA Title VII. The Indian Education Act established the Office of Indian Education (OIE) within the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and authorized OIE to make grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) with Indian children. The OIE was the first organization outside of DOI (since DOI\u2019s birth in 1849) that was created expressly to oversee a federal Indian education program.\nFederal Indian education policy also began to move toward greater Indian control of federal Indian education programs, in both BIA and public schools. In 1966, the BIA signed its first contract with an Indian group to operate a BIA school (the Rough Rock Demonstration School on the Navajo Reservation). In 1975, through enactment of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA), Congress authorized all Indian tribes and tribal organizations, such as tribal school boards, to contract to operate their BIA schools. Three years later, in Title XI, Part B, of the Education Amendments of 1978, Congress required the BIA \u201cto facilitate Indian control of Indian affairs in all matters relating to education.\u201d This act created statutory standards and administrative and funding requirements for the BIA school system and separated control of BIA schools from BIA area and agency officers by creating a BIA Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP) and assigning it supervision of all BIA education personnel. Ten years later, the Tribally Controlled Schools Act (TCSA) of 1988 authorized grants to tribes and tribal organizations to operate their BIA schools. These laws provide that grants and self-determination contracts be for the same amounts of funding as the BIA would have expended on operation of the same schools. \nIndian control in public schools received an initial boost from the 1972 Indian Education Act. The ESEA Title VII requires that public school districts applying for its new grants prove adequate participation by Indian parents and tribal communities in program development, operation, and evaluation. The 1972 Indian Education Act also amended the Impact Aid program to mandate Indian parents\u2019 consultation in school programs funded by Impact Aid. In 1975, the ISDEAA added to the JOM a requirement that public school districts with JOM contracts have either a majority-Indian school board or an Indian parent committee that has approved the JOM program. Finally, the Improving America\u2019s Schools Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-382, Section 9112(b)) authorized Indian tribes to apply for a grant in lieu of one or more LEAs under the ESEA Title VII formula grant program under certain circumstances. \nThe number of schools in the BIA school system has shrunk over the years, through administrative consolidation and congressional closures. For example, all BIA-funded schools in Alaska were transferred to the state of Alaska between 1966 and 1985, removing an estimated 120 schools from BIA responsibility. The number of BIA-funded schools and dormitories stood at 233 in 1930 and 277 in 1965, but fell to 227 in 1982 and to 180 in 1986 before rising to 185 by 1994; it currently stands at 183. Since the 1990s, Congress has limited both the number of BIA schools and the grade structure of the schools. The number of Indian students educated at BIA schools has for the last 20 years fluctuated between about 39,000 and 48,000. In 2006, the Secretary of the Interior separated the BIA education programs in the Office of Indian Education Programs from the rest of the BIA and placed them in a new Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) under the Assistant Secretary\u2013Indian Affairs.\nStudents Served by Federal Indian Education Programs\nIt is commonly estimated that BIE schools serve less than 10% of Indian students, public schools serve over 90%, and private schools serve 1% or less. These general percentages, however, are not certain. Data on Indian students come from differing programs and sources. Different federal Indian education programs serve different, though overlapping, sets of Indian students. Their student data also differ (and overlap). In addition, it is unlikely that every school or school district that enrolls at least one Indian student receives funding from a federal program designed to serve Indian students or funded based on numbers of Indian students.\nAlthough different federal Indian education programs have different eligibility criteria, none of the eligibility criteria are based solely on race/ethnicity. Eligibility is based on the political status of the groups of which the students are members or descendants of members.\nThe BIE school system, for instance, serves students who are members of federally recognized Indian tribes, who are at least one-fourth degree Indian blood descendants of members of such tribes, and who reside on or near a federal Indian reservation or are eligible to attend a BIE off-reservation boarding school. Many Indian tribes allow less than one-fourth degree of tribal or Indian blood for membership, so many BIE Indian students have less than one-fourth Indian blood. Separately, the BIE\u2019s JOM program, according to its regulations, serves students in public schools who are at least one-fourth degree Indian blood and recognized by the BIA as eligible for BIA services.\nThe ED ESEA Title VII-A programs, on the other hand, serve a broader set of students: (1) members of federally recognized tribes and their first and second degree descendants; (2) members of two types of non-federally recognized tribes, state-recognized tribes and tribes whose federal recognition was terminated after 1940, and their first and second degree descendants; (3) members of an organized Indian group that received a grant under the ED Indian Education formula grant program as it was in effect before the passage of the Improving America\u2019s Schools Act of 1994; (4) Eskimos, Aleuts, or other Alaska Natives; and (5) individuals considered to be Indian by the Secretary of the Interior, for any purpose. Public school districts must have a minimum number or percentage of ESEA Title VII-eligible Indian students to receive a grant. The ESEA Title VII grants are administered by ED, so ED is the source of data on the ESEA Title VII students.\nAnother major ED program, the Impact Aid program, funds public schools whose students reside on \u201cIndian lands\u201d or are federally connected children. The students residing on Indian lands for whom Impact Aid is provided need not, however, be Indian.\nStatus of Indian and American Indian/Alaska Native Education\nAlthough there is no source for the status of Indian educational achievement nationally, the educational environment and achievements of BIE students and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students are reported. Students who identify their race/ethnicity as AI/AN may not be members or descendants of members of federally recognized Indian tribes, and not all members of such tribes may identify as AI/AN. For example, ED\u2019s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which collects and analyzes student and school data and produces the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), publishes reports on AI/AN students\u2019 characteristics and academic achievements. NCES data are based on race/ethnicity (except most data on BIE students), so the data will include students who identify as AI/AN even though they are not members of tribes and do not fall into the eligibility categories of federal Indian education programs. NCES\u2019s race/ethnicity-based AI/AN student population is not the same as the student population served by federal Indian education programs. The two populations overlap, but the degree of overlap has not been determined. NCES data based on race/ethnicity, then, cannot be assumed to accurately represent the Indian student population served by federal Indian programs.\nBIE Schools and Students\nThe BIE funds a system consisting of elementary and secondary schools, which provide free education to eligible Indian students, and \u201cperipheral dormitories\u201d (discussed below). In 2014 and before, the BIE system was administered by a director and headquarters offices in Washington, DC, and Albuquerque, NM; three Associate Deputy Directors (ADDs) in the west, east, and Navajo area; and 22 education line offices (ELOs) across Indian Country. ELOs provided leadership, technical support, and instructional support for the schools and peripheral dorms. Starting in June 2014, the Secretary began restructuring the BIE in an effort to increase tribal capacity to operate schools and improve educational outcomes. The new structure will have separate oversight through three ADDs for BIE operated schools, tribally operated schools, and schools serving the Navajo nation. Fifteen Education Resource Centers (ERC), renamed and restructured ELOs, will report to the ADDs.\nThe BIE-funded school system includes day and boarding schools and peripheral dormitories. The majority of BIE-funded schools are day schools, which offer elementary or secondary classes or combinations thereof and are located on Indian reservations. BIE boarding schools house students in dorms on campus and also offer elementary or secondary classes, or combinations of both levels, and are located both on and off reservations. The most common combinations of grade levels offered in BIE schools are K-8, K-12, K-6, and 9-12. Peripheral dormitories house students who attend nearby public or BIE schools; these dorms are also located both on and off reservations.\nElementary and secondary schools funded by the BIE may be operated either directly by the BIE or by tribes and tribal organizations through grants or contracts authorized under the Tribally Controlled Schools Act (TCSA) of 1988 or the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) of 1975, respectively. (See the discussion of these two acts in \u201cStatutory Authority for BIE Elementary and Secondary Schools,\u201d below.) In addition, two schools, the Turtle Mountain Elementary and Middle schools in North Dakota, are operated by a cooperative agreement between a public school district and the BIE. As of March 2012, there were eight charter schools co-located at BIE schools. \nBIE funds 169 schools and 14 peripheral dorms. Table 1 shows the number of BIE-funded schools and peripheral dorms, by type of operator. The majority of BIE-funded schools are tribally operated. \nTable 1. Number of BIE-Funded Schools and Peripheral Dormitories, March 2015\nSchools and Peripheral \nDormitories\nTribally \nOperated\nBIE-\nOperated\nTotal\n\nTotal \n126\n57\n183\n\nElementary/Secondary Schools\n113\n56\n169\n\nDay schools\n88\n30\n118\n\nBoarding schools\n25\n26\n51\n\nPeripheral Dormitories\n13\n1\n14\n\nSource: U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs, Budget Justifications Fiscal Year 2016 (hereafter referred to as the FY2016 Budget).\nUntil recently, the total number of BIE schools and peripheral dorms, the class structure of each school, and co-located charter schools has been limited by Congress. Through annual appropriation acts from FY1994 through FY2011, Congress prohibited BIE from funding schools that were not in the BIE system as of September 1, 1996, and from FY1996 through FY2011 prohibited the use of BIE funds to expand a school\u2019s grade structure beyond the grades in place as of October 1, 1995. Appropriations acts since FY2000 have prohibited the establishment of co-located charter schools. Congress was concerned that adding new BIE schools or expanding existing schools would, in circumstances of limited financial resources, \u201cdiminish funding for schools currently in the system.\u201d The FY2012 appropriations act maintained these prohibitions except in the instance of schools and school programs that were closed and removed from the BIE school system between 1951 and 1972 and whose respective tribe\u2019s relationship with the federal government was terminated. As a result in July 2012, BIE began funding grades 1-6 of Jones Academy in Hartshorne, OK. Jones Academy was previously funded by BIE as a peripheral dormitory for students attending schools in grades 1-12, and by the local public school district as a grades 1-6 elementary school. The FY2014 and FY2015 appropriations acts authorized the Secretary to support the expansion of up to one additional grade to accomplish the BIE\u2019s mission. As a result, in 2014 the BIE approved funding for the tribally funded 6th grade of the otherwise BIE-funded Shoshone-Bannock Junior High.\nOnly Indian children attend the BIE school system, with few exceptions. In SY2015-2016, BIE-funded schools and peripheral dorms serve approximately 48,000 Indian students representing almost 250 tribes in 23 states. For SY2012-2013\u2013SY2014-2015, 60% of BIE-funded schools and dorms averaged 200 or fewer children in attendance.\nBIE schools and dormitories are not evenly distributed across the country. From SY2012-2013 to SY2014-2015, almost 66% of BIE schools and dormitories and approximately 66% of BIE students were located in 3 of the 23 states: Arizona (29% of students), New Mexico (21%), and South Dakota (16%). Table 2 shows the distribution of BIE schools and students across the 23 states. There are no BIE schools or students in Alaska, a circumstance directed by Congress (see \u201cBrief History of Federal Indian Education Activities,\u201d above).\nTable 2. BIE Schools and Peripheral Dormitories and Students: Number and Percent, by State, Average SY2012-2013 to SY2014-2015\nDescending Order of the Number of Students\nState\nSchools and Dorms\nStudents\n\n\nNumber\nPercent\nNumber\nPercent\n\nArizona\n54\n29.5%\n 12,002\n29.0%\n\nNew Mexico\n44\n24.0%\n 8,715\n21.1%\n\nSouth Dakota\n22\n12.0%\n 6,428\n15.6%\n\nNorth Dakota\n11\n6.0%\n 3,609\n8.7%\n\nMississippi\n8\n4.4%\n 2,053\n5.0%\n\nWashington\n8\n4.4%\n 1,630\n3.9%\n\nOklahoma\n5\n2.7%\n 1,188\n2.9%\n\nNorth Carolina\n1\n0.5%\n982\n2.4%\n\nWisconsin\n3\n1.6%\n798\n1.9%\n\nMinnesota\n4\n2.2%\n614\n1.5%\n\nMontana\n3\n1.6%\n469\n1.1%\n\nCalifornia\n2\n1.1%\n450\n1.1%\n\nMichigan\n2\n1.1%\n391\n0.9%\n\nUtaha\n2\n1.1%\n257\n0.6%\n\nOregon \n1\n0.5%\n326\n0.8%\n\nMaine\n3\n1.6%\n278\n0.7%\n\nIowa\n1\n0.5%\n265\n0.6%\n\nFlorida\n2\n1.1%\n259\n0.6%\n\nWyoming\n1\n0.5%\n191\n0.5%\n\nIdaho\n2\n1.1%\n191\n0.5%\n\nLouisiana\n1\n0.5%\n 92 \n0.2%\n\nNevada\n2\n1.1%\n 79 \n0.2%\n\nKansas\n1\n0.5%\n 64\n0.2%\n\nTotalb\n183\n100.0%\n41,341\n100.0%\n\nSource: FY2016 Budget, Appendix 2.\nNotes: Student counts are based on the three-year average daily membership, which counts students attendance during the entire year.\nStudent counts and number of schools and dorms exclude Sevier-Richfield Public Schools in Utah, which receive BIE funds for the education of out-of-state students residing at the the BIE-funded Richfield Dormitory.\nTotals may not add due to rounding. \nOne measure of a school system\u2019s quality and the academic achievement of students is the percentage of schools that make adequate yearly progress (AYP). AYP is a measure of the percentage of students in a school that reach academic proficiency or a higher level of achievement compared to established targets. (For a broader discussion of AYP, see the subsequent section entitled \u201cAdequate Yearly Progress.\u201d) According to the BIE, 36% of BIE schools made AYP in SY2012-2013\u201448% of BIE-operated schools and 30% of tribally operated schools. In comparison, 46% of all public schools made AYP in SY2011-2012. Starting with SY2012-2013, many school systems are no longer required to determine the percentage of schools making AYP. \nAnother measure of educational achievement is the average score of students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics assessments. Table 3 indicates that, on average, students in BIE schools score below students in public schools on the NAEP assessment. For example, on the 4th grade NAEP reading assessment all BIE school students scored an average of 181 while all public school students scored an average of 221.\nTable 3. Average Scores in NAEP Reading and Math, by Assessment, and Type of School: 2013\nType of School\nAverage NAEP Score\n\n\nGrade 4 Reading\nGrade 8 Reading\nGrade 4 Math\nGrade 8 Math\n\nBIE schools\n181\n235\n212\n250\n\nPublic schools\n221\n266\n241\n284\n\nSource: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educat", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34205", "sha1": "8611725c38ba6c259d1eca9b996d87950b296218", "filename": "files/20150818_RL34205_8611725c38ba6c259d1eca9b996d87950b296218.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34205", "sha1": "80439e306cdda749c89221a0c5c1cdb779587ddb", "filename": "files/20150818_RL34205_80439e306cdda749c89221a0c5c1cdb779587ddb.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806817/", "id": "RL34205_2008Jan16", "date": "2008-01-16", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Federal Indian Elementary-Secondary Education Programs: Background and Issues", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20080116_RL34205_224fc634aced40a472277f5edf7da8edab7df829.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20080116_RL34205_224fc634aced40a472277f5edf7da8edab7df829.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc818051/", "id": "RL34205_2007Oct09", "date": "2007-10-09", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Federal Indian Education Programs: Background and Issues", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20071009_RL34205_7aef5b6859023d8f09e06333868e3aa31b7707bc.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20071009_RL34205_7aef5b6859023d8f09e06333868e3aa31b7707bc.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Education Policy", "Health Policy", "Indian Affairs Policy" ] }