President Obama wants to replace No Child Left Behind with a new law that will dictate how students are tested and schools get evaluated. He wants it to happen by the end of the year and it could mean big changes for Native American students.
Senator Byron Dorgan is still reviewing the White House education plan. But as chair of the Indian Affairs committee, he says he’s certain of one thing.
DORGAN “I think Indian children have been left behind routinely for decades. They go to school in BIA schools, in some of the schools that are in the most disrepair in this country.” (:12)
The National Indian Eudcation Association says only about a third of schools run by the Bureau of Indian Education met “Adequate Yearly Progress” last year.
At a Congressional hearing, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the administration’s new ratings system.
DUNCAN: “Let’s do something dramatically different. The status quo is not working, we have not seen the kind of progress we need. We have far too many examples of success in high poverty, high minority communities for anyone to say poverty is destiny. It is not.” (:13)
The White House is asking Congress to approve billions more in competitive grant programs to reward schools closing the achievement gap. Dorgan says that’s important.
DORGAN: “There’s going to have to be some additional funding. That’s especially true on Indian reservations, you go to some of those schools and see the number of children crowded into a classroom, in a school that is in disrepair, it’s not fair to those children .” (:11)
The Obama Administration is promising grant recipients will have more flexibility to fund native language programs and develop tribal specific standards.
From Capitol News Connection, I’m Megan Hughes, National Native News.
