ecades because it offers “sheer hope,” Mendoza said.
Across the nation, Native American students are less likely to graduate from high school than any other racial or ethnic group, and the schools they attend are often not equipped to serve them.
Participants inby the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights and the White House Initiative on American Indian Education highlighted the hurdles to progress: disproportionate discipline, a complex process for filing federal civil rights complaints, and a lack of accurate portrayals of Native American culture and history in school lessons, among them.
“The listening tour revealed too many stories of school environments that, rather than building on the strengths of Native youth, are stifling their potential,” Mendoza said.
A report based on feedback gathered during the nine-stop, seven-state tour is part of an initiative the Obama administration launched in 2011 to support expanding opportunities and improving education outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native students.
Another is the ongoing overhaul of the Bureau of Indian Education, the federal agency responsible for the education of roughly 50,000 American Indian children.
The central goal of the reorganization, known as the Blueprint for Reform, is to shift the agency’s role from provider to partner, paving the way for tribes to eventually run their own schools.
Opposed at the outset by some tribal leaders, the overhaul has hit snags and missed deadlines, but BIE Director Charles “Monty” Roessel remains optimistic.
“It’s given us an opportunity to engage with tribes more,” Roessel said. “Our system is broken, and we need to fix it.”
Trampling on Rights?
Not everyone agrees with the proposed fix, though.
A lawsuit filed by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota this month alleges that the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Education are trampling on tribal rights.
The complaint alleges that the changes would reduce staff at reservation education offices that provide federal oversight and resources—such as grant money and special education—to tribal schools.
The suit also argues that the federal government did not properly consult tribes about the reforms.
“Since litigation is pending on that issue, we are unable to comment directly on this matter at this time,” Interior Department spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw said.
The BIE is overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is housed within the Interior Department.
The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, which represents tribal leaders in Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota also opposes the plan.
Roessel maintains that the process is designed to be collaborative, not combative.
“Ultimately, and most importantly, the decision is up to each tribe,” Kershaw said. “Whatever a tribe decides, we are committed to providing better support to all of our schools and honoring our relationship with tribes.”
A visit to Montana may have played a role in the Obama administration’s focus on American Indian education.
Montana was one of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s first stops during his “listening and learning” tour in 2009, his first year on the job. Back then, the state’s Schools of Promise effort was in its infancy.
Duncan met with students, parents, and school leaders and heard concerns that would crop up years later in the 2014 listening tour.
President Barack Obama’s June 2014 visit to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation also helped generate momentum for state-level work to aid American Indian students, said Lucy Fredericks, the director of Indian and multicultural education for the North Dakota education department.
“There has been a greater emphasis, definitely,” Fredericks said.
But more than a year has passed since the president’s visit to Indian country, and states with significant American Indian populations are still struggling in their search for solutions.
The problems hit close to home for Juneau, the Montana superintendent. She’s a member of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, who grew up on her father’s rese