EAGER YOUNG MINDS. Children watch Santa, who is wearing a red suit and a headdress, at the annual Elder Holiday Dinner sponsored by the American Indian College Fund in Denver. Photo by Randy Blauvelt

The Bush Administration launched the “No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB) in April 2001 as a sweeping new educational initiative. It was hailed as “revolutionary” in bringing our nation’s public school systems into the 21^st century and promoted as “the great equalizer” in transforming underperforming schools. “Accountability” was the clarion call across the country for raising test scores in math and reading.

For American Indian children and their parents on reservations across the country, however, this unfunded federal mandate has the potential to be a disaster, according to Indian educators. In a population that already has a 56% high school drop-out rate and over a century of educational failure, the “corrective actions” imposed by the new law are unrealistic for helping reservation schools achieve educational parity with their non-Native peers. Indian children are not only being left further behind than before, but legislation without Indian consultation further illustrates the systemic failure of the federal government to uphold its responsibility to provide education to Indian tribes.

The education of young students concerns tribal colleges and universities directly and indirectly. As local colleges, anything that affects the community affects them. It won’t be long before the children now entering first grade stand at the door of the tribal college.

Consider the law’s sanctions. Parents now have the right to transfer their children to a “successful” school within the same district. Indian students in remote areas like Pine Ridge, SD, and Rock Point, AZ, oftentimes have only one school; busing and transfers are simply not viable alternatives.

Removing underperforming teachers also presents a problem. On the reservations, where the annual turnover rate can be as high as 70%, replacing teachers is not a realistic expectation. Additionally, changing administrations or shutting down the schools in communities that have very limited resources and trained personnel is simply not an option for a population who has the least access to education of any racial or socio-economic group in the country.

“If you’re a parent with a child in an underperforming school on a reservation, where are you going to go?” said John Cheek, executive director of the Washington, DC-based National Indian Education Association (NIEA). “This act doesn’t address the government’s trust obligations to the tribes at all.”

The No Child Left Behind law also mandates training and education for teachers’ aides, now known as “paraprofessionals.” Under the law, many paraprofessionals have until the 2005-2006 school year to obtain at least an associate’s degree. But unless they are located near a tribal college that has a teacher-training program, many aides do not have the resources for improving their skills. Often they lack access to a local college or distance learning programs to obtain their certificates. Funding for tuition and training went out to states as block grants, but tribal K-12 schools are not eligible for these grants. Consequently, many Indian paraprofessionals in the ineligible schools may lose their jobs.

The U.S. Department of Education has provided limited funding through the American Indian Teacher Corps, but it is not enough to address the need. Therefore, entities such as the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education have stepped forward to help. Lumina Foundation gave a $325,000 grant to the American Indian College Fund to support Indian paraprofessional training ($10,000 to each tribal college and $5,000 for administrative costs).

Cheryl Medearis, dean of education at Sinte Gleska University in South Dakota, sees a long-term benefit to the training, of course. “It’s a great opportunity for those who may want to go on and complete a four-year teaching degree,” she said. “There’s certainly a lot of need for Indian teachers, and this can definitely help people advance their teaching careers.”

However, she said that the short deadline for acquiring an associate’s degree has put a burden on the paraprofessionals in the local school district. “It’s hard because many teacher aides work full time and have to attend night classes part time,” she said. “Getting 60 credit hours is hard to do in two years, even if you’re attending school full time.”

The main concern of those in Indian education is the long-term impact of inadequate education on Native communities. According to the 2000 Census, American Indians are the fastest growing racial group in the country. As the population continues to grow, the ability to produce a skilled local workforce will become increasingly difficult in the decades to come, especially for critical jobs in the areas of tribal law, accounting, medicine, education, technology and business.

“The law doesn’t take into account the practical application of the requirements,” said Verne Duus, legislative consultant for NIEA. “But the biggest problem is that the government has not even made a pretense of fully funding this initiative. We simply cannot achieve these results without resources. This is going to be devastating for the schools, especially those on reservations.”

NCLB has the promise of hope; it recognizes the need for reform. The missing piece, however, is real change. Educators have found effective building blocks for success with Indian students — cooperative classrooms should replace competitive classrooms, teaching should fit the students’ learning styles, curriculum should be modified so that children see themselves in stories and in the math assignments, and culture and language should be the cornerstones of the students’ experience.

Most importantly, the education system must care about the children in the classroom. Let’s stop the systemic failure and meet the needs of the students in a positive learning environment. Let’s reform our schools in ways that make us proud of the good that is happening. We have seen the success of the tribal college movement; we know what is possible. Let’s vow to leave no child behind, including our Indian children.

Richard Williams (Oglala Lakota) is president and chief executive officer of the American Indian College Fund.