The National Indian Education Study (NIES) is a special study funded by the Office of Indian Education (OIE). The study includes oversampling of American Indian / Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in public schools and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Schools. The study design includes students taking the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) operational assessment followed by a short survey questionnaire specific to AI/AN students about the role of AI/AN culture in students' lives and school experiences. Additionally, for teachers of the sampled AI/AN students there are surveys that collect information about teachers' backgrounds and instructional practices as they relate to the education of AI/AN students. (Note there also is a school administrator survey, however those data are unrelated to this data product.)

For both the student and teacher surveys, all of the questions were multiple choice, but a space was provided at the end of the survey for respondents to write in comments. There are two such write-in questions for each of the student and teacher surveys. The responses for these write-in questions are the purpose of this data product.

The 2019 NAEP High School Transcript Study (HSTS) describes the coursetaking patterns and academic performance of graduates from a national sample of U.S. public and private schools who also took the 2019 NAEP twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessments. This report uses data from the 1990, 2000, 2009, and 2019 NAEP HSTS for coursetaking results and from 2005, 2009, and 2019 for comparisons to NAEP.

The study of high school graduates’ academic performance and coursetaking patterns is based on an analysis of their transcripts and NAEP twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessment results. HSTS show trends from 1990, 2000, 2009, and 2019 in grade point averages, course credits earned, curriculum levels, and various coursetaking patterns. The 2019 HSTS uses a new course classification system, the School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED), to provide a more detailed breakdown of cross-disciplinary coursetaking programs such as Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) coursetaking.

The study also compares graduates’ average NAEP scale scores from the twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessments to the academic achievement reported in their transcripts. The linkage of the NAEP twelfth-grade mathematics and science assessments to HSTS provides the opportunity for school leaders, policy makers, and researchers to analyze student performance by a rich set of HSTS and NAEP contextual factors.

These online Highlights present an overview of results from the NAEP 2019 science report. Highlighted results include key findings for nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. Results are presented in terms of average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at the three NAEP achievement levels: NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced. In addition to the overall average scale score, NAEP science results are also reported as average subscale scores for each of three content areas—Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth and Space Sciences. Highlighted results also include performance data for demographic student groups, scores at five selected percentiles, and responses to NAEP survey questionnaires

The 2019 average science score was lower for grade 4, and not significantly different for grades 8 and grade 12, compared to average scores in 2015. Average science scores were higher for grades 4 and 8, but not significantly different for grade 12, compared to 2009, the first year under the current science framework. Compared to 2015, the average score was lower for grade 4 in two of the three science content areas; there were no significant changes in average content areas scores for grades 8 and 12. Average scores were higher in two of the three content areas for grades 4 and 8 compared to 2009 while there were no significant changes in average scores across the content areas for grade 12.

Reported results include responses of students, teachers, and school administrators to survey questionnaires designed to collect information about student’s educational experiences and opportunities to learn both inside and outside of the classroom. The report includes detailed descriptions of released interactive scenario-based tasks and discrete questions to illustrate the types of science knowledge and scientific inquiry skills that were measured as part of the NAEP science assessment.

Full results are available in the 2019 NAEP Science Report Card.

The National Indian Education Study (NIES) utilizes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and contextual questions to describe the condition of education for fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. NIES is conducted under the direction of the National Center for Education Statistics on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education.

• an in-depth look at the findings from the student, teacher, and school administrator survey questions that were focused on AI/AN culture and language;
• information about the achievement of AI/AN students at grades 4 and 8 on the NAEP reading and mathematics assessments—for the nation as well as for 15 states with relatively large proportions of AI/AN students;
• an examination of contextual factors that are associated with higher- and lower-performing AI/AN students; and
• an exploration of composite variables (i.e., variables built upon multiple discrete student survey questions) related to AI/AN cultural knowledge, interest in reading about cultures (both their own and others), engagement at school, and perceptions about effort in school.

Results are reported for three mutually exclusive categories of schools as well as for an overall category:

• low density public schools (where less than 25 percent of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• high density public schools (where 25 percent or more of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools; and
• all AI/AN students (includes all AI/AN students sampled throughout the nation in public, private, BIE, and Department of Defense schools).

The survey results presented in this report are focused primarily on the responses of fourth- and eighth-grade AI/AN students to selected survey questions. Approximately 7,000 fourth-graders and 6,300 eighth-graders participated in the NIES 2019 student survey. Teachers and school administrators also completed surveys.

Average scores in NAEP reading and mathematics for AI/AN fourth- and eighth- graders from earlier NAEP assessments in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2015 are compared to their average reading and mathematics scores in 2019.

The NIES survey questions, as well as the report itself, were created in close collaboration with the NIES Technical Review Panel (TRP). The NIES TRP is composed of AI/AN educational stakeholders from across the country.

These online Highlights present overviews of results from the NAEP 2019 mathematics report and the 2019 reading report. Highlighted results include key findings for the nation, states/jurisdictions, and the 27 districts that participated in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) at grades 4 and 8. Results are presented in terms of average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at the three NAEP achievement levels: NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced. Highlighted results include performance data for demographic student groups, five selected percentiles, and NAEP survey questionnaires.

The 2019 average scores were higher for grade 4 mathematics, lower for grade 8 mathematics, and lower at both grades for reading compared to averages scores in 2017. Over the long term, however, the national average scores in both subjects were higher for both grades compared to the initial assessment years (1990 for mathematics and 1992 for reading). At the state level, average mathematics scores were mainly steady across states/jurisdictions at both grades since 2017: at grade 4, scores were higher in nine and lower in 3 states/jurisdictions. Average reading scores were lower compared to 2017 in 17 states/jurisdictions at grade 4 and in 31 states/jurisdictions at grade 8; one state/jurisdiction at each grade had a score increase since 2017.

Average mathematics and reading scores across the participating TUDA districts were relatively stable since 2017: mathematics scores increased in five TUDA districts at grade 4 and in four districts at grade 8; one district at grade 4 and three districts at grade 8 had lower mathematics scores since 2017. Only one TUDA district had a higher reading score in 2019 compared to 2017. Reading scores were lower compared in 2017 in three districts at grade 4 and in 11 districts at grade 8.

Highlighted results include responses of students and teachers to survey questionnaires designed to collect information about students’ educational experiences and opportunities to learn both in and outside of the classroom.

Full results for each subject are available in the 2019 NAEP Mathematics Report and the 2019 NAEP Reading Report.

The National Indian Education Study (NIES) is designed to describe the condition of education for fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. NIES is conducted under the direction of the National Center for Education Statistics on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education.

This follow-up report focuses on two major concerns that have been raised throughout the first decade of NIES:

• What contextual factors are associated with higher- and lower-performing AI/AN students on NAEP mathematics and reading assessments?
• How do AI/AN students see themselves in terms of their Native languages, culture, and aspirations for the future?

The results presented in this report are focused on the responses of fourth- and eighth-grade AI/AN students to selected survey questions. Approximately 8,500 fourth-graders and 8,200 eighth-graders participated in the NIES 2015 student survey. The survey results displayed are reported as percentages of AI/AN students attending schools that varied in the proportion of AI/AN students within their student population—low AI/AN density public schools (less than 25 percent of students were AI/AN), high AI/AN density public schools (25 percent or more of students were AI/AN), or Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools.