​​​National Indian Education StudyAbout the Assessment

The 2019 National Indian Education Study (NIES) presents the performance and survey questionnaire results of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students at grades 4 and 8 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading and mathematics. The NIES study was also conducted in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2015. In the 2019 report, performance results from the earlier assessments are compared to those in 2019. The Technical Review Panel, whose members included American Indian an​d Alaska Native educators and researchers from across the country, was assembled to advise the study.

A nationally representative sample of 4,100 AI/AN fourth-graders and 3,700 AI/AN eighth-graders participated in the 2019 NAEP reading assessment nationwide. About 4,000 AI/AN fourth-graders and 3,800 AI/AN eighth-graders participated in the 2019 NAEP mathematics assessment. The national results reflect the performance of students enrolled in public, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), Department of Defense, and private schools.  

In addition to the national sample, the NIES 2019 focused on 15 states with relatively large populations of AI/AN students: Alaska, Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The combined AI/AN student enrollment in these states represents more than 60 percent of the AI/AN enrollment in the nation.

NIES state-level data include results from AI/AN students who attended public and BIE schools. The national results used for comparison to these state results also reflect the performance of public and BIE school students only.

Download a copy of the National Indian Education Study 2019.