Characteristics of American Indian and Alaska Native Education

March 1997

(NCES 97-451) Ordering information

Highlights

American Indian and Alaska Native students comprise approximately 1 percent of the total student population in the United States. Consequently, these students, and the schools and staff that serve them, are rarely represented in sufficient numbers in national education studies to permit reliable and valid generalizations about their characteristics. Additionally, because of tribal and linguistic diversity, geographic dispersion, and preponderence in remote rural areas, researchers have found it too costly to add supplemental samples of Indian schools and students to other data collection programs. However, during the 1990-91 and 1993-94 school years, the (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education added and Indian education supplement to the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data collection program that enabled education researchers and policymakers to describe the schools, principals, and teachers serving Indian students. The data collected by SASS are both national in scope and comparable to data gathered concurrently on U.S. schools in general.

This report summarizes the findings of the 1993-94 SASS with regard to schools that serve American Indian and Alaska Native students, and examines trends in Indian education since 1990-91, when the data for the first NCES report on Indian education were collected (Pavel, Curtin, Thorne, Christenson, and Rudes, 1995). The chapter highlights are presented below.

Chapter 2: Schools and American Indian and Alaska Native Students

• In 1993-94, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the U.S. Department of Interior and federally recognized tribes with BIA funding operated 170 elementary and secondary schools in the United States (termed BIA/tribal schools in this report). Additionally, among the 80,893 public schools in the United States, 1,244 had an American Indian/Alaska Native student enrollment of at least 25 percent (called high Indian enrollment schools).
• BIA/tribal and high Indian enrollment schools were primarily located in rural areas and small towns and had enrollments of fewer than 500 students. The heaviest concentration of these schools was in the Southwest and Northern Plains regions of the U.S. Half of the high Indian enrollment public schools were located in the South Central region and Alaska.
• BIA/tribal schools were more likely than public schools with low Indian enrollment (less than 25 percent Indian student enrollment) to offer compensatory programs such as Chapter 1, remedial mathematics, and bilingual education. BIA/tribal schools were also more likely than these public schools to offer gifted and talented programs for their students.
• In order to graduate, high school student in BIA/tribal schools were required to complete more coursework in core subject areas (English and language arts, mathematics, social studies, and sciences) than students in low Indian enrollment schools. Additionally, BIA/tribal schools were more likely than high and low Indian enrollment public schools to require coursework in computer science and foreign language.
• The student to teacher ratio in BIA/tribal schools (14: l) was lower than the ratio in public schools with low Indian enrollment (15:1). Additionally, the ratio of students to noninstructional staff was lower in BIA/ tribal schools (43: 1) than in either type of public school (50:1 and 72:1).
• Public schools with high and low Indian student enrollment had higher graduation rates for high school seniors than BIA/tribal schools (91 percent for both types of public schools vs. 86 percent); public schools with low Indian enrollment also had larger percentages of students applying to college (58 percent vs. 47 percent for BIA/tribal schools).
• Of the 491,936 American Indian and Alaska Native students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) classes in publicly funded schools in the U.S. (i.e., BIA/tribal and public schools), 9 percent attended BIA/tribal schools and 38 percent attended public schools with high Indian enrollment. Fifty-three percent of the Indian student population attended public schools with relatively few Indian students.
• Eighty-five percent of the students in BIA/tribal schools and 56 percent of the students in public schools with high Indian enrollment were eligible for free or reduced-priced lunches. Less than one-third of the students in low enrollment public schools were eligible.
• Approximately one-third of the Indian students in BIA/tribal schools spoke a language other than English in their homes; 28 percent were identified by their schools as having limited English proficiency. Only a small fraction of Indian students in low Indian enrollment schools spoke a language other than English in their homes or had limited English proficiency.
• BIA/tribal school students were just as likely as students in high and low Indian enrollment public schools to receive academic counseling, more likely to receive alcohol- and drug-abuse counseling, and less likely to receive career counseling.
• Ten percent of the students enrolled in BIA/tribal schools had dropped out or withdrawn from school at some time in their student careers; less than 5 percent of the students in public schools with high and low Indian enrollment had dropped out or withdrawn.
• American Indian and Alaska Native students were less likely than white, non-Hispanic students to enroll in higher-level mathematics courses typically required for college admission.

• During the 1993-94 school year, 74,842 principals administered publicly funded schools in the U.S. Forty-seven percent of the BIA/tribal school principals were Indian, and all of these were enrolled tribal members. Approximately 14 percent of the principals in public schools with high Indian enrollment were Indian, and 84 percent were tribally enrolled. Less than 1 percent of the principals in low Indian enrollment public schools were Indian, and about half of them were tribal members.
• Compared to their white, non-Hispanic colleagues in BIA/tribal schools, Indian principals had fewer years of teaching experience and were less likely to hold advanced degrees beyond the master's degree. In public schools with high Indian enrollment, tribally enrolled principals had comparable teaching experience but were less likely than white principals to hold degrees beyond the master's. 
• Most principals have received inservice training in evaluation and supervision. However, BIA/tribal school principals and principals in high enrollment public schools were more likely to have received specific training in Indian education administration.
• The average salaries for principals in BIA/tribal schools, especially those with master's degrees and more advanced degrees, were comparable to those of principals from public schools with high Indian enrollment but lower than principals in low Indian enrollment public schools.
• BIA/tribal school principals were less likely than principals in low Indian enrollment public schools to receive medical and dental insurance and to receive in-kind benefits.
• Principals in BIA/tribal schools were more likely than their colleagues in either type of public school to report that poverty, parental alcoholism and drug abuse, and lack of parental involvement were serious problems in their schools.

• Less than 1 percent of the 2,564,000 teachers in BIA/tribal and public schools during the 1993-94 school year were American Indian or Alaska Native. In BIA/tribal schools, 38 percent of the teachers were Indian or Alaska Native. Sixteen percent of the teachers in public schools with high Indian enrollment and less than 1 percent of the teachers in low enrollment schools were Indian.
• Most of the Indian teachers in BIA/tribal schools (95 percent) and in public schools with high Indian enrollment (84 percent) w, ere enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribe. Thirty-eight percent of the Indian teachers in public schools with low Indian enrollment were tribal members.
• Nationally, 6 percent of the publicly funded schools have American Indian or Alaska Native teachers on staff. Ninety-five percent of BIA/tribal schools, 70 percent of high Indian enrollment public schools, and 5 percent of low Indian enrollment public schools had Indian teachers.
• Nationally, few teachers reported college majors or minors in Indian education (less than 0.05 percent). Even in BIA/tribal schools, where teachers most often held these credentials, only 2 percent of the teachers held such a major or minor.
• On average, teachers in BIA/tribal schools had fewer years of teaching experience than their counterparts in public schools.
• American Indian and Alaska Native teachers were more likely than white, non-Hispanic teachers to begin teaching after first holding nonteaching positions in education (e.g., clerk or another type of noninstructional staff).
• Beginning teacher salaries were higher in BIA/tribal schools and high Indian enrollment districts than in public districts with low Indian enrollment. On the other hand, experienced teachers were better paid in low enrollment districts than in BIA/tribal and high Indian enrollment districts.
• At least half of the teachers in BIA/tribal schools reported that parental alcoholism and drug abuse, lack of parental involvement, and poverty were serious problems in their schools. At least one-third of the teachers in high Indian enrollment schools saw these issues as serious problems. Teachers in low Indian enrollment schools were less likely to report these problems.

• Overall, teachers in BIA/tribal schools were less likely than their colleagues in public schools to be certified in their teaching area. Notably, newly hired teachers in BIA/tribal schools were more likely than their public colleagues to be certified in their teaching area.
• Vacant teaching positions in BIA/tribal schools were more likely than teaching positions in high and low Indian enrollment schools to remain vacant or to be filled by substitute teachers because qualified candidates could not be found.
• BIA/tribal schools were more likely than public schools with low Indian enrollment to cancel classes, to hire less-qualified teachers, to use teachers from other subjects or grade levels to fill the vacant classes, and to employ long- or short-term substitutes to fill vacant positions.
• BIA/tribal schools were more likely than high and low Indian enrollment schools to provide free retraining to staff members to prepare for careers in fields with current or anticipated teacher shortages.
• BIA/tribal schools were more likely than high and low Indian enrollment schools to use pay incentives to recruit teachers in fields with current or anticipated teacher shortages.

• BIA/tribal schools accounted for approximately 0.2 percent of the publicly funded schools in the United States during both the 1990-91 and 1993-94 school years.
• The majority of American Indian and Alaska Native students attended public schools with low Indian student enrollment in both 1990-91 and 1993-94, and this percentage was stable during the reporting period.
• The percentage of BIA/tribal schools offering Chapter 1 services decreased slightly (4 percent) between 1990-91 and 1993-94. However, this decrease was not accompanied by reductions in other programs for at-risk students (e.g., ESL, bilingual education, or remedial mathematics instruction). BIA/tribal schools offering gifted/talented programming increased 15 percent during the same period.
• Graduation rates for high school seniors remained steady in public schools with high Indian enrollment and BIA/tribal schools between the 1990-91 and 1993-94 school years; the rate declined slightly in low Indian enrollment schools (from 94 to 91 percent).
• The percentage of students in BIA/tribal schools applying to college rose from 33 to 47 percent during the reporting period. No change was apparent in public schools with high Indian student enrollment.
• Graduation requirements for many high school students increased between the 1990-91 and 1993-94 school years. Course completion requirements for mathematics instruction increased to 3 years in BIA/ tribal schools and to 2.5 years in public schools with low Indian student enrollment.
• Few changes in the qualifications and experiences of principals, their opinions about school problems and goals, or their career plans were apparent between the 1990-91 and 1993-94 school years. Notably, however, principals in public schools with low Indian student enrollment were more likely to have received specialized training in Indian education administration in 1993-94.
• Poverty was, and continues to be, the problem most frequently identified as serious by principals in BIA/tribal schools and public schools. Principals' concerns with the roles played by parents (e.g., alcoholism/drug abuse and lack of involvement) have decreased over the last 3 years.
• No change in the percentages of American Indian and Alaska Native teachers in the three Indian school types or in the percentages of Indian teachers enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribes was apparent.
• BIA/tribal schools were less likely to report teaching position vacancies during the 1993-94 school year than in 1990-91. Vacancies decreased in special education, English, mathematics, and foreign languages.
• BIA/tribal schools and public schools with low Indian student enrollment were more likely to provide free retraining to school staff preparing to teach in fields with current and anticipated shortages in 1993-94 than in 1990-91.

Download/view the full report in a PDF file. (1,124K)

Help with PDF files

For more information about the content of this report, contact the SASS staff at NCES.