This week, National Indian Education Association issued a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan expressing concern about the Obama administration's process for granting states waivers from Adequately Yearly Progress and other provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act/Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The Obama administration effort, which began last year, would allow states to waive provisions of No Child/ESEA, the law governing federal education policy -- including the activities of the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). Last month, the Department of Education granted waivers to 11 states, including those with significant numbers of Native students such as Colorado, Minnesota, and New Mexico. Twenty-six other states, including Arizona, Hawaii, Oregon, and Montana either plan to apply for waivers or have already done so.   

The letter, signed by NIEA President Quinton Roman Nose, asks Duncan and other Department of Education officials what steps they have taken to ensure that the 11 states seeking waivers have sought the input of American Indian and other Native communities in developing and submitting waiver applications -- and what steps will be taken to ensure states currently applying for the waivers will do so. NIEA's concerns stem from what has been learned from Native education advocates on the ground. In New Mexico, Native communities were not meaningfully engaged by state education officials in the shaping of the initial waiver application. While the state's Education Secretary-designate, Hanna Skandera, told The Albuquerque Journal's Hailey Heinz that Pueblo governments were consulted, she admits that they were only asked about the state's A-to-F school grading system and teacher evaluation plans, not about the overall proposal.   

The fear among Native communities is that the waiver process may end up allowing schools and districts to ignore the Native students to which they should be providing high-quality teaching and culturally-based curricula. The Obama administration has taken great strides to ensure that the voice of American Indian and Alaska Native communities can choose high-quality education for their students - and meet the federal government's Trust obligation to American Indian Tribes as outlined in the United States Constitution. In December, President Obama signed Executive Order 13592, which aims to improve education for Native students; NIEA advocated for the administration to enact that executive order. It has also worked with administration officials to seek input from Tribal leaders on the direction of Native education, most recently on shaping the State-Tribal Education Partnership (STEP) pilot grant program.     

As always, NIEA looks forward to working with Secretary Duncan and Department of Education officials on ensuring that Native communities are consulted throughout the waiver process.  

NIEA also expressed dismay that the waivers granted by the Department may lead to the loss of data on the progress of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students. For example, the administration has allowed nine of the first 10 states granted waivers last month to lump all racial and ethnic minorities into a "super-subgroup" category, which could render invisible the performance of Native students and their non-Native counterparts from poor and minority backgrounds. "One of the over-all benefits of NCLB was the 'visibility' of American Indian and Alaska Native students in schools," declares Roman Nose in the letter. "This level of accountability by the SEA and LEA for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian student achievement must continue."

Another issue lies with the A-F school grading systems being used by some states that have received waivers, including Indiana and New Mexico. Education officials in New Mexico argue that A-F grading will help shine light on the performance of Native and non-Native minority students who account for fewer than 10 students in a school's enrollment. But advocates contend that it can also hide wide achievement gaps between Native and non-Native white students. Daria Hall, Director of K-12 Policy Development at the Education Trust noted in a convening held this week by the Campaign for High School Equity (an NIEA partner) that a New Mexico school's Hispanic students could still trail 20 points behind white peers and yet, the school could still get an 'A' grade.   

NIEA has already indirectly weighed in on the waiver process through its role as member of the Campaign for High School Equity, the leading coalition for advancing high-quality education for all high school students of color. In January, CHSE expressed its own concerns about the waiver process. Last month, NIEA formally declared its support for maintaining No Child/ESEA's accountability provisions  in response to the markup of the proposed Student Success Act by the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

The letter is available for NIEA members and advocates to share with their colleagues and Native community leaders.  

• NIEA'S Special Advocacy Brief for Native Hawaiian education 
 
• NIEA supports maintaining much-needed federal accountability and data on Native student achievement.


• Profiles of partnerships between tribal education departments and local education agencies  


• 2012 State of Native Education Address