Challenges facing Bureau of Indian Education schools in improving student achievement: hearing before the Subcommittee on Early Childhood

LC Number: KF27 .E33278 2008b OCLC Number: (OCoLC)301229341 Subject: Indians of North America -- Education. Excerpt: ...bligations. The Act provides for a tuition-free education for Michigan Indians at Michigan public colleges. Jackie Vaughn, who has gone on to his eternal reward, and I wrote that bill and the governor signed the bill. A Democratic Legislature passed it, signed by a Republican governor. Again, illustrating that we have a bipartisan concern with our obligations to America's first citizens. Today, I am able to express my interest not only through my chairmanship of this subcommittee but also as the founder and Democratic chairman of the House Native American Caucus and as a member of the Natural Resources Committee. I often say that land and language are the two anchors for protecting tribal sovereignty. A third anchor for protecting tribe sovereignty is education. History has presented us with unique challenges in providing every Indian child with the education he or she needs to better their and their family's station in life. But in one respect, the challenge facing tribes is the same challenge faced anywhere in the United States--our success to the 21st century economy is directly tied to our ability to produce a high quality labor force. And that ability is, of course, directly tied to our ability to meet the challenge of providing every child, including every Indian child, with a world-class education. And that is why we are here today. We have a distinguished panel of witnesses who will provide us with insight on the unique challenges facing BIE schools and improving student education. Because, while the need for education may be the same everywhere, the way to educate children is not. Our witnesses will discuss a recent Government Accountability Office report on how to improve BIE's assistance to tribes to help them implement academic accountability systems under NCLB to take into acc...