Review of standardized testing for American Indian Students and develop recommendations for schools.

WHEREAS, the National, Indian Education Association (NIEA) was established in 1969 for the purpose of advocating, planning, and promoting the unique and special educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives an Native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, NIEA as the largest national Indian organization of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian educators, administrators, parents and students in the United States, provides a forum to discuss and act upon issues affecting the education of Indian and Native people; and

WHEREAS, through its unique political relationship with Indian nationals and tribes, the federal government has established programs and resources to meet the educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians residing on and off their reserved or non-reserved homelands; and

WHEREAS, the use of standardized tests to assess the skills and knowledge of students in our public schools has developed into a major criteria used in the accountability measures for students as well as the teachers and schools’ capabilities; and

WHEREAS, NIEA recognizes that many American Indian students do not perform well on standardized tests such as the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) which are used in the State of Montana as well as other states, and

WHEREAS, as an example of this -the majority of public school students in the state of Montana that attend school on or near Indian reservations are in the bottom ranking of the ITBS test results when compared with all other schools/students at the 4 th , 8 th , and 11th grade test score results on ITBS; and

WHEREAS, it is important that appropriate use of standardized tests, such as ITBS, as a part of the assessment of American Indian students’ achievement levels be supported with research and data: and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, NIEA will work with the national testing programs (ACT, ITBS, etc.) to develop a National American Indian data base, review the norming process for test results, as well as the test development and implementation to determine if there are testing procedures that are culturally and economically inappropriate for American Indian students, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, NIEA will report its findings to its membership within the next year and have recommendations for the use of standardized tests for all schools who serve American Indian students.

Submitted by W. Stanley Juneau. Tribal Affiliation: Blackfeet.

CERTIFICATION

I do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly considered and passed by the NIEA Board of Directors at its October 28 – 31, 2001 meeting in Billings, Montana at which a quorum was present.