2013-06: Support Amending Government Performance and Results Act Measures Utilized by the Office of Indian Education

WHEREAS, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was established in 1970 for the purpose of advocating, planning, and promoting the unique and special educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and 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 relationship with Indian nations 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 fundamental trust, treaty, and statutory obligations of the United States remain unfulfilled and Native students continue to suffer from great inadequacies and inequities in aspects of their education, such as strengthening their linguistic and cultural education; and

WHEREAS, in order to uphold the trust responsibility to Native education, Title VII of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act allows for supplemental grants to ensure programs serving American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children are of the highest quality and provide for not only the basic elementary and secondary educational needs, but also the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of Native children; and

WHEREAS, Title VII programs create a much needed Native presence in school districts through Native Parent committees; and

WHEREAS, Title VII programs provide services to Native students which impact attendance and help keep them in schools; and

WHEREAS, the Office of Indian Education (OIE) in the Department of Education is responsible for administering Title VII funds and services to local education agencies and tribes to meet the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of Native students; and

WHEREAS, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the executive branch developed various means for measuring the effectiveness of programs funded by the United States Congress by requiring programs to be evaluated using the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA); and

WHEREAS, under GPRA, OIE utilizes systems that measure academic achievement rates as the benchmark for programmatic success under Title VII; and

WHEREAS, the GPRA measurement system functions contrary to the intended purpose of Title VII, which under NCLB, stipulates that Title VII formula grant programmatic success is based on supporting cultural education and creating a presence for Native education as a unique focus in a school district or school to work in concert with ESEA rather than directly increasing the academic achievement of Native students; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NIEA recommends OIE to provide ample opportunity for meaningful consultation that includes the pertinent constituency groups prior to any Department of Education action regarding changes to forms used or the adoption or implementation of new regulations that will affect such groups; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NIEA will work with OIE, OMB and pertinent stakeholders to amend or replace the GPRA measurements utilized by OIE with a more appropriate evaluation tool so as to reflect the outcomes stipulated under Title VII, rather than continuing the incorrect practice of utilizing measurements based on academic achievement outcomes.