2019-06: Improving Federal Technical Assistance to Support Native 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 Native 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 Native people; and

WHEREAS, through its unique relationship with Native 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, access to high-quality, culturally responsive technical assistance is critical to ensuring effective implementation of education programs and services that address the unique needs of Native students; and

WHEREAS, Native communities and local educational agencies (LEAs) that serve Native students have historically lacked equitable access to high-quality technical assistance to support the culturally-responsive implementation of federal programs; and

WHEREAS, the 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), includes new flexibilities, opportunities, and responsibilities for Native communities and local educational agencies (LEAs) that serve Native students, including the Bureau of Indian Education; and

WHEREAS, Native language immersion schools and programs operated through the public school system have the right to waive English-language content assessments in exchange for Native language content assessments until high school under ESSA; and

WHEREAS, under ESSA, the Secretary of Interior is required to define, through negotiated rulemaking, new standards, assessments, and an accountability system for Bureau-funded schools which supports the unique needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students and is consistent with requirements of states in Section 1111; and

WHEREAS, despite a series of recommendations from the BIE Negotiated Rulemaking Committee to provide tribes and BIE schools technical assistance for all aspects of ESSA implementation, including Native language assessments, the BIE proposed to limit technical assistance to requests from tribes and school boards during the tribal waiver process; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education is required to support the Bureau of Indian Education in providing technical assistance on a variety of federal oversight issues to Bureau-operated schools under the current Memorandum of Agreement between the two agencies; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Indian Education Association urges the Department of Education and Bureau of Indian Education to fulfill the federal trust responsibility by providing high-quality, ongoing technical assistance to Native communities and local educational agencies (LEAs) that serve the needs of Native students in the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NIEA supports high-quality technical assistance to develop and implement Native language assessments; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NIEA calls on the Department of Education, Bureau of Indian Education to provide high-quality, culturally responsive technical assistance to Native communities and LEAs that serve Native students to ensure that they have the resources to effectively serve all Native students, including students with disabilities and language learners; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NIEA until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.