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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2001

Students at public schools on or near Indian reservations in Montana are performing worse than their counterparts, according to the results of a state-wide test.

Of the 10 lowest scoring schools in the state, seven are located on or near reservations. In some cases, scores on the test administered to Indian students in fourth, seventh and eleventh grades dropped over the past five years.

The schools in Lame Deer on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana, for example, showed the largest drop in the state. Test scores on the Montana Comprehensive Assessment System (MontCAS) dropped 34 percent among fourth graders from 1996 to 2001.

Among eighth graders, scores dropped 47 percent and among juniors, they fell 17 percent. About 130 students at the elementary, middle and high schools on the reservation were tested.

Next door on the Crow Reservation, scores at one school also dropped. Among fourth graders at the Crow Agency School in Crow Agency, scores fell by 28 percent.

A similar picture emerged at other reservation schools in the state. Two schools on the Rocky Boy's reservation in northern Montana showed declines: Box Elder eighth graders by 33 percent and Rocky Boy eighth graders by 28 percent.

The Frazer Elementary School on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana, where just 11 fourth-graders were tested, showed a 35 percent drop.

The news wasn't necessarily all bad for Indian students, though. At the Fort Belknap Reservation, for example, scores at two schools improved. Juniors showed a 70 percent improvement while fourth graders' scores rose by more than 50 percent.

And at Lodge Grass back on the Crow Reservation, eighth graders and juniors showed even greater improvements. Eighth-grade scores rose by 156 percent and eleventh-grade results increased about 50 percent.

On the Blackfeet Reservation near the Canadian border, test scores among grades four and eleven also increased, almost by 50 percent.

Typically, students at reservation schools performed better on the science and social studies portions of the test. Larger percentages of students were "proficient" on these areas than on reading, math and language arts.

The results reported by the Montana Office of Public Instruction come from tests administered this past spring to students in grades four, eight and eleven. This was the first year all students in a particular grade took the same standardized test.

American Indian and Alaska Native students make up about 10.2 percent of the student population, according to the office. Native students are the largest ethnic or racial minority in the school system.

Statewide, about 6.5 percent of the population is Native, according to the Census 2000.

Relevant Links:
Montana Comprehensive Assessment System - http://www.metnet.state.mt.us/montCas/HTM