Educators on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana worry about the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on Indian students.

Darrel Kipp, a Harvard graduate, runs a private, nonprofit school that immerses students in Blackfeet language and culture. He says standardized tests required by the law hurt Indian students because they are based on non-Indian standards.

Shiela Rutherford, an eighth-grade counselor at a public school on the reservation, said the standardized tests don't not reflect local variances in language. Mary Johnson, the superintendent, says tests should include questions relevant to Blackfeet culture.

The Department of Education says the law gives the states flexibility. But the state's superintendent of public instruction says the state has little freedom to do what it wants.

Get the Story:
Tribe fears loss of culture through mandated school standardization (The Missoulian 3/22)

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