"A new report card is out for Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and the results are no surprise.

Of the 21 BIA-funded schools in South Dakota, only four have made adequate progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Nationally, only 45 of 117 BIA schools made the grade. And two of the South Dakota Schools - Wounded Knee and Porcupine Day School - are among 16 in the nation that have failed so consistently they face restructuring.

But here's an even more worrisome aspect. South Dakota BIA schools took the state's Dakota STEP test, which measures progress under the federal law, for the first time only last spring. And those scores are measured by BIA standards - which are lower than state standards."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Indian education (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 12/3)

Relevant Links:
Office of Indian Education Programs, BIA - http://www.oiep.bia.edu

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