II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1419 

To promote the academic achievement of American Indian, Alaska Native, 

and Native Hawaiian children with the establishment of a Native American language grant program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2015 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. UDALL, Mr. HEINRICH, and Ms. 

HEITKAMP) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote the academic achievement of American Indian, 

Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children with the 

establishment of a Native American language grant program. 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native Language Im3 mersion Student Achievement Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Congress established the unique status of 

7 Native American languages and distinctive policies 

8 supporting their use as a medium of education in 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 1419 IS

1 the Native American Languages Act (Public Law 

2 101–477). 

3 (2) Reports from the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

4 and tribal, public, charter, and private schools and 

5 colleges that use primarily Native American lan6 guages to deliver education, have indicated that stu7 dents from these schools have generally had high 

8 school graduation and college attendance rates above 

9 the norm for their peers. 

10 (3) Such successful schools include Native 

11 American language medium schools focusing on both 

12 children who enter school speaking Native American 

13 languages and children who enter school with little 

14 or no knowledge of a Native American language, as 

15 well as Native American Language Nests and Native 

16 American Language Survival Schools. 

17 (4) The Elementary and Secondary Education 

18 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) includes policy 

19 barriers to schools taught through Native American 

20 languages and a lack of adequate funding to support 

21 such opportunities. 

22 (5) There is a critical need that requires imme23 diate action to support education through Native 

24 American languages to revitalize and maintain these 

25 languages. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 1419 IS

1 SEC. 3. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE SCHOOLS. 

2 Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Edu3 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘PART D—NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE 

6 SCHOOLS 

7 ‘‘SEC. 7401. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE SCHOOLS. 

8 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

9 ‘‘(1) to establish a grant program to support 

10 schools using Native American languages as the pri11 mary language of instruction of all curriculum 

12 taught at the schools that will improve high school 

13 graduation rates, college attainment, and career 

14 readiness; and 

15 ‘‘(2) to further integrate into this Act, Federal 

16 policy for such schools, as established in the Native 

17 American Languages Act (Public Law 101–477). 

18 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

20 available to carry out this section, the Secretary may 

21 award grants to eligible entities to develop and 

22 maintain, or to improve and expand, programs that 

23 support schools, including prekindergarten through 

24 postsecondary education sites and streams, using 

25 Native American languages as the primary language 

26 of instruction of all curriculum taught. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 1419 IS

1 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—In this section, the 

2 term ‘eligible entity’ means any of the following enti3 ties that has a plan to develop and maintain, or to 

4 improve and expand, programs that support the en5 tity’s use of one or more Native American languages 

6 as the primary language of instruction in a school: 

7 ‘‘(A) An Indian tribe (as defined in section 

8 103 of the Native American Languages Act (25 

9 U.S.C. 2902)). 

10 ‘‘(B) A Tribal College or University (as de11 fined in section 316 of the Higher Education 

12 Act of 1965). 

13 ‘‘(C) A tribal education agency. 

14 ‘‘(D) A public elementary school or sec15 ondary school (including a public charter 

16 school). 

17 ‘‘(E) A private and accredited elementary 

18 school or secondary school. 

19 ‘‘(F) A school operated by the Bureau of 

20 Indian Education. 

21 ‘‘(G) A Regional Corporation (as defined 

22 in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settle23 ment Act (43 U.S.C. 1602)). 

24 ‘‘(H) A private or tribal nonprofit organi25 zation. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 1419 IS

1 ‘‘(I) A consortium of any of the entities de2 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (H). 

3 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that de5 sires to receive a grant under this section shall sub6 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 

7 such manner, and containing such information as 

8 the Secretary may require, including the following: 

9 ‘‘(A) The name of the Native American 

10 language to be used for instruction at the 

11 school supported by the eligible entity. 

12 ‘‘(B) The number of students attending 

13 such school. 

14 ‘‘(C) The number of present hours of in15 struction in or through 1 or more Native Amer16 ican languages being provided to targeted stu17 dents at such school, if any. 

18 ‘‘(D) The status of such school with regard 

19 to any applicable tribal education department or 

20 agency, public education system, indigenous 

21 language schooling research and cooperative, or 

22 accrediting body. 

23 ‘‘(E) A statement that such school— 

24 ‘‘(i) is engaged in meeting targeted 

25 academic proficiency levels for students, as 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 1419 IS

1 may be required by applicable Federal, 

2 State, or tribal law, including the avail3 ability of coursework for students to fulfill 

4 the requirements necessary to obtain a 

5 high school diploma; 

6 ‘‘(ii) will strive to achieve high level 

7 language fluency in students in the Native 

8 American language of the school; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) provides assessments of students 

10 using the Native American language of in11 struction, where appropriate. 

12 ‘‘(F) A list of the qualifications of the staff 

13 to deliver effective education through the Native 

14 American language of the school. 

15 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL APPLICATION MATERIALS.— 

16 In addition to the application described in paragraph 

17 (1), an eligible entity that desires to receive a grant 

18 under this section shall submit to the Secretary the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(A) TRIBAL CERTIFICATION.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A certification 

22 from a Federally recognized Indian tribe, 

23 or a letter from any State or community 

24 recognized Native American entity, on 

25 whose land the school supported by the eliVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 May 29, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1419.IS S1419

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 1419 IS

1 gible entity is located, or which is served 

2 by such school, indicating that the school 

3 has an endorsement to provide education 

4 primarily through the Native American 

5 language and that there are sufficient 

6 speakers of such Native American lan7 guage at the school or available to be hired 

8 by the school. 

9 ‘‘(ii) INABILITY TO SECURE CERTIFI10 CATION.—If neither a certification nor a 

11 letter can be secured as described in clause 

12 (i), the eligible entity may submit to the 

13 Secretary an explanation of why such cer14 tification and letter cannot be obtained. 

15 The Secretary may waive the certification 

16 and letter requirement under clause (i) if 

17 the explanation is deemed acceptable. 

18 ‘‘(B) COLLECTION OF DATA.—A statement 

19 that such school will collect data relative to 

20 high school graduation, college attendance, or 

21 other data relevant to student achievement, ca22 reer readiness, or community participation of 

23 students who matriculate through its programs, 

24 and will participate in data collection conducted 

25 by the Secretary that will determine best pracVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 May 29, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1419.IS S1419

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 1419 IS

1 tices and further academic evaluation of the 

2 school. 

3 ‘‘(C) DEMONSTRATION OF CAPACITY.—A 

4 demonstration of the capacity to have speakers 

5 of its Native American language provide in6 struction in the content curriculum offered by 

7 such school. 

8 ‘‘(D) NATIVE LANGUAGE EDUCATION

9 PLAN.—A Native language education plan that 

10 integrates high achievement in the Native 

11 American language with improved student aca12 demic achievement, high school graduation 

13 rates, college attainment, and career readiness 

14 by carrying out the activities authorized in sub15 section (e). 

16 ‘‘(d) AWARDING OF GRANTS.—In awarding grants 

17 under this section, the Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) determine the amount and length of each 

19 grant; and 

20 ‘‘(2) ensure, to the maximum extent feasible, 

21 that diversity in languages is represented. 

22 ‘‘(e) ACTIVITIES AUTHORIZED.—An eligible entity 

23 that receives a grant under this section shall carry out 

24 the following activities: 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 1419 IS

1 ‘‘(1) Support Native American language edu2 cation and development. 

3 ‘‘(2) Develop or refine instructional curriculum 

4 for the school supported by the eligible entity, in5 cluding distinctive teaching materials and activities, 

6 as appropriate. 

7 ‘‘(3) Fund training opportunities for teachers 

8 and, as appropriate, staff and administrators, that 

9 would strengthen the overall language and academic 

10 goals of such school. 

11 ‘‘(4) Develop a Native language alignment plan 

12 to create or refine assessments of student proficiency 

13 on State or tribally developed academic standards 

14 for Native American language schools, aligned with 

15 the Native language of instruction in such schools, 

16 as appropriate. 

17 ‘‘(5) Other activities that promote Native Amer18 ican language education and development, as appro19 priate. 

20 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO SECRETARY.—Each eligible entity 

21 that receives a grant under this section shall provide an 

22 annual report to the Secretary in such form and manner 

23 as the Secretary may require. 

24 ‘‘(g) BUILDING NATIVE LANGUAGE IMMERSION EVI25 DENCE BASE.— 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 1419 IS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta2 tion with the Commissioner of the National Center 

3 for Education Statistics, shall compile and analyze 

4 data and reports provided under subsection (f) to 

5 evaluate the outcomes of the grant program and 

6 contribute to the evidence base of Native language 

7 immersion student outcomes. 

8 ‘‘(2) DISSEMINATION.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date the Secretary receives all reports 

10 under subsection (f), the information described in 

11 paragraph (1) shall be disseminated to Congress, in12 cluding the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and 

13 Alaska Native Affairs and the Committee on Edu14 cation and the Workforce of the House of Rep15 resentatives, and the Committee on Indian Affairs 

16 and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor 

17 and Pensions of the Senate. 

18 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

20 $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2016, and such sums as may 

21 be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS