The federal government established education provisions for American Indians through treaties dating back to the late 1700s. Since the early 1800s the federal government has funded schools to educate American Indians, and Interior’s BIE currently administers this school system. These federally funded schools were established in order to provide educational opportunities for American Indian children who largely live in remote areas. Today, an estimated 10 percent of American Indian children attend the 174 schools and 12 dormitories that receive funding from the Department of the Interior’s BIE. Although these schools are located in 23 states across the nation (see fig. 1), the majority of BIE students (83 percent) attend BIE schools in 6 states—Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington. According to BIE, in the 2006-07 school year, educational opportunities were provided to approximately 48,000 students in these schools located across 63 reservations. According to BIE, American Indian students enrolled in the BIE-funded schools represent 228 tribes, but the majority of students belong to a small number of tribes. The primary mission of BIE schools is to provide quality educational opportunities that are compatible with tribes’ cultural and economic well- being and their wide diversity as distinct cultural and government entities. To accomplish its mission, BIE’s elementary and secondary school system is multifaceted, with schools located in a variety of settings, including rural, town, suburban, and urban areas. However, the schools are located primarily in rural areas and small towns and serve American Indian students living on or near reservations. The BIE school system includes day schools, on-reservation boarding schools, and off-reservation boarding schools—which house and educate students from numerous tribes. BIE schools also vary in size, with an average enrollment of approximately 280 students in school year 2006-07. While the BIE helps fund 174 schools and 12 dormitories, it does not operate all of them; in the 2006-07 school year, 67 percent of BIE schools were tribally operated under federal contracts or grants (see table 1). Over the past 2 decades, these contracts and grants have transferred the operation of BIE-funded schools to tribes and tribal school boards, offering the potential for tribal groups to take greater ownership of their children’s education. The BIE is organized into two major divisions, with one division located in Albuquerque, New Mexico—called Central Office–West— and the other division located in Washington, D.C.—called Central Office–East. The Central Office–East division conducts research, policy analysis, and planning, and houses the Division of Post Secondary Education, which operates two post-secondary institutions and administers operating grants for 24 colleges operated by tribes and tribal organizations. The BIE performs some functions of a state education agency and receives grants from Education. Further, at the time of our review, BIE Central Office– West had oversight responsibilities for 21 BIE education line offices located in 10 states that provide assistance and/or oversight for the 186 schools and dormitories. Each education line office houses an ELO who functions similarly to a public school district superintendent in managing the schools and providing technical assistance to those schools that tribal groups operate through grants or contracts with the BIE. Throughout this report, we refer to officials from BIE’s Central Offices (East and West) as “BIE officials” and, while we recognize that the ELOs are also BIE officials, we refer to them as “ELOs.” Under NCLBA states are required to establish performance goals and hold their Title I schools accountable for students’ performance by determining whether or not schools have made AYP. The act requires states to set challenging academic content and achievement standards in reading or language arts, mathematics, and science, and determine whether school districts and schools make AYP toward meeting these standards. To make AYP, schools generally must: show that the percentage of students scoring at the proficient level or higher meets the state proficiency target for the school as a whole and for designated student groups, test 95 percent of all students and those in designated groups, and meet goals for an additional academic indicator, such as the state’s graduation rate. NCLBA requires states to establish these performance goals so that all students reach proficiency in reading/language arts, mathematics, and science by 2014. Schools that have not met their states’ performance goals for 2 or more consecutive years are identified for improvement and must implement certain remedial actions that are meant to improve student academic achievement. NCLBA required the Secretary of the Interior to develop a definition of AYP for BIE schools, through negotiated rulemaking. Interior established a No Child Left Behind Negotiated Rulemaking Committee (committee) to develop proposed rules to implement this requirement, among others. By law, the committee was to be comprised of representatives of the federal government and tribes served by BIE-funded schools. The committee held a series of meetings from June 2003 through October 2003 to develop its recommendations. After a public comment period, the final rule was published in April 2005. Under the rule, each BIE school must adopt the academic content standards, assessments, and definition of AYP of the state in which the school is located beginning with the 2005-06 school year. Moreover, if states do not give tribal groups access to their assessments, the tribal groups are obligated to develop alternative definitions of AYP. The regulations do not delineate how to determine AYP in the cases in which schools cannot access state assessments and have not developed an alternative. While NCLBA requires that states’ assessments be aligned with their standards, neither NCLBA nor BIE regulations require that schools’ curricula be aligned with state standards or assessments. Under the Secretary’s definition of AYP—i.e., that of the state in which the school is located—determining the AYP status of the 174 BIE schools requires that BIE officials apply 23 different definitions of AYP. The process is complex because of the many differences in assessments and criteria for AYP determination across the states. For example, some states assess students in additional areas, such as testing students in both reading and language arts. In addition, the complexity of state statistical formulas for calculating AYP also varies among states. Some states’ formulas include multiple confidence bands while other states use none; some states reference students’ improvement over their past performance while others use only current individual performance data on students. Similarly, annual measurable objectives, alternate AYP indicators, and formulas for calculating graduation rates also vary across states. Under NCLBA, tribal governments or school boards (tribal groups) must either adopt the Secretary’s definition of AYP—i.e., that of the state in which they are located—or waive all or part of the definition and propose an alternative. Specifically, tribal groups that waive all or part of the state’s definition of AYP must submit a proposal for an alternative definition of AYP within 60 days of the decision to waive. BIE regulations state that BIE will notify the tribal group within 60 days of receiving the proposed alternative definition whether the proposal is complete and, if complete, an estimated timetable for the final decision. All proposed alternatives are subject to the approval of the Secretaries of Interior and Education, with the tribal groups obligated to use the state’s definition, content standards, and assessments unless the alternative is approved. BIE is required to provide technical assistance upon request, to a tribal group that seeks to develop an alternative definition. Under BIE regulations, a tribal group that requires assistance in developing an alternative must submit a written request to BIE specifying the type of assistance it requires. BIE must acknowledge receipt of the request for technical assistance within 10 days of receiving the request. Within 30 days after receiving the original request for technical assistance, the BIE must identify a point of contact who will immediately begin working with the tribal group. In providing technical assistance to tribal groups in developing alternatives, the BIE can consult with Education. Under BIE regulations, in providing assistance, BIE may use funds provided by Education for assessment-related activities under section 6111 of the ESEA, as amended by NCLBA. According to BIE officials, BIE has used some of these funds on professional development training, development of a reporting system, and improvements to its student information management and tracking systems, which are appropriate uses of these funds. BIE officials stated they used most of these funds to develop BIE’s student information tracking system—the Native American Student Information System. In addition, BIE can use these funds to provide technical assistance to tribal groups in developing AYP alternatives. With respect to achievement under NCLBA, in the 2006-07 school year, BIE reported 51 of the 174 BIE schools made AYP as defined by the states in which the schools are located. Schools that fail to meet AYP for 2 consecutive years must implement remedial actions as required under NCLBA, although the requirements for BIE schools vary from those for public Title I schools (see table 2). For a BIE-operated school, implementation of required remedial actions is the responsibility of the BIE, whereas for schools that are tribally operated through contracts or grants, implementation of remedial actions is the responsibility of the tribal group. Unlike public schools, BIE schools that have an AYP status of school improvement, corrective action, or restructuring are exempt from offering public school choice and supplemental educational services. While the remedial actions applied to public schools and BIE schools under NCLBA may include change in governance, BIE officials told us that there was no provision to implement such a change with retrocession—reverting from grant or contract to BIE-operated status or from BIE-operated to another status—based on continued failure to meet AYP. Almost all of the BIE schools adopted the definition of AYP, content standards, and assessments of the state in which the school is located.