Follow-up report to the 2015 National Indian Education Study. The first report was released in March 2017.

On May 7, 2019, NCES will release a follow-up report to the 2015 National Indian Education Study. The first report was released in March 2017.

NIES is administered as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to allow more in-depth reporting on the achievement and experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in grades 4 and 8.

This follow-up report focuses primarily on two major concerns that have been raised throughout the first decade of the study:

• What contextual factors are associated with higher- and lower-performing AI/AN students?
• How do AI/AN students see themselves in terms of their Native languages, culture, and aspirations for the future?

Both of these major themes are aimed at examining AI/AN student performance beyond what has been previously reported—average scores in mathematics and reading.

The survey questions selected for this report examined the knowledge that AI/AN students had of their Native culture and language. They revealed how teachers acquired and integrated culturally-responsive materials, activities, and instruction into their lessons to enhance student learning, and how school officials reached out to members of the Native community for their participation in school events with students, parents, and teachers.

These survey questions, as well as the report itself, were created in close collaboration with the NIES Technical Review Panel (TRP). The NIES TRP is composed of AI/AN educational stakeholders from across the country. 

The report examines a variety of factors that are associated with higher- and lower-performing AI/AN students. It also explores a set of composite variables (i.e., variables built upon multiple discrete student survey questions) related to exposure to Native languages, AI/AN cultural knowledge, interest in reading about cultures (both their own and others), engagement at school, and perceptions of effort in school.