The average reading and mathematics scores for Native American and Alaska Native students remained flat on the National Assessment of Educational Progress from 2005 to 2009, a federal report says. And only 57 percent of 8th graders who are Native Americans or Alaska Natives report they plan to go to college full time after high school, the study released last month by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences found.
In 2009, 50 percent of Native American 4th graders scored at the basic level or above in reading on NAEP, the report says, while 62 percent of Native American 8th graders scored at that level. In math, 66 percent of Native American 4th graders scored at basic or above, while 56 percent of Native American 8th graders scored at the same level in that subject.