WASHINGTON (McClatchy) – Calling American Indian education a national travesty, the Obama administration is moving to get more tribes to run federally controlled schools that for decades have produced the nation’s most poorly educated students.
Interior Secretary Secretary Sally Jewell said she will spotlight the issue Thursday when she opens the first White House Tribal Youth Gathering, an attempt to improve the lives of American Indian children across the country.
Administration officials say that tribal youths have the lowest graduation rates in the country and that only about a third of the federally run schools are meeting education goals set by Congress.
In addition, more than one-third of all American Indian children live in poverty, according to a recent White House report.