Fewer than a third of children who identify themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native report knowing “a lot” about their tribe or group, says a study on teaching Native American culture and language from the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education.
Thirty-nine percent of 4th graders and 40 percent of 8th graders in those groups receive no exposure to a language other than English at home, and 3 percent or less of such students have teachers who report often using a Native American or Alaska Native language to teach core subjects.
The report is based on 21,000 responses to a survey of 4th and 8th grade Native American students who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2007.
