American Indian students in North Dakota lag behind the general population and are about equal to Indian students in other states, according to a pair of recent reports based on standardized tests from the 2005-06 school year.

The tests show improvement by American Indian students in some areas, but demonstrate that significant disparities still exist in education. Some people, however, question the value of standardized tests to Indian children.

On the North Dakota State Assessment, 50 percent of Indian students measured "proficient" in reading, compared to 75 percent of the general population. In math, 47 percent of Indian students achieved the "proficient" level, while 73 percent of all students hit that mark. In both fields, Indian students showed slight improvements over last year. Math scores for Indian student have more than doubled since two years ago.

The North Dakota State Assesment is given to students in grades 3-8, and 11. It is used, in part, to measure schools' compliance with federal standards under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Another test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, shows how states compare to one another. For the first time in 2005, the U.S. Department of Education compiled a report - the National Indian Education Study - specifically to present the results of American Indian students on the NAEP. The study examined the scores of about 7,200 American Indian-Alaska Native students in fourth and eighth grades in reading and math. The report establishes a national average for Indian students and also compiles state figures for the seven states with the highest percentage of Indian students. North Dakota is one of those seven states.

In reading, North Dakota Indians in fourth grade scored just below the national average for Indian students - 198 versus 204. By comparison, the average score of South Dakota Indians was 194, and Montana measured 201. At the eighth grade level, North Dakota Indians scored 248, one below the national average for Indian students. South Dakota and Montana scored 247 and 238, respectively.

In math, too, North Dakota Indians scored slightly below the national average. The fourth grade average in North Dakota was 221, while the national average was 226. In eighth grade, North Dakota scores averaged 260, and 264 was the national average.

But not everyone is sold on the merit of standardized tests as a yardstick for education. Bobby Ann Starnes is the president of Full Circle Material and Curriculum, a Helena, Mont.-based organization that strives to improve Indian education. Not only do standardized tests fail to accurately measure schools' progress, they actually impede progress, said Starnes, who holds a doctorate in teaching, curriculum and learning environments from Harvard and has 22 years experience teaching on reservations and elsewhere.

"Some people think that standardized tests measure things worth knowing,"Starnes said. "I'm not one of those people."

A recent University of Montana report tells of a class on Montana's Rocky Boy's Reservation that took exams last year. One reading section discussed a Zamboni - the machine used to groom ice rinks. After the test, several students asked the teacher what a Zamboni was - no one in the class had ever heard of such a thing, the report says. Zambonis are rare on the Rocky Boy's Reservation.

"Those tests are biased in favor of middle-class, suburban kids," Starnes said. "The tests are not fair. They're not."

Mary Rousseau, the director of higher education for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, agrees.

"That is just my personal opinion - I don't think they are fair to Native students," Rousseau said of the tests.

Starnes said that the tests, and the No Child Left Behind Act that requires them, stifle creativity by forcing teachers to prepare students for exams instead of teaching life skills. Last time her class was scheduled to take standardized tests, Starnes said she spent two weeks teaching them test-taking strategy.

"Those were two weeks teaching kids to fill in bubbles,"she said. "That was totally wasted time, except that my kids didn't feel stupid when they took the test."

The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law by President Bush in 2002. The act requires that students be tested at several grade levels to determine how they compare to government standards in reading and math. Schools that do not meet those standards, or fail to make adequate yearly progress in the language of NCLB, are targeted for "program improvement."

Failure to make AYP for consecutive years may neccessitate orginizational changes, such as a revised curriculum, a longer school year, a change in the way federal money is allocated, or even new management.

Proponents of NCLB argue that it's working - that scores are improving and that kids are getting a better education. Greg Gallagher, standards and achievement director for North Dakota's Department of Public Instruction, said that NCLB is beneficial because it sets clear expectations, provides a means of making sure those standards are being met, and shows how schools are doing in a meaningful way.

"We're seeing attention to reading and to mathematics, and that's good,"Gallagher said.

To get off of the "program improvement" list, a school must make AYP for two consecutive years. Thirteen schools in the state have made it off the list in the last three years, and almost all of them had a high percentage of Indian students, said Laurie Matzke, director of the Title I program for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.

"Those are examples of what can and should be done," Matzke said.

Furthermore, Gallagher said, the government works hard to ensure that the tests are not biased. A bias review committe comprised of people familiar with a community's demographics examine every question to find and eliminate potential bias, he said.

"The research would indicate to us that we have fair, valid and reliable assessment tools," Gallagher said.

He discounts the idea that NCLB prohibits creativity in teaching, noting that the act doesn't specify any certain teaching method.

"No Child Left Behind does not mandate how instruction occurs," he said. "It focuses on content, not delivery."

NCLB brings accountability to schools, Gallagher said. It makes sure kids are learning the things they need to know and helps identify schools that aren't getting that job done.

Starnes doesn't agree.

"That is probably the argument that makes me more angry than any other argument," she said. "Teachers aren't saying they don't want to be accountable. Standardized tests don't make people accountable."

Starnes said that it is the responsibility of the community and school administrators to make sure the school is doing a good job.

"I think it's a false argument to say you need the federal government to come in and tell you you're doing a good job," she said. "We're forcing a one-size-fits-all system. I call it the boarding school approach of the 21st century."

Ryan Wilson is the president of the National Indian Education Association in Washington, D.C. He, too, is critical of the NCLB's impact at schools with a large Indian population.

"We agree with the goals, not with the implementation," he said. "Schools have aligned curriculum to meet those tests. That's not teaching, that's coaching."

NCLB makes it more difficult for teachers to teach in a style that works best for Indian students, he said.

"The whole 'row of chairs facing one teacher at the chalkboard' has never worked with Indian kids," Wilson said. "Research has shown that contextual, experiential lessons work best with Native learners. NCLB has given us less opportunity to do that."

Gallagher maintains that is not the case. He argues that teachers couldn't just teach for the test, because they don't know what will be on it.

"Teaching to the test - that almost sounds like rhetoric to me," he said. "It's not that teachers should teach to the test, it's that they should teach to the standards."

Of the 477 schools in North Dakota, 393 made Adequate Yearly Progress, the NCLB standard, according to the Department of Public Instruction report. There were 40 schools that did not make that standard, and there was insufficient data to determine whether the remaining 44 schools made AYP.

(Reach reporter Zach Franz at 250-8261 or zach.franz@;bismarcktribune.com.)