Native Schools Reach Record Graduation Rates as Education Overhaul Looms
Graduation rates at Bureau of Indian Education-funded high schools reached a record 79% in 2025, up from 51% in 2015, federal officials announced, even as the ongoing dismantling of the US Department of Education raises concerns among tribal leaders about the agency’s future stability.
The Interior Department credited the gains to accountability reforms, updated data systems and stronger instructional support under the Trump administration, while The Associated Press reported the surge also reflects corrected data collection methods that had previously undercounted graduates.
Tribal education leaders say the improvements are real but warn that federal restructuring, staffing cuts and a scaled-back push to convert the agency into a school choice system could disrupt progress at schools that serve more than 400,000 American Indian and Alaska Native students.
The Bureau also reported a 9% increase in math proficiency and a 10% increase in English language arts proficiency among BIE students since 2016, alongside expanded professional development, real-time data dashboards and updated school report cards intended to improve transparency with tribes and families.
However, agency officials told the AP that part of the reported surge stems from corrected data collection rather than a sudden jump in student achievement. For years, school administrators across the BIE system used flawed methods to track graduation rates, at times counting students who had transferred to other schools as dropouts, inflating the appearance of low performance in earlier years.
Local Innovation Adds to Improvement
Some of the improvement also traces to local innovation. At Chief Leschi Schools on the Puyallup Reservation in Washington state, Superintendent Don Brummett said the school shifted its focus after concluding it had overemphasized college preparation at the expense of career training. The school launched a career and technical education curriculum in 2020 with funding from the Puyallup Tribal Council, which Brummett said has kept students who might otherwise have dropped out engaged in fields such as health sciences and fisheries management.
Less than a third of BIE-funded schools are directly operated by the agency; the rest are run by tribes with federal funding, meaning outcomes vary significantly by school.
Despite the record numbers, tribal education advocates say instability at the federal level threatens to undercut the progress. Jason Dropik, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, said turmoil at the agency’s Washington office affects schools directly. When drastic changes are implemented without tribal input, he said, there can be unintended consequences for students.
Dropik pointed to a Trump administration executive order that sought to convert the BIE into a school choice system, which was scaled back after opposition from tribes. In November 2025, the Department of Education began transferring oversight of dozens of programs serving Native students to the BIE, a move that drew criticism from tribal leaders who said they were not adequately consulted. Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Lieutenant Governor Herschel Gorham said at a February tribal consultation session that agreements were finalized before tribes were notified.
The transition comes as the BIE also faces staffing reductions linked to the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts across federal agencies, adding more concerns.
