School board members are key players in improving Native American student achievement, a South Dakota Department of Education official told members of the ASBSD Board of Directors.

“One of the keys is a solid school board,” said Keith Moore, the state’s director of Indian Education, adding that the unique nature of many Indian communities underscores the importance of local control.

Moore made the comments during a three-hour board study session devoted to Native American student achievement. The work session, held prior to the ASBSD Board of Directors meeting last November, focused on data from a recent nationwide study of Native American student achievement.

Results from the 2007 National Indian Education Study show persistent and dramatic achievement gaps between Native American and Caucasian students, Moore told board members.

“By fourth grade, we already see a 2.5 grade-level gap in reading with Native American students,” Moore said, also telling board members that, generally, if gaps exist that early, they rarely close in later grades.

With No Child Left Behind’s emphasis on assessment, identifying differences in student achievement is easier than it used to be, Moore said before acknowledging that understanding why achievement gaps exist is difficult.

Citing statistics from Oklahoma, Moore told board members that racial isolation has a negative impact on achievement levels. In Oklahoma, where there are no reservation lands and Indians live among the general population, Native American students fare better on assessments, he explained.

Poverty also contributes to the existence of Native American achievement gaps. Finding ways to overcome the deep, concentrated, generational and isolated poverty that exists on most reservations is one of the most challenging aspects of improving Native American achievement, Moore said.

The state is looking at various programs - from pre-k to after school enrichment - to tackle the problem. But one thing is for certain, Moore told board members, the way schools serve Native American students must evolve.

"We have to do something different," he said.