Graduation rates for Native American students at federally funded schools have seen a substantial increase, reaching a record 79% by 2025. This surge is largely attributed to a combination of local educational innovations and critical improvements in data collection methods across the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) system.
Gerald Dillon, an 18-year-old who graduated in June from Chief Leschi Schools in Washington, exemplifies this shift. During his senior year of high school on the Puyallup Reservation, Dillon traded much of his traditional academic coursework for career training. He found renewed purpose, stating, “It motivates me. I like making connections with the kids, I like helping them.” His involvement, such as serving as a teaching assistant in a second-grade classroom on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, helped improve his grades after he enrolled in career training courses during his junior year. He is now considering a teaching degree.
Dillon’s experience at Chief Leschi Schools reflects a broader trend within the BIE, which oversees 183 primary and secondary schools serving over 40,000 students. In 2015, just over half of high schoolers at BIE schools graduated within four years. By 2025, that figure had soared to 79%.
Agency officials note that a significant part of this surge reflects more accurate reporting rather than solely a sudden leap in academic improvement. For years, school administrators often used flawed methods, such as counting transferred students as dropouts. To address this, BIE began standardizing data collection methods in 2018. Carmelia Becenti, the agency’s chief academic officer, explained, “We had to come to a consensus and set an accountability framework for our schools.” Since then, she says, the data has provided a more accurate and encouraging picture. An Associated Press analysis of BIE data found that graduation rates across the system are up 55% since new reporting standards began, with nine secondary schools reporting 100% growth or higher.
Beyond data fixes, local innovations have played a crucial role. Don Brummett, superintendent of Chief Leschi Schools, noted a “disconnect” between the school’s previous focus on college readiness and many students’ goals of immediate employment. “We devalued the trades. That was a mistake,” Brummett said. The school launched its career and technical curriculum in 2020 with funding from the Puyallup Tribal Council, leading to a rise in four-year graduation rates from 53% in 2019 to 87% in 2025. Students like Dillon, who found hands-on job training a better match for his learning style, have found new motivation to stay in school, entering fields like health sciences, education, and fisheries management.
Similarly, at Choctaw Central High School, a BIE school operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, a COVID-era experiment with virtual learning contributed to a jump in graduation rates from roughly 70% to 93%. Principal Alaric Keams explained that virtual learning offered a flexible schedule for students with home responsibilities or jobs, enabling them to earn their diplomas. The district maintained this virtual option even after pandemic lockdowns lifted.
Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland attributes these gains, in part, to the Trump administration’s commitment to Native American students, including efforts to strengthen teacher training. However, concerns persist that changes reshaping the BIE under the Trump administration, such as the planned dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education (DOGE) and continued fallout from DOGE cuts, could undermine this progress and prevent struggling schools from improving.
Not all tribal governments possess the resources to fund such programs or manage BIE schools. Peter Lengkeek, chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, highlights the challenges faced by the BIE-operated high school serving his community. It is chronically understaffed and burdened by a backlog of deferred maintenance, including sinking walls in the gymnasium and a rodent infestation. This school has reported graduating fewer than 60% of students on time in recent years. Lengkeek stated, “If we were able to, we would step in and try to remedy a lot of these things. We have to rely on the government to fulfill its treaty promise.”
Further complicating matters, in November 2025, the Department of Education began transferring oversight of dozens of programs serving Native students to the BIE. During a tribal consultation session in Washington, D.C., in February, numerous tribal leaders voiced opposition, fearing the transition would overwhelm the already understaffed BIE with additional responsibilities. Several leaders accused the department of neglecting its legal duty to seek tribal input before proceeding. Herschel Gorham, lieutenant governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, lamented, “We are here too late. The ink was dry on the agreements before the tribes were ever notified. That should never, ever happen.”
Jason Dropik, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, warned that turmoil in the agency’s Washington office trickles down to schools. He cited a Trump administration executive order that aimed to convert the BIE into a school choice system, which was scaled back after tribal outcry. “That caused some delays and disruptions to services,” Dropik said, adding, “When drastic changes go into motion without tribal consultation, there can be unintended consequences for our students.” Lengkeek worries that political upheaval could consume the BIE while schools like the one in his community continue to underperform. “This system holds the future of our nations in its hands,” Lengkeek emphasized. “We need stability. We need increased funding. We need infrastructure.”
Less than one-third of BIE schools are operated by the agency itself. The rest are run by tribes and receive federal funding. At some of those, educators say data collection is only part of the story.
This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.
