Photos Secretary Paige Visits Gila River Indian Community

SACATON, Ariz. -- U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that the Gila River Indian Community will receive $754,000 in grant funds to help prepare 3- and 4-year-old Indian students for kindergarten. Secretary Paige made the announcement as he joined Gila River Indian Community Governor Richard Narcia for a tour of the community's new early education center.

"The U.S. Department of Education is committed to providing opportunities for American Indian children to achieve educational excellence," Secretary Paige said. "President Bush believes every child should have access to a high-quality education, and American Indian children are no exception."

The three-year grant will provide additional classrooms at each of the community's two early education centers. Services will focus on pre-literacy skills for kindergarten readiness as well as extensive assessments of individual child progress and classroom effectiveness. Classroom teachers will participate in training through the highly respected professional development model CIRCLE (Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education).

The demonstration grant is from the Department of Education's Office of Indian Education. The office was created in 1972 and currently administers the No Child Left Behind Act's Indian Education Program, which establishes policies and provides financial and technical assistance to support local education agencies, Indian tribes and organizations, post secondary institutions and other entities in meeting the special educational and cultural needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The office administers approximately 1,300 formula and discretionary grants each year.

The OIE appropriation for FY 2003 is $121.6 million. This includes the recently awarded formula grants totaling nearly $100 million to help 1,200 local education agencies improve education opportunities for approximately 470,000 Indian students and the competitive demonstration grants totaling about $5 million for professional development, college preparation, and early childhood education. The OIE budget also includes funding for American Indian Teacher Corps and American Indian Administrator Corps programs and for research, evaluation, and data collection activities.

No Child Left Behind is President Bush's landmark education reform law designed to change the culture of America's schools by closing the achievement gap, offering more flexibility, giving parents more options and teaching students based on what works.

Under the act's strong accountability provisions, states must describe how they will close the achievement gap and make sure all students, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve academic proficiency. In addition, they must produce annual state and school district report cards that inform parents and communities about state and school progress. Schools that do not make adequate progress after two years must provide public school choice; followed by supplemental services, such as free tutoring or after-school assistance; then take corrective actions; and, if still not making adequate yearly progress after five years, make dramatic changes to the way the school is run.

More information about the Office of Indian Education is available at: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/oie/index.html.

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