U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has named Cathie Carothers Director of the Office of Indian Education within the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

A member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Carothers earned her Bachelor of Science and Master's degree in Education from Northeastern Oklahoma State University. She has been with the U.S. Department of Education since 1990 and has over thirty years of experience as an educator and manager of national programs for Indian students and adults. Carothers began her federal career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) as a teacher of learning disabled students in an off-reservation K-8 boarding school in Oklahoma. Carothers has been serving as Acting Director of the Office of Indian Education since October 2007.

The Office of Indian Education supports the efforts of local educational agencies, Indian tribes and organizations, postsecondary institutions, and other entities to meet the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives so that these students can achieve to the same challenging standards as all students.

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