- ``(1) The attainment of educational success is critical to the betterment of the conditions, long-term well- being and preservation of the culture of Alaska Natives.
- ``(2) It is the policy of the Federal Government to encourage the maximum participation by Alaska Natives in the planning and the management of Alaska Native education programs.
- ``(3) Alaska Native children enter and exit school with serious educational handicaps.
- ``(4) The educational achievement of Alaska Native children is far below national norms. In addition to low Native performance on standardized tests, Native student dropout rates are high, and Natives are significantly underrepresented among holders of baccalaureate degrees in the State of Alaska. As a result, Native students are being denied their opportunity to become full participants in society by grade school and high school educations that are condemning an entire generation to an underclass status and a life of limited choices.
- ``(5) The programs authorized herein, combined with expanded Head Start, infant learning and early childhood education programs, and parent education programs are essential if educational handicaps are to be overcome.
- ``(6) The sheer magnitude of the geographic barriers to be overcome in delivering educational services in rural and village Alaska should be addressed through the development and implementation of innovative, model programs in a variety of areas.
- ``(7) Congress finds that Native children should be afforded the opportunity to begin their formal education on a par with their non-Native peers. The Federal Government should lend support to efforts developed by and undertaken within the Alaska Native community to improve educational opportunity for all students.
- ``(2) It is the policy of the Federal Government to encourage the maximum participation by Alaska Natives in the planning and the management of Alaska Native education programs.
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PART C--ALASKA NATIVE EDUCATION
SEC. 9303. PURPOSE.