The Native American Education Program is designed to address the unique education and culturally-related academic needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students.

The U.S. Office of Indian Education (OIE) administers the Indian Education Program of ESEA, as amended by ESSA (Title VI, Part A), which establishes policies and provides financial and technical assistance for supporting LEAs, Indian Tribes and organizations, post- secondary institutions and other entities in meeting the special educational and cultural related academic needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives, 20 U.S.C. 3423c and 7401 et. seq. The OIE is headed by a Director who reports to the Assistant Secretary and who advises the Assistant Secretary on matters related to the programs administered by OIE.

The OIE has three primary responsibilities:

1. To meet the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of Indian students, so that such students can meet the challenging State academic standards;
2. To ensure that Indian students gain knowledge and understanding of Native communities, languages, Tribal histories, traditions, and cultures; and
3. To ensure that teachers, principals, other school leaders, and other staff who serve Indian students have the ability to provide culturally appropriate and effective instruction and supports to such students.

Want to learn more about the unqie history of our local tribes, as well as others around California? Check out the Digital Atlas of California Native Americans from the California Department of Parks and Recreation. This remarkable tool has five main parts: The Atlas Map, the Cultural Portals, the Tribal Atlas Pages, the Natural Resource Atlas Pages, and the Regional Timelines. Please follow the link to read about how the Atlas works, and then scroll down to connect directly to the Atlas.

https://nahc.ca.gov/cp/