Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities, 76603-76607 [2011-31624]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 236 (Thursday, December 8, 2011)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 76603-76607]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31624]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 236 / Thursday, December 8, 2011 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 76603]]


                Executive Order 13592 of December 2, 2011

                
Improving American Indian and Alaska Native 
                Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal 
                Colleges and Universities

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, I hereby order as follows:

                Section 1. Policy. The United States has a unique 
                political and legal relationship with the federally 
                recognized American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) 
                tribes across the country, as set forth in the 
                Constitution of the United States, treaties, Executive 
                Orders, and court decisions. For centuries, the Federal 
                Government's relationship with these tribes has been 
                guided by a trust responsibility--a long-standing 
                commitment on the part of our Government to protect the 
                unique rights and ensure the well-being of our Nation's 
                tribes, while respecting their tribal sovereignty. In 
                recognition of that special commitment--and in 
                fulfillment of the solemn obligations it entails--
                Federal agencies must help improve educational 
                opportunities provided to all AI/AN students, including 
                students attending public schools in cities and in 
                rural areas, students attending schools operated and 
                funded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of 
                Indian Education (BIE), and students attending 
                postsecondary institutions, including Tribal Colleges 
                and Universities (TCUs). This is an urgent need. Recent 
                studies show that AI/AN students are dropping out of 
                school at an alarming rate, that our Nation has made 
                little or no progress in closing the achievement gap 
                between AI/AN students and their non-AI/AN student 
                counterparts, and that many Native languages are on the 
                verge of extinction.

                It is the policy of my Administration to support 
                activities that will strengthen the Nation by expanding 
                educational opportunities and improving educational 
                outcomes for all AI/AN students in order to fulfill our 
                commitment to furthering tribal self-determination and 
                to help ensure that AI/AN students have an opportunity 
                to learn their Native languages and histories and 
                receive complete and competitive educations that 
                prepare them for college, careers, and productive and 
                satisfying lives.

                My Administration is also committed to improving 
                educational opportunities for students attending TCUs. 
                TCUs maintain, preserve, and restore Native languages 
                and cultural traditions; offer a high-quality college 
                education; provide career and technical education, job 
                training, and other career-building programs; and often 
                serve as anchors in some of the country's poorest and 
                most remote areas.

                Sec. 2. Definitions. (a) ``Agency'' means any executive 
                department or agency designated by the Secretary of 
                Education and the Secretary of the Interior to 
                participate in this order.

                    (b) ``Indian tribe'' means an Indian or Alaska 
                Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or 
                community that the Secretary of the Interior 
                acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe pursuant to 
                the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994, 
                25 U.S.C. 479a.
                    (c) ``American Indian and Alaska Native'' means a 
                member of an Indian tribe, as membership is defined by 
                the tribe.
                    (d) ``Public school'' means a Head Start center or 
                a pre-kindergarten, elementary, or secondary school 
                that is predominantly funded by public means through 
                the Federal Government, a State, a local educational 
                agency,

[[Page 76604]]

                or an Indian tribal government, including a school 
                operated directly by or through contract or grant with 
                the BIE, an Indian tribe, or a State, county, or local 
                government.
                    (e) ``Tribal Colleges and Universities'' are those 
                institutions that are chartered by their respective 
                Indian tribes through the sovereign authority of the 
                tribes or by the Federal Government, and defined in 
                section 316 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 1059c).

                Sec. 3. White House Initiative on American Indian and 
                Alaska Native Education.

                    (a) Establishment. There is hereby established the 
                White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska 
                Native Education (Initiative). The Secretary of 
                Education and the Secretary of the Interior will co-
                chair the Initiative. The Secretary of Education shall 
                appoint an Executive Director who shall be responsible 
                for overseeing implementation of the Initiative. This 
                individual shall be a senior-level, Department of 
                Education official who shall serve as the Secretary of 
                Education's senior policy advisor on Federal policies 
                affecting AI/AN education.

                The Executive Director shall work closely with the BIE 
                Director and shall provide periodic reports to the 
                Secretaries of Education and the Interior regarding 
                progress achieved under the Initiative. The Executive 
                Director shall coordinate frequent consultations with 
                tribal officials and shall provide staff support for 
                the National Advisory Council on Indian Education 
                (NACIE), authorized by section 7141 of the Elementary 
                and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) (20 U.S.C. 
                7471).

                    (b) Mission and Functions. (1) The Initiative shall 
                help expand educational opportunities and improve 
                educational outcomes for all AI/AN students, including 
                opportunities to learn their Native languages, 
                cultures, and histories and receive complete and 
                competitive educations that prepare them for college, 
                careers, and productive and satisfying lives, by:
                    (i) working closely with the Executive Office of 
                the President to help ensure AI/AN participation in the 
                development and implementation of key Administration 
                priorities;
                    (ii) strengthening the relationship between the 
                Department of Education, which has substantial 
                expertise and resources to help improve Indian 
                education, and the Department of the Interior and its 
                BIE, which directly operates or provides grants to 
                tribes to operate an extensive primary, secondary, and 
                college level school system for AI/AN children and 
                young adults;
                    (iii) coordinating, in consultation with the 
                Department of Education's Director of Indian Education, 
                programs administered by the Department of Education 
                and other executive branch agencies regarding AI/AN 
                education;
                    (iv) serving as a liaison with other executive 
                branch agencies on AI/AN issues and advising those 
                agencies on how they might help to promote AI/AN 
                educational opportunities;
                    (v) reporting on the development, implementation, 
                and coordination of education policy and programs that 
                affect AI/AN students;
                    (vi) furthering tribal sovereignty by supporting 
                efforts, consistent with applicable law, to build the 
                capacity of tribal educational agencies and TCUs to 
                provide high-quality education services to AI/AN 
                children;
                    (vii) developing in partnership with tribal 
                educational agencies a more routine and streamlined 
                process for entering into agreements for educational 
                studies conducted on tribal lands;
                    (viii) developing sufficient data resources to 
                inform progress on Federal performance indicators, in 
                close collaboration with the Department of Education's 
                National Center for Educational Statistics;
                    (ix) encouraging and coordinating Federal 
                partnerships with public, private, philanthropic, and 
                nonprofit entities to help increase the readiness of 
                AI/AN students for school, college, and careers, and to 
                help increase the number and percentage of AI/AN 
                students completing college; and

[[Page 76605]]

                    (x) developing a national network of individuals, 
                organizations, and communities to share best practices 
                in AI/AN education and encouraging them to implement 
                these practices.

(2) In order to help expand educational opportunities and improve education 
outcomes for AI/AN students, the Initiative shall promote, encourage, and 
undertake efforts, consistent with applicable law, to meet the following 
objectives:

                    (i) increasing the number and percentage of AI/AN 
                children who enter kindergarten ready for success 
                through improved access to high-quality early learning 
                programs and services, including Native language 
                immersion programs, that encourage the learning and 
                development of AI/AN children from birth through age 
                five;
                    (ii) supporting the expanded implementation of 
                education reform strategies that have shown evidence of 
                success in enabling AI/AN students to acquire a 
                rigorous and well-rounded education and increasing 
                their access to the support services that prepare them 
                for college, careers, and civic involvement;
                    (iii) increasing the number and percentage of AI/AN 
                students who have access to excellent teachers and 
                school leaders, including effective science, 
                technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), 
                language, and special education teachers, in part by 
                supporting efforts to improve the recruitment, 
                development, and retention of effective AI/AN teachers 
                and other effective teachers and school leaders, 
                particularly through TCUs;
                    (iv) reducing the AI/AN student dropout rate and 
                helping a greater number and percentage of those 
                students who stay in high school to be ready for 
                college and careers by the time of their graduation and 
                college completion, in part by promoting a positive 
                school climate and supporting successful and innovative 
                dropout-prevention and recovery strategies that better 
                engage AI/AN youths in their learning and help them 
                catch up academically;
                    (v) providing pathways that enable those who have 
                dropped out to reenter educational or training programs 
                and acquire degrees, certificates, or industry-
                recognized credentials and obtain quality jobs, and 
                expanding access to high-quality education programs 
                leading to career advancement, especially in the STEM 
                fields, by supporting adult, career, and technical 
                education;
                    (vi) increasing college access and completion for 
                AI/AN students through strategies to strengthen the 
                capacity of postsecondary institutions, particularly 
                TCUs; and
                    (vii) helping to ensure that the unique cultural, 
                educational, and language needs of AI/AN students are 
                met.

(3) To facilitate a new partnership between the Department of Education and 
the Department of the Interior, to improve AI/AN education, the Executive 
Director shall work with the BIE Director and develop a Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) between the two Departments that will take advantage of 
both Departments' expertise, resources, and facilities. The MOU shall be 
completed within 120 days of the date of this order. Among other things, 
the MOU shall address how the Departments will collaborate in carrying out 
the policy set out in section 1 of this order.

                    (c) Funding and Administrative Support. Subject to 
                the availability of appropriations, the Department of 
                Education shall fund the Initiative, including NACIE. 
                The Department shall also provide administrative 
                support for the Initiative to the extent permitted by 
                law and within existing appropriations.
                    (d) Interagency Working Group. There is established 
                the Interagency Working Group on AI/AN education and 
                TCUs, which shall be convened by the Initiative's 
                Executive Director. The Working Group shall consist of 
                senior officials from the Department of Education and 
                the Department of the Interior and officials from the 
                Departments of Justice, Agriculture, Labor, Health and 
                Human Services, and Energy, the Environmental 
                Protection Agency, and the White House Domestic Policy 
                Council, as well as such additional agencies and 
                offices as the Secretaries of Education and the 
                Interior may

[[Page 76606]]

                designate. Senior officials shall be designated by the 
                heads of their respective agencies and offices. The 
                Secretaries of Education and the Interior shall serve 
                as the co-chairs of the Interagency Working Group.
                    (e) Federal Agency Plans. (1) Each agency 
                designated by the co-chairs as a member of the 
                Interagency Working Group shall develop and implement a 
                two-part, 4-year plan of the agency's efforts to 
                fulfill the purposes of this order, with part one of 
                the plan focusing on all AI/AN students except for 
                those attending TCUs, and part two focusing on AI/AN 
                students attending TCUs. Each agency plan shall 
                include:
                    (i) annual performance indicators and appropriate 
                measurable objectives with which the agency will 
                measure its success in meeting the goals of this order;
                    (ii) information on how the agency intends to 
                increase the capacity of educational agencies and 
                institutions, including our Nation's public schools and 
                TCUs, to deliver high-quality education and related 
                social services to all AI/AN students; and
                    (iii) agency efforts to enhance the ability of 
                these educational agencies and institutions serving AI/
                AN students to compete effectively for grants, 
                contracts, cooperative agreements, and other Federal 
                resources with which to serve the education needs of 
                AI/AN students, and to encourage eligible schools and 
                colleges serving those students to apply for Federal 
                grants and participate in Federal education programs, 
                as appropriate. Agency plans may also emphasize access 
                to high-quality educational opportunities for AI/AN 
                students, consistent with requirements of the ESEA, the 
                Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and other 
                applicable Federal education statutes; the preservation 
                and revitalization of tribal languages and cultural 
                traditions; and innovative approaches to more 
                seamlessly align early learning, elementary, and 
                secondary education programs with the work of TCUs.

(2) Submission. Each agency shall submit its plan to the Initiative by a 
deadline established by the co-chairs. In consultation with NACIE, the 
Initiative shall then review agency plans and develop, for submission to 
the President, a synthesized interagency plan to achieve the aims of this 
order.

(3) Annual Performance Reports. Each agency shall submit to the Initiative 
an Annual Performance Report that measures the agency's performance against 
the objectives set forth in its plan. In consultation with NACIE, the 
Initiative shall review and combine Annual Performance Reports from the 
various agencies into one annual report, which shall be submitted to the 
Secretaries of Education and the Interior for review.

                    (f) Private Sector. In consultation with NACIE, and 
                consistent with applicable law, the Interagency Working 
                Group, led by the Executive Director, shall encourage 
                the private sector to assist State- and locally-
                operated public schools that serve large numbers of AI/
                AN students, including those attending our Nation's 
                public schools, publicly-funded preschools, and TCUs, 
                through increased use of such strategies as:

(1) Providing funds to support the preservation and revitalization of 
Native languages and cultures;

(2) Providing funds to support increased institutional endowments;

(3) Helping these schools develop expertise in financial and facilities 
management, information systems, and curricula; and

(4) Providing resources for the hiring and training of effective teachers 
and administrators.

                Sec. 4. Study. In carrying out this order, the 
                Secretaries of Education and the Interior shall study 
                and collect information on the education of AI/AN 
                students.

                Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) NACIE shall serve as 
                the Initiative's advisory committee.

[[Page 76607]]

                    (b) Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 
                as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), may apply to the 
                Initiative, any functions of the President under that 
                Act, except for those of reporting to the Congress, 
                shall be performed by the Secretary of Education, in 
                consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, in 
                accordance with the guidelines issued by the 
                Administrator of General Services.
                    (c) This order revokes Executive Order 13270 of 
                July 3, 2002, Executive Order 13336 of April 30, 2004, 
                and section 1(n) of Executive Order 13585 of September 
                30, 2011.
                    (d) The heads of agencies shall assist and provide 
                such information to the Initiative as may be necessary 
                to carry out its functions, consistent with applicable 
                law.
                    (e) Nothing in this order shall be construed to 
                impair or otherwise affect:

(1) authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the 
head thereof; or

(2) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (f) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    December 2, 2011.

[FR Doc. 2011-31624
Filed 12-7-11; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F2-P