Arizona Native-serving school districts make big strides in math, English proficiency scores

Native American students are seeing remarkable improvement in reading and math proficiency statewide, according to the Arizona Department of Education.

At least nine predominantly Native-serving school districts substantially improved both their math and English proficiency rates in the last year. The Chinle Unified School District had the greatest gains with three of its schools scoring above the state average in both subjects.

At a press conference Wednesday, Chinle Superintendent Quincy Natay said part of that success comes from the district establishing a professional learning community (PLC).

“We offer day-to-day, job-embedded professional development for our teachers,” Natay said.

PLCs allow teachers to meet regularly to collaborate on improving their teaching methods and boosting student academic performance. Natay said they’ve also put a heavy focus on early childhood literacy in their preschools.

“I had excellent teachers that helped me learn and enjoy the love of reading and helped me become who I am today,” Natay said. “That’s just a tenet that I’ve had and I’m a testament to if you do the right work and give the kids the right tools that they need, they will be successful."

He pointed to the fact that third grade reading proficiency is a strong predictor of high school graduation and college attendance.