Volume 31 Number 2
January 1992

Concern about the declining high school graduation rate nationwide was recently translated into a national goal by President Bush. Goal number two of the six national goals states that by the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90%. For educators of American Indian and Alaska Native students, a parallel goal is stated in the 1991 final report of the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force, Indian Nations At Risk: An Educational Strategy for Action. Goal 5: High School Graduation states that "By the year 2000 all Native students capable of completing high school will graduate. They will demonstrate civic, social, creative, and critical thinking skills necessary for ethical, moral, and responsible citizenship and important in modern tribal, national, and world societies."

There is cause for concern and the development of a national goal. The dropout and graduation rates of American Indian and Alaska Native students have been estimated to be among the highest and lowest, respectively, of all groups about whom statistics are reported. However, the statistics regarding these rates among Indian/Native students have been highly speculative, inaccurate, and/or embedded in the innocuous category of "other" when reported in terms of White, Black, Hispanic and Other. In addition, there is not a clear picture of the reasons that Indian/Native students are leaving school.

In this and the May 1992 theme issues of the Journal of American Indian Education, the condition of dropping out and persisting is explored through reviews of the literature and recent research studies. In the first manuscript of this issue, "Dropping Out Among American Indians and Alaska Natives: A Review of Studies," Swisher and Hoisch have reviewed studies from 1960 to the present. This review of studies is a condensation of the literature review for two recent studies conducted by the Center for Indian Education for the National Education Association 1989-1991, and the Office of Indian Education Programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1991.

The second manuscript is one which reports the findings of an ongoing longitudinal study Deyhle began in 1984. In "Constructing Failure and Maintaining Cultural Identity: Navajo and Ute School Leavers," Deyhle traced cohorts of students through expected graduation in 1988. Her exceptionally accurate data present the reader with a better understanding of the rate at which Navajo and Ute students were leaving school and the reasons they gave for leaving.

In the third manuscript, "The Navajo Area Student Dropout Study: Findings and Implications," Brandt has undertaken the onerous task of condensing an enormous amount of accurate and informative data collected and reported in Navajo Students At Risk: Final Report For The Navajo Area Student Dropout Study by Platero, Brandt, Witherspoon, and Wong in 1986. This study presents a research design which is transportable to other reservation areas.

For the third time, the Journal ofAmerican Indian Education has published a collection of manuscripts on a single topic. The first one was Learning Styles, a special issue published in August 1989. Gifted and Talented in Indian Education was the theme of the October 1991 issue. We hope this issue on school leaving among American Indians and Alaska Natives will serve as a useful resource for our readers.

Karen Swisher

Editor