3 Answers

In the states studied by the authors of the reports:
Overall graduation rates ranged from 54.1% to 79.2%. Graduation rates for American Indian/Alaska Native students ranged from 30.4% to 63.8%
The gap in graduation rates between the overall state rates and the American Indian/Alaska Native rates was 17 percentage points or more, excluding Oklahoma and New Mexico.
The poverty rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives is 26% compared to 12% of non-Natives.
Lack of accurate data is due in part to a highly mobile population, a geographically dispersed student population, undercounting of the population, and distrust among this population regarding the use of data by the federal government.
Student- and school-level factors for AI/AN students dropping out include:
irrelevant and innapropriate curriculum, assessment, and tracking
feeling unwanted or "pushed out" of school
poor quality of student-teacher relationships
difficulty with classes and with reading
frustrations related to student being older than other students
distance from school and lack of adequate transportation
language barriers

I have known maybe 50 Native Americans and never met one I didn’t like. Their behavior culturally is the same as a "defeated people”. Considering that the behavior pattern is so similar among all defeated people then it should be obvious why they seem to do so poorly. This same cultural impoverishment pattern is among Black Americans, Aboriginal people in Australia and elsewhere. We just can’t take a kicking and continue to work like nothing has happened…there is deep psychological damage that needs time to heal.   

I have a feeling the schools on the reservations do not provide all the benefits public and private schools afford their students.  Lack of resources on the school site is discouraging.  Possibly a lack of encouragement and support at home contributes to a hopeless feeling. How do I get ahead?  Can I get ahead?