When education fails our children, our foundation crumbles.

So it goes for our Native American friends and neighbors.

For decades, Native Americans have been left behind by an education system that fails to meet their needs and has resulted in generations of suffering the consequences of inadequate educational achievement. Never has that been more evident than in South Dakota, according to a special report led by reporter Nick Lowrey of South Dakota News Watch.

Native Americans make up about 10% of the state’s population. Lowrey writes after his two-month investigation:

The systematic failure to properly educate Native American students is seen as a major source of devastating later-in-life consequences that have plagued Native people and communities for decades: generational poverty, high unemployment, substance abuse, high incarceration rates and reduced life expectancy.

The latest results from both state and national standardized testing provides a window into just how dire the situation has become, as Native students continue to perform far worse than white students in South Dakota across almost all measures of academic achievement.

During the 2018-19 school year, less than one in four Native American students in grades three to eight and grade 11 was rated as proficient in reading and writing on state standardized tests. Roughly one in seven Native American students was proficient in math, and just one in eight was proficient in science. A separate test, the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, found that South Dakota’s Native American fourth- and eighth-graders were between 25 and 30 points behind their white peers in math and reading.

On-time graduation rates for Native American students also are lower than for every other racial group in the state at just 54%, compared with the rate of 85% for students of all backgrounds, according to the state report card.

Shame on us.

The reasons for the poor performance are varied and complex, but many educators and experts agree that the problems are rooted in circumstances far outside a student’s control.

“I believe wholeheartedly that we are extremely intelligent, innovative people, but this system is not designed in a way that nurtures that,” said Sara Pierce, director of education equity at the West River nonprofit advocacy group NDN Collective.

Pierce, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who has worked in school systems in Omaha, Nebraska, and Rapid City, said the state’s schools have struggled to teach Native students in a way that is relevant and responsive to the culture in which they grew up. There also are relatively few Native American teachers in public school districts, which reduces emotional and educational connections and relationships, she said.

A deep cycle of poverty that persists in tribal communities hurts as well. In South Dakota, roughly 60% of Native American children were considered to live in poverty in 2018. Numerous studies show that people of any race who come from a low-income background are more likely to struggle in school.

South Dakota needs to find ways to improve education outcomes for Native American students. For too long, we have talked about the problems with little sustaining action.

First, we need to embrace Native American perspectives and input on education. There are plenty of Native American leaders who can guide us to solutions.

We also have to commit not only our time, but be willing to spend some money to see improvement.

We can start small and test to see what works and what doesn’t. That way we can start to find out what solutions we need to be pursuing.

We need to help Native American children find their voices. We believe that will lead to empowering them, and nothing has more power than a group of people who believe they can accomplish their goals.

Too often, we simply wait for problems Native Americans endure to go away. But they never do.

If one of the problems is too few Native American teachers, maybe the state needs to hire a pool of them to teach online courses. You can reach even the remotest of students via technology.

Maybe more of our schools need to embrace and/or offer more Native American curricula. Fields of study such as history seem to be a natural fit. And what about offering courses to teach languages such as Lakota?

We need to put Native American children in positions to win educationally. Take their talents and trumpet them in front of their fellow students. And we need to provide schools with significant Native American enrollments with staff members to emotionally support and encourage all students, including Native Americans.

We can also build upon the successes that already exist. Like the Cheyenne River Youth Project. That nonprofit service organization provides after-school educational programs, job training and internships, wellness education and healthy meals to children on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

Or the successes of a private, Catholic residential school just outside Chamberlain.

St. Joseph’s Indian School is home to about 220 students from reservations across South Dakota. From 2015 to 2018, about 96% of St. Joseph’s graduates were either in college, working or had joined the military.

Many native students have been left behind by the traditional public school system. Reforms are badly needed due to the state’s long-term failure to provide its Native American children with an education that leads to academic achievement.

All children, regardless of background, want to feel safe, loved and supported. Looking at how to better serve Native Americans educationally will not only help with that, but also will make our entire educational system and state stronger.