Indigenous Student Identification Project
The Indigenous Student Identification (ISI) Project works directly with state and local education agencies, Tribes, federal agencies, and national Indigenous education professionals and organizations to improve Indigenous student identification policies and practices.
The ISI project is co-led by AIR—with support from the AIR Opportunity Fund—and the Indigenous Education State Leaders Network (IESLN).
Photo, above: Indigenous Education State Leaders Network staff members
ISI Project Resources
Explore resources developed by the ISI project:
Explore our library of more than 200 resources developed by federal research and technical assistance centers, state education agencies, Tribes, and national organizations.
- A Scan of State Education Agency Tribal Consultation Supports (August 2025) – This 23-state scan outlines consultation requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act and discusses state-level implementation, state education agency (SEA) supports for affected districts, and district and SEA accountability for consultation. This scan also includes an at-a-glance decision chart of ESSA requirements for Tribal consultation and their criteria, which can also be accessed as a stand-alone resource.
- Tribal Access to Student Data Under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (July 2025) – This brief explores ways that Tribes can work with districts, states, and the Bureau of Indian Education to access student information in ways that are compliant with FERPA.
- Tribal Affiliation: Essential Understandings for Parents and Families (March 2025) – This brief provides an overview of what Tribal affiliation is (as opposed to enrollment or race/ethnicity), why schools might ask families for it, and how they might collect and use that information.
- A Scan of State Education Agency Staffing for Indigenous Education (January 2025) – This brief explores how 22 states are fulfilling their responsibility to support Indigenous students, including findings on staff roles, staff numbers/ratios, and funding and collaboration.
- State Approaches to Tribal Affiliation Data Collection (October 2024) – This brief provides an overview of how eight states are improving their Tribal affiliation data collection practices to better serve Indigenous students in K‒12 schools.
- Tribal Affiliation Data Collection in Public Education: A Primer (October 2024) – This brief explains what tribal affiliation is and why it’s important for both Tribal sovereignty, Indigenous students, and data sharing.
- 2024 Revision to Statistical Policy Directive 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (July 2024) – This slide deck highlights upcoming changes to the federal collection of American Indian/Alaska Native data.
- Indigenous Students Count: A Landscape Analysis of American Indian and Alaska Native Student Data in U.S. K‒12 Public Schools (October 2023) – This report covers the ways Indigenous students are counted, the historical and political context of Indigenous data collection and use, and the impacts of undercounting Indigenous students.
Indigenous Student Counts in Public K–12 Education Map (October 2023) – This interactive map shows several of the ways Indigenous students are counted in the U.S. K–12 public school system and estimates student undercounts at the state and district levels.
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