By next year, all Michigan public school districts and charter schools will be required to collect specific tribal affiliation data from their students and staff. The data collected will allow for a more accurate accounting of the Indigenous student population and give the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and the state's 12 federally recognized tribes a chance to see Native American student achievements and graduation rates.
"This is a step forward, in my opinion," said Dr. Jameson David Lopez, an assistant professor of Educational Policy Studies and Practice at the University of Arizona. "I see it as the beginning of being able to create our own educational outcomes based in the value systems of our indigenous communities."
The MDE set aside $3 million to assist Michigan schools with the New Tribal Affiliation Reporting Policy. The new initiative will make schools eligible for federal funds for Native American education. 
Dr. Jameson David Lopez, assistant professor of Educational Policy Studies and Practice at the University of Arizona.
Before this policy, Native American students could designate their race or ethnicity on MDE forms by marking "American Indian or Alaskan Native." Recent state data shows 8,448 American Indian and Alaskan Native students in Michigan public schools in the 2022-2023 school year. Yet a new analysis from the MDE shows that less than a third of the actual figure of Native American students is accounted for. Currently, more than 27,000 tribal-affiliated students estimated to attend school in Michigan.
The analysis estimations are based on students who designated themselves as American Indian and Alaskan Native, along with at least one more race or ethnicity. Those students are then considered "two or more races" for data collection purposes, and the Native American portion is unaccounted for in school reporting.
"State and federal definitions of who is a Native student based on race or ethnicity are often misaligned," said Waquin Preston, tribal state policy associate for the National Indian Education Association, adding that this can result "in differing and confusing student count data and the misidentification of students when they have a diverse racial or ethnic background."
