PIÑON, Ariz. — A dozen students had sacrificed their spring break to gather at Arizona’s Star Charter School to prepare for the upcoming state standardized test. On a sunny Thursday morning in March, they sat doing math problems on worksheets or computers instead of surfing the web or playing video games. Nearly 100 percent of the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students who attend the school, located near the southeast corner of the Navajo Nation, are Native American. In 2012, 33 percent of them passed the Arizona standardized math test and 43 percent passed in reading, compared to statewide averages of 65 percent in math and 79 percent in reading. Teachers and administrators are hoping to improve the school’s numbers in 2013 ahead of even harder tests, as Arizona adopts new state standards in English and math. Two sixth-graders took a short break from the test cramming. They’d been ushered to the school’s conference room to present to a group of adults on Star’s “Farm to School” initiative, where students help grow crops and learn about traditional Native American
