In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Brimley is the kind of small town where the students of the month in the elementary school get full-page write-ups in the local newspaper.

There's an Indian reservation just up the road, a couple bars, a gas station, a motel and that's about it.

Brimley Elementary serves two groups that often struggle academically. Of the 300 students, more than half are Native American. Many come from low-income families.

You might be thinking at this point that this story is like so many of the education stories out there, about what's just not working in schools. But Brimley Elementary is different.

At this school, American Indian students are outperforming other Natives in the state. The school as a whole performs above the statewide average for all schools, and on some tests, the low-income students are performing at the same level as kids from wealthier families.

So, how does Brimley do it? There are several theories out there. Here are a couple from some of the student themselves:

"Well, everyone's accepted here for who they are, no matter if they're Irish, Native, African American or just French," says 9-year-old Chloe, who just finished fourth grade. She lives on the nearby reservation and her full Native American name is Chloe Biidaasige-Kwe Teeple.

She's a member of the Bay Mills Indian Community and so is her good friend, Grace, who has her own hypothesis: "I think our teachers are teaching us really, really well."

For more on this story by Jeniffer Guerra see the link: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed...-that-often-struggle