The Molly Hootch Schools After 40 Years: Successes, Failures, and Opportunities

This quantitative study was designed to understand the relationship between the variables of student attendance, educator experience and turnover, and student achievement at the Molly Hootch schools in rural Alaska, to better understand the current state of achievement according to data from 2002–2019, collected from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (AKDEED) database. Data revealed that Molly Hootch school attendance was at 90% and that proficiency among students dropped from 40% to 15% during the years under review. The drop in proficiency during a time period where attendance level was strong leads to further qualitative exploration of the causes of the phenomenon

Supporting parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders

Master's Project (M.Ed.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015According to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (ADEED), in the year 2013, 1,110 children with an ASD were enrolled across all the school districts within the state of Alaska (ADEED, 2013). Children with an ASD experience social, behavioral and academic difficulties and parents raising children with an ASD face numerous challenges related to meeting the needs of their child and family (Hall & Graff, 2010; Murphy, Christian, Caplin, & Young, 2007; Solomon & Chung, 2012). This paper reviews current research on experiences of ASD diagnoses for children and parents, and the efficacy of parental engagement with social support and family therapy. The literature review informed the creation of a PowerPoint presentation and a handbook that discuss the experiences of children and parents related to ASDs, describe the research to support the efficacy of local resources, and present the local resources for parents of children with ASDs

Alaska Elementary School Counseling: Current Practices And Future Directions

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010Professional school counseling has roots as far back as the nineteenth century in the United States. Along the way there have been many changes in title and duties for the school counselor, who by recommendation of the American School Counseling Association as well as the state of Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, acts as the professional leading the comprehensive counseling program. Elementary comprehensive counseling programs are designed to be developmental in nature and preventative in practice. Additionally, they are intended to make the counseling program available to all students, not just those who are high achieving or at risk within the school community. However, there is a great deal of variance in how programs operate in Alaska. This research used mail surveys to gather data from potentially all elementary school counselors in the state of Alaska. Data were then considered in regards to the suggested comprehensive counseling program to evaluate and produce informed recommendations. One of the specific challenges that Alaskan elementary school counselors face is that of larger than recommended student-to-counselor ratios. Additionally, many counselors are operating in more than one school. Counselors working in the field suggest that curriculum is a much needed resource as well as recommendations that a counseling coordinator be employed to assist in bringing a more uniformed structure to counseling programs in the state of Alaska. School counseling, as well as education in general, has undergone many changes over the last century. Counseling programs in Alaska will need to continue to change and adapt if they are to meet the needs of students and communities

THE MOLLY HOOTCH SCHOOLS AFTER 40 YEARS: SUCCESSES, FAILURES, AND OPPORTUNITIES

This quantitative study was designed to understand the relationship between the variables of student attendance, educator experience and turnover, and student achievement at the Molly Hootch schools in rural Alaska in an effort to understand the current state of achievement according to data from 2002–2019 collected from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (AKDEED) database. Data revealed that Molly Hootch school attendance was at 90% and that proficiency among student dropped from 40% to 15% during the years under review. The researcher was not granted access to review further data that could provide more concrete answers to the research questions. There certainly is enough evidence to warrant further investigation, both qualitative and quantitative, into the experiences of these students and communities, as well as the teachers and other educational staff, to uncover possible supports that can be provided or barriers that can be removed to increase equity in education and increase academic achievement for Alaskan Native communities

Resources for Teaching ANCSA at 50

Teaching about ANCSA upon its 50th anniversary presents numerous challenges, but also several significant opportunities for developing a deeper understanding of the complex issues facing Alaska Natives, neighboring non-Native peoples, and the State of Alaska. The history of the birth of ANCSA, its passage, and its impact over the first forty years is well known and the subject of numerous studies. Since the passage of ANCSA in 1971, the Alaska Native community, the University of Alaska, Alaskool, Alaska Native Corporations, Alaska Native organizations, the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, the Alaska Humanities Forum, and the Alaska State Department of Early Education have devoted considerable professional energies and expertise developing and offering the tools for examining and teaching about this extraordinary legislation up to 2020. Currently, in 2021, there are well developed syllabi for elementary students (3rd grade), early high school students (9th grade), and for college/university students in lower as well as upper division courses. The purpose of this guide to resources for teaching ANCSA at 50 is to add to and build upon the two principle syllabi that currently exist: (1) the Alaskool online course elementary and high-school students developed by Paul Ongtagook and Claudia Dybdahl; and (2) the 2011 online upper-division university level class developed originally by Professor Gordon Pullar (UAF Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development RD 493/693 — Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act: Pre-1971 to present] and taught subsequently by Professor Dixie Dayo and Professor Diane Benson. There are other teacher guides readily available, such as “A Moment in Time--ANCSA: Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act” (the Education Department of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center), and a new syllabus for public schools has been developed by Joel Isaac on behalf of the Anchorage School District (not yet published; due in 2022, but included in the addendum to this guide). Because the topic of ANCSA at its half-century anniversary is so complex and the resources so many and varied, it seems the most helpful initial tool for teachers and/or community leaders seeking to lead discussions is to organize a resource aid useful and accessible to teachers and/or community leaders to review the historical narrative and introduce the topics. Because there are many excellent histories and syllabi devoted to understanding and teaching about ANCSA from its inception to the present, the “Guide to the Teaching Resources” seeks to focus on several “enduring critical issues” as identified by scholars, teachers, and Alaska Native leaders to add to the basic architecture for teaching ANCSA at 50. This Resource Guide is envisioned also as an introduction for instructors to the several “enduring critical issues” facing the Alaska Native and non-Native communities in the context of ANCSA legislation after half-a-century of experience. The single most important and accessible collection of materials useful for teaching about ANCSA, its origins, the drama of the passage of the Act, and many of the commentaries about the meaning and impact of ANCSA may be found in: http://www.alaskool.org/java/teachers_tour/tour1.html. NOTE: Navigate to “Revisiting the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)” – an important resource for many basic documents and discussions about the origins and development of ANCSA

Negotiated Success: Contractual Benefits that Enhance Recruitment and Retention

This report summarizes monetary and non-monetary items used in Collectively Bargained Agreements (CBAs) to enhance retention and recruitment of educators in and outside of Alaska. This report is one of a series commissioned by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to support a stakeholder-informed action plan to address the state’s recurring critical challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers. To approach this task, we narrowed our focus to a review of provisions contained within CBAs in Alaska and a sample of districts in the nation, reviewed relevant literature, and collected stakeholder feedback to further inform the report content and organization. We restrict our analysis to the information contained in CBAs, which are negotiated at the district level, with the noted limitation that CBAs are not exhaustive of all educator benefits (e.g., retirement is an important benefit that is managed at the statewide level). The report details benefits in five broad categories and 15 subcategories, which are bookmarked in this abstract for easy access: coming and staying (signing bonus, longevity/retention bonus); benefits – health and wellbeing (healthcare, sick leave, other leave); benefits – moving and living (travel and relocation, housing and utilities, childcare); knowledge and growth (transferable experience, education and certification, professional development); and work life (contract length and workday, extra duties, hard-to-staff areas, performance pay). Overall, we find that benefits and compensation vary significantly across districts in Alaska, and even more substantially across districts in the national sample, reflecting the diversity in the sample in terms of state, region, size, and location.N

Kids Count Alaska 2009-2010

For information on children across America, visit the Kids Count Data Center (www.datacenter.kidscount.org). Developed by the national KIDS COUNT program, the site provides data on children and teenagers for every state and hundreds of cities and counties. For Alaska, you can select indicators for each of the state’s seven regions and create your own maps, trend lines, and charts. There are also maps and graphs you can put on your website or blog. You can go directly to that national site or link from our website (kidscount.alaska.edu). This book and all previous data books are available on our website, with each book divided into sections for faster downloading. Also on our site is a link to the most recent national KIDS COUNT data book, as well as other publications and reports.Annie E. Casey FoundationIntroduction / Infancy / Economic Well-Being / Education / Children in Danger / Juvenile Justic

Kids Count Alaska 2013-2014

This research was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We thank the foundation for its support, but the findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily of the foundation. KIDS COUNT is a nationwide program of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The foundation produces a national data book each year, detailing the condition of America’s children. It also sponsors KIDS COUNT programs in all 50 states. Feel free to copy, distribute, or otherwise use information from the Kids Count Alaska Data Book, citing the source as: Kids Count Alaska 2013-2014 Data Book, prepared by the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.Kids Count Alaska is part of a nationwide program, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, to collect and publicize information about children’s health, safety, education, and economic status. We gather information from many sources and present it in one place, to give Alaskans and others a broad picture of how well the state’s children are doing—and provide parents, policymakers, and others with information they need to improve life for children and families. Our goals are: • Distributing information about the status of Alaska’s children • Creating an informed public, motivated to help children • Comparing the status of children in Alaska with that of children nationwide, but also presenting additional indicators relevant for AlaskaAnnie E. Casey FoundationIntroduction / Infancy / Births and Care Before Birth / Babies With Low Birthweight / Infant Mortality / Economic Well-Being / Children Living in Poverty / Children With No Parent Working Full-Time, Year-Round / Children in Single-Parent Families / Births to Teens / Health Care / Education / Dropout and Graduation Rates / Teens Not in School and Not Working / School Achievement / Children in Danger / Child Death Rate / Teen Death Rate / Child Abuse and Neglect / Juvenile Justic

Research Summary No. 20192

This paper examines trends in Alaska public high school graduation rates from academic year 2010-11 to 2015-16 and explores differences across demographic groups. We focus specifically on students from public neighborhood high schools. These are publicly-funded schools run by district or Regional Educational Attendance Area school boards serving all residents within school attendance boundaries. These schools represent about 88% of Alaska’s high school students.Council of Alaska Producer

Alaska Native-focused Teacher Preparation Programs: What have we learned?

There are too few indigenous teachers in Alaska, as fewer than 5% of Alaska�s certified teachers are Alaska Native. However, Alaska�s Indigenous students make up 80% of student enrollment in the state�s rural schools, and over 22% of the school population statewide. Moreover, 74 % of teachers hired by Alaska�s public schools come from outside the state. Teachers new to rural Alaska typically remain on the job just one or two years, and high turnover rates in Alaska are strongly correlated with poorer student learning outcomes (Hill & Hirshberg, 2013). Many community and education leaders believe rural schools could benefit from having more Indigenous teachers, because they would likely stay on the job longer, be more familiar with their students� communities and cultures, and provide more powerful role models for Alaska Native students. This paper discusses why Indigenous teachers are important, and provides an overview of the initiatives from the past four decades aimed at preparing Alaska Native teachers