Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage
Abstract
Too many Alaska students leave formal education unprepared for their next steps in life. Too
many drop out of high school; too few high-school graduates go on to post-secondary education;
and too few of those who do enroll in post-secondary education graduate in a timely manner.
Employers report that a substantial number of young people who enter the work world directly
after graduating from high school (or after dropping out) lack the reading, writing, and math
skills necessary for many of today’s jobs, even at entry level.
Ideally, the various components of the education system would be structured so that as children
or young people complete each step, they would be adequately prepared for the next. In practice,
this is often not the case. Students arrive at kindergarten and again at college, vocational training,
or work unprepared for the challenges they face and without the skills their teachers, professors,
or employers expect.
Alaska is not alone in these problems, and many states are focusing on alignment as a possible
response. Policymakers and others are studying how students progress through the entire
education system—from pre-school through college, graduate study, or career training. As
defined above, alignment would coordinate the work of institutions providing different levels of
education. Educators in K-12 and early childhood programs would agree on what children should
know and be able to do when entering kindergarten (or first grade)—and on how those skills and
abilities would be taught and assessed. Likewise, employers, institutions of higher education, and
K-12 schools would work together to reach similar agreements on what young people need to
know to enter the workforce or college. Alignment efforts bring together policymakers and
practitioners from all levels of education to identify what needs to be done to achieve this
coordination and to oversee the work.
The first section of this report looks at alignment of early childhood programs and K-12
education. Why is it important to begin alignment at the level of early childhood education?
Research has demonstrated the strong effect of quality early childhood education on later
educational outcomes. Among the best-known research is the High/Scope Perry Preschool study,
which followed 120 children from the time they attended that preschool in the 1960s, at ages 3 or
4, until they were age 40.1 Schweinhart, et al. (1993) looked at program participants through age
27 and estimated that the program had produced savings to taxpayers of over $7 for each dollar
spent. Program participants were less likely to need special education services throughout their
school careers, less likely to commit crimes, and less likely to receive welfare—and they alsoearned more and paid higher taxes than non-participants. Other studies have found that children
who participate in quality early childhood education programs are less likely to be retained in
grade, placed in special education, or drop out of high school (Schweinhart 1994).
In Alaska, public early childhood education is limited to federally mandated special education
and federally funded (with state supplemental funding) Head Start programs. These programs
together enroll about 16% of 3-year-olds and 22% of 4-year-olds in the state. Many more
students in urban areas are enrolled in some form of private pre-school. Head start programs
exist in more than 75 Alaska communities and are run by 16 different grantees, which have
varying degrees of coordination with their local K-12 districts and with each other.
The second focus of this report is readiness of Alaska high-school graduates for post-secondary
education or work. Alaska’s colleges and universities find that many of their entering students—
even those with good grades in high school—aren’t ready for college-level work. Again, national
research affirms that Alaska’s problems are not unique. Callan, Finney, Kirst, Usdan, and
Venezia (2006) report “The more difficult challenge for students is becoming prepared
academically for college coursework. Once students enter college, about half of them learn that
they are not prepared for college-level courses. Forty percent of students at four-year institutions
and 63 percent at two-year colleges take remedial education. Additionally, high-school students
face an incredibly complex system of placement tests and college admissions requirements.”
A national survey of 431 employers about workforce readiness found that “When asked to assess
new workforce entrants, employers report that many of the new entrants lack skills essential to
job success… Over 40 percent (42.4 percent) of employer respondents rate new entrants with a
high school diploma as ‘deficient’ in their overall preparation for the entry-level jobs they
typically fill. Almost the same percentage (45.6 percent) rate the overall preparation of high
school graduate entrants as ‘adequate,’ but almost no one (less than ½ of 1 percent—0.2 percent)
rates their overall preparation as ‘excellent.’ ” 2 Anecdotal information from Alaska employers
indicates that many young people entering the workforce in Alaska aren’t prepared for work,
either.
This report brings together available data on the scope of these problems in Alaska and discusses
what other states have tried and what we can tell so far about what has worked. We identify areas
that need more research and where there may not even be data to conduct research. Finally, we
suggest steps the state can undertake now, while conducting research, to fill in the gaps.Avant-Garde Learning Foundation.
Shell Exploration and Production Alaska