Legislature(2005 - 2006)BUTROVICH 205
04/19/2006 01:30 PM Senate HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SCR28 || OVERVIEW: THE WHOLE VILLAGE PROJECT | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 281 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SCR 28 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
^OVERVIEW: The Whole Village Project
SCR 28-TECHNOLOGY FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION
CHAIR DYSON announced that SCR 28 was up for consideration.
1:52:55 PM
KERRY BOYD, representing the Yukon-Koyukuk School district
(YKSD) and Alyeska Worldwide (AWW), a non-profit formed by YKSD,
provided an overview of the Whole Village project, the goal of
which is to incorporate safety, health, education, economic
development, social services, culture, government, and
entertainment to create a comprehensive program using
communication technology to improve education in rural Alaska.
1:56:59 PM
CARL KNUDSEN, Former Superintendent in Galena School District
(GSD), said that several hundred schools in Alaska are not
meeting federal requirements and face federal takeover. GSD
implemented a new training model that dramatically improved
students' test results. Any training model must be
collaborative, successful, replicable, and sustainable, and the
program developed in Galena meets these criteria. He recommended
that rural districts work with teachers and parents to create an
individual learning plan (ILP) for every student, and said that
using web based software created for the purpose, preparing and
administering ILP's is not difficult.
2:05:23 PM
FRANK ODASZ, Lone Eagle Consulting, remarked that he founded the
Big Sky Telegraph Project in 1988 to connect rural, one-room
classrooms, and that in 1997 he did the first internet workshops
for the villages of the Yukon-Koyukuk School District.
2:08:10 PM
MR. ODASZ related other internet programs that he has
administered to illustrate the opportunities for entrepreneurial
development in rural Alaska using Information and Communications
Technology (ICT).
2:14:14 PM
MR. ODASZ said that the developing Alaskan Village
Sustainability Action Plan entails: ensuring educational success
for native youth through online k-12 instruction, youth
entrepreneurship and ecommerce, culturally appropriate community
learning including multi-generational digital storytelling. He
said that they have spoken with Junior Achievement about
partnering with them to add a youth e-commerce and micro-loans
component to the program.
2:16:33 PM
The Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership (AMEP) is
partnering with the Alaska Native Arts Foundation to create
sustainable village economies through global e-marketing of
Alaskan Native Art. Mr. Odasz will be promoting new partnerships
with 23 countries within the next week. The Whole Village
concept focuses on creating a fully integrated community-wide
solution to raise student achievement, which can be used for e-
commerce training and cultural expression.
2:17:36 PM
ERIC DOWNEY, Business Development Manager, Alaska Manufacturing
Extension Partnership, said that part of AMEP's mission is to
create rural economic development, mostly through the sale of
native art. His organization believes that the Whole Village
project would vastly decrease the cost of training and economic
development throughout the state.
2:19:32 PM
He stressed that education is important for the cultivation of
entrepreneurial awareness and expertise among the youth of
Alaska and the world.
2:20:44 PM
DAN ETULAIN, Sitka, said that he dreams of establishing a
community TV station in Anchorage, with statewide delivery
through the Internet and satellite broadcast. He said that the
programming emphasis would be on interactive education and
entrepreneurship, and that all of the technology that has been
presented in the committee could be augmented through TV
broadcast.
2:22:38 PM
FLETCHER BROWN, Vice President of Communications for DRS
Technical and Management Services Corporation (TAMSCO), said
that all of the concepts presented by previous speakers require
that applicable and effective information can be delivered to
people in the villages when it is needed. He offered his vision
of pushing relevant and critical information out to villages
instantly and economically.
2:24:30 PM
MR. BROWN provided information about his company, which was
founded in 1982 and certified under the 8(a) Business
Development Program as a minority business. Today TAMSCO has
over 900 employees with a variety of officers in remote
countries. Most of TAMSCO's work is for the Department of
Defense, providing rapid-deployment communications systems for
use worldwide. Since 1993 Mr. Brown has been working in Native
American and Alaskan Native tribal development. They brought up
communications to 37 villages on the Yukon Delta by satellite,
11 by microwave and tied them into a new satellite hub based in
Bethel. He said that DRS TAMSCO is currently building a state-
of-the-art telephone service using voice Over IP (VOIP) to 50
villages on the Yukon Delta.
He said that bandwidth alone is not the answer to the
communication needs of rural Alaska. There are more efficient
and cost-effective ways to transmit information, such as
Internet Protocol (IP), which allows multiple users to share
bandwidth, but when transmitting rich media content this
solution falls down.
2:28:21 PM
MR. BROWN said that buying more bandwidth is not the answer
because it is not affordable or efficient, and because it cannot
deliver truly interactive and rich multimedia. The solution
lies in using bandwidth-efficient tools to improve functionality
through: multi-casting, collaboration servers, terminal
services, digital video broadcasts, and the use of content
management systems.
2:31:53 PM
He said that these systems are not widely used in Alaska at
present, but his company is developing the infrastructure for
them in rural Alaska now. He referenced a slide on virtual
content management systems and cited examples of content
management systems currently in use.
2:35:03 PM
Mr. Brown cited some areas where these systems can be applied,
including education for at-risk youth, rural economic
development, and the preservation of native culture.
2:37:16 PM
CHAIR DYSON asked Carl Rose to address the committee before
opening the floor to questions.
CARL ROSE, Executive Director, Association of Alaska School
Boards (AASB), referenced two documents that he had provided to
the committee, a schematic, and two pages of bulleted comments.
He prefaced his comments by referring to Thomas Friedman's book
"The World is Flat", and its discussion of the convergence of
technology and events that has affected everything in our world,
including education.
2:39:47 PM
He said he is concerned that we are spending all of our money on
education as it is today, and that our current model will not
prepare students for the digital future. He proposed a digital
consortium to help Alaska with an investment to put digital
technology in our schools.
2:42:57 PM
MR. ROSE said that his organization is looking for funding of
one third, or $5 million each, from federal, state, and local
government. He said that the current means of acquisition is
not well coordinated and that the school districts are
attempting to consolidate the acquisition process in partnership
with Apple Computer.
2:44:17 PM
He referenced the bulleted document and said that it shows why,
how, and when the program will be implemented. He emphasized
the challenges and the threats we face due to globalization, and
the need to prepare our children for a global economy.
CHAIR DYSON asked the witness to explain how this network will
affect K-12 education.
MR. ROSE said that it would be a pilot program to give Alaskan
students the opportunity to use technology for learning.
CHAIR DYSON asked if this technology would help a student who
has a specific learning problem to access a teacher who
specializes in the area needed?
Mr. Rose said yes, that is true across the curriculum.
2:46:36 PM
CHAIR DYSON asked how this program would help provide choices
for the parents of children in failing schools in the state.
MR. ROSE said that he believes the program will help with that,
but that Chair Dyson is beyond where he is now with the program.
He is looking at pilots to create levels of success so that they
can address other issues at a later date. The magnitude of the
problem is so great that it cannot be dealt with all at once.
CHAIR DYSON asked Wes Keller how this kind of program could help
to address some of the other requirements of No Child Left
Behind (NCLB), and the mandate of Alaska's educational
standards?
2:49:22 PM
MR. KELLER said that Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and NCLB,
have called to our attention the fact that 203 Alaskan schools
are failing in one area or another. Among the consequences for
not meeting the standards are parental choice, and supplemental
education services. He referenced a power-point presentation to
better answer the question.
SENATOR WILKEN asked Mr. Rose to clarify the relationship
between the two presentations brought before the committee
today. If his school district decided to participate in the
digital initiative, would they make the decision regarding the
vendors and the systems?
MR. ROSE said that the AASB, as a non-profit private entity, has
taken full accountability for the money they are pursuing. AASB
and the Whole Village project are not the same entity; and if a
local school district were to implement a digital program, local
control would determine the vendor, the curriculum, and the
software.
SENATOR WILKEN said that his understanding is that the school
district would choose the tools to use to implement the AASB
initiative, one of which might be the Whole Village.
2:50:52 PM
MR. ROSE said yes. He said that AASB is in partnership with
Apple, which will provide the hardware, software, the
peripherals, the professional development to operate those
systems effectively and the technical support. Other vendors
will offer professional development for teaching and learning.
2:52:46 PM
CHAIR DYSON asked how the technology would solve half a dozen,
significant problems that face the state today.
MR. KELLER said that the median cost of education in Alaska,
just published in SCR 28, is $16,655 per student, which is the
highest in the nation due to the extreme cost of our rural
education.
He said that the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP), published in fall of 2005, shows that roughly 70 percent
of the nation's children are not proficient.
2:54:36 PM
MR. KELLER presented a slide of the AYP status of Alaskan
Schools and noted that the number of Alaskan schools at Level 5
is increasing. The implications of each level are: Level 1
Alert - the school must seek technical assistance from the
school district or the Department of Education and Early
Development (EED); Level 2 Improvement - the school must provide
choice or Supplemental Education Services (SES); Level 3
Improvement - the school must provide choice and SES, as well as
an improvement plan; Level 4 Corrective Action - the school must
offer choice and SES, and make one of six changes ranging from
replacing staff to restructuring; Level 5 Restructuring - the
school must offer choice and SES, and take additional steps
ranging from replacing staff to restructuring. At Level 5 the
district must make a plan to prepare for alternative governance.
He stressed that all of the requirements stated at each level
could be addressed using applied educational technology.
2:58:20 PM
MR. KELLER presented a slide showing how technology could be
implemented to assist failing schools to meet the requirements
that are placed upon them. For example, technology would make
it possible for children in diverse locations to receive
tutoring from a gifted teacher, allow teachers to work together,
and assist districts with the development of ILP's through the
compilation of student records.
3:02:33 PM
He addressed some of the criticisms of the program, and
referenced a slide showing the number of schools with small
student populations, noting that these are our most expensive
schools. He said that technology could be used to reduce the
cost of education in these schools.
3:06:18 PM
MR. ROSE said that technology is not the "silver bullet", it
must be introduced and perfected, and we must have system wide
proficiency to see the benefits of technology.
SENATOR ELTON remarked that while we are looking for "silver
bullets", schools are getting rid of ancillary programs and are
teaching to the NCLB tests. He said that we seem to be
Balkanizing our funding sources, that it might be best to add
all of the money available for specific program funding to the
Base Student Allocation (BSA), and give the districts the
opportunity to participate in Mr. Rose's program, for example.
He said that when he looks at the Whole Village project and it's
mission, he realizes that many schools are removing those types
of programs and teaching to the test.
3:10:22 PM
MR. KNUDSEN said that he supports what Mr. Rose is trying to do,
but would like to delineate the two projects. He said the AASB
project is commendable and necessary, because there will be no
significant changes in the system if the current funding and way
of operating remain the same. He said Mr. Rose's project seeks
to demonstrate that specific funding for educational technology
can make a difference.
He said that the Whole Village is concerned about the current
trend to teach to the NCLB tests to the exclusion of all else.
The approach he is proposing, and what worked in Galena, is to
train teachers to integrate the state standards into their
lesson plans so that they are teaching to the standards
represented on the test, thereby improving student achievement.
"We have to get away from the concept that the curriculum is the
textbook."
3:14:22 PM
SENATOR ELTON said that the Whole Village project seems to
include a lot of programs that are being removed in other
districts, such as art and extra curricular activities. He said
that he agrees that those things are important; but he still
thinks that the best thing to do may be to add to the BSA and
let districts decide how to use those funds.
3:16:06 PM
MR. KNUDSON replied that over the past four years we have added
34 percent to educational funding, but it wasn't enough. In his
experience, increasing the BSA will not help unless we change
the way the money is being used.
3:17:16 PM
CHAIR DYSON said that his understanding of the tools that these
programs are proposing to use is that they will free teachers
and students from the restrictions of geographical location, and
reduce the administrative duties that detract from teaching, so
that children can enjoy learning.
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