Legislature(2009 - 2010)BARNES 124
02/24/2010 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| University of Alaska Teacher Education Plan | |
| Best Beginnings/early Childhood | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
JOINT MEETING
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 24, 2010
8:04 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Senator Kevin Meyer, Co-Chair
Senator Bettye Davis, Vice Chair
Senator Gary Stevens
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Paul Seaton, Chair
Representative Cathy Engstrom Munoz, Vice Chair
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative Peggy P. Wilson
Representative Robert L. "Bob" Buch
Representative Berta Gardner
MEMBERS ABSENT
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Senator Joe Thomas, Co-Chair
Senator Charlie Huggins
Senator Donald Olson
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Wes Keller
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
University of Alaska Board of Regents, Teacher Preparation
Report
- HEARD
PRESENTATION: Best Beginnings/Early Childhood
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
PAT JACOBSON, Chair
Academic and Student Affairs
University of Alaska Board of Regents
POSITION STATEMENT: Delivered the annual report "Alaska's
University for Alaska's Schools."
JOHN PUGH, Chancellor
University of Alaska Southeast
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions and provided information
about the Teacher Education Planning Group.
DAN JULIUS, VP Academic Affairs
University of Alaska System
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions and provided information
about the P-20 agenda.
MELISSA HILL
Alaska Teacher Placement Program
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions and provided information
about funding for the mentoring program.
LEXIE HILL, Research Associate
Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)
University of Alaska Anchorage
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information about the proposed
education policy research center.
ABBE HENSLEY, Executive Director
Best Beginnings
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information about Best Beginnings
as part of the standards based early care and education system
partnership.
JOY LYON, Executive Director
Alaska Association for the Education of Young Children
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information about the support for
professional development aspect of the standards based early
care and education system partnership.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:04:46 AM
CHAIR PAUL SEATON called the joint meeting of the Senate and
House Education Standing Committees to order at 8:04 a.m.
Present at the call to order were Senators Davis, Stevens, and
Meyer and Representatives Gardner, Buch, Munoz, P. Wilson, and
Seaton.
^UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA TEACHER EDUCATION PLAN
8:05:27 AM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the first order of business would be
a presentation by the University of Alaska (UA) Board of Regents
about their teacher education plan for Alaska.
8:07:53 AM
PAT JACOBSON, Chair, Academic and Student Affairs, University of
Alaska Board of Regents, introduced the regents who were present
as well as the UA teacher education planning group members and
support staff.
She explained that she is presenting the second annual report in
accordance with legislation that passed in 2008 requiring the UA
Board of Regents to deliver an annual report to the Legislature
on teacher preparation, retention, and recruitment. While much
of the report is similar to the first, she said, there have been
slight improvements and encouraging signs for the future. While
there is no question that the gap between the need for teachers
and the actual numbers of graduates is significant, the issue is
a multi-faceted and some areas are beyond the university's
control.
MS. JACOBSON pointed out that in addition to detailing the
university's efforts to attract, prepare and retain qualified
teachers, the report also includes information on graduation and
enrollment data, a gap analysis of the shortages in the teaching
workforce, and recommendations for improving educational
opportunities for all students. This year the report also
contains: the UA teacher education plan; a graduate data report
by major academic units; the UA FY11 proposed/approved budget
priorities for teacher education.
MS. JACOBSON explained that pages 2&3 of the report highlight
the small increase in the number of new teachers graduated in
2009 and the slight decrease in the number of new principal
graduates. Because there are many more career opportunities for
administration and secondary math and science graduates, there
is stiff competition for recruiting these graduates for teaching
careers. In 2009 UAS joined UAA in offering a principal
endorsement program and last summer had a cohort of 20 new
applicants, some coming from the statewide mentor project.
8:12:02 AM
MS. JACOBSON highlighted that each campus in the UA system
offers endorsement programs for advanced degrees, certificates
of completion, or recertification courses. UAA offers programs
for special education, reading, and a superintendent degree, as
well as a speech/language pathologist program that is partnered
with East Carolina University. UAS offers a master of arts in
teaching and has six M.ED programs for both distance learning
and in-person on campus. UAF offers master of education degrees
as well as the only terminal degree for educators through the
interdisciplinary studies PhD program.
She reported that in 2009 UAS and UAA each graduated about 22
new special education teachers. UAF began offering special
education certificate and master's programs last fall and
expects 10 graduates by 2011. These three campuses worked
cooperatively to develop and offer a single program at each
campus and these increases are believed to be a direct result of
this collaboration. Hopefully this model can be used to
similarly address the shortages in math and science, she said.
MS. JACOBSON informed the committees that about 200 new teachers
graduate from the UA system each year and there is high demand
for these graduates; some don't end up teaching, some don't go
to rural areas, and some tend to stay where they did their
internship. She directed attention to pages 5-8 and emphasized
that teaching in Alaska is unique and rural sites in particular
have difficulty recruiting special education teachers. The
report indicates that 49 percent of special education teachers
no longer teach in that position after four years. Clearly,
producing more special education teachers does not address the
issue of retention, she said.
8:14:11 AM
MS. JACOBSON said that a statewide mentor project report
indicated that mentoring partnerships can increase retention to
80 percent. The report also found that 52 percent of experienced
special education teachers recruited from outside Alaska leave
the system within three years, whereas new special education
teachers already employed in Alaska and those from the UA system
tend to stay longer over a three-year period. Recent small
increases are hopeful, but they don't mean that the gap in
demand is closed. More research is needed on turnover trends in
order to assist policymakers and school districts to shape
policy and target resources to promote retention and thus
decrease the need to hire more teachers. Collaboration between
the state and school districts is needed to develop strategies
to reduce teacher turnover, particularly in rural districts
where recruitment of teachers in general is problematic.
8:15:15 AM
MS. JACOBSON said that each year 900-1,100 teachers are hired to
fill the 800-900 vacancies that result from teachers leaving the
system. Alaska Native teachers comprise less than five percent
of the workforce, less than three percent of the principal
positions, and less than two percent of the superintendent
positions. In 1998 the Alaska Department of Labor Economic
Trends reported that in many communities the local school
district is one of the few employers.
8:17:05 AM
MS. JACOBSON emphasized that K-12 outreach and bridging programs
continue to be a priority in the university's budget and for
federal grant requests. While many other university programs
don't have direct relevancy, they do contribute to attracting
and training of qualified teachers. The university can help with
retention by offering continuing education courses and the
mentorship program, she said.
MS. JACOBSON directed attention to page 13 and explained that
restricted [federal] funding has decreased over the past four
years, which challenges the ability for education units to grow
in response to demand. Even with 40 percent decreases, UA has
continued to provide services and support, primarily through
sponsored programs and activities. However, sustaining these
programs has become increasingly problematic.
8:17:58 AM
UA staff members are actively involved in planning meetings to
look at teacher quality, increasing graduation rates, career and
technical education, teacher certification, and establishing a
virtual school as part of the development of the Alaska
Education Plan that was initiated by the Alaska Department of
Education and Early Development Commissioner LeDoux. Moreover,
UA and the department are partnering in the administration of
the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project. The VP for academic affairs
is also working with Commissioner LeDoux on other items of
interest under a P-20 [pre-school through higher education]
agenda.
MS. JACOBSON said she would defer to Chancellor Pugh to speak
about the Teacher Education Planning Group.
8:18:44 AM
JOHN PUGH, Chancellor, University of Alaska Southeast, said he's
chaired the Teacher Education Planning Group for the past four
years. Today he would talk about four main goals of the group
with a little about the action steps involved in reaching those
goals. The four goals are: 1) recruit and retain more students
in education, particularly Alaska residents; 2) improve program
access through multiple delivery methods; 3) enhance educator
preparation programs in special education, math and science; and
4) conduct research to identify causes and proposed solutions
for education challenges in Alaska.
8:20:00 AM
The first goal is to recruit and retain more students in
education, particularly Alaska residents. The actions needed to
accomplish this goal include:
· Develop a stronger partnership between K-12, DEED, and UA.
So far they've met with and shared the draft plan with
superintendents on three occasions and with the Alaska
teacher placement advisory group twice over the past two
years. This partnership needs to be strengthened.
· Develop a public awareness campaign in Alaska about
teaching as a profession. This will take money and they'll
be seeking partners like the National Education Association
(NEA) and hopefully school districts.
· Increase outreach in rural districts and look at ways to
encourage individuals in these areas to go into education.
This will require some additional resources from the
schools.
· The Education Planning Group needs to continue to
coordinate with future educator associations in the various
school districts. Young people work with the faculty in
these schools and the university encourages these
individuals to take the appropriate course work to prepare
to become a teacher.
CHANCELLOR PUGH said the group has challenged itself to increase
the number of students in teacher education programs by five
percent per year for the next three years. They also hope to get
at least 15 percent of the kids that work with the future
educator associations into teacher education programs after
graduation.
CHANCELLOR PUGH said the second goal is to improve program
access through multiple delivery methods and the university has
done a lot of this over the years. He directed attention to the
last page of the regent's report that lists all of the teacher
education programs offered by UAA, UAF, and UAS. The asterisks
indicate programs that are totally distance delivered. He noted
that one particular success has been special education. UAS
started programs three years ago and last year graduated 22. He
opined that if there's a market for distance delivery of a
particular program, then UA should be reaching out statewide to
fill that need. They hope to increase the number of students in
distance delivery programs by five percent per year as well.
8:23:59 AM
CHANCELLOR PUGH said the third goal is to enhance educator
preparation programs in special education, math and science. As
Ms. Jacobson mentioned, UAF began offering special education
certificate and master's programs last fall and 10 students are
expected to graduate in the next year. The intention is to
expand these special education programs, but they are already
available by distance delivery so all the rural districts in the
state are currently being served.
Producing more math and science teachers is more challenging
because students see that they can earn two or three times as
much with an engineering degree or a health science degree than
they can as a secondary math or science teacher. Nevertheless,
the Teacher Education Planning Group will be collaborating with
the UA arts and science faculty to encourage students in the
math and science programs to look at education as a profession.
CHANCELLOR PUGH said the fourth goal is to conduct research to
identify causes and proposed solutions for education challenges
in Alaska. He said he's pleased about the major grant to track
students, but that doesn't address the issue of teacher
turnover. ISER (UA Institute of Social and Economic Research)
has done some work on the related issues, but they've never
received resources to do this work. It's been on top of the work
they're already required to do. The Teacher Education Planning
Group continues to feel that there is need for a research arm at
ISER that looks at teacher programs, teacher turnover, and how
to better serve rural areas in order to recommend improvements.
8:27:24 AM
MS. JACOBSON informed the committees that the annual budget that
the Board of Regents developed addresses the priorities outlined
in SB 241 and demonstrates the university's commitment to
address the educational needs of the state.
In conclusion she emphasized the importance of establishing an
education policy research center to address the numerous
problems and potential solutions in the education realm. The
resulting information could go a long way in assisting the
university, state agencies, and other entities in finding
solutions to the many problems associated with teacher
attraction, education, and retention in the state.
MS. JACOBSON clarified that while she said she had been working
on her report since December, the university began working on
the annual report as soon as the first one was delivered. She
emphasized that the priorities outlined in SB 241 have been on
every academic agenda since the legislation passed in 2008.
8:30:13 AM
SENATOR DAVIS related that she's has been trying to establish a
P-16 council and she's interested in hearing more about the P-20
agenda.
MS. JACOBSON deferred to the VP for academic affairs.
SENATOR DAVIS asked if the mentor project is for teachers only
or both teachers and principals and if it's in the annual budget
or a special request.
MS. JACOBSON said her understanding is that it's for teachers
and there's a coaching program to mentor principals. She
deferred the question about funding to Melissa Hill.
8:31:55 AM
DAN JULIUS, VP Academic Affairs, University of Alaska System,
explained that they've been meeting with DEED to develop a
memorandum of understanding (MOA) that is similar to the
legislation Senator Davis introduced to establish a P-16
council. At this point they're talking about holding regular
meetings, sharing information, and exchanging data to make
students' transition from high school to college a more
successful and seamless process. He noted that oftentimes K-12
and university systems don't work well together, but that's not
the case here in Alaska where there's a real commitment for the
two organizations to collaborate.
SENATOR DAVIS noted that her legislation extends to school year
16 and questioned why they've chosen to extend to year 20.
MR. JULIUS admitted he didn't have firm opinion, but he supports
what would be most likely to pass.
8:34:11 AM
MELISSA HILL, Alaska Teacher Placement Program said she also
assists with K-12 operations at the university. Responding to
the question about the mentoring program, she explained that it
includes both teachers and administrators. Funding for the
program is allocated through the Department of Education and
Early Development (DEED) and it's survived through multiple
commissioners. The university contributes $500,000 to assist
with the implementation and some school districts join this
partnership by providing on-the-ground in-kind support.
8:35:24 AM
SENATOR DAVIS asked if that information is in the annual report.
MS. HILL replied it was referenced in the report, but there
isn't detailed information because the report only contains what
SB 241 specifically required. She offered to provide the
information.
SENATOR DAVIS asked how much money is allocated to the Alaska
Statewide Mentor Project this year.
MS. HILL deferred to Eddie Jeans.
CHAIR SEATON said he'd ask DEED to send an analysis of the
mentoring project to both education committees.
8:36:49 AM
SENATOR STEVENS expressed appreciation that the UA Board of
Regents took SB 241 so seriously. The Legislature has learned
more about teacher training and the added benefit is that for
the first time a dialog has been established. Referencing the
comments about ISER, he asked what it would take to have an ISER
study. He said he's also interested in knowing if there's
system-wide consistency in getting a degree in education because
his daughter found that she could get a master's in teaching in
Juneau in 1.5 years and it would take 2.5 years to get it in
Anchorage.
8:38:55 AM
MELISSA HILL asked him to clarify his question about the ISER
study.
SENATOR STEVENS asked if it would take more than just money to
get an ISER study.
MS. HILL said it would require personnel funding because ISER
operates on a cost-recovery basis. People pay ISER to have a
specific question answered so it's difficult for them to put off
or drop paying customers when the state asks questions. She
recalled that the request was for $250,000 for faculty and to
launch an education policy center and said she believes that
this would be very beneficial to this committee when it makes
critical decisions about where to allocate limited resources.
She added that data indicates that investing in Alaskans keeps
them here longer.
8:41:07 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked if there is system-wide consistency in the
master's in teaching program.
CHANCELLOR PUGH replied there is consistency in types of
degrees, but not the curriculums and how long it takes to
complete the program. In part this is due to the fact that each
university is separately accredited and each institution has to
have faculty and establish its own programs and curriculum.
However, the campuses are working together on these. At this
point, the special education and early childhood programs are
the same system wide and the bachelor's degree in elementary
education is very similar across the three campuses. There are
differences at the master's level, particularly in the art of
teaching. UAS is the only campus that has a one-year master's in
the art of teaching program. The programs take longer at UAF and
UAA so they can be taken on a part time basis, which isn't the
case with the intensive and full-time UAS program. He opined
that different models are needed in order to meet the varied
demand in Alaska.
SENATOR DAVIS asked if a person who didn't have a four year
degree could get a master's in education in one year and be
qualified to teach.
CHANCELLOR PUGH replied absolutely. That master's in the art of
teaching meets the accreditation requirements; it's been in
place for 15 years and is well accepted statewide.
8:45:54 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked how he knows that the goal to increase the
number of students in teacher education programs by five percent
per year is the right number. He also asked if a certain number
would be special education teachers.
CHANCELLOR PUGH explained that the number is based on what the
education deans have said they can handle without additional
resources; it's not what would fill the need. In special
education they set the goal at 50 percent and would like to do
that again; that's why they added the special education program
at UAF.
8:48:26 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked how many they anticipate will do distance
learning.
CHANCELLOR PUGH replied most of the increase will be distance
learning in order to meet rural community needs. He added that
in the last five years UAA increased the number of programs that
are distance delivered from 17 percent to 60 percent. At UAS the
MAT students are required to be on campus for one month but if
those students are counted, then 100 percent of the programs are
distance delivered. The bachelor of elementary education is both
on campus and distance delivered and the goal is to have all of
these programs available throughout the state because the market
includes non-traditional students in addition to those coming
out of high school.
REPRESENTATIVE MUÑOZ asked if high turnover rates are an issue
in urban areas or if it's primarily a rural issue.
8:50:28 AM
MS. HILL directed attention to the graph on page 9 of the report
that shows that the majority of the turnover comes from rural
areas, but additional study is needed to determine the factors
that contribute to the turnover.
CHAIR SEATON noted that the chart shows the percent of total
teachers compared to the percent hired in academic year (AY)09;
while 31 percent of the teachers are employed in rural
districts, they account for 46 percent of the new hires.
MS. HILL confirmed that rural teachers represent a smaller
portion of the teaching workforce, but they cost more to hire
and they're hired at a higher rate.
REPRESENTATIVE MUÑOZ asked if they have a means for capturing
data on teachers that leave districts and their reasons for
doing so.
MS. HILL replied they capture that information through exit
surveys and ISER has in the past conducted studies, but ongoing
research is needed to have current information about the
relevant factors.
8:53:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MUÑOZ asked what the requirements are for cross-
cultural training for teachers that go into rural districts.
CHANCELLOR PUGH replied DEED requires three credit hours in
Alaska history and three credit hours in multicultural studies.
The university has designed the individual education programs to
develop teachers to meet individual needs.
8:55:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON said there's a disconnect between the
"boots on the ground" message that teachers in his rural
district are giving him and this report. The talk about an
education policy research center doesn't make sense when the
cost of living for a teacher in Dillingham surpasses their
salary. Until this is addressed, turnover will continue, he
said.
8:58:16 AM
CHAIR SEATON said he doesn't disagree, but some of the issues
are beyond the scope of teacher preparation.
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON asked if he's off base.
MS. JACOBSON said she shares those concerns, but she believes
that the research center will be an important addition to fully
understand all the problems associated with retention.
MS. HILL added that finding the best teachers possible is an
extremely tough job.
9:00:47 AM
CHANCELLOR PUGH said a lot of information from past ISER studies
coincides with what Representative Edgmon is saying, but it's
necessary to continue to track that and make sure that current
information is fed back to the Legislature to help plan how to
solve these problems. One reason it's so important to have
programs distance delivered is to accommodate the needs of local
individuals so they can qualify for these teaching jobs. He
acknowledged that it's not a solution but it's something that
the university can and is trying to do.
CHAIR SEATON called at ease from 9:01 a.m. to 9:07 a.m. to
accommodate the Senate members who had other obligations at 9:00
a.m.
9:07:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON said he'd like to hear more about the
proposed education policy research center in terms of what it
might do and what it would cost to see if that might complement
the foregoing discussion.
MS. JACOBSON deferred to Chancellor Pugh and Lexie Hill.
9:08:54 AM
LEXIE HILL, Research Associate, Institute of Social and Economic
Research (ISER) University of Alaska Anchorage, explained that
the education policy research center would address three large
areas: 1) the intersect of education policy and education
practice; 2) broad-based work on the fiscal and cost issues; and
3) funding to work with directly with DEED on important issues.
This state is short on research where education policy and
education practice intersect, she said, and unless the
researchers who are busy teaching and doing clinical supervision
can be paid to work with ISER on these issues, it won't happen.
For example, while it's true that low salaries are a cause for
turnover it's also true that you can raise salaries and still
have turnover. Other issues like effective administrative
support and working conditions play a part, but it's difficult
to get a handle on what's most important and what will give the
biggest bang for the buck without getting people together from
both sides of this policy practice continuum.
ISER did some work with a professor from USC looking at national
models to find ways to fund education more effectively, but that
research stopped because they were only able to cobble together
enough money to get through the first four steps. That was
frustrating, she said.
She offered the view that partnering with DEED on areas of
research that are of interest to the department would be very
valuable. She related that sometimes when DEED has called she
wasn't able to answer their questions without the context of a
large body of research. While it's possible to do something that
takes two or three days it isn't possible to squeeze several
months work for three people into the budget.
9:12:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER observed that some studies show that the
most cost effective way to increase college graduation rates is
to help students return and finish after having dropped out. She
questioned whether that approach could apply to getting more
math and science teachers. Rather than trying to convince
engineering students to become math and science teachers, try to
get people who are already good teachers to focus on math and
science.
MS. JACOBSON related that a longtime friend from Kodiak who
teaches special education attended the Science Teachers
Education Program in Fairbanks last year and was so enthusiastic
she was thinking about getting another master's degree even
though she'd always been intimidated by science and math. She
described it as a very valuable learning experience for the
teachers and scientists alike.
9:15:31 AM
CHANCELLOR PUGH added that the university is already doing that
with the distance delivered master of education, mathematics K-8
program, but many of these students are already teachers who are
returning to school to improve their elementary and middle
school skills. They're not seeking to move to the high school
math programs. Recruiting at the high school level is more
difficult and No Child Left Behind requires secondary math and
science teachers have a relevant background. At some point, he
said, you may have to admit that it may take incentives to
attract engineering and health science students to secondary
education. Nursing is a good example; in years past nurses'
salaries were held down - just like teachers, but now nurses
make a decent salary and more people are entering the field. He
emphasized the necessity of looking at these market driven
issues.
9:18:16 AM
CHAIR SEATON mentioned the impressive Memorandum 96 longitudinal
study that the Anchorage School District did and asked if the
university is doing a similar cohort analysis on its programs.
MS. JACOBSON said she is very enthusiastic about the possibility
of doing gap analysis with the $12.8 million three year
statewide longitudinal database grant that DOLWD, DEED, the
university and the Alaska Postsecondary Commission are applying
for.
9:19:56 AM
CHAIR SEATON clarified that the ASD Memorandum 96 longitudinal
study traced a cohort of students 8th grade through high school
to see where and why they dropped out before graduation. He
wondered if that type of study was being done for the people who
enter a teaching program, looking at completion percentages and
the factors that caused people to leave the program.
9:21:33 AM
CHANCELLOR PUGH said it's particularly easy to track the
students in the master of teaching program, but they aren't
doing a good job of tracking freshmen who say they want to
become teachers. He offered to work with the education deans and
the institutional research offices to look at doing that sort of
tracking. He cautioned that it's not straightforward because
students have to fulfill basic requirements before they can
start a teaching program so many don't start until their junior
year.
9:23:03 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked if statutory changes would be
required to allow disparate pay ranges for math and science
teachers.
CHANCELLOR PUGH said he isn't an expert in labor relations but
he imagines that contractual changes would be necessary.
REPRESENTATIVE BUCH said that next year he'd like to hear about
what the university believes it will be addressing five to ten
years from now.
9:27:00 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked if university staff is using new
research when they are teaching prospective new teachers to
address individual needs in the classroom.
CHANCELLOR PUGH replied the university is research-driven so the
faculty stays abreast of new research and all the programs are
designed to ensure that the teachers are prepared and understand
individual differences.
CHAIR SEATON thanked the university and opined that the
legislation requiring this annual report has served both the
university and the Legislature well in directing a focus on
globally looking at how to prepare teachers to meet Alaskan
needs. He noted that this committee has been looking at the new
book, "Drive, the Science of Motivation" and suggested the
university consider using it.
At ease from 9:32 a.m. to 9:34 a.m.
^Best Beginnings/Early Childhood
9:36:20 AM
CHAIR SEATON announced the final order of business would be a
presentation by Best Beginnings.
9:36:44 AM
ABBE HENSLEY, Executive Director, Best Beginnings, CANDACE
WINKLER, CEO, Thread - Alaska's early care and education
connection, JOY LYON, Executive Director, Alaska Association for
the Education of Young Children, and MELISSA PICKLE, Director,
Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP), Parents as
Teachers (PAT) program, introduced themselves.
MS. HENSLEY thanked the committee for its ongoing support of
young children and their families and said this presentation
would focus on the early care and education public policy
priorities for this year. She informed the committee that
they're talking about a comprehensive early childhood system to
deal with the fewer than 50,000 children under the age of five
in this state. It's a collaborative effort between Best
Beginnings at the statewide level and local partnerships to
bring better services closer to home in a most cost effective
manner.
9:41:07 AM
Last year the Legislature budgeted $200,000 to Best Beginnings
and $50,000 helped support the development of nine local early
childhood partnerships. These local partners conducted need and
asset assessments in their local communities and the priorities
that they identified are being developed into strategic plans
for the next two years. This year, she said, they are asking the
Legislature for $1 million to provide grants to the partnerships
and support of this network.
MS. HENSLEY displayed a graph to demonstrate the partnership
growth as a result of funding from Best Beginnings. The $50,000
in state funds was leveraged with $59,000 in corporate funding,
and then the local communities, through cash or in-kind, came up
with an additional $133,000. The governor's current budget has
$200,000 for Best Beginnings to do that work and for the
Imagination Library.
9:43:01 AM
MS. HENSLEY said that the second initiative she wanted to focus
on is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Alaska. For $30
per participating child per year the Dollywood Foundation mails
an age-appropriate book to that child each month. The
partnership members also help establish and encourage parent
engagement and community activities for these children and their
families. The funding for the 7,594 Alaskan children who are
currently enrolled in the Imagination Library came from a
variety of sources including the Rasmuson Foundation. She said
that they're looking for $400,000 to support this work.
9:44:30 AM
MELISSA PICKLE, Director, Rural Alaska Community Action Program
(RurAL CAP), Parents as Teachers (PAT) program, said she would
talk about early childhood home visitation programs as well as
Head Start. She clarified that these visitations can occur
outside the home if that is more comfortable for the parent. The
positive outcomes they've seen includes: improved parenting
practices by promoting early literacy practices in the home;
prevention of child abuse and neglect; screenings to help
identify developmental issues early on; increased readiness for
school; and later on increased parent involvement in school.
9:45:39 AM
MS. PICKLE displayed a graph depicting the neural connections in
the brain to demonstrate that the early years in a child's life
are so critical. For young children the initial neural
connections for hearing, vision, language, and cognitive
functioning are being are being laid four months before birth
and reach peak formation before the second birthday. All future
growth is based on what happens during this critical two to
three year period, she said.
REPRESENTATIVE BUCH asked for additional information on the
source of the data, identified as C.A. Nelson (2000).
9:47:06 AM
MS. PICKLE agreed to provide the information.
She displayed a graph that showed that parents involved in the
Parents as Teachers program stay involved in their children's
learning after they go to school. Their involvement included
attending special events, volunteering, attending PTA meetings,
talking to teachers, initiating contact with the school, and
helping with schoolwork. She said she recognizes that some
people question whether parents need support to raise their
children, but the parents who enroll in the PAT program do so
voluntarily. When they enroll in the program they fill out a
survey that asks about their parenting practices and knowledge
of child development so that the services can be more
individualized.
She pointed out that Parents as Teachers program does not
receive any state funding, but in 2008-09 federal grants funded
11 programs that served 910 families in 47 communities. This
year they have only 8 programs because federal dollars are
scarce.
9:49:24 AM
MS. PICKLE said that the Head Start/Early Head Start programs
also include personal visitation. Eligibility for these
comprehensive school readiness programs is based on income and
in Alaska poverty of access is taken into consideration.
Services include classroom and personal visits as well as home
visitation services in certain communities. Parents are involved
in the design and implementation of these programs. The 16 Head
Start grantees in this state provide services in more than 100
communities and they serve over 3,500 children. The federal
government provides about 75 percent of the funding and the
state provides about 25 percent.
The summary report of services identified: 276 children that
needed medical treatment; 515 children that needed dental
treatment; 77 children that needed mental health services; 379
children that had special needs; and 1,119 parents that asked
for parenting information. The average pay for a Head Start
teacher in Alaska who has a bachelor's degree is $27,744. Most
of the teachers do not have a degree and thus are paid much
less.
MS. PICKLE directed attention to the Alaska Head Start
Association (AHSA) 2010 critical issues document in the packets
and highlighted that there are currently 711 children on the
wait list for services and that doesn't include the families
that have said it's futile to sign up because the wait list is
so long. Additional funding is also needed to repair facilities
and to develop the workforce and meet the new guidelines
requiring all teachers to have bachelor's degrees by 2014.
9:51:54 AM
CANDACE WINKLER, CEO of Thread, Alaska's early care and
education connection, said that while Thread was established
about 24 years ago, it's in just the last several years that
they've become a part of this statewide partnership. And in the
last six months they've taken on the new name. She pointed out
that every year they work with about 7,600 families to find
early care and education services. This provides a good sense of
the needs and challenges that parents face. Aside from the
university, they play the largest role in providing training and
technical assistance to early care and education teachers both
at the individual teacher level and at the program level, she
said.
MS. WINKLER said that today she wanted to focus on the
intersection between early childhood education and supporting
parents being able to work. In Alaska, about 60,000 children are
under age six and about 40,000 of those children have all of
their parents in the workforce and thus need child care, but
there are fewer than 24,000 licensed or approved spaces in child
care, Head Start, and preschools. This large gap in services
creates a real financial challenge for families; 36 percent of
households across the state indicated that they had work
restrictions because of affordability, availability, or quality
issues related to child care.
9:54:33 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked how many of the children that fall
in the gap are cared for by family members.
MS. WINKLER replied they don't know and some of those are
probably in safe environments, but they do know that lots of
families want to go back to work but they can't because of
problems with availability, affordability and quality of child
care. Continuing with the presentation, she displayed a slide
showing that the state is investing the least during the most
critical time for brain development.
MS. WINKLER said that the goal of providing lower income
children access to quality child care is best accomplished by
increasing the reimbursement rates for child care assistance.
The increase that came out several weeks ago moved infant care
reimbursement rates to the 75th percentile and the rest of the
rates to the 50th percentile. The national best practice and
what Alaska has set as its goal in the early childhood
comprehensive system is to have all reimbursement rates at the
75th percentile. The other piece of child care assistance, she
said, is related to family eligibility. Those rates haven't been
reviewed since 2002 so there are lots of families that are
struggling and still unable to get assistance.
9:56:57 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked if some of the children that fall in
the gap are in "illegal" child care.
MS. WINKLER replied some categories are unregulated and could be
illegal in terms of health and safety issues.
9:58:10 AM
MS. WINKLER said she was also asked to talk about the quality
rating and improvement system (QRIS). This is a comprehensive
way to help parents evaluate child care using a system that is
similar to the star system for restaurants or hotels. The QRIS
provides clear standards that allow parents to drive the market
and it's a clear pathway for bringing programs together and
improving their quality. It also provides a way for public
policy makers to assess any sort of intervention.
MS. WINKLER recapped that Alaska's standards based early care
and education system is comprised of: standards for programs and
practitioners; an assessment to measure the standards; access to
financial support for families (child care assistance and Head
Start funding); incentives for programs once needs are
identified; support for professional development (Ms. Lyon will
address this.); and ratings that communicate and make sense to
parents and policy makers. Many states are establishing similar
systems and the federal government is focusing on QRISs as a
comprehensive approach for changing the quality of the overall
system, she said.
10:01:10 AM
JOY LYON, Executive Director, Alaska Association for the
Education of Young Children, said one of the most important
components of the quality rating improvement system is the
teacher education levels. Research has found that this is the
indicator that most highly correlates with higher outcomes for
children and higher quality programs. The recruiting and
retaining difficulties that the university mentioned are
magnified 100-fold in the early childhood field because the
average wage for child care is only $9 per hour, she said.
Currently, less than 10 percent of people in this field have a
college degree, but the national accreditation and Head Start
standards are moving toward having a bachelor degree in each
classroom. Alaska has a ways to go to meet that standard, she
said, but doing so will impact turnover rates.
States that have linked salary incentives to professional
development have dramatically reduced turnover rates and this,
in turn, has impacted the students' ability to learn because the
relationship between students and their teachers is so very
important.
MS. HENSLEY thanked the committee and reiterated that the list
of their priorities is in the handouts along with contact
numbers if additional information is desired.
10:04:09 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON commented that based on the information
the committee received today, she isn't sure that the state is
putting its funds in the right place. If year one is so critical
we should be zeroing in there, she said.
10:04:43 AM
MS. PICKLE said that if you don't address the critical time
between birth and age five it takes the rest of a child's
educational career to catch up and sometimes it's not possible
to catch up.
MS. WINKLER added that there is no silver bullet because
families have so many different needs and challenges. There's a
need to support the parenting aspect but there's also a need to
support the working aspect while making sure that the children
are growing and developing. Sometimes a publicly funded pre-K
program in the school for several hours is appropriate, but for
children who are in out-of-home care all day, that needs to be
the highest quality learning environment. While it has to be a
comprehensive approach, everyone would agree that focusing on
these early years is the best strategy for the state.
CHAIR SEATON thanked the presenters and commented that this
committee was impressed with how effective the Parents as
Teachers program has been in Angoon and Hoonah.
10:07:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MUNOZ informed the committee that tomorrow at 5
p.m. Senator Davis is leading a group of legislative women on
child care.
10:07:48 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Seaton adjourned the House Education Standing Committee
meeting at 10:07 a.m.
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