Legislature(2021 - 2022)DAVIS 106
05/08/2021 09:00 AM House EDUCATION
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB164 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 164 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 164-EARLY ED PROGRAMS; READING; VIRTUAL ED
9:03:57 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY announced that the only order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 164, "An Act relating to early education
programs provided by school districts; relating to school age
eligibility; relating to early education programs; establishing
a parents as teachers program; relating to the duties of the
Department of Education and Early Development; relating to
certification of teachers; establishing a reading intervention
program for public school students enrolled in grades
kindergarten through three; establishing a reading program in
the Department of Education and Early Development; relating to a
virtual education consortium; and providing for an effective
date."
[Before the committee, adopted as a working document during the
4/23/21 House Education Standing Committee meeting, was the
proposed committee substitute (CS) for HB 164, Version 32-
LS0731\I, Klein, 4/20/21, ("Version I").]
9:04:34 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY re-opened public testimony on HB 164.
9:04:55 AM
TIMOTHY BARTO, Vice President of External Relations, Alaska
Policy Forum, testified in support of HB 164. He read his
testimony, which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Reading improvement legislation, what we have come to
refer to as K-3 Literacy or Read By 9, has been
introduced and debated in the Legislature since 2013.
In that time, Alaska's fourth grade students have
consistently ranked dead last in reading competency
when measured against fourth graders in the other 49
states and the District of Columbia.
Alaska has good teachers, and our students have the
same potential for learning as do children in the rest
of the country, yet our children are still not
learning the most basic of educational skills -
reading. This despite Alaska ranking among the five
highest spending-per-student states in the country.
We spend heavily on education, but our children cannot
read. For the sake of our children and the future of
our state, this must change, and that change can be
made through a robust K3 literacy program.
Reading should be the fundamental educational
objective in our public schools. All other curricula
are secondary. Children's brains allow them to learn
to read at a more efficient rate prior to age nine.
Children who learn to read by age nine then use their
reading skills to continue learning other subjects.
Children who are not competent readers by age nine are
more likely to fall behind in their studies, drop out
of school, live in poverty, or end up in prison. There
is plenty of data that supports these unfortunate
realities.
There are several aspects to making sure students are
keeping up with expectations. These include early and
continuous parental notification of struggling
readers, pairing the weakest readers with the most
highly effective reading teachers, and instruction in
phonological awareness. Student reading progress will
be closely monitored, and those who are not attaining
proficient reading scores prior to third grade will be
afforded these interventions. Students who attain
proficient reading scores by the end of third grade
will be promoted to the fourth grade. But, if a
student's reading scores are not to standard by the
end of third grade, that student should not be
promoted to fourth grade. Yes, this sounds harsh, and
it goes against society's prevailing ideals of
promoting self-esteem, but the child who has to repeat
third grade will, in that repeated year, get the
focused attention he or she needs to attain a
proficient reading level. Holding students back is not
punishment. It provides them an opportunity to catch
up and help avoid all those resultant issues mentioned
earlier dropping out, living in poverty, serving
time in prison.
Many other states have been hugely successful with K3
literacy programs, Florida and Mississippi among them.
Both states passed early reading legislation and their
students' reading competency levels dramatically
increased. Alaska can do the same, and we can do it
with legislation that is now before this committee in
House Bill 164.
Alaska Policy Forum encourages this committee to pass
reading intervention legislation this session. The
education of our public-school children and the future
of our state will be greatly enhanced by it.
9:07:58 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GILLHAM asked Mr. Barto for his thoughts on the
early education and virtual education components of the proposed
legislation.
MR. BARTO replied that the Alaska Policy Forum is focused on the
reading component, but the organization has no problems with the
other components.
9:09:33 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked whether the Alaska Policy Forum has
studied Alaska's education system in terms of the challenges of
implementing the programs proposed under HB 164.
MR. BARTO responded that the Alaska Policy Forum is of the
opinion that teachers, while perhaps in need of specialized
instruction, are equipped to teach reading, and that there
doesn't need to be any "great overhaul."
9:12:06 AM
DEBORAH RIX, Alaska State Literacy Association (ASL), testified
in support of HB 164. She read her testimony as follows:
Thank you for this opportunity to testify for
educational improvements that will impact all of
Alaska's students. We particularly want to express
our support for the inclusion of quality, voluntary
pre-k programs. Today I'd like to highlight
particular parts of HB 164 that our members have
expressed comments or questions about. The Alaska
state standards identify English language arts as
reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We are
concerned that writing is not addressed in this bill.
From a position statement from the International
Literacy Association, titled "Teaching Writing to
Improve Reading Skills," published in 2020, the
research has found that there is scientific evidence
that supports the belief that reading contributes to
learning how to write. The question that was then
asked was whether the relationship is reciprocal. By
analyzing published research it was found that
writing, and the teaching of writing, enhances
comprehension, fluency, word recognition, and
decoding. With the recommendation that students in
elementary grades are given at least thirty minutes
daily dedicated to writing, we would then suggest that
any intervention program being considered also contain
a writing component to help in developing reading
proficiency.
Our organization believes that the partnerships with
our students' families are critical to success. Thank
you for emphasizing this in the bill. However, the
size of staff varies considerably, from small village
schools to our larger urban areas. We worry that
teachers and paraprofessionals do not have the
capacity to implement the individual reading
improvement plans, intensive reading intervention
services outside of school hours, provide parent
resources and training workshops, and possibly plan
for 20-hour summer intervention services.
If you could please provide clarify around the midyear
advancement piece. We know that students do not all
learn to read at exactly the same grade or
chronological age. If a child is retained in one
grade level, then makes developmental growth, which
results in them catching up, then will they be
promoted, midyear, to the original grade? This seems
highly disruptive to the students' well-being, and
impacts the whole class. We're wondering if this is a
practice that's being used in other districts, and
what related research has shown for using this
practice. What would this look like?
Our members of ASL live and work around the state;
some of us are working in districts right now with
prescribed reading programs. Educators need to
consider the importance that background knowledge
plays in language and literacy acquisition. Often the
measures used to label readers are disconnected from
their indigenous life experience. Standardized tests
don't capture the fortitude, problem solving skills,
creativity, and methods of observation that our rural
Alaskan students display every day. We're concerned
that the use of assessments and programs that haven't
been normed on an Alaskan population will negatively
impact students and districts by identifying a larger
percentage of this population as deficient.
9:16:32 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND expressed agreement regarding the
importance of writing, and said she wishes schools would focus
more on handwriting. She then asked whether the members of ASL
are educators.
MS. RIX replied that they are, and she said there are three
active local councils.
9:17:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX noted the point about assessments of
students who live indigenous lifestyles. He then asked whether
ASL has considered how the issue could be addressed.
MS. RIX shared her observation that standardized tests given to
children in village schools don't provide an accurate picture of
what the kids know.
9:21:00 AM
REBECCA HIMSCHOOT testified in support of HB 164. She
paraphrased her testimony, which read as follows [original
punctuation provided]:
HB 164 is a good bill and it will make a difference
for the vast majority of Alaska's struggling readers.
I want to provide two considerations today. One is
expectations management, and closely tied to that is
attention to an important and overlooked group of
learners.
First, as policy makers you are charged with carefully
considering how public funds are spent, or in the case
of schools, how funds are "invested." You are looking
for accountability for the investment you're making in
this bill, and I applaud that. Alaska's schools and
educators must stand ready to deliver on the promise
of this bill.
However, I would invite you to carefully consider the
data you are using as the baseline measure from which
schools and students will grow with this legislation.
I have heard the NAEP referenced countless times, and
as the nation's oldest test I support it as a measure
of our schools' successes. However, I strongly urge
you to disaggregate the data you see in the NAEP for
Alaska when you do, you will discover how very much
Alaska Native students are struggling to learn to
read. With this in mind, I ask you to manage your
expectations for the outcomes we hope this legislation
with deliver the time it will take to improve
outcomes for Alaska Native learners will need to be
measured in decades, not years.
Perhaps the greatest mandate our schools have, from
federal funders to the local level, is to provide
equity. It is a well-documented fact that English
Language Learners are most successful when they can
draw on fluency in their first language. Alaska Native
students are English Language Learners who are also
learning their first language a heavy but critical
lift as we seek to preserve and perpetuate Indigenous
languages across the state. And that heavy lift is
being asked of 10 year olds.
Research is very clear: a child who is learning a
second language without deep fluency in their first
language will struggle. In a gross oversimplification
I will illustrate my point this way: if words were
crayons, we are asking Alaska Native students to use
the full palate of the 64- crayon box when they are
equipped with only the 8-crayon box.
In correspondence with DEED I have found we have
little expertise in the department on how best to
develop second language skills in Indigenous learners,
however, I believe that expertise may exist in other
places such as Arizona, New Mexico, or Australia.
As you temper your expectations for the outcomes this
bill will bring, I strongly urge you to convene a task
force of world experts, alongside Alaska's incredible
experts in immersion programming and language
revitalization to help us learn what is known about
best practices for Indigenous English Language
Learners. It's a matter of equity, and it's a belated
but important step in the right direction.
9:25:33 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked whether it is possible to separate
urban assessment scores from rural ones.
MS. HIMSCHOOT replied that it is possible and is an important
tool to identify areas in which students need more support.
9:26:41 AM
ABBE HENSLEY, Executive Director, Best Beginnings, testified in
support of HB 164. She discussed how early learning and
literacy begins at birth, as well as support for parents and
caregivers as children's first teachers. She said in the past
several years, typical first grade curriculum has been pushed
into kindergarten, and kindergarten into preschool. She said
she is pleased to see the inclusion of "developmentally
appropriate objectives for children four and five years of age"
in the preschool section of the proposed legislation, rather
than academic standards appropriate for older children. She
said she hopes the "developmentally appropriate" designation is
considered when school boards begin working to establish
standards, along with the standards including reading fluency,
vocabulary, and oral language skills.
MS. HENSLEY commented that "reading at grade level" seems to be
the only criteria considered in sections regarding retention and
progression, and she asked whether a child with skills above
their grade level in all subjects except reading would be
retained. She discussed the definition of "culturally
responsive," expressing that it should be expanded to include
the many cultures represented in Alaska. She encouraged the
committee to include adequate funding for additional
professional staff who could help ensure the success of the
early childhood program, and she encouraged cooperation to
consult early childhood education leadership, including Head
Start, as the program begins development. She said the American
Academy of Pediatrics recommend that parents start reading with
their children beginning at birth, as befitting the first three
years of brain development, and she said research shows that
parents who read with children are less likely to employ harsh
parenting practices.
9:33:05 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked Ms. Hensley how many books Best
Beginnings has distributed to families in its 15 years of
operation, and how many children have been reached.
MS. HENSLEY replied that the program reaches 117 communities,
and as of September 2018, approximately 2 million books had been
distributed.
9:34:30 AM
JESSICA WILLIS shared that she teaches first grade, and she said
she has experience teaching early education in an Inupiat
community. She voiced support for the voluntary early education
and reading education programs, and stated her agreement with a
comprehensive literacy program that includes phonemic awareness,
phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, which are
referred to as the "Big 5" by the National Reading Panel. She
said the teaching of writing is a missing component of the
proposed legislation, and that given the complete tools, a
teacher can provide an enriching curriculum in literacy. She
said children who are excited about reading and writing want to
experience it with their peers, and she shared an anecdote of an
advanced reader sharing her skills with a friend who was a
struggling reader. She said, "Reading helps writing. Writing
helps reading," and she said both are important to a
comprehensive literacy program.
9:38:23 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked how writing relates to the "Big 5"
in daily academics, and what defines the teaching of writing.
MS. WILLIS explained that phonemic awareness is hearing,
recognizing, and manipulating sounds and words, and that she
uses it daily in her teaching. She discussed phonics and sight
words, which can't be sounded out and must be memorized, and she
said that as children write, they use outside resources to make
phonemic connections.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND said another testifier had noted the
exclusion of writing in the proposed legislation. She discussed
"writing" as sentences and paragraphs instead of using phonemic
manipulators to learn words.
CO-CHAIR STORY suggested asking Ms. Willis to email her thoughts
regarding writing.
9:42:42 AM
TERESA WROBEL, testified in support of HB 164, expressing her
appreciation of the educational opportunities she as a child.
9:44:35 AM
DANYELLE KIMP, President, Alaska Coalition of BIPOC [Black,
Indigenous, People of Color] Educators, testified in support of
HB 164. He said the mission of the coalition is to champion
equity in education for communities of color, prioritizing the
health and safety of educators and students, equity in academic
opportunities, and hiring and retaining educators of color. He
discussed the need for flexibility for smaller communities, as
well as the need for additional support for struggling students.
He offered to help with the proposed legislation.
9:47:41 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY asked Mr. Kimp whether he had any comments on the
bill's shortcomings.
MR. KIMP replied that he was just introduced to the bill
yesterday, and that he didn't see anything regarding speech and
language services. He asked Co-Chair Story to "speak to that."
CO-CHAIR STORY explained that a child with speech or language
issues would have an individual education plan (IEP) with a
special education teacher as part of their curriculum.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND said children with speech and language
deficiencies are eligible for special education services
starting at the age of three.
9:49:23 AM
PETER HOEPFNER, Vice President, Cordova School Board, expressed
approval for the reading program in HB 164, saying that he
appreciates the inclusion of DEED assistance for teacher
development. Regarding the grant for early education, he
expressed doubt regarding the repealers, as early education has
been proven to ready students for learning; pre-k needs to be
fully included and funded, he said. He expressed that Cordova
is "gasping" from the lack of funding, and that the Cordova
School District is eliminating pre-k programs. Education
funding has increased by 8 percent in 10 years, he said, while
the consumer price index has increased by 27 percent and health
insurance has increased 326 percent.
9:51:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked whether Cordova has the ability to
provide pre-k.
MR. HOEPFNER responded that Cordova does not have the ability to
provide pre-k, explaining that it costs $100,000 to hire a
teacher for eight pre-k children, and if that maximum of eight
children is exceeded, another $50,000 is needed to hire a
paraprofessional. He said he understands the importance of pre-
k, and he said what used to be learned in first or second grade
is now learned in kindergarten. He said it's "pretty sad" that
this is the state of education in Alaska.
9:53:08 AM
DORA WILSON, Member, Anchorage School Board, testified in
support of HB 164. She said universal access to pre-k is of
"critical importance," and she said children who enter
kindergarten without pre-k experience are at a disadvantage
compared to those who had quality pre-k education, in which
instruction was guided by developmentally appropriate curricula.
She said the proposed legislation is an opportunity to support a
long-term plan for reducing the achievement gap.
9:55:55 AM
TAMMY SMITH shared that she is currently a special education
teacher and has a background in reading development for grades
one through three. She expressed support for the pre-k program,
the "culturally responsive" portion of the bill, and for
professional development in reading for teachers. She said
questions of retention must be left up to the school, teacher,
parents, and sometimes a healthcare provider, and she said
writing components are a part of any suitable reading program.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked Ms. Smith whether she would
recommend including language for retention in the proposed
legislation.
MS. SMITH replied, "I do not support retention in the bill, at
all." She expressed that conversations about retention are
private and should remain at the local level.
9:59:58 AM
JOY LYON, Director, Association of Education of Young Children,
Southeast Alaska, testified in support of HB 164. She commented
on the value of the Parents As Teachers program and paraphrased
a portion of her written testimony, which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
Though a small part of this complex bill, I invite you
to highlight the section in gold regarding building a
statewide system of Parents as Teachers. This evidence
based program is proven to increase parents reading
with children, and to increase parent's involvement in
their child's education straight through to high
school graduation. Every visit celebrates what the
parent notices their child is learning, and includes
books, information, and activities to support their
development, as well as health and developmental
screenings. The program is cost effective, at about a
quarter of the cost per child as a year of PreK.
Recommending school districts provide space for
Parents as Teachers is an excellent part of the bill.
This connects families from the start with their local
neighborhood school community.
10:04:33 AM
BARBARA RAGAN testified in support of HB 164. She said she is a
third-grade teacher with a master's degree in language and
literacy, and a K-12 reading endorsement. She said each child
has different needs, and that language in the proposed
legislation regarding retention, as well as regarding a
statewide screening tool, is concerning. She discussed some of
the shortcomings in online reading tests, sharing that students
often become overwhelmed by the formatting difficulties. She
described a type of assessment test during which she sits with a
child, and the child shares their thought process; she then uses
the data to plan for differentiated literacy instruction. She
pointed out that reading intervention, as described in the text
of the proposed legislation, would be delivered in addition to
regular reading instruction, and she said asked where the
reading teachers and funding will be found.
10:09:27 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY, after ascertaining that no one else wished to
testify, closed public testimony on HB 164.
[HB 164 was held over.]
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|