Legislature(2009 - 2010)CAPITOL 106
02/27/2009 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Overview(s): Correspondence and Home School Programs | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 27, 2009
8:04 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Paul Seaton, Chair
Representative Cathy Engstrom Munoz, Vice Chair
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative Wes Keller
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Robert L. "Bob" Buch
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Berta Gardner
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
OVERVIEW(S): CORRESPONDENCE AND HOME SCHOOL PROGRAMS
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
EDDY JEANS, Director
School Finance and Facilities Section
Department of Education and Early Development (EED)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided EED information during the
overview on Alaska's correspondence and home schools.
JACK PHELPS, Representative
Alaska Private and Home Educators Association (APHEA)
Palmer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Described the APHEA program during the
overview of Alaska's correspondence and home schools.
BARBARA HEINRICHS, Member
Board of Directors
Alaska Home Educators Alliance (AHEA)
Kodiak, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Outlined the services provided by AHEA
during the overview of Alaskan correspondence and home schools.
GLEN BIEGEL, Member
Board of Directors
Alaska Home Educators Alliance (AHEA)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the overview of Alaskan
correspondence and home schools.
STEVEN MUSSER, Assistant Superintendent
Galena School District
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information on the Interior
Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA) program, during the overview
of Alaska's correspondence and home school programs.
KELLY FOREMAN, Chairman
Eagle River Christian Home School Association (ERCHA)
Eagle River, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the overview of Alaska's
correspondence and home school programs.
DEBBIE JOSLIN, President
Eagle Forum Alaska
Delta Junction, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the overview of Alaska's
correspondence and home school programs.
ANNIE DOUGHERTY, Advisory Teacher
Chugach Extension School
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the overview of Alaska's
correspondence and home school programs.
ANDREA BERG, Assistant Superintendant
Yukon Koyukuk School District
Raven Correspondence School
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the overview on Alaska's
correspondence and home school programs.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:04:27 AM
CHAIR PAUL SEATON called the House Education Standing Committee
meeting to order at 8:04 a.m. Representatives Seaton, Munoz,
Buch, Edgmon, Keller, and Wilson were present at the call to
order.
8:05:14 AM
^OVERVIEW(S): CORRESPONDENCE AND HOME SCHOOL PROGRAMS
CHAIR SEATON announced that the only order of business would be
an overview of Alaska's correspondence and home school programs.
8:05:48 AM
EDDY JEANS, Director, School Finance and Facilities Section,
Department of Education and Early Development (EED), said that,
for funding purposes, home school support and traditional
correspondence study programs are categorized together. He
defined correspondence programs, paraphrasing from the EED
regulations [original punctuation provided]:
4 AAC 09.990. Definitions
(a) In AS 14.17 and this chapter, unless the context
requires otherwise,
(3) "correspondence study program" means any
educational program, including a charter school
program or a state supported home-schooling program,
that provides
(A) for each secondary course, less than three hours
per week of scheduled face-to-face interaction, in the
same location, between a teacher certificated under AS
14.20.020 and each class;
(B) for elementary students, less than 15 hours per
week of scheduled face-to-face interaction, in the
same location, between a teacher certificated under AS
14.20.020 and each full-time equivalent elementary
student.
MR. JEANS summarized that the department determines
correspondence by the number of hours/courses that a child is
engaged in face-to-face contact, at a central location, with a
certified teacher.
8:07:28 AM
REPRESENTATIVE BUCH asked for clarification on the minimum
hourly requirements.
MR. JEANS responded that it became difficult to define
correspondence in Alaska, when the public school system began
providing support to home school students. The criteria is
based on the hourly time that a student is in the presence of a
certified teacher, or the number of courses overseen by a
certified teacher. If the hours exceed the defined
requirements, then the funding is provided through the school
formula size adjustment table.
8:08:50 AM
CHAIR SEATON reminded the committee that the point of discussion
relates to how these independent programs are funded.
MR. JEANS said the department requires minimal interaction by a
home school student/family and a certified teacher, but at least
once per month. He reported that Alaska has 27 defined
correspondence programs encompassing charter schools,
traditional correspondence programs, and home school support.
CHAIR SEATON called attention to the committee packet to
indicate the list of these programs.
8:09:57 AM
MR. JEANS pointed out that the information also includes the
average daily membership (ADM) for correspondence programs,
which totals approximately 10,300 students statewide. Prior to
this year, he said, the department did not regulate in-district
correspondence initiatives, and only regulated the statewide
programs that serve students outside of district boundaries. At
the regular State Board of Education meeting, in August 2008, it
was decided that for programs that offer family allotment
accounts, the regulations should apply the same for statewide
and in-district programs. The allotment accounts are primarily
home school families receiving reimbursement for the cost of
instructional materials/supplies. Restrictions have been placed
on what the districts reimburse families for, such as out of
state travel, clothing/uniforms, pet purchases, furniture, or
entertainment. He clarified that the decision, became effective
in the 2008-2009 school year.
8:12:39 AM
CHAIR SEATON asked if it is possible to ascertain which programs
are strictly correspondent versus home school support.
MR. JEANS highlighted the schools on the list which are home
school support programs: Family Partnership Charter School
(Anchorage), Frontier Charter School (Anchorage), Chugach
Extension Correspondence (Chugach School), PACE Correspondence
(Craig City), Interior Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA)
(Galena), Connections (Kenai Peninsula), CyberLynx
Correspondence Program (Nenana), and Raven Correspondence School
(Yukon Koyukuk). Three are blended programs: Delta Cyber
School (Delta-Greely), Fairbanks B.E.S.T. (Fairbanks), and
Correspondence Study School (Matanuska-Susitna).
8:15:26 AM
JACK PHELPS, Representative, Alaska Private and Home Educators
Association (APHEA), provided a brief history of the association
in developing home school educational goals and legal rights,
since its inception in 1986. The year 1995 saw Governor Tony
Knowles sign a resolution acknowledging the value of privately
educated home school students to the state. He described how
many of the students, having attended universities outside of
the state, return to Alaska to hold important positions, and are
rearing a second generation of home schooled children. Also,
many have served, with distinction, in the military forces. He
cited AS 14.30.010, the compulsory attendance statute, which was
amended in 1996 to include provision 010(b)(12), language
allowing an attendance exemption to students who are home
schooling. This ensures parents the opportunity to choose home
schooling without fear of legal recourse. The association
mission is to help assert and protect the rights of parents to
make appropriate educational decisions for their children. To
meet this goal, APHEA advocates choice, including opportunities
for public school, correspondence programs, or home school.
Every state sanctions some aspect of home schooling, he
maintained, which is making a significant contribution to our
society.
8:21:16 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked how many children in the state are
being schooled in this manner.
MR. PHELPS replied that a census has not been taken to provide a
statistical base. With the advent of state assistance money,
many families are taking a different educational route.
However, he hazarded a guess in the low thousands.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON queried if standardized tests are
administered to establish similar bench marks parallel to what
is required in the public schools.
MR. PHELPS answered that many parents utilize the IOWA Basic
Skills test. He added that the home school community seniors
are routinely accommodated by local high schools to take college
entrance exams.
8:24:17 AM
BARBARA HEINRICHS, Member, Board of Directors, Alaska Home
Educators Alliance (AHEA), explained the role of AHEA as a
liaison between home educators and the various program
opportunities. The organization monitors legislative action
that effects home school families. On the legislature's behalf,
they hold parents accountable for appropriate expenditure of
state allocated funding.
8:27:06 AM
GLEN BIEGEL, Member, Board of Directors, Alaska Home Educators
Alliance (AHEA), added that one of the founding principles of
AHEA has been the Safety Performance Equity and Cost (SPEC)
program. Further, correspondence programs are funded at the 80
percent level and do not benefit from a multiplier, in the
funding formula. About 44 of the districts do not have in-
district correspondence programs, and the statewide services are
utilized, in that absence. The statewide program availability
is the guarantor for equity in the system, offering a buffer
against local district program/policy changes. He described the
oversight effort AHEA maintains to be alert to regulatory
changes, or other government actions, which would directly
effect home school programs.
8:31:45 AM
CHAIR SEATON requested clarification regarding the dynamic
between in-district versus statewide programs.
MR. BIEGEL explained that suggestions have been made to end
statewide correspondence programs, particularly in areas where
an in-district program is available. However, the ability for a
district to restrict home school programs is immense, he
reported. Decision making at the PTA and local authority level
can have significant impacts and effectively erode the system.
In-district freedoms are essentially guaranteed by statewide
correspondence programs, that have a home school basis, he
opined.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER suggested this as a topic for a radio
program, The Fastest Radio Show on Earth [hosted by Mr. Biegel].
8:34:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON requested clarity on the acronym SPEC.
MR. BIEGEL stated that statewide correspondence programs are
subject to different treatment in regulation, hence the "E" for
"equity."
8:35:17 AM
STEVEN MUSSER, Assistant Superintendent, Galena School District,
directed attention to the committee packet and the handout
titled "Interior Distance Education of Alaska IDEA". Describing
the program he paraphrased from the handout, which read as
follows [original punctuation provided]:
IDEA (Interior Distance Education of Alaska) was
created by the Galena City School District in 1997 to
support homeschooling families. The enrollment that
first year surprised us all when it went to 1,157 and
then tripled the following year. Of the students
enrolled in the first year of IDEA, 88% of them had
never attended public or private school, which
confirmed to us that IDEA was meeting a need among
Alaskan students. Our mission is to provide resources
and support to parents who have elected to educate
their children at home; to achieve a partnership with
families that honors the efforts and dedication of
homeschooling parents. Presently our enrollment stays
steady at around 3,500 students in kindergarten
th
through 12 grade. We operate offices in Juneau,
Soldotna, Anchorage, Wasilla, and Fairbanks.
Our enrollment at the end of the count period this
fall was 3,449.65 FTE [full time enrollment]. This
represented a drop of 95.45 students from the previous
school year. We are presently involved with our
reenrollment process for current students and we have
opened our online forms for enrollment for new
families for next year. The 08-09 school year
represented the first year that we were required to
remain open for enrollment year around. Presently we
have enrolled 107 new students since the end of the
count period. In the past we had closed enrollment
after the count period.
8:37:53 AM
MR. MUSSER pointed out the demographic table, page 2 of the
handout, and explained that many families are in the military,
creating a variable enrollment number. Continuing to page 3, he
indicated the enrollment totals listed by region: Region A
(Anchorage area) 872; Region F (Fairbanks area) 903; Region MS
(Mat-Su Valley) 894; Region K (Kenai Peninsula) 441; Region SE
(Southeast) 297; and Region G (off the road system) 216. He
continued paraphrasing:
Based upon employment and economic trends and military
deployments our enrollment by regions varies. To more
clearly understand the movement of students within the
various districts and programs throughout the state I
have attached the enrollment comparison that we do
each year based upon the numbers reported by DEED
[Department of Education and Early Development] after
the fall count period is complete. Funding for
correspondence programs is governed by AS 14.17.430
which states that we receive 80% of the base student
allocation and we do not receive funds for special
education or federal programs.
The IDEA program works very hard to meet the needs of
all enrolled students. We follow all federal and
state guidelines to provide appropriate special
education services. Each student has an IEP
[individual education program] team that meets to
determine the Least Restrictive Environment. We
strive to meet the individual needs of the student
through co-operative agreements with the local school
district or by specialized training by our special
education staff. We presently serve 140 special
education students with 7 certified and 1 classified
staff member and also employ speech services through
SERRC [Southeast Regional Resource Center] to meet our
needs outside of our staffing ability. Presently we
provide service to 11 of the 13 disability categories
within special education; we respect the boundaries of
the local school districts and do not provide direct
services to our students.
To meet the needs of our student body, we employ 30
certified teachers and 28 classified support staff.
All of our certified teachers are highly qualified
[HQ] in one or more areas and a few are highly
qualified in as many as 8 areas. Having a strong and
varied staff allows us to meet the HQ requirement.
Families enter into homeschooling for a variety of
reasons and with a student turnover rate of close to
1/3 some years our performance has its ups and downs.
The most important factor that contributes to our
success is parental involvement. This one factor has
the most impact on our continued high student
performance.
To compare our students against other schools'
performance is problematic. It is very difficult to
find a program with similar demographics. As the
largest program in the state, we have a Herculean task
to see that all IDEA students participate in the state
testing in the spring. Last year we tested 2,076
students at 72 different testing sites around the
state. The following graphs display our student
performance in the SBA's [standard based assessments]
for grades 3-10 over the last four years, showing the
comparison between IDEA test scores and the state
average in each subject area.
As a program we strongly encourage the families to use
the GLE's [grade level expectations] and state
standards as we work with them to develop their
students' Individual Learning Plan (ILP) each school
year. We have discovered that materials favored by
the one-on-one teaching environment of the
homeschooling family often presents information in a
different order than is laid out in the state
guidelines, particularly in the primary years.
However, as the students progress through the years,
student achievement levels increase.
Graduation rates and dropout rates are a topic of much
conversation lately. Last year we started a program
within IDEA which we call I-Grad. I-Grad helps
students finish their high school education by taking
online classes and through credit recovery. Presently
we have 105 students enrolled in I-Grad. This past
year we found that our graduation rate had fallen.
After analysis of the reasons for this, we put some
changes into effect within IDEA to address the
problem.
nd
IDEA is currently at level 5 2 year for AYP. Because
of our size we have found this a difficult target to
reach in all areas. We are currently providing
tutoring opportunities and workshops to the families
around the state where we have identified lower
performing students.
The Galena City School Board has supported and been
actively engaged in the development and operation of
the IDEA program from its inception. They believe in
diversity and educational opportunities for all
students. In addition to providing oversight and
direct involvement in program decisions, the school
board brings a group of IDEA parents to Galena itself
for [a] few days each year, with the goal of increased
communication and understanding between the parents in
IDEA and the school board members.
The IDEA program will continue to recognize and
validate the families in their belief in choice and
their desire/ability to home school their children.
We have found that most parents who commit to
homeschooling also commit themselves to their own
education and apply themselves to learning about the
materials and teaching techniques that will best meet
the needs of their students. We offer a huge range of
materials that parents can use, and provide
educational events such as Spelling Bee, Geography
Bee, Academic Decathlon, Close Up in both our state
and nation's capitals, and others. As a matter of
fact, we just finished the state Battle of the Books
yesterday. IDEA students took first in high school
and grades 5-6, were part of the three-way tie for
second in grades 7-8, and were third in grades 3-4.
Homeschooling is not the answer for everyone, but it
is a viable alternative with proven success.
Tailoring education to each student's needs provides
for a great deal of flexibility, which allows each
student to excel in his or her own way while still
meeting the expectations of the state. We are proud
of our support of homeschoolers these past twelve
years and look forward to our continuing partnership
with them.
8:44:33 AM
CHAIR SEATON noted the dramatic increase in the drop-out rate
reported for the 07-08 school year.
MR. MUSSER explained that 2007 was the first year that the I-
Grad program was launched, allowing high school drop-outs to
enter the program. The activity of incorporating these students
and seeing them through a year-round course of study, meant that
graduation for them occurred at different times of the year and
skewed the statistics.
8:48:45 AM
KELLY FOREMAN, Chairman, Eagle River Christian Home School
Association (ERCHA), paraphrased from a prepared statement,
which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
We are a local home school support association in the
Chugiak/Eagle River area serving families from
Anchorage, Eagle River, and the Mat-Su Valley. We
offer encouragement, advice, and fellowship for
families who have made the decision to educate their
children at home and have been in existence for about
the past 20 years.
Thank you for this opportunity to share about ERCHA
this morning. ERCHA members and, I am certain,
homeschoolers across the state are grateful to live in
the great state of Alaska where parents may choose to
exercise their constitutionally recognized rights to
educate their children at home. It is a huge
responsibility that each of us take very seriously.
Thank you for all that you are doing to help us
preserve that freedom.
ERCHA members use a variety of approaches to
homeschooling. Some of our member's home school
independent of any government funding or programs and
some of our families are enrolled in a correspondence
program or charter school program.
Regardless of approach, the following kinds of
activities are available for our members:
We offer monthly support group meetings with topics
relating to homeschooling to encourage families
We publish monthly newsletters that inform our
families of educational and entertaining events either
sponsored by ERCHA or organizations in the community
such as Anchorage Concert Association, the Imaginarium
Science Center and the Anchorage Public Library to
just name a few.
We facilitate enrichment activities to support what
children are learning at home…such as field trips,
workshops, and clubs. We are currently hosting Career
Exploration meetings for older children to hear from
adults in the community about their careers and
education or training needed for specific career
fields. Because of member involvement in the past 12
months or so we have offered a Geography Club, a Math
Club, a Presidential elections class, ballroom dancing
and contra dancing classes, writing seminars with an
internationally known instructor, field trips to the
Challenger Learning Center in Kenai, the Division of
Elections and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art.
Each year one of our members participates in the
Alaska Geographic Bee. In 2007, an ERCHA 8th grader
placed third in the state.
We plan monthly bowling, ice skating, and game days
for families to get together for socialization and
networking.
We maintain a resource lending library
Because we are a support association, we do not give
grades, keep academic records, or create transcripts
for our members.
I am a former public school teacher and have been
homeschooling for the past 11 years. Being members of
the House Education Committee, I am sure that you can
agree with me, that the homeschooling freedoms and
choices available in Alaska are working for families
and children.
Protecting homeschooling freedoms in Alaska is a win-
win situation for the children of Alaska. When I
taught, if a child had difficulty the goal was to get
some one-on-one time as soon as possible to help them.
In a homeschooling environment, that one-on-one time
happens each day.
The flexibility in tailoring each child's education to
the academic strengths and weaknesses of that child is
another bonus. I observe again and again that home
school children stay engaged and excited about
learning. Learning is not limited to a normal school
day, but often takes place during all the waking
hours.
As has been stated in many of your hearings this
session, parents are the first and best teachers that
a child has. The freedom that homeschoolers in Alaska
enjoy continues to allow that loving parent to direct
their child's education.
8:52:54 AM
CHAIR SEATON asked what social contacts are experienced by a
typical home school student outside of the planned home school
network activities.
MS. FOREMAN named a variety of outlets for social encounters
including the library and an e-mail loop. She underscored that
this is a support association, that operates without government
funding.
8:53:53 AM
DEBBIE JOSLIN, President, Eagle Forum Alaska, outlined the forum
as a pro-family group, with approximately 1,000 members.
Although less than half of the families home school their
children, all of the members support the option. She described
the home school that she houses, and her history with the home
school program. She outlined the Bob Jones curriculum that the
forum purchased and how the prescribed tests are administered by
hired outside participants. Many home school children are not
highly academic, she espoused, and many have special needs, who
do better at home than in a public environment. Delta Junction
does not have a support group, but the freedom to home school is
a priority.
9:00:24 AM
ANNIE DOUGHERTY, Advisory Teacher, Chugach Extension School,
began with a brief history of correspondence programs in Alaska,
paraphrasing from a prepared statement, which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
In the 1980's, Chugach School District began a
correspondence program as a way to provide an
appropriate education to students residing in remote
locations inside our district boundaries. The
advisory teacher traveled by boat, plane, and
snowshoes to visit our families and provide them with
support, material, assessment, and encouragement.
In 1994, our advisory teacher responded to the request
of families residing outside of Cordova City School
District city limits, and extended her boat and plane
rides to include them in her family visits. This was
the beginning of our current cross-district
correspondence model, statewide correspondence
programs. It is a model that began in a spirit of
cooperation and respect between districts as an
efficient and cost effective way to meet the needs of
Alaskan students.
Statewide correspondence programs have grown over the
past 20 years from a single district serving a handful
of students to our present day scenario of 27
districts serving over 10,000 students. It is
important to understand why this model of education
has been so successful in meeting the needs of Alaskan
students.
It is first imperative to dispel a common
misconception about statewide correspondence programs.
This misconception is the opinion that statewide
correspondence programs exist to harvest students from
other districts domains. Much rather, statewide
correspondence programs began and continue to exist to
fill a need in the mission of educating Alaskan
students.
I would like to discuss three of the underlying
principles that allow the statewide correspondence
programs to be effective, efficient, and highly
successful forms of education.
The first and most critical component of
correspondence programs is parental involvement.
Research abounds with evidence indicating superior
performance of students in situations where parents
are involved in the education of their children.
There is no other model that can claim to have a
higher degree of parental involvement than that of
home schooling.
Parents who sacrifice time and resources to accept the
responsibility of educating their own children are the
highest motivated teachers. Because of parents love
for their children, they will invest whatever it takes
to help their children succeed. Parents have the
flexibility to individualize instruction to develop
each child's interests, teach to the child's
strengths, and to build up areas of weakness. Parents
can vary instruction to teach to each child's learning
style.
As legislators, you are often presented with the need
to lower the parent teacher ratio. Even the larger
home school families offer a lower parent teacher
ratio than the average classroom. You also are
familiar with the importance of allowing local control
of education policy. Home schooling epitomizes local
control, as each involved parent is in control of
making decisions most appropriate for the locale of
the home.
Statewide correspondence programs also introduce
competition into the arena of education. Prior to
statewide correspondence programs, there was no
competition in education. Every district was
guaranteed access to students within its bounds
regardless of the results they produced. With the
introduction of competition comes accountability, a
natural byproduct, as districts now are responsible to
those they serve, or else those stakeholders will
enroll in other districts.
There are those who fear competition, but it is
because they do not understand its benefits. It is
competition that motivates us to do our best. It is
competition, which allows us to succeed at
accomplishing our best.
To understand how competition has benefited students
consider the following examples from statewide
programs. Chugach Extension program has been a leader
among statewide programs in the activities and
trainings it has offered parents and students. In
order to keep up with Chugach, other programs have
begun to offer supplemental educational opportunities
to their students as well. IDEA, among many other
positive components has long been at the forefront of
offering a technological advantage to its students.
We have all modeled ourselves after them when it comes
to providing technology to students. From the
beginning, Raven's Fairbanks office had a resource
room which was the envy of all. Once again, in order
to be competitive, all the programs have built up the
resources they have available for students and
families. Competition between programs has forced
each program to improve. As programs improve,
students benefit.
Competition has caused local districts to make
positive changes as well. Because of concerns of
loosing students to statewide programs, districts in
Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Nome have become more
responsive to their communities. They have all begun
offering correspondence programs which allow parents
to use the curriculum of their choice, provide
allotments to purchase educational materials, and
organize educational activities for students to
participate in. Prior to the existence of the
statewide programs each of these districts turned a
deaf ear to the pleas from parents and students to
allow them to pick appropriate curriculum materials.
Lastly, I would like to present how through the
principle of choice, statewide programs have benefited
education in Alaska. By removing geographic
boundaries as a limiting factor in where a student is
enrolled in school, statewide correspondence programs
allow students to match the school they enroll in to
their needs. For example, students interested in the
I-Grad program will enroll in IDEA. Students
interested in the Voyage to Excellence program will
enroll in Chugach Extension School. Students are no
longer in a school because they live there, but they
are in a specific school because they want to learn
and that school has something to offer them.
In each of its varieties, home schooling is a win-win
situation. But who are the real winners? It is
Alaska's students. And as a by product, when our
students win, our state and all its residents benefit.
Thank you for your taking interest, which is obvious
by your planning this meeting to learn about home
schooling. We ask for your support in providing
quality educational options for Alaskan students by
protecting home schooling in Alaska. Our models and
students will thrive with minimal regulations and
necessary accountability.
9:15:51 AM
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked if the Chugach school philosophy
"Empowering Student Ownership of Learning and Success" is
applied to the home school community.
MS. DOUGHERTY answered, "Yes, very much so." The site school
and home schools have parallel programs including the same
developmental report card system, expectations, and outcome
requirements.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON queried whether the same benchmark
locators are maintained.
MS. DOUGHERTY explained that the developmental report card
follows, and exceeds, the state GLE (grade level expectation).
A home school student must demonstrate the same mastery in order
to advance from one level to the next.
CHAIR SEATON interjected that his family members, who home
school in California, do not enjoy the same level of support
that is available to Alaska.
9:19:17 AM
ANDREA BERG, Assistant Superintendant, Yukon Koyukuk School
District, Raven Correspondence School, said the correspondence
school is a statewide program established in 2002. It was
originally created to serve the in-district students living
outside of the river school boundaries. Today, these home
school students are part of the 1,100 plus statewide enrollees
who benefit from this program, administered from offices located
in Anchorage, Delta, Fairbanks, Juneau, Soldotna, and Wasilla.
Program administrators include 11 certified teachers, 2
counselors, 2 special education teachers, and contracted
specialists that are hired as needed. As a statewide program,
funding is provided at the 80 percent level. The state requires
that the program service special education students, whose needs
are met through a network including the Raven School. Although
the program has overall good student performance, as evidenced
by the statewide testing data, challenges are experienced in
certain sub categories, low participation due to student
transition, and in the area of student coordination. Students
are allowed to participate on a flexible part-time or full-time
basis. Extra curricular activities are provided including:
art, career, and other workshops, a virtual science fair, and
battle of the books. Postsecondary training and transition
counseling is available to assist students in planning for
careers or continued education. Travel opportunities are
provided, along with technological support, for enhanced
learning. Eligibility requirements include monthly family
contact with the teachers, quarterly progress reviews, and state
testing participation, she reported.
9:23:43 AM
CHAIR SEATON directed attention to the Raven School brochure,
included in the committee packet, and read:
Students receive state funding based on the following
formula: Kindergarten-3 Grades $1,600, 4-8 Grades
$1,800, 9-12 Grades $2,000. At least 50% of classes
must be core classes.
CHAIR SEATON asked about the distribution of these allotments.
MS. BERG responded that the amounts may be individually adjusted
from this preliminary number. Funds are approved for purchasing
of curriculum, school supplies, and supplemental instructional
material, but excludes costs associated with technological
support.
9:25:13 AM
CHAIR SEATON reviewed the upcoming committee calendar.
9:26:12 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 9:26 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| AHEA_AugustQuestionnaire.pdf |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| AHEA_Trifold_11-08.pdf |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| FY09CorrespPrograms_2-26-09 REV.xls |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Links to Department of Education & Early Development Statewide Correspondence Schools.doc |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Homeschooling on the Threshold.pdf |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| CES AD bio page.doc |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| CSDoverview.doc |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Extschool.doc |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| SharedPurpose_CES.pdf |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| RCS Brochure09.doc |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Interior Distance Education of Alaska - Presentation.docx |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| AK History of Homeschooling_022609.doc |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |
|
| VTEStats1.doc |
HEDC 2/27/2009 8:00:00 AM |