Legislature(2011 - 2012)HOUSE FINANCE 519
03/29/2012 01:30 PM House FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Education Summit Overview | |
| Presentation: Saving Alaska's Small Off-the-road System High Schools | |
| Overview of Education | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE
March 29, 2012
2:06 p.m.
2:06:18 PM
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair Stoltze called the House Finance Committee meeting
to order at 2:06 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Bill Stoltze, Co-Chair
Representative Bill Thomas Jr., Co-Chair
Representative Anna Fairclough, Vice-Chair
Representative Mia Costello
Representative Mike Doogan
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative Les Gara
Representative David Guttenberg
Representative Reggie Joule
Representative Mark Neuman
Representative Tammie Wilson
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
ALSO PRESENT
Emily Cotter, Staff, Office of the Mayor, Municipality of
Anchorage; Jerry Covey, Managing Partner and Professional
Services Provider, JSC Consulting, LLC; Les Morse, Deputy
Commissioner, Department of Education and Early
Development; Representative Alan Austerman.
PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE
Dan Sullivan, Mayor, Municipality of Anchorage.
SUMMARY
EDUCATION SUMMIT OVERVIEW
Mayor Dan Sullivan, Anchorage
PRESENTATION: SAVING ALASKA'S SMALL OFF-THE-ROAD SYSTEM
HIGH SCHOOLS
OVERVIEW OF EDUCATION
Department of Education and Early Development:
Les Morse, Deputy Commissioner, Department of
Education and Early Development
^EDUCATION SUMMIT OVERVIEW
EMILY COTTER, STAFF, OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, MUNICIPALITY OF
ANCHORAGE, discussed that a video would be shown related to
the recent mayoral education summit.
2:07:52 PM
DAN SULLIVAN, MAYOR, MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE (via
teleconference), discussed results from the Mayor's
Education Summit that was held in November 2011. He relayed
that economic reasons had been the instigator for his
involvement in the issue, given that the local school
district budget had doubled to over $800 million (with the
same level of enrollment) during his nine years on the
Anchorage assembly. The increase had led him to wonder
whether tax payers were getting the results they deserved
out of the education system. In response, he convened the
summit and invited 100 participants including union
members, principals, teachers, administrators, school board
members, assembly members, business community leaders,
university members (University of Alaska Anchorage
Chancellor Tom Case and Alaska Pacific University President
Don Bantz), private school directors, legislators,
homeschoolers, and other.
Mayor Sullivan communicated that seven of the country's top
education reform leaders had attended the summit as guest
speakers; the guests either had proven records of taking
underperforming school districts and improving them
dramatically or were experts in education who had studied
proven ways to improve school systems. Summit participants
had concluded that significant improvements in the
Anchorage School District were needed. He stressed his
desire for the district to be the best in the nation. His
intent was to improve the Anchorage school system. He did
not intend to tell statewide education leaders how to deal
with education throughout the state; however, he believed
some of the ideas from the summit could be shared by other
areas.
Mayor Sullivan observed that Alaska was an international
venue that traded with various Asian countries (e.g. Japan,
Korea, China, Taiwan, and other), but its educational
standards and results were not as high as those in the
Pacific Rim countries. He stated that he wanted the school
district to compete with the countries in the education
arena in addition to the economic arena. The summit had
produced four primary recommendations that had been taken
to the general public during six sessions in February 2012;
the original participants of the summit would reconvene in
June 2012 in order to develop an action plan with the goal
of becoming the best school district in the nation.
Recommendations included setting higher academic standards
and getting the finest teachers into classrooms. Another
recommendation aimed at offering more choices for parents.
He explained that some of the area's highest performing
schools such as Chugach Optional and Birchwood ABC had long
waiting lists. He opined that the successful environment
should be created in more schools to help with demand. The
final recommendation was to involve the community at a high
level. He stated that making changes in areas like
education was difficult and would not be possible without
community involvement.
Co-Chair Stoltze made a comment about the education panel.
Mayor Sullivan remarked that Representative Mia Costello,
Representative Charisse Millet, and Senator Kevin Meyer had
all attended the summit.
2:12:38 PM
Ms. Cotter started a video titled "Mayor's Education
Summit: Anchorage 2011-2012." The video included a panel of
various members of the education community who spoke about
current challenges facing the education system and ideas
for improvement.
2:22:01 PM
Mayor Sullivan believed that the video did a good job
summarizing the summit. He detailed that Kati Haycock,
President of The Education Trust, had presented sobering
statistics on Alaska's ranking at the state and Anchorage
School District levels. He remarked that the bar had been
set low in the district; therefore, low performance
resulted. He was pleased that involved participants were
looking at establishing higher standards; Department of
Education and Early Development (DEED) Commissioner Mike
Hanley and Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol
Comeau were working to set a higher bar. He furthered that
the department was setting its own standards and that the
district was implementing Common Core standards that had
been adopted by 45 states. He discussed that statistics
continually ranked Alaska last in the nation. As education
funding was considered by the legislature he did not
believe that the goal was to continue to increase spending
while remaining last in the nation. He furthered that the
relevant question was how to improve the system. He planned
to have suggestions at the local district level in June
2012 and believed that the issue should be ranked as one of
the top priorities at the state level going forward. He
wanted to see Alaska become an example of a successful
system that ranked as one of the top one or two performers
in the world (along with Finland and other nations).
Mayor Sullivan shared that the U.S. had been number one in
the world in education 35 to 40 years earlier; it had
subsequently slipped to 23rd in the industrialized world.
He found the change unacceptable. He acknowledged that he
could not change the nation or the state, but he wanted the
Anchorage system to become a successful model. He discussed
that approximately 30 years earlier Finland had decided
that its population would be the best educated (the country
lacked other attributes such as strategic location or
mineral and oil resources of neighboring Norway). As a
result Finland had decided that all classroom teachers
would hold a master in teaching degree. Additionally, the
country had eliminated a variety of teaching colleges that
did not live up the country's high standards. He noted that
in the U.S. a teaching degree in comparison to other
master's degrees could be relatively easy to attain.
Mayor Sullivan pointed to lessons that could be learned
from the Finland education system. The country had elevated
the teaching profession to a high level on par with
doctors, architects, and other; the profession was revered
in Finland - teachers were paid well, long waiting lists to
enter the profession existed, and schools demanded the best
of their teachers in every classroom. He acknowledged that
there was a significant challenge ahead of the state and
the Anchorage School District, but he was confident that
significant progress could be seen in 10 to 15 years if the
community supported some changes that had been successful
in other jurisdictions (ensuring that the $800 million to
$1 billion cost was money well spent).
Co-Chair Thomas supposed that Mayor Sullivan had been
included on the "bad boy" list with the governor and
himself because they had lumped the education system into
one group and had not recognized any of the successful
schools in the state. He furthered that reports provided
did not distinguish stellar schools from those with low
performance; he believed there were 12 high performance
school districts in the state. He remarked that "we're only
as good as the information that we're given."
Mayor Sullivan responded that there were "pockets" of
excellence throughout the Anchorage and state systems;
consistent excellence was lacking and the goal was to make
every school a high performing school. The head of the
Pacific Northern Academy had asked why there were not more
schools like Chugach Optional if it was performing so well.
He pointed to Birchwood ABC as another high performing
school and agreed that similar schools should be made
available.
Co-Chair Thomas communicated that the committee had
requested copies of the video that had been shown.
2:27:47 PM
Representative Gara agreed that master's level teachers
were more effective. He wondered whether the city could
require its teachers to hold master's degrees (rather than
waiting for the state to change the law). Mayor Sullivan
replied that the community was not waiting on the state.
Representative Gara asked whether the school district would
require a master's level teacher in every classroom. Mayor
Sullivan answered that he did not run the school district.
He explained that his job was to provide information to
ensure that the school board and superintendent had the
tools they needed to make choices. He shared that his job
was to gather and present the best information and success
stories (national and international) in order to help lead
the effort with the school administration and school board
to affect positive change. He stated that it was not his
role to tell the school board what standards to set. He
hoped the school board would work towards the master's
requirement and he believed the board members who had
participated in the summit felt that they would like to
work on the strategy going forward.
Representative Gara relayed that he was an advocate for
increased school funding, but he believed that teachers
with master's degrees would need to be paid more, which
would increase the amount of funds needed.
Mayor Sullivan responded in the affirmative. He believed
top professionals needed to be paid accordingly. He opined
that it would be worth paying an increased salary to
teachers with master's degrees who would help to elevate
the school district to a superior status and to produce
superior students who were ready for college and the
workplace.
Representative Gara agreed. He pointed to statistics that
ranked Alaska as 45th in the nation in terms of third grade
reading level. He asked whether Mayor Sullivan agreed that
the availability of pre-kindergarten classes should be
expanded.
Mayor Sullivan replied that he did not know. He
communicated that his job was to gather and contribute as
much information as possible related to successful
examples. He was hesitant to be specific about all details
until the summit reconvened to develop its action plan in
June.
Co-Chair Thomas referred to the discussion on a master's
degree requirement and believed Alaska already had quality
teachers who were paid a good salary. He compared the issue
to a story about commercial fishing. He shared that in the
past fish had been delivered without ice. At some point ice
had been made mandatory and fishermen wanted to know
whether they would be paid more; they had been told no
because they were already marketing to provide a quality,
number one fish.
Vice-chair Fairclough wondered how individuals on the wait
list in Finland were prioritized in the teacher selection
process. She asked if a copy of the criteria was
accessible. Mayor Sullivan responded in the affirmative. He
planned to travel to Finland in the current year to obtain
more detail on how the best teachers were selected and
which qualities were looked for. He furthered that once a
master's teacher was hired there was a structured
mentorship program that required senior teachers to work
with new teachers to enable them to develop top teaching
skills. He understood that Finland and the U.S. were
different culturally, but he believed Finland had found and
hit the right targets related to teaching.
2:32:34 PM
Vice-chair Fairclough asked whether the report from the
summit had been released. Mayor Sullivan replied that the
summary of the initial summit was available and had been
presented to the community dialogue. The final report would
be available after the summit reconvened in June 2012.
Vice-chair Fairclough had talked with multiple school
districts about excellence that districts were striving for
and the idea of developing a pilot program. She discussed
that it would be difficult for the entire state to move to
a system requiring a teacher with a master's degree in
every classroom. She urged the consideration of a pilot
program when options were discussed and presented to
Anchorage and the state.
Representative Guttenberg referred to Mayor Sullivan's
testimony on providing superior programs and bringing in
teachers with more excellence. He asked what factors, in
addition to quality teachers, contributed to excellence.
Mayor Sullivan referred to the four recommendations that
had been offered by the summit. One of the recommendations
had been to set a higher academic standard for students on
a level of top countries; a high bar would not be exceeded
without being set high. Another recommendation included
strong principal leadership; one guest presenter had shared
that great teachers did not want to teach in schools
lacking a great leader. Additionally, school program choice
needed to be offered; more successful programs should be
offered if there was a demand.
Representative Guttenberg pointed to successful programs
that had been mentioned and asked what Chugach Optional had
that other schools did not. Mayor Sullivan could not answer
for an individual school. He discussed that optional
schools had parent involvement with a more informal
methodology compared to other more traditional successful
schools such as Northern Lights or Birchwood ABC (the
schools were more similar to elementary schools from the
1950s and 1960s in their structure and discipline); the
schools had long waiting lists. He stated that successful
programs should be emulated and unsuccessful programs
should be eliminated.
Representative Wilson asked whether the Anchorage School
District had done a white paper on why the mentioned
examples were successful and what it would take to
replicate the programs in other Anchorage schools. Mayor
Sullivan did not know.
Representative Wilson pointed out the distinction between a
master's in teaching degree and a master's degree in
another field. Mayor Sullivan agreed.
Representative Wilson discussed that many teachers pursued
a master's in teaching when completing courses to achieve
advancement in the "columns" section of a salary scale. She
believed support for teachers to continue a classroom
education was lacking. She supported the mayor's ideas and
thought it would be helpful to have information on what was
working in the more successful schools that other districts
could potentially apply. She did not believe it was
necessary to "reinvent the wheel" and felt that there were
great models to refer to.
2:37:57 PM
Co-Chair Thomas asked about teacher salaries in the
successful school examples compared to teacher salaries in
public schools. Mayor Sullivan replied that the elementary
schools mentioned (Birchwood ABC, Northern Lights, and
Chugach Optional) were all under the same pay scale.
Salaries increased depending on the length of time a
teacher had taught at the school, the pay scale step, and
if an advanced degree had been obtained.
Co-Chair Thomas believed it was not necessary to have a
master's degree be a quality teacher. Mayor Sullivan
agreed. He noted that it was not necessary to have a
master's degree to be a master teacher. He added that a
master's degree in teaching was the minimum requirement to
become a teacher in Finland.
Representative Gara discussed that he and the mayor had
been present when Chugach Optional had been recognized for
receiving a presidential award for excellent schools in the
current year. He shared that the school had one of the
highest rates of parent involvement in Anchorage with a
significant number of college educated parents. He observed
that better schools attracted better teachers who wanted to
teach high performing students. He stated that it was
difficult to determine what to do about schools where
parent involvement was lower and students did not perform
as well.
Mayor Sullivan responded that demographics should not be an
obstacle; Katy Haycock had made the point at the summit. He
shared that there were many examples of high performing
schools at lower socio-economic levels. He elaborated that
Dr. Ben Chavis had visited recently; he had been the head
of the American Indian School in Oakland, CA. He explained
that the school had been the worst performing in the
California system and it had been turned into the highest
performing district despite the low socio-economic status
and lack of parent involvement. He urged the committee to
look at Dr. Chavis's website and resources. He expounded
that the presentation had been impressive and had showed
that it was possible to achieve excellence in low income
neighborhoods facing challenges that other districts did
not have.
Representative Costello thanked the mayor for the
opportunity to participate in the summit. She provided
additional detail about the summit. She believed that the
one thing people could agree on in education was that it
really matters; it was the one thing that could change a
person's future. She discussed that her generation was the
first to attend college in her family. She opined that bad
news could motivate people, which had happened in Finland.
Finland used to have one of the worst education systems in
the world, but it was now the best. She stated that it was
through honest conversation that progress could be made.
She shared that one of her children had recently been
accepted at a lottery school and emphasized that choices
parents have really make a difference.
Representative Costello discussed things she had learned at
the summit. She stated that high expectations should not be
feared; school districts that had high expectations got
results. She had learned that demographic should not be an
excuse for poor performance; teachers mattered. She
referred to Polaris High School (grades 1 through 12) that
focused on the relationship between students and teachers.
She shared that materials provided by the summit were all
online and noted that students were not sitting in any of
the photos showing schools in Finland; the model showed
students outside or doing hands-on real-world activities.
She did not believe all schools had to be like schools in
Finland, but she acknowledged that if she could go back to
high school she would attend King Career Center because of
its hands-on approach. She observed that kids graduating
from the Finland school would have marketable skills for a
future job. She queried where people could go to learn more
about the summit and to get involved.
2:45:33 PM
Mayor Sullivan directed the committee to www.muni.org
/educationsummit [www.muni.org/Departments/Mayor/Pages/
Mayor'sEducationSummit.aspx]. He elaborated once the action
plan had been developed it would take great community
involvement; part of the plan would include methods to
engage the community at all levels.
Representative Doogan referred to the mayor's discussion
about the change in the quality or the outcomes of
education in Anchorage over the years. He believed that the
system had produced a higher number of educated and
involved people in years past. He asked the mayor to share
his own experience and anything he may have learned that
could be helpful for committee members.
Mayor Sullivan responded that he had gone to a parochial
school during his first two years of school in Fairbanks
and nuns had ruled the classroom with an "iron hand";
students had learned because they feared the consequences.
He had moved to the Anchorage public school system in third
grade and had been about one grade level ahead. He shared
that he had eight brothers and sisters and recalled that
the homework his younger siblings had turned in did not
meet the level of quality that students had turned in
during his time in early school years. He had seen the
standards slipping first hand, but did not know what had
caused it.
Representative Neuman asked what type of discussion had
been held related to the impacts of vocational education
and learning. He referred to statistics from DEED showing
that 7 percent to 8 percent of students completed a four-
year college program. He expounded that there were great
life opportunities for plumbers, mechanics, refrigeration
and heating workers, woodworkers, etc. He discussed that a
difficult subject like math was easier to learn through
hands on experience. There were applied sciences where the
importance of math and reading was learned.
Mayor Sullivan responded that there had been significant
discussion about vocational education at the summit. Many
of the world's superior education systems had vocational
education well defined. For example, after 8th grade in
Germany a student could take a test to move to an academic
high school or to trade school in various areas (he noted
that German trade schools were some of the best in the
world and produced incredible mechanics and carpenters);
the country recognized that not all students were
interested in an academic path. Trade schools taught
students skills in math, reading, and other that were
specific to the trade and resulted in highly skilled and
paid tradespeople. He shared that if a person in Germany
decided they were interested in the academic path they
could take 8th grade and the test over again; Germany also
had a night school system that allowed students in trade
school to earn degrees. He recalled a conversation he had
had with a superintendent in years past that Anchorage
needed several more King Career Centers because he had felt
that the system was forcing students through high school
who did not want to be there, but wanted to learn skills to
be successful.
2:51:53 PM
Representative Neuman asked for additional detail related
to the concept that Dr. Ben Chavis had presented on.
Mayor Sullivan responded that Dr. Chavis used very
traditional methodology in his schools; calculators and
computers were not used. He had suggested laptop computers
to Dr. Chavis who had replied that in Oakland a laptop
could be stolen from a car, but that books would not be
taken. He believed Dr. Chavis provided proof that any
demographic or neighborhood with the right system could
provide a good education.
2:52:57 PM
Co-Chair Stoltze asked about the cost of the budgets for
the Municipality of Anchorage and the Anchorage School
District. Mayor Sullivan replied that the city budget was
approximately $430 million and the school district budget
was approximately $830 million.
Co-Chair Stoltze shared personal feelings about local
government and IRS taxes.
Mayor Sullivan clarified that the school district had
adjusted their budget for the current year; grant funding
had been removed from the budget. Subsequently, the current
budget was approximately $700 million or more compared to
the prior year's budget of $830 million.
2:55:06 PM
AT EASE
3:09:40 PM
RECONVENED
^PRESENTATION: SAVING ALASKA'S SMALL OFF-THE-ROAD SYSTEM
HIGH SCHOOLS
3:09:53 PM
JERRY COVEY, MANAGING PARTNER AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
PROVIDER, JSC CONSULTING, LLC, discussed that his
background was in small, rural, off-the-road high schools;
he had started his career in education in Alaska in 1976 at
the creation of REAA [Regional Educational Attendance
Areas] school districts. He had begun as a principal and
recalled that the state had been fully committed to
building high schools and delivering quality education to
Alaska Native students in rural areas. He had worked in one
school district for 15 years and had been a principal,
teacher, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. He
had worked as a consultant for the past 12 years; most of
his clients were rural school districts.
Mr. Covey discussed that the off-the-road high school
system had been in place for 36 years and that there was a
significant amount of evidence regarding the success of the
schools. Evidence showed that the schools were not as
successful as was hoped or envisioned. He observed that it
was not possible to predict the future related to state
policy changes, demographics, costs, economic factors, and
other; all of the items had impacted education in a
significant way. He did not believe that it had been
intentional for policy changes to disable or substantially
impact the opportunity the rural schools had; however, it
had happened.
Mr. Covey communicated that he had taken a sampling of 131
high schools that varied from below ten students to up to
60 students. It was difficult to gather academic
achievement data from very small schools because students
would be identified; therefore, it was necessary to look at
Standards Based Assessment performance for schools or
districts as a whole. The data showed that with very few
exceptions, most of the schools were underperforming
schools on the road system in both graduation rates and
achievement levels. He pointed to examples of ways to
address the issue and provide additional opportunities for
students in the small schools in his report titled "Saving
Alaska's Small Off-the-Road System High Schools."
Mr. Covey cited four programs in his report. The first was
a program operated by Chugach School District called Voyage
to Excellence. The program had been running for 15 years
and had served over 1,700 students. Eight years back the
school had begun tracking the success rate of the students
attending the program; 97 percent to 98 percent of the
students graduated from high school. He detailed that the
program served students from six rural school districts
(many of the schools were off-the-road). He furthered that
92 percent of the students went to work, joined the
military, or went to college directly after graduation. The
program had a large number of business partners from the
private and public sector. He detailed that the program
operated entirely outside of the public education system.
3:16:27 PM
Mr. Covey continued to discuss the Voyage to Excellence
program that was funded by grants and private sector
support. The program had grown and found ways to serve
other students. He expounded that the program brought
students in for two or three week sessions during the
winter and operated a summer program in conjunction with
the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and Alaska Pacific
University (APU) for a longer three to four week period.
Students were exposed to academic rigor and many skills
(e.g. vocational, career and technical education) that
resulted in student success.
Mr. Covey discussed a second program that was smaller and
much newer operating in the Lower Kuskokwim School District
called RANSEP [Rural Alaska Native Science and Engineering
Program]. The program was operated outside of the public
education system and was funded by a grant from the
Rasmuson Foundation to the school district; the program
also worked in a partnership with ANSEP [Alaska Native
Science and Engineering Program] at UAA. The program
reached out to small schools via distance delivery in the
Lower Kuskokwim district and delivered advanced courses to
junior high and high school students. During students'
junior and senior years they went to a residential boarding
home in Bethel for a semester each year. Students attended
the ANSEP program during the summer between their junior
and senior year and upon graduation from high school they
were prepared to attend the ANSEP program.
Mr. Covey highlighted a third program called the
Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center (NACTEC) in
Nome. The center had operated for years and ran short-term
programs for students from Nome and Bering Strait School
District. The center was a partnership program that
operated on private and grant funding outside of the public
education system.
Mr. Covey touched on a fourth program in development at the
Northwest Arctic Borough School District called Star of the
Northwest. The program was a magnet school for grades 11
through 14 and was operated by a federal grant. The program
would target three different rural career areas including
education, health care, and process technology of resource
development. He emphasized that all four of the programs
provided outstanding opportunities for rural schools and
had all been developed outside of the public education
system. He noted that in other parts of the state the same
types of opportunities for students were publicly supported
as part of the education system.
3:20:01 PM
Mr. Covey discussed a television advertisement related to a
bond issue in Anchorage pointing out that 14,000 students
in Anchorage were engaged in career and technical education
programs. He furthered that most of Alaska's students would
end up in careers that did not require a college education.
He expounded that due to the small size of the rural
schools, their remoteness, and diseconomies of scale the
districts were unable to deliver career and technical
education programs. He relayed that the program examples he
had provided could be replicated throughout the state at a
very low cost by establishing residential facilities in hub
communities that already had infrastructure including large
high schools, college campuses, adult vocational and
technical centers, apprenticeship opportunities, and major
employers. He continued that the residential facility
Bethel was looking at was approximately $5 million; the
facility that Kotzebue was looking at would serve 100
students and would probably cost around $15 million to $20
million to build. For comparative purposes he noted that
remodeling a small school cost $15 million and a large
rural high school would cost $70 million or more.
Mr. Covey believed that economically it was far more
practical build additional residential facilities, to
utilize existing infrastructure, and to work closely with
people at the local level to help design programs that
would serve students' needs. He stressed that thousands and
thousands of students were being short-changed; the same
students who were needed in the future workforce to
contribute to the state's success.
3:22:44 PM
Representative Neuman referred to regional learning centers
and asked whether Mr. Covey had looked at the Galena
program and what he thought about it. Mr. Covey responded
in the affirmative. He had visited all of the residential
high schools in the state including Galena, Nenana, Mt.
Edgecumbe, and Bethel. He noted that the programs were all
highly successful. He referenced his report and
communicated that the residential programs all had a much
higher performance levels than those seen in small high
schools. He advised the committee to keep in mind that the
students in the residential programs were coming out of the
same small high schools. Residential programs provided an
environment of high support and high expectation that
enabled students to blossom. He furthered that student
achievement and career and technical education
opportunities could be positively impacted simultaneously.
Representative Neuman discussed that teacher retention was
difficult in small schools. He wondered whether Mr. Covey's
data agreed with comments by principals of regional
learning centers that the centers had high teacher
retention. Mr. Covey responded in the affirmative. He added
that teachers were also more highly qualified in the
regional learning centers.
3:25:07 PM
Representative Wilson asked which program allowed students
to spend part of their time in their local high school and
part of their time in another location. Mr. Covey responded
that the program was the Voyage to Excellence.
Representative Wilson asked how the level of coursework was
monitored at the different locations. She liked the idea of
keeping students engaged in their home towns.
Mr. Covey replied that the Voyage to Excellence program
brought students in for periods of two to three weeks at a
time. Students were prepared through course work prior to
their arrival at the program that allowed them to job
shadow and to engage in specific activities; the program
was very deliberate. Students returned to their schools,
took more coursework to learn more, and had an opportunity
to return to the program at a later time to gain more
experience. Summer programs provided academics, career and
technical education, and provided activities such as
camping and climbing. He relayed that the RANSEP program
was operated by and available to one school district. The
instructional program was choreographed to be in sync and
provide students with opportunities.
Representative Gara was intrigued by the idea of
residential dorm space. He asked for verification that it
worked well for students to leave home for a few weeks at a
time as opposed to for an entire year. Mr. Covey replied in
the affirmative and noted that the scenario was preferred
in many parts of the state. The issue was one of the
foremost concerns in the Lower Kuskokwim School District
where communities did not want their kids away for long
periods of time; therefore, the program had been built with
the issue in mind. With the combination of semester
residencies and distance delivery to small sites the
program was very successful.
Representative Gara supported the idea. He discussed the
small village of Igiugig near Lake Iliamna that had a
school with approximately 14 students. He observed that
people seemed very well educated in the area. He asked
whether there were examples of successful small schools and
if there was insight into what made them succeed. Mr. Covey
replied in the affirmative; there were successful schools
spread throughout rural Alaska. He expounded that the
schools lacked infrastructure, but two to four great
teachers in a village would provide 20 years of great
education. Hopefully when those teachers moved away other
great teachers would take their place, but that was not
always the case. Community expectation and demand in urban
areas was more consistent related to educational quality
and outcomes. He stressed that strong families and strong
communities had strong schools. He believed it was unlikely
that the quality of education would decrease in a place
like Igiugig because the community would not put up with
it.
3:30:48 PM
Representative Joule relayed that Mr. Covey had been the
Commissioner of Department of Education and Early
Development under former Governor Walter Hickel. He
referred to the concept of regional boarding schools and
noted that the discussion had not been easy because it
changed the current structure with children living at home
with their families. He noted that family was very
important; however, people valued quality education and
were sending their children to places like Nenana, Galena,
and Mt. Edgecumbe. He believed if the option was available
closer to home that it would be the first choice. He
stressed that ultimately school populations needed to be
high enough to obtain the necessary teachers who could
provide depth and quality instruction and could use digital
learning technology. He believed that the issue was about a
quality of life.
Representative Joule pointed to Mr. Covey's testimony that
the magnet school in Kotzebue focused on career areas
including health, education, and resource development. He
relayed that Maniilaq Association ran the community's
health and social services and provided 500 jobs; the
Northwest Arctic Borough School District provided
approximately 350 to 400 jobs; and Red Dog Mine provided
500 jobs. He emphasized that the area was importing more
workers than it was producing. He stressed that the
economies existed and that qualified people were needed to
take the jobs in the regional centers. He addressed the
issue of homesickness and shared that four of his children
had gone to regional boarding school. He remembered that
his children's experience had been hard at first, but they
had ultimately loved their education and experience at the
schools. He continued that his daughters had made lifelong
friends and had developed high self-expectations. He
understood that change was difficult, but if the state's
natural resources declined as predicted, the state may not
be able to continue to pay more for the current system. He
stressed that there was currently an opportunity to
consider how to consider the kinds of changes that the
state may be faced with in the near-term.
3:35:59 PM
Co-Chair Thomas pointed to SB 36 that had been heard in
1998. He recalled that residents of the North Slope Borough
had been very upset because the inequities of the
foundation formula forced them to send their children to
regional schools; around 100 students had gone to Mt.
Edgecumbe. He pointed out that the issue needed to be
addressed to ensure that the state (rather than
communities) was paying for education.
Representative Neuman had sent his son to the IDEA
[Interior Distance Education of Alaska] correspondence
program. He relayed that with an enrollment of 3,300
students the school was the largest in the state; it
delivered education at 80 percent of the base. He relayed
that the school had cost approximately $4,600 per year for
his children. He shared that his son had attended and loved
the regional boarding school in Galena. He had lived at the
school with the kids for several days and the students had
all told him that they wanted to learn and to improve their
lives; there was a waiting list because students wanted to
be there to learn. He stressed that the graduation rate was
100 percent. He emphasized that there were ways to make the
education system successful. He furthered that the boarding
school helped prepare kids for the military and college
because they learned that they were able to be independent.
He discussed the idea of removing the stigma associated
with the term "boarding school" by referring to the schools
as "regional learning schools"; the stigma existed because
in the past the government had forced children to attend
boarding schools.
Co-Chair Thomas thanked Mr. Covey for his time and
presentation.
^OVERVIEW OF EDUCATION
3:41:10 PM
LES MORSE, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND
EARLY DEVELOPMENT, thanked the committee for spending a
week on education issues. He shared that the commissioner
was currently in Sitka and would be visiting Mt. Edgecumbe
High School. He acknowledged Esther Cox, Chair of the State
Board of Education for the direction she provides to the
department, school districts, and board members. He
highlighted multiple takeaways from the week beginning with
the need for higher expectations in schools. He
communicated that the department currently had standards
out for public comment that would set a higher bar. The
department was taking public comment very seriously and
would be meeting with industry across the state over the
upcoming weeks to obtain more specific feedback related to
the standards. Other important issues involved instruction
and measuring performance; higher standards would not be
effective if the bar continued to be set low with the
current exam. He stressed the importance of high quality
educators in every classroom. He believed mentorship should
be offered for the first two years and principal coaches
were needed to support strong leadership in all schools.
Mr. Morse continued to address key elements related to
improving education including high quality intensity of
high school courses; increased quality would support the
Alaska Performance Scholarship. Additionally, increased
quality meant that approaches needed to change and that
schools may not look the same in the future; alternative
approaches may be used including correspondence schools,
boarding programs, broadband internet. The conversation
that needed to occur was substantial and would take place
over time. The department was available for questions and
had provided a memo to the committee in response to earlier
questions.
3:45:26 PM
Representative Neuman referred to a prior conversation
related to accounting for GEDs in graduation rates. He was
working with the department to make sure the students did
not fall through the cracks. He noted that statutorily it
would be difficult to move the adult education program from
Department of Labor and Workforce Development to DEED, but
work was underway to determine the numbers of students
obtaining GEDs who then went back to high school to get
their diploma. The detail would be provided to the
committee when it was available.
Co-Chair Thomas referred to the foundation formula and
believed it was time to put people back in parity. He
believed education funding was the responsibility of the
state and should not fall on communities.
Representative Joule appreciated the time spent on
education throughout the week. He noted that frequently the
legislature got stumped on the funding levels. He referred
to teacher salaries ranging from $59,000 to $72,000 and
observed that the issue was not so much about what teachers
were getting paid but about expectations, how much those
expectations were valued, and how much they were worth. He
thought it was important to determine what the right
questions were. He provided a seatbelt analogy; he told
passengers in his car that they may not like it, but he
cared enough about them to make them wear their seatbelt.
He believed the same was true for education.
Representative Edgmon pointed to discussions related to the
university. He referenced statistics that 40 percent of
incoming freshman were engaged in distance delivery. He
observed that institutional change related to education had
existed in the past but needed to be greater due to an
increasing cost curve, new technology, and the state's
declining performance. He pointed to the education model in
rural Alaska that needed to be changed significantly.
3:50:49 PM
Representative Doogan had been baffled by the subject for
years because a lot of people had varying views on
solutions that were needed; many of the solutions were
expensive and had uncertain results. He stated that it was
difficult to match funding with the results to get a
coherent picture of how things were working and changes
that needed to be made. He told a personal story related to
two of his aunts who had been nuns who taught in rural
Alaska for their entire careers. He shared that standards
had been made up on the spot and most of the support had
come from the Catholic Church; the state had not been very
involved. The people that had been produced from the system
had for the most part been better educated, but it had not
cost a significant amount of money. He believed it was a
problem that everyone had great ideas about what to do, but
that they all cost a significant amount. He stressed that
it was not always a matter of financing; other elements
included the dedication of parents to send their kids away
to school, the dedication of the teachers, and other. He
continued to be stumped by the issue and did not know how
to incorporate all of the factors: which were the right
ones, what kind of costs should be paid, and how to match
the cost to the result. He appreciated the time spent on
the issue, but expressed that he was still as baffled as he
was previously.
Representative Gara asked Mr. Morse to get back to the
committee on Mr. Covey's idea related to regional dorm
space. He pointed to a notion that would save money. He
began by explaining that the children of uninvolved parents
cost the school system a disproportionate amount of the
schools' money. He noted that it would be great if the
department had ideas to increase parent involvement. He
relayed that some schools had outreach staff who contacted
parents when kids appeared to be in trouble and parents did
not seem to be involved. He surmised that money could be
saved on teachers and remedial coursework with outreach to
parents. He added that some parents were not possible to
reach, but others were. He asked the department to think
about the issue.
Representative Wilson asked for verification that Mt.
Edgecumbe High School admitted students through an
application process. Mr. Morse replied in the affirmative.
He elaborated that there were requirements to meet and an
application deadline.
Representative Wilson asked for clarification on what the
requirements included. Mr. Morse answered that applications
were ranked in order to determine which 100 students to
admit. Qualifications included completion of the
application (teacher reference letter, scores submitted by
the student's school, and other); subsequently areas were
ranked and students were accepted. Students were also
accepted in the middle of the year to fill any vacant
spots.
Representative Wilson observed that most public schools
admitted any student. She pointed out that when comparing
public schools to boarding schools it was important to
remember that the student population was not always the
same, given that some boarding schools had an application
process. She moved on to discuss teacher mentoring. She
referred to a clinic in Unalaska where doctors only stayed
around a couple of years; therefore, the system had been
constructed keeping turnover in mind. Due to the cost of
living in rural areas she wondered whether the department
had ever considered a pilot program related to curriculum.
She provided an example related to iPads and teacher
mentoring. She discussed that some school districts may
have more success controlling set curriculum than on
efforts towards teacher retention. She noted that there
were some amazing programs in existence that involved
taking control over things that could be controlled.
4:00:17 PM
Co-Chair Thomas remembered school discipline and told a
personal story related to his uncle.
Representative Wilson observed that when teachers changed
the curriculum may change as well; students may not have
consistency related to curriculum. She was curious to know
whether something could be done to address the issue.
Representative Guttenberg discussed that his experience in
school had been very different than others in the building,
but in some ways it had been similar. There had been 5,000
students in his high school; the school had a triple shift
and he attended class from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. He
remembered teachers who had been influential in his
learning. He believed that one of the most important things
was providing empowerment to teachers, which was not always
financially or program related. He referred to Mr. Covey's
testimony about successful teachers impacting schools. He
believed that the empowerment of parents was also a
critical component. He discussed the importance
communicating to teachers and administrators the value and
honorability of the profession; the acknowledgment of value
would transfer to students and the system as a whole. He
referred to an adage - only 15 percent of the population is
in school, but 100 percent of those kids are our future. He
observed that the questions and answers related to
education did not get simpler but became more difficult as
more was known. He believed a better understanding of the
issues was important and he appreciated the participation
of the teachers who had testified in front of the committee
during the week.
4:05:53 PM
Vice-chair Fairclough recalled her educational experience.
She pointed to Unalaska that was scoring high in math and
language arts. She had attended school in Unalaska in 1975
and had taken a boat back and forth to school. She had been
in a graduating class of 6 and she had lifelong memories
and friends as a result. She had also had some great
educators (and some who were not so great) in Anchorage.
She believed Alaska was a great state with many different
ways to deliver education. She opined that improvements
could be made to the system. She concurred with remarks by
others that some of the homework her children had turned in
would not have been a passing grade when she went to
school. She noted that grammar was changing for children at
a social level, which presented a challenge for teachers as
well as elected officials related to impacts on career
futures. She was up for the challenge and stated that she
and all of her legislative colleagues wanted student
success and appreciated work by teachers and administrators
to work on the problems.
Co-Chair Thomas noted that the military youth academy had
not been discussed. He had seen stellar examples of
troubled youths who were working successfully following the
completion of the academy. He discussed the schedule for
the following day.
ADJOURNMENT
4:09:53 PM
The meeting was adjourned at 4:09 PM.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HFIN presentation-Saving AK Small High Schools3.29.12.pdf |
HFIN 3/29/2012 1:30:00 PM |
|
| HFIN EED Accountability & Responsibility 3.26.12 follow up.pdf |
HFIN 3/29/2012 1:30:00 PM |
|
| HFIN EED followup Attachment B.pdf |
HFIN 3/29/2012 1:30:00 PM |
|
| HFIN EED followup Attachment A.pdf |
HFIN 3/29/2012 1:30:00 PM |
|
| HFIN EED SBOE Chair Cox 3.28.12 follow up.pdf |
HFIN 3/29/2012 1:30:00 PM |