Alaska
U.S.
Rank
Score:
55%
Grade:
F
Rank:
#43
Despite lots of interesting charter schools open in the early days of the law, Alaska limits access to more charter school opportunities because of its reliance on districts and state’s defense of traditional schools.
Law passed: 1995
Most recently amended: 2015
Number of charter schools: 30
Number of charter students: 8,006
Cap on the number of schools allowed:? No
Virtual charters allowed? No
AUTHORIZERS: Local districts authorize, but must be approved by the state board of education. Applications denied by districts may be appealed to the state commissioner. If the commissioner upholds the denial, applicants may then appeal to the state board.
GROWTH: Alaska has no cap but growth is stymied given that authorizing is limited to districts.
OPERATIONS: Charter schools are exempt only from limited rules, including curriculum, and scheduling requirements. Charter schools must negotiate with local districts for other exemptions, including collective bargaining agreements. As a result, charters often don’t have the autonomy they need to differentiate themselves.
EQUITY: The law states that a charter school’s budget must be equal to the per-pupil amount that the district receives, including state and federal funds. However, it passes through the district which then can deduct administrative costs of up to 4 percent. Charters also receive no facilities funding.
Legislators are considering whether or not to allow the use of taxpayer dollars to repair a public building that houses a charter school for the first time, a strange thing not to allow when kids’ education is at stake.
Score:
Grade:
F
Rank:
#50
There are no choice programs in this state.
Score:
Grade:
D
Rank:
#47
Generally lacking in requiring any link between student performance and teacher evaluations and compensation, Alaska also fails to meet several critical elements for ensuring teachers have requisite content knowledge to teach.
TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 62%
General Teacher Preparation 58%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 72%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 70%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 55%
Alternate Routes 60%
STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 66%
Hiring 75%
Retaining Effective Teachers 57%
TEACHER EVALUATION: 66%
TEACHER COMPENSATION: 62%
Score:
55%
Grade:
F
Rank:
#43
Despite lots of interesting charter schools open in the early days of the law, Alaska limits access to more charter school opportunities because of its reliance on districts and state’s defense of traditional schools.
Law passed: 1995
Most recently amended: 2015
Number of charter schools: 30
Number of charter students: 8,006
Cap on the number of schools allowed:? No
Virtual charters allowed? No
AUTHORIZERS: Local districts authorize, but must be approved by the state board of education. Applications denied by districts may be appealed to the state commissioner. If the commissioner upholds the denial, applicants may then appeal to the state board.
GROWTH: Alaska has no cap but growth is stymied given that authorizing is limited to districts.
OPERATIONS: Charter schools are exempt only from limited rules, including curriculum, and scheduling requirements. Charter schools must negotiate with local districts for other exemptions, including collective bargaining agreements. As a result, charters often don’t have the autonomy they need to differentiate themselves.
EQUITY: The law states that a charter school’s budget must be equal to the per-pupil amount that the district receives, including state and federal funds. However, it passes through the district which then can deduct administrative costs of up to 4 percent. Charters also receive no facilities funding.
Legislators are considering whether or not to allow the use of taxpayer dollars to repair a public building that houses a charter school for the first time, a strange thing not to allow when kids’ education is at stake.
Score:
Grade:
F
Rank:
#50
There are no choice programs in this state.
Score:
Grade:
D
Rank:
#47
Generally lacking in requiring any link between student performance and teacher evaluations and compensation, Alaska also fails to meet several critical elements for ensuring teachers have requisite content knowledge to teach.
TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 62%
General Teacher Preparation 58%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 72%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 70%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 55%
Alternate Routes 60%
STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 66%
Hiring 75%
Retaining Effective Teachers 57%
TEACHER EVALUATION: 66%
TEACHER COMPENSATION: 62%
Score:
Grade:
C
Rank:
#15
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Alaska rose to the occasion to ensure that students across the state had ongoing access to education by opening the Alaska Statewide Virtual School (AKSVS). Even before the pandemic, though, Alaska had multiple statewide initiatives in place to show their commitment in expanding digital learning opportunities for students.
The state has digital literacy standards per grade. In 2014, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District started the Alaska Digital Academy (AKDA) for the state, which provides an online enrollment portal to high quality interactive courses for middle and high school students. In 2019, Governor Dunleavy released an order stating that districts can now allow computer science courses to be used as distinct credits to fulfill high school graduation requirements. The state has educational technology resources here.
Alaska’s Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and Sitka School District are members of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, giving 15,000 students across the state access to digital learning opportunities. The League of Innovative Schools is a network of school leaders in 114 districts in 34 states that aim to enhance and scale digital learning opportunities for students across the nation.
State leaders established the Alaska K-12 Broadband Initiative to provide support for K-12 broadband upgrades.
Bandwidth: “98.6% of students in Alaska can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds. But there is still work to be done— 1,736 students still need more bandwidth for digital learning.”
There are currently no dedicated state programs in place. Although some districts are incorporating personalized learning into their curriculum; the Chugach School District is a rural school district in the state that has developed and implemented a performance-based learning system.
Schools across Alaska did an outstanding job of shifting, almost overnight, from traditional school-based instruction to home-based learning environments during school facility closures in the wake of COVID-19. On March 13th, relatively early compared to other states, Education Commissioner Michael Johnson instructed districts to begin planning for remote instruction. In Dr. Johnson’s March 13 statement, he said: “providing districts with the time to fully prepare for any outbreaks that may occur over this extended period is a proactive investment to ensure all of Alaska’s schools can deliver quality education to students in the event of school closures.” The eventual shift involved countless hours of preparation by Alaska’s educators for a very new and different teaching and learning landscape. “We commend our educators for taking this leap quickly and for ensuring ample opportunities for learning to continue during the final quarter of the school year,” said the state which also created an unprecedented alliance:
“The Alaska Statewide Virtual System, a project of Alaska Department of Education & Early Development, aims to support and further expand opportunities for middle and high school students across Alaska through high-quality, online coursework during Summer 2020. Through a partnership with Florida Virtual School (FLVS) Global, AKSVS provides free access to complete summer school courses available for immediate enrollment, with start dates on or before August 15, 2020.”
Training courses were available for teachers in order to facilitate their professional development in eLearning platforms. While providing the Alaska Statewide Virtual System option, the state gave districts and families the flexibility to choose how to proceed with distance learning; no one was forced into ASVS.
Fast Facts
4th Grade Math Proficiency:
8th Grade Math Proficiency:
12th Grade Math Proficiency:
4th Grade Reading Proficiency:
8th Grade Reading Proficiency:
12th Grade Reading Proficiency:
Graduation Rate:
Average SAT Score:
Average ACT Score:
Public School Enrollment:
Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:
Average Student Funding:
Score:
Grade:
C
Rank:
#15
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Alaska rose to the occasion to ensure that students across the state had ongoing access to education by opening the Alaska Statewide Virtual School (AKSVS). Even before the pandemic, though, Alaska had multiple statewide initiatives in place to show their commitment in expanding digital learning opportunities for students.
The state has digital literacy standards per grade. In 2014, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District started the Alaska Digital Academy (AKDA) for the state, which provides an online enrollment portal to high quality interactive courses for middle and high school students. In 2019, Governor Dunleavy released an order stating that districts can now allow computer science courses to be used as distinct credits to fulfill high school graduation requirements. The state has educational technology resources here.
Alaska’s Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and Sitka School District are members of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, giving 15,000 students across the state access to digital learning opportunities. The League of Innovative Schools is a network of school leaders in 114 districts in 34 states that aim to enhance and scale digital learning opportunities for students across the nation.
State leaders established the Alaska K-12 Broadband Initiative to provide support for K-12 broadband upgrades.
Bandwidth: “98.6% of students in Alaska can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds. But there is still work to be done— 1,736 students still need more bandwidth for digital learning.”
There are currently no dedicated state programs in place. Although some districts are incorporating personalized learning into their curriculum; the Chugach School District is a rural school district in the state that has developed and implemented a performance-based learning system.
Schools across Alaska did an outstanding job of shifting, almost overnight, from traditional school-based instruction to home-based learning environments during school facility closures in the wake of COVID-19. On March 13th, relatively early compared to other states, Education Commissioner Michael Johnson instructed districts to begin planning for remote instruction. In Dr. Johnson’s March 13 statement, he said: “providing districts with the time to fully prepare for any outbreaks that may occur over this extended period is a proactive investment to ensure all of Alaska’s schools can deliver quality education to students in the event of school closures.” The eventual shift involved countless hours of preparation by Alaska’s educators for a very new and different teaching and learning landscape. “We commend our educators for taking this leap quickly and for ensuring ample opportunities for learning to continue during the final quarter of the school year,” said the state which also created an unprecedented alliance:
“The Alaska Statewide Virtual System, a project of Alaska Department of Education & Early Development, aims to support and further expand opportunities for middle and high school students across Alaska through high-quality, online coursework during Summer 2020. Through a partnership with Florida Virtual School (FLVS) Global, AKSVS provides free access to complete summer school courses available for immediate enrollment, with start dates on or before August 15, 2020.”
Training courses were available for teachers in order to facilitate their professional development in eLearning platforms. While providing the Alaska Statewide Virtual System option, the state gave districts and families the flexibility to choose how to proceed with distance learning; no one was forced into ASVS.
4th Grade Math Proficiency:
8th Grade Math Proficiency:
12th Grade Math Proficiency:
4th Grade Reading Proficiency:
8th Grade Reading Proficiency:
12th Grade Reading Proficiency:
Graduation Rate:
Average SAT Score:
Average ACT Score:
Public School Enrollment:
Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:
Average Student Funding:
Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R)
First term began in 2018 (two-term limit)
Mike Dunleavy is a solid supporter of education opportunities for all students and with his re-election it may be that this former teacher, principal and school superintendent may be an enthusiast for “outside the box” educational thinking. Alaska is a state that could use a little more of the innovations that took place during COVID as well as improvements to its outdated charter school law.
In Alaska, the commissioner is appointed by the state board and approved by the governor. State Education Commissioner Michael Johnson has served under two governors. Though the governor and Senate have been supportive in the past, the House has halted several school choice bills the past several years, and Alaska still does not have any scholarship tax credit or voucher programs.
Alaska courts have historically interpreted the state’s Blaine Amendment restrictively. Alaska has a Blaine Amendment and courts there “have rejected the distinction between aiding students and aiding the institutions those students choose to attend, thereby limiting the use of public funds to public educational institutions.” (Institute for Justice)
Alaska’s school accountability data is parent friendly. School report cards are easily accessible on Alaska’s DOE mainpage under the Data Center tab. Data is written in simple language making report cards useful for all parents. Reports include academic indicators such as academic progress, academic achievement, and graduation rates as well as non-academic indicators like school quality, teacher quality, and per-pupil spending giving parents a complete picture of the school. Educational options can be found under Student Learning–> Charter Schools.
School board elections are not at the same time as general elections, which generally leads to lower voter turnout.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R)
First term began in 2018 (two-term limit)
Mike Dunleavy is a solid supporter of education opportunities for all students and with his re-election it may be that this former teacher, principal and school superintendent may be an enthusiast for “outside the box” educational thinking. Alaska is a state that could use a little more of the innovations that took place during COVID as well as improvements to its outdated charter school law.
In Alaska, the commissioner is appointed by the state board and approved by the governor. State Education Commissioner Michael Johnson has served under two governors. Though the governor and Senate have been supportive in the past, the House has halted several school choice bills the past several years, and Alaska still does not have any scholarship tax credit or voucher programs.
Alaska courts have historically interpreted the state’s Blaine Amendment restrictively. Alaska has a Blaine Amendment and courts there “have rejected the distinction between aiding students and aiding the institutions those students choose to attend, thereby limiting the use of public funds to public educational institutions.” (Institute for Justice)
Alaska’s school accountability data is parent friendly. School report cards are easily accessible on Alaska’s DOE mainpage under the Data Center tab. Data is written in simple language making report cards useful for all parents. Reports include academic indicators such as academic progress, academic achievement, and graduation rates as well as non-academic indicators like school quality, teacher quality, and per-pupil spending giving parents a complete picture of the school. Educational options can be found under Student Learning–> Charter Schools.
School board elections are not at the same time as general elections, which generally leads to lower voter turnout.