The latest State of Alaska public educational performance reports have now been released, and they tell two very different stories. To properly understand the two tales, we first have to realize that many rural Alaska schools have such poor testing performance that they skew the statewide averages heavily downward. Without singling out any particular rural community, digging through the data one can find many where the failing category for proficiencies in language, math, and science are over 80%, and many are even higher, some almost a total enrollment-wide failure. This lack of a rudimentary educational foundation in those communities is undoubtedly not the sole fault of the school districts, as the villages themselves have cultural and geographic challenges that make education extremely difficult and expensive, but they do drag the statewide mean lower.
You have such a modern concept of rural that your last parting question as you board a small aircraft out of Fairbanks to head into the Alaska wilderness is: “Tell me again, how far is Walmart from my Apartment?”
Many rural districts can only find teachers from out-of-state to fill those teaching positions, and teacher retention in rural Alaska is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome for rural school districts. I have personally spoken with multiple superintendents of rural Alaska schools, and one story stuck out to me. Imagine being a first year teacher in your young twenties, and you think you want to teach in Alaska, so you take a teaching job in a river village. The pictures are majestic and beautiful. You have such a modern concept of rural that your last parting question as you board a small aircraft out of Fairbanks to head into the Alaska wilderness is: “Tell me again, how far is Walmart from my Apartment?”
Teachers like these very often quit before finishing the year from the shock of Alaska-rural living, despite the fact that breaking your contract permanently eliminates any opportunity to teach elsewhere in the State. Imagine then the difficulty for these rural school districts to manage a classroom without a teacher, mid-year, and it is not hard to understand how educational outcomes will slide and languish for so many rural students.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
So let’s take the statewide results and understand they are being skewed downward through no direct fault of any particular district, and instead let’s compare the largest, most modern and well-funded public school district performances from the three communities of Anchorage, Mat-Su and Fairbanks against the three charter schools who will expand if Ballot Measure 1 in Mat-Su passes this November.
The statistics recently reported on the state’s website can be summarized in the below chart for the purposes of comparison, (rounded to the nearest whole percentage point.)
The difference could not be more stark between these public school outcomes, with the performances measured apples to apples. The overall districts’ versus public charter schools in the Mat-Su are an almost inverse of outcomes. Roughly 2/3 of students in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Mat-Su Traditional Public Schools are either failing or falling behind, while roughly 2/3 of the three charter schools slated to expand from the school are proficient or advanced in their studies overall. Results are even better for math and science outcomes among charter schools.
The proof is in the performance pudding. At the beginning of this school year, there were 448 students waitlisted and unable to send their kids to JUST these three thriving public schools . For parents who are unable or unwilling to consider homeschooling their children, Alaska’s public charter schools are exceptional, and in the Mat-Su specifically, performing highest in the nation. Obviously, parents want that kind of success for their students but sadly, these schools are full to the brim.
The only conclusion one can draw is that charter schools are working exceedingly well in Alaska for a variety of reasons. This is the reason why it is so vital to the Mat-Su residents to pass ballot measure one, which is slated to fund the expansion of three of the Mat-Su Borough School District’s thriving charter schools. As a community, we must prioritize funds to programs that are effective, and that means allowing these programs to grow. We must invest in what is working.
4 Comments
Excellent article Jake. We, my wife and I, have opted to educate our children through the public charter school program with IDEA. It is a parent lead school and has been incredible. It forces engagement by the parents and as a result improves the family dynamic therefore advancing more than just education. It helps improve the totality of what truly makes education effective. We are fully engaged in educating ourselves as a family on a day by day basis. I have also noticed that the children in the charter school programs seem to be extra respectful and capable of carrying on an informed conversation with adults and are interested in topics and discovering information about their general surroundings. It makes me, as an adult, want to expand myself and advance my education. It is nice to see the results seem to reveal the same.
We know this is a failed model of education yet we subject yet another generation of children to suffer under its failed history. There are better models but The NEA and teachers union promote this failure and demand evermore funding . We are condemned to waste more money and continue to get substandard results.
Again take your kids out of these woke public schools. Charter schools or home school your children. Then they will grow up loving others not hating others.
Great article, Jake. There has always been a strong demand for charter schools by parents in Anchorage. Unfortunately, the ASD controls the growth of charter schools by requiring business plans which many parents may not be capable of completing. This definitely applies to the Northeast side of Anchorage where the lower income families live.
We need more charter schools but the state laws restrict the authorizing (starting) of new schools to the local school board/district. That is why we need to change the state law to allow local governments and the State Board of Education to start charter schools. These bills have been filed in the past few legislative sessions but the NEA and the Education Industry have killed them and required kids to attend failing neighborhood schools.