The latest state and national assessments of Alaska’s public school students reveal that the failure to teach basic reading, math and science is a continuing and chronic problem.
Despite new reading initiatives and increased state funding, roughly two-thirds of Alaska students are unable to keep pace.
According to the statewide AK STAR report, which measures academic progress is grades 3-9th, 67.3% of Alaska students are failing in reading and 67.8% are failing math. Another statewide science test of 5th, 8th and 10th graders shows that 62.1% of students can’t understand basic science.
Since the AK STAR assessment was implemented in 2023, there has been no meaningful improvement in any academic category. Over that same period, students have demonstrated only minimal progress in science, with the vast majority unable to attain a “basic” level of proficiency.
Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that student performance worsens the longer they are in school. The poorest performing students were in the 8th and 9th grades – the oldest cohort measured.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
On a national level, Alaska’s students in grades 4, 8 and 12th were outperformed by all but one state in reading and math.
According to The Nation’s Report Card, which is the most respected national survey of academic progress in the country, 78% of Alaska students are below proficient in reading, with another 70% below in math.
The latest round of dismal testing will likely add fuel to Alaska growing homeschool movement, which exploded during the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. Roughly one in five Alaska children are now homeschooled. Many more attend private or religious schooling, and there is growing pressure on lawmakers to increase school-choice options, such as scholarships or voucher money that would follow students to wherever they choose to attend, be that public, private or homeschool.
Teachers’ unions, however, typically use the failing test results to argue that public education is simply “underfunded,” while claiming the solution is not to grow homeschool and private options, but to dump even more taxpayer money into Alaska’s old government-run school system.
11 Comments
My great-grandmother, with her high school education, taught school in a one room schoolhouse in rural Wyoming, and when enrollment dipped below the number required to fund the school, she enrolled illiterate miners to fill the empty seats so the kids could still get an education. I can guarantee you that any of her 8th graders could pass most tests at the college level by the time they graduated. Money is not the answer. Teaching is the answer. But today’s teacher colleges turn out individuals who cannot think, let alone teach, any subject. We aren’t sending our brightest and best. Of course there are a few who can really teach, but they are hamstrung by poor quality curriculum forced on them by imbeciles at the District level. When I homeschooled my boy during Covid, I called the District to ask what they taught for history, but never received a coherent answer. They don’t want you to know. So I taught him Western Civ. Now he knows more about history than any other kid in public school.
Perhaps if we weren’t buying a pig in a poke, we might find extra cash for schools, but as it is, it is a bait and switch scam to call public schools up here, particularly in Anchorage, an education.
So are you saying, if we keep throwing more money into the hole it might fill up some day? I’ve been here 40 years and I haven’t ever seen our school system do anything for our kids. When is the over paid ASD going to learn. He’ll I guess never. That’s why our kids will never learn
you have people with doctorate and PHD’s but they have no idea how to change and fix our problems. In my day if a child didnt learn you had summer school and then that child got to repeat that grade to prove they learned what was taught! Liberals now days dont want to be bothered and say it will hurt little Johnny to hold him back. That is the biggest bunch of crap yet! Only they sold you people and you believe it. It’s another covid shot! Wake up people force the ASD to teach your kids something. It’s not tge kids fault if the schools dont teach them. Ive said on here many times, NO MORE MONEY till you make a change. You people just keep throwing more money to them. It’s sickening! When I go outside during summer people laugh when I tell them.in from Alaska. They think we are all a bunch of goofy butt holes. It’s time for change. I thought our governor would do something but I guess the RINO’s kept him in check.
WAKE UP TIME
My kids went to public school in AK and turned out fine. They went to college, they graduated and they have excellent jobs.
And the NEA/teachers wonder WHY they don’t deserve a pay raise. There’s no return on investment for failure.
exactly my point of why in the world would the teachers in Alaska think they deserve any more money? Seriously, what a waste
Homeschooling your kids end of story.
That would be the best choice and it is what we did, but sadly there are ‘parent(s)’ would really should not be. Choices are good.
I do believe the union is a big part of the problem, and maybe a few teachers and administrators as well, but I put blame also on many parents. There is so much dysfunction these days with unstable homes, single parenting. addiction, gross irresponsibility to list a few of the backgrounds so many classroom students are coming from. Such issues seem to be worsening and spill over into the classrooms, challenging classroom management and instruction. So many of these kids have no stability, sketching nutrition, no moral foundation nor any discipline.
It is a conundrum and definitely school choice would help. Even really disadvantaged kids can have success with the right influence and guidance, and even (most) ‘challenged’ parents care about their kids and would likely rise to the opportunity of making better educational choices for them.
Absolutely, kids come to kindergarten unprepared. Parents don’t support their schooling. It’s a mess.
NO MONEY PERIOD! KEEP MAKING BRICKS, NO MORE STRAW BEING PROVIDED!
We live in a digital world where our kids can access information they have no way to discern. Constant threat of war, disease, poverty, alcoholism, and drugs. What as adults are we doing to help facilitate a healthy positive environment for our kids? We as a country are still so divided, we have evil taking control of the minds and hearts of our young to the point we have kids celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk. Look at the state of the planet, are our kids supposed to pretend they don’t see the mess unfolding everywhere? Our kids always have and will need to feel safe and secure in order to thrive. Nothing has changed except the finger pointing by both sides with no one taking responsibility. The Union says this, parents say that but when do we actually look in the mirror and ask the hard questions? It’s time for the adults to be adults, stop blaming teachers, unions, or politicians. It starts at home and always has.