Anchorage Daily News

A well-regarded Spenard public school that has seen a decline in enrollment for years will join a growing trend of schools shedding the mainstream curriculum in favor of an alternative one, the Anchorage School Board decided by a unanimous vote Monday.

Administrators hope the shift, beginning this fall, will make Northwood Elementary a magnet for kids all over the city.

The school will adopt the "ABC" curriculum. ABC stands for Anchorage Basic Curriculum. It is a return to traditional teaching techniques with students sitting in neat rows, teachers delivering core curriculum to whole classes instead of breaking up into groups, and an early emphasis on reading, penmanship and even manners.

From Eagle River to Girdwood, nearly one in 10 of the Anchorage's 48,000 public school kids go to a magnet or alternative school. This number doesn't include the thousands of kids participating in alternative programs within the mainstream schools, such as the Japanese immersion program at Sand Lake Elementary or the International Baccalaureate program at West High School, or the Alaska Native and American Indian program, "Elitnaurvik," at East High.

There is such a demand for some -- like Aquarian Charter School, Polaris K-12 and Northern Lights ABC -- that they have waiting lists of hundreds of students.

Most of these competitive schools pick students by lottery twice a year. Many parents apply to multiple schools hoping their child can get into at least one.

"Parents love being able to choose a particular curriculum and a particular learning and teaching style. That part is always going to be popular," said Anchorage charter school supervisor Connie Bensler.

"And they like the idea of being in a smaller school," she said. "It feels more homey."

Most of the alternative schools have fewer students than mainstream neighborhood schools.

By making Northwood an ABC school, the school board hopes to alleviate the pressure on Northern Lights ABC, which has a waiting list of more than 200 kids who can wait up to three years before they can enroll.

Northern Lights ABC is so popular that students from as far away as Eagle River and Girdwood attend the school, at Lake Otis Parkway and Dowling Road.

Northwood has seen a steady decline in its enrollment over the years, said principal Greg Balcao. He doesn't know why and guesses that it is simply the demographics of Spenard, an old Anchorage working-class neighborhood where some families are getting older, with students growing up and leaving home, and newer families don't yet have children.

The racially and ethnically diverse school has done well in academic achievement, although more than half of its 260 students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches, a common benchmark of poverty. The school has a capacity of about 400 students.

But future enrollment projections are not good, and principal Balcao says the school needs to fill its classrooms to keep it viable. Making it a magnet school, he thinks, will boost its population.

On Monday morning at Northern Lights ABC, in contrast, students practiced their violins and cellos in the school foyer because the orchestra has no room.

Down one hallway, a kindergarten teacher stood in front of 25 tiny children teaching them to recognize words on the dry erase board: "Jar. Car. Tar. Far." Two volunteer parents sat in the back of the large classroom, each working with a single student. Parent involvement is critical to the program, administrators of the school say.

And on a bulletin board, fliers are posted from parents looking for carpooling options for their kids.

The hitch for applying to leave a neighborhood school in favor of another public school across town is that parents need to transport their kids on their own.

Northwood will become the city's third ABC school. Besides Northern Lights, there is a Birchwood ABC.

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.

ABCs of ABC schools

An ABC school is an elementary in the Anchorage School District that has adopted what's known as the Anchorage Basic Curriculum. "Teachers use curriculum that is very similar to that used in the 1980s and before," said Glen Nielsen, the district's elementary supervisor. Among the schools' characteristics:

• No combination or multi-grade classes

• Emphasis on basic reading and math, and building from that

• Teaching of social skills -- students must say "please," "thank you"

• Stricter grading standards

• Emphasis on community involvement and volunteering

• Whole-group instruction -- teachers instruct the entire class without small-group sessions

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