Anchorage Daily News

More than half the public schools in rural Alaska did not meet expectations set out in the No Child Left Behind Act, but state education officials say rural students are making strides.

Alaska Native student scores rose faster than non-Natives in reading, writing and math in the past year, narrowing the so-called achievement gap. Several rural schools that in the past failed to achieve the federal goal of adequate yearly progress succeeded this year, and many more came tantalizingly close.

"I like what I'm seeing," state Education Commissioner Roger Sampson said in an interview earlier this week.

At the same time, Sampson suggested he is losing patience with schools that haven't made adequate progress for five years or more and with federal education regulations that don't recognize Alaska's strengths and needs.

Of 203 schools statewide that did not demonstrate adequate yearly progress, more than 100 are in Bush communities, including 51 schools that haven't reached their goals for four years or more.

Sampson said those numbers give an incomplete picture. Most rural schools, including some that have never reached the federal guidelines, are doing well, he said.

Western Alaska villages such as Hooper Bay and Alakanuk did better in seven of the nine testing categories they foundered in last year, such as reading and math for Alaska Native students.

Teller, Chalkyitsik and several other village schools failed to show annual progress only because their high school drop-out rate was above the minimum. One or two students can make the difference in such small schools, officials say.

Some districts made wholesale progress, such as the Lower Yukon. Last year, none of its 11 schools made adequate yearly progress. This year, four made the grade.

It's too early to assess why scores are rising, Sampson said. "It's not one thing, but it clearly starts with focused instruction by teachers, administrators and school boards," and support from parents. State education funding has risen, he added.

No Child Left Behind says states can step in and shake up a school that fails to show progress after five years. Fourteen rural schools are in that category, up from eight last year.

The state hasn't lowered the boom yet, Sampson said, and it won't for some of the lowest-ranking schools. He and his staff are talking with those administrators, and recent test results give hope, he said.

Others aren't doing as well, but Sampson said he will wait for another year's data before making any changes.

"The best people to fix this are the local people," he said. But if a school can't or won't change because of local political or social issues, he said, "sometimes they need someone from the outside to push the table one way or another."

John Davis, superintendent of the Unalakleet-based Bering Strait School District, doesn't put much stock in threats to take over either of his two schools that haven't shown progress for five years or more. He's confident his staff can change the trends eventually, he said.

But as in many rural communities, Davis said, "education is still a relatively new commodity for lot of families. ... We come from an environment where other activities are required for the survival of a family. Those are priorities. Education hasn't always been."

Sampson believes Alaska needs some flexibility in applying No Child Left Behind. In particular, he wants federal officials to accept Alaska's system of demonstrating progress through individual growth, which would achieve the federal goals without strapping schools with what amounts to failing grades year after year.

He also wants to sidestep upcoming regulations that would limit teachers to subject areas in which they have a college degree. More than 100 Alaska schools have three or fewer teachers, yet are required to provide a wide range of subjects, he said. It will be virtually impossible to meet the new guidelines, he said.

Daily News reporter Joel Gay can be reached at jgay@adn.com or at 257-4310.