Anchorage Daily News

An ongoing effort to combat subpar Alaska Native student performance in the Anchorage School District has improved scores somewhat, but the district remains largely unfocused on how to decrease dropout rates and increase proficiency scores, according to a report released by the University of Alaska's Institute of Social and Economic Research.

"I think there are a lot of people with a lot of good ideas and a lot of good intentions, but it needs to get a districtwide push," said Diane Hirshberg, a co-author of the ISER report. "It really was kind of testing the waters. Right now, it's still a school-by-school and a principal-by-principal effort."

At a meeting Monday night, a couple hundred mostly Native parents talked to Superintendent Carol Comeau about their concerns two years after the Alaska Native Pilot Project came into being, spurred on by a similar session in 2005.

The sometimes tearful testimony included accusations of neglect, concern and, in some cases, lingering racist attitudes by the district, which some parents said has not gone far enough to help their children. The problems -- low testing scores and high dropout rates -- are the result of a lack of understanding of Native cultures and unwelcome atmospheres in school, according to Anchorage Faith and Action -- Congregations Together, an association of area churches.

The district's response in 2005 was to start the pilot program at Romig Middle School and Willow Crest Elementary School, designed to train teachers about Native cultures and communication styles and reach out to those families.

The ISER report documents students' performance in 2006, the first full year the program was in effect. At Romig, with a Native student population of 16 percent, 65 percent of Native students were proficient at reading and 52 percent were proficient at math. In comparison, 88 percent of whites were proficient at reading and 77 percent were proficient at math.

In the time since the pilot program began, Native graduation rates across the district increased from 37.5 percent in 2005 to almost 43 percent in 2007, according to the church organization's statistics. Dropout rates decreased while proficiency scores increased, according to the numbers.

"I will not ever say we're perfect, but I think we've come a great long way," Comeau told the crowd.

Among ISER's recommendations: Officials and parents need to discuss what works and what doesn't; more resources are needed, along with a concerted and continuous effort.

As a part of the pilot program, 50 percent of the Native students' homes were visited at Willow Crest, while less than 4 percent at Romig were visited by a teacher during the period.

The reason more homes weren't visited is that each visit, which is conducted after school hours, requires teachers be paid a stipend that reflects the time they spend off the clock, Comeau said. The frequency of the visits will increase as budget allows, she said.

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