Anchorage Daily News

UAA researchers have produced a gloomy report about the high turnover of teachers that plagues Alaska schools, especially in the Bush.

After years of efforts to improve the situation, the average turnover in all Alaska schools was about the same last year as it was in 1999, at 14 percent.

Rural districts, at 22 percent, had twice as much turnover as urban districts.

Reducing the churn of teachers and principals through rural districts will improve the performance of Bush students. High turnover is tied to lower student achievement.

When a teacher stays in a village for only one or two years, there's little time to forge a connection with the community, or to understand the nuances of Yupik or Inupiat culture, for example. It's harder for the district to offer a consistent program with revolving-door staff. And if the teacher is a new teacher, he or she may not even reach a decent level of competence before leaving.

Researchers at the UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research, Alexandra Hill and Diane Hirshberg, say a little bit of turnover is good, to allow new teachers with new ideas into the educational system.

"Some think more than 5 percent is too much -- but most educators agree that by 20 percent, turnover is worrisome," their report says.

Bush students and communities deserve stronger schools than they're getting today.

Education leaders know what it takes to cut those discouraging numbers.

Growing more of our own teachers would help a lot, as Alaska-trained teachers tend to stay around longer. In the ISER study, a quarter of the Alaska -trained teachers left, compared with nearly half those trained outside the state.

But Alaska graduates made up only 13 percent of those who were hired in public schools between 2000 and 2005. An obvious answer: Beef up Alaska training programs.

The UAA College of Education, the biggest teacher college in the state, will attempt to do that, said dean Mary Snyder. There are enough interested and qualified applicants to allow the program to expand, she said, though other, higher-paying careers compete with education.

UAA's goal is to add 10 percent per year, she said.

But expanding Alaska's teacher training programs isn't the complete answer.

Snyder and the ISER researchers say rural teachers need more support too, besides the existing state mentor program that puts new teachers in touch with experienced ones.

Hill and Hirshberg cite progress in one district, the Bering Strait School District for the villages around Nome. Bering Strait reduced turnover from around 30 percent to around 20 percent by making a number of improvements:

• They make sure new teachers know what the schools and villages are like before they come.

• They welcome teachers in Anchorage, help them get their Costco orders together, shuttle them around in a van.

• All of their schools have a common curriculum, which makes it easier to train teachers in it.

• Teachers are given financial incentives for each year that they stay, to encourage retention.

The state or university could help rural districts provide this kind of reality check and assistance.

The state should increase funding for the university programs to allow them to hire more professors and get more Alaskans in teacher training. It will pay off in the end with better-educated young people.

BOTTOM LINE: Enough with excessive teacher turnover.

To market

The broccoli plants in our garden are barely beating out the tall grass that's invaded this year, and I've seen no sign of an actual vegetable on them. The leaf lettuce is growing just a little faster than a dead flower. It's almost imperceptible, and may be a complete product of my imagination.

Turns out, it doesn't matter. I've finally discovered what many Anchorage residents apparently already know: Anchorage is filled with outdoor fresh produce markets. These treasures that speak of fresh farm country are scattered all over town.

At Northway Mall one lunch time, I bought the biggest head of red leaf lettuce I've ever seen, a thing of beauty that I ate nonetheless.

Last Saturday, the whole family -- husband, dog and I -- had been out walking in Valley of the Moon Park, and we decided to check out reports of a market in the parking lot of a church at 15th Avenue and Cordova Street.

What a treat. Vincent found some white Asian turnips that he turned into pickles. He examined some fresh oysters. I got not one, but two heads of lettuce, one round and buttery and the other red-tipped. Kuro, the dog, found some people who thought he was cute enough to pet.

I'm a little leery of the big downtown market due to crowds. But there's one on O'Malley Road, and another next to the Dimond Center hotel that I'm planning to visit.

Next time, I'm going for an Alaska-sized zucchini.

-- Rosemary Shinohara

ADVERTISEMENT