Network learning supported by 21-century technology is reweaving the fabric of how educators acquire and create new knowledge. At the Alaska Educational Innovations Network (AEIN), educators believe this has the potential to change how a profession looks at professional development. They have learned that using technology to support networks…

The National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) provides a unique resource with which to analyze the health status, health care use, activities, and family and community environments experienced by children in rural and urban areas. The NSCH was designed to measure the health and well-being of children from birth through age 17 in the United…

This article reports results from a feasibility study of a community effort to reduce the availability of legal products that youth can use to get high. The study evaluated the potential of youth purchase attempts to detect actual changes in retail availability of harmful legal products. These results were triangulated with self-reports from…

In 1994 the Ford Foundation launched the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) as a "national demonstration project to help community colleges in distressed regions move their people and communities toward prosperity. It challenged community colleges to become catalysts for economic development and supported aggressive efforts to increase…

This State Profile from the Delta Cost Project presents data on key Delta metrics for public research, master's, bachelor's, and community college sectors in the state of Alaska. The data are limited to a five-year period, showing data for the most recent year, and the five-year change.

Objectives: To assess the impact of a voluntary, paraprofessional home visiting program in preventing child maltreatment and reducing the multiple, malleable psychosocial risks for maltreatment for which families had been targeted. Methods: This collaborative, experimental study focused on 6 Healthy Families Alaska (HFAK) programs; 325 families…

Communities across the nation have become increasingly concerned about inhalant use and use of harmful legal products among youth because of increasing prevalence rates and deleterious health consequences from abusing these products. The increasing concern of communities about inhaling and ingesting legal products has been coupled with increasing…

An indigenous, village-controlled, largely village-funded youth organization in a remote Western Alaska village serves educational, social, recreational, service, and economic functions; provides activities vital to community social/recreational life, relief from stress, and alternatives to substance abuse; and increases competency and sense of…

Beginning in 1981, a 3-year study examined implementation of decentralization in rural Alaska education; legislated decentralization had begun in 1975 largely in response to the Native self-determination movement. All rural local school administrators were initially surveyed. Based on their responses and other statewide data, four types of…

The Community Health Aide Program (CHAP) is a unique program employing local, indigenous peoples as primary care nonphysician providers in extremely remote frontier, tribal Alaskan communities. With attrition rates up to 20%, recommendations for improving retention are necessary to maintain access to health services for Alaska Natives in these…

Focusing on examination of the current status of small high schools, identification of the elements of successful programs, and formulation of a general program design, the report of the first year of the Small High Schools Project for Rural Alaska presents over 100 recommendations to help small high schools develop into effective institutions.…

As the originator and administrator of the Village Library Project in Alaska, Kuskokwim Community College commissioned this study to: (1) determine the status quo of the 16 village libraries in the delta area; (2) identify the factors which help determine their success; (3) determine whether they can successfully operate independently without…

Illustrates complexities involved in establishing school-community partnership in a cross-cultural setting--an Alaskan village of 500 inhabitants. Analyzes outcomes of a three-week multidisciplinary program developed jointly by high school students and teachers which utilized Native community members and resources to study kayak and boat building,…

This document offers eight case studies - and a number of short profiles - documenting efforts in the United States and around the world, all connecting the dots between youth action and meaningful community change. The publication begins with reflections on why it is often so hard, especially in the United States, for young people to find the…

A 3-year study of decentralization of Alaska schools identified several factors that influenced whether a school was locally controlled and found patterns of control associated in important ways with staff and community attitudes toward school. Information was gathered by surveys and interviews conducted in 28 communities randomly selected to…