Technological accidents such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 create man-made disaster situations that threaten community survival and the well-being and quality of life of community residents. This paper focuses on the social and psychological impact of the 1989 oil spill on Cordova, an isolated Alaskan community with high economic…

This summary presents the findings from four regional workshops conducted as part of the Alaska School Finance Study. The purposes of the workshops, held in Bethel, Juneau, Fairbanks, and Anchorage, were to consider current and future methods of financing the public schools, to obtain citizen and local educational agency concerns and…

An overview is provided of the University of Alaska's Rural Education Division, which was created in 1975 in the wake of the discovery of oil on the North Slope, the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and the recognition of the need for more access to higher education by native and other rural residents. Introductory material…

The ATS-6 Educational Satellite Communications Demonstration-Alaska (ESCD), was viewed as a way to give isolated population groups greater voice in their educational future, by bypassing bureaucratic levels and allowing the local people to have a direct say in the school curriculum and programs that were shown via satellite. This study focused on…

A variety of information and sources for information on child sexual assault are collected in this document geared for educators in small communities. Materials include a fact sheet on small community concerns about sexual abuse, a flow chart for training school personnel in intervention and prevention, suggestions for school protocol for…

Early childhood educators are advised to confront difficulties arising from Alaska's economic problems by establishing coalitions between families with young children and service providers, with the intention of creating new programs and maintaining existing family support and education programs. Evidence of the desirability of a wide range of…

This paper describes the efforts of a geographically isolated school district in Alaska to develop an outcome-based curriculum for preschool through 12th grade. In 1986, the new assistant superintendent for instruction introduced the idea of a district-wide outcome-based curriculum. The first curricular area selected for development was a…

The Alaska Educational Program for Intercultural Communication is developing a method of needs assessment which is unique to the state, possibly to the nation. The staff is comprised of highly creative and interculturally sentient people, all uncredentialed in evaluation. Their task has been to develop structures which foster communication where…

Recent announcements of new ventures point to the important role of telecommunication in a wide range of media endeavors and underline the importance of adapting communication curricula to prepare students for living and working in an Information Age. An approach to telecommunication curriculum reform is suggested by the experience of the…

Alaska's efforts toward sustainable development include protecting the subsistence lifestyle by involving indigenous people in stakeholder decisions about whaling and fishing quotas and offshore oil drilling; developing rural energy, water, and sewage infrastructures; using telecommunications to bring health care and education to remote areas; and…

The 1995 National Teacher of the Year, Elaine Griffin, teaches on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Her experiences reinforce her belief in the importance of strong school-community ties and close relationships between teachers and families. Shared staffing in this remote rural environment has allowed the teachers time away for travel and other experiences.…

Developed through in-depth interviews with experienced "bush" teachers from interior Alaska, this booklet is the product of a five-day workshop in the design of vocational education curriculum materials for rural Alaskan secondary schools. The statements in this booklet represent the edited responses of experienced teachers to the…

Describes events in Fairbanks (Alaska) resulting from an attempt by some community members to remove a book about homosexuality from the high school library. The discussion covers community reactions, media coverage, and a school board campaign that focused on this issue. Tabbert's speech the night of the vote is presented in the second article.…

The Alaska Consortium for Transition Services (ACTS) is a federally funded project to develop and implement secondary transition planning for rural Alaska students with severe disabilities. Secondary transition is the process of change occurring as students prepare to move from high school to adult life. As rural Alaska's severely disabled…

Since its beginnings in 1970, a field-based teacher education program aimed at preparing certificated Alaska native teachers has graduated 80 teachers. Until then, the University of Alaska's teacher training program had been a traditional campus-based program aimed primarily at preparing teachers for urban schools, with no course that reflected…