Federal law defines eligibility for English learner (EL) classification differently for Indigenous students compared with non-Indigenous students. To be EL-eligible, non-Indigenous students are required to have a non-English primary language. Indigenous students, by contrast, can be English-dominant or English monolingual. A critical question,…

Alaska has implemented an innovative approach to a balanced assessment system called the Alaska System of Academic Readiness (AK STAR). The AK STAR summative assessments are administered each spring to students in grades 3-9. The AK STAR assessments were developed to provide information on student achievement, areas of strength and need, and…

The Performance Evaluation for Alaska's Schools (PEAKS) assessment is administered annually statewide to students in grades 3 through 9 in ELA and mathematics. It provides students the opportunity to show their understanding of "Alaska's English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics Standards." The assessments provide information to…

Culturally Responsive, Embedded, Social and Emotional Learning (CRESEL) in Alaska integrated social and emotional learning (SEL), culturally responsive, and trauma-informed approaches in rural and frontier school districts. The evaluation of CRESEL included implementation and impact evaluations. The implementation evaluation found that most…

Culturally Responsive Education has been widely proposed as a mechanism to improve the academic achievement of minority and Indigenous populations. Instruction in heritage languages has been shown to produce desirable outcomes both on linguistic and academic measures. However, culturally responsive and immersion instruction faces a number of…

Using hierarchical linear modeling, student standardized test scores are analyzed to determine the impact of mentoring first- and second-year teachers on their students' achievement. The contrasting group used for comparison consists of experienced teachers in matched schools, grade level, and content area. The study contains data from 300…

This general achievement trends profile includes information that the Center on Education Policy (CEP) and the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) obtained from states from fall 2008 through April 2009. Included herein are: (1) Bullet points summarizing key findings about achievement trends in that state at three performance…

The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook"…

Evaluation objectives were to assess the quality of the Bethel Alaska Regional Library/Media Center as an exemplary operation (the Center was established by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Bethel Agency in 1971 to serve federally operated schools in Southwest Alaska) and to measure the impact of the Center's services on its Eskimo elementary student…

Individual interviews were conducted with 96 K-3 students, stratified according to grade level, achievement level, and gender. The students were asked to explain land-to-hand progressions involved in bringing several common foods to our tables, identify products derived from common farm animals, explain why a pound of cereal costs more than a…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The "2011 State…

To identify diverse student strengths and to learn how teachers can build instruction on those strengths, the author and his colleagues have conducted multiple studies among students in Alaska, the mainland United States, Kenya, and other countries. In a series of studies in Alaska and Kenya, the researchers measured the adaptive cultural…

In 1988, the Alaska State Board of Education adopted regulations requiring the selection and annual administration of a basic skills achievement test in reading, mathematics and language arts in grades 4, 6, and 8 for at least 6 consecutive years. During October, 1989. 95%, or 23,372 students in grades 4, 6, and 8 in Alaska's 54 school districts…

The results of the 1977 and 1979 Statewide Assessment Tests in Alaska are presented. This assessment testing is part of the testing component within the Alaska Statewide Instructional Support System (SISS), and is based on specific objectives critical to a student's academic success. Objectives covered are: mathematics computation, mathematics…

In 1990-91, the second year of Alaska's statewide testing program, the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills was administered to 24,684 Alaskan public school students in grades 4, 6, and 8. The nationally normed achievement test covered reading, mathematics, and language arts. Most students in grades 6 and 8 scored above the 50th percentile in all subjects,…