Impoverished populations and schools in rural areas face special challenges that are different from other settings. Among these are the distances from social services, the sparse availability of assistance programs, and the shortage of resources to support educational programs and student learning. Rural schools, do, however, have assets that can…

This article examines the politics of educational transfer in a rural Alaskan school district with schools in two Alaska Native villages and one non-Native community. The author examines why and how the district imported standards-based education. While the district presented its reform as a rational, consensus-driven policy process, this…

A 3-year study of educational reform in rural Alaska centered around case studies in seven rural communities and school districts serving primarily Eskimo and American Indian students. Each community had embarked on a reform process called Alaska Onward to Excellence (AOTE) that strove to create educational partnerships between schools and their…

This collection contains 15 essays by teachers who participated in the First Annual Rural Alaska Instructional Improvement Academy in Fairbanks in May 1987. The essays were written as a follow-up to the academy, based on the teachers' reflections on their own experiences in rural schools as well as on the academy workshops they attended and on the…

The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI) implements initiatives to document the indigenous knowledge systems of Alaska Natives and develop pedagogical practices and school curricula that appropriately incorporate indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing into the formal education system. These initiatives foster interconnectivity between two…

THE MAJOR OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DEVELOP A PROGRAM OF EDUCATION FOR THE NATIVE PEOPLES OF ALASKA (INDIAN AND ESKIMO) WHICH WILL ENCOURAGE AND ENABLE THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LIFE OF ALASKA ON A SELF-SUSTAINING AND SELF-RESPECTING BASIS. THIS STUDY BEGAN WITH AN EXAMINATION OF OFFICIAL MEMORANDUMS, STUDY GUIDES, AND OTHER LITERATURE…

A qualitative study examined a rural Alaskan school district's standards-based reform in the sociohistorical context of Alaska Native education. Observations and interviews with 32 district staff members indicate that the district had recast the historical "civilization-savagism" paradigm as an "unhealthy Native" construct to…

As part of a larger study of systemic educational reform in rural Alaska, this case study examines recent efforts by the people of Quinhagak to integrate Yup'ik language, values, and beliefs into school practices and policies. Quinhagak is a Yup'ik Eskimo community of 550 people on the southwest coast of Alaska. Nearly all residents can…

This book demonstrates that an indigenous teachers' group has the potential to transform the culture of schooling. Personal narratives by Yup'ik Eskimo teachers speak directly to issues of equity and school transformation. Their struggles represent the beginning of a slow process by a group of Yup'ik teachers (Ciulistet) and university colleagues…