Proposed Regulation Changes for Alaska’s Correspondence Schools

March 25, 2008

The Alaska State Board of Education has asked for public comment to begin on proposed changes to regulations for schools classified for funding purposes as correspondence schools. Interim Commissioner Barbara Thompson has placed this as Agenda Item 20 at Friday’s meeting in Juneau.

The memorandum is here. There will be plenty more comment on these proposed regs to come.

Alaska Teachers Asked to Improve Skills to Teach Reading

November 27, 2007

Today’s Anchorage Daily News writes about a proposed Alaska State DEED requirement for teachers to take a course in reading as part of initial professional certification or certification renewal. Poor reading skills are a common problem throughout the state. This reg represents a concerted effort by the State Board to ensure every teacher has the tools and skills necessary to identify students who have problems and point them to the help they need.[…]

Statewide Correspondence Schools: Enrollment and Full Disclosure

October 17, 2007

The state of Alaska’s Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) counts enrollment for funding purposes during a week-long count period shortly after school starts. Last year, 2006, the enrollment in statewide correspondence schools (SWC) was 6853 students. That’s 6853 students enrolled outside of their home district who have no political representation in the district in which they are enrolled.[…]

Statewide Correspondence Schools Take Money Away from Students

October 10, 2007

I’ve been playing around a little bit more with Eddy Jeans’ table that details the revenues and expenditures for Statewide Correspondence Schools (SWC). (I’ve also shown the table below.) Mr. Jeans is the Director of Finance for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)and he presented this data at last month’s work session […]

Local Control: How it Works

September 26, 2007

Continuing the conversation on local control and statewide correspondence schools (SWC) here is a hypothetical example comparing a SWC in Galena, namely IDEA, with an in-district charter school, namely Frontier which is part of the Anchorage School District (ASD). […]

Correspondence Schools: What is Local Control?

September 25, 2007

Those such as the Alaska Home Educators Alliance (AHEA) who advocate for less regulation of statewide correspondence schools (SWC) are adamant that they do have local control. That is, the parent in the home is the local control; the parent’s accountability to the district is all that is necessary. Let’s take a closer look at […]

Thoughts from the State Board Work Session on Correspondence Schools

September 21, 2007

Just back from the public comment and work session. Initial impressions are there is not as much controversy as anticipated judging by the public participation. Public comment did go overtime but not in overwhelming numbers. Comments were typically from parents who wanted more freedom to spend their allotments on Fine Arts and PE and to […]

Why are In-District Schools Not Regulated like Statewide Schools?

September 20, 2007

This is a very hot issue right now and will be discussed at the State School Board work session Friday, September 21st. Statewide correspondence schools are subject to a 15% spending limitation on fine arts and P.E. and prohibited from using parent-purchased sectarian materials in student learning plans. In-district programs are not subject to these […]

Why Does Alaska Have so Many Statewide Correspondence Schools?

September 19, 2007

It is an interesting question. Why would a tiny school district such as Galena City Schools enthusiastically take on the responsibility for educating students in urban districts like Fairbanks or Anchorage? Galena is a village of about 635 on the Yukon river about 280 miles west of Fairbanks. Tax revenue is minimal, 3% sales and […]

Parsing the 6 Questions in AHEA’s Online Survey

September 14, 2007

I took the Alaska Home Educators Alliance (AHEA) online survey. As surveys go it isn’t written to gauge opinion but rather to lead the survey-taker to the answer AHEA wants. So, I’ll go through the six questions one by one.

Do you agree that the compulsory school attendance age should remain the same and should not […]

Alaska Home Educators Alliance Take on Governor Palin for Wrong Reasons

September 13, 2007

As I’ve written before, Alaska has the best homeschooling choices in the nation. But it does not mean we are content with the status quo. There is a pretty heated controversy perking between some homeschoolers and Governor Sarah Palin’s administration that hit local talk radio this week.
Here are the pertinents. Alaska Home Educators Alliance […]

Alaska Has Best of Both Worlds for Homeschooling: 8 Reasons Why

August 15, 2007

First, a definition. For the purposes of this article, and this blog for that matter, this is what homeschooling means:
Primary responsibility for education lies with the parent who designs a learning plan or curriculum that fits their child. The parent is free to pick and choose materials, schedules or even services for the child whose […]