Building the best students possible

MATT NEVALA

November 06, 2008 at 10:54AM AKST

Listening to Alaska Education Commissioner Larry LeDoux, it seems only fitting one of the state’s newest architectural beauties will host next week’s education summit.

To hear LeDoux tell it, Alaska has some significant building to do when it comes to assembling one successful student after another.

“When you approach education reform as a little bit here and a little bit here, it doesn’t really come together,” LeDoux said. “It’s time to bring everything together and create a vision for our kids.”

The Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center, downtown Anchorage’s splendid new facility and recent site of the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, will host about 400 invited parents, students, educators, policy-makers, representatives from the Native and business communities, legislators and other luminaries for the statewide education summit Nov. 13-14. Named “Building Alaska’s Future One Student at a Time,” the summit is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development in partnership with the University of Alaska and school districts across the state.

According to the state, the summit will tie together successful education programs that already exist and recommend improvements where needed. In addition, summit participants will define broadly what every Alaska high school graduate should know and be able to do to successfully enter the workforce or go on for additional education.

“In Alaska, a student needs a certain number of credits to graduate with some stipulations,” LeDoux said. “(The student) must take U.S. history and have so many credits of math. In most districts, you can graduate with 22-23 credits with a D-minus average. You get the same diploma as someone who got A-pluses in everything.

“I believe we should be able to expect more.”

LeDoux took over as the state’s education commissioner in July. He spent most of his 30-plus years as an educator in Kodiak, where he worked as a superintendent, principal and teacher. In 2006, he assisted Gov. Sarah Palin’s transition team into office and the seeds for the statewide summit were planted.

“I asked, ‘Where is the education plan for the state?’” LeDoux said. “What are our dreams for kids? You could be a Democrat, me a Republican and we can share that same dream. We’ll fight the other stuff out later.

“But we need a pathway so we know where it is we want to arrive.”

All Alaskans have had an opportunity to participate prior to the summit in an online survey about education in Alaska through the state’s Web site (www.eed.state.ak.us). Invited participants at the summit will discuss topics such as early education, reinventing education for the 21st century, workforce development and partnerships between K-12 education and universities. They will also tackle ways to prepare students for education and training after high school; public education finance and school facilities; outcomes for high school graduates; the role of culture, community and family in education; rural education; safe schools; technology; and teacher recruitment and retention.

In terms of rural education, recent reports point to something of an exodus from villages to Alaska’s more urban areas. Anchorage School District officials hired 18 new teachers to work with 475 extra students who enrolled. Many of those students moved from rural Alaska, according to officials, as a way to combat the high cost of energy and other concerns.

Palin told AFN convention delegates she created a new subcabinet in her administration to focus on Alaska Native issues. LeDoux said his department would be part of the subcabinet.

“(I) will provide input to the subcabinet regarding the challenges presented to educators, students and families as rural enrollment declines,” LeDoux said. “Topics will include criteria for school closures, alternative and distance education options, facilities management, scale and scope budget concerns and the maintenance of quality K-12 education programs in small schools.

“Immediate concerns include the increased cost of energy for school and teacher housing, transition concerns when students travel back and forth from rural and urban sites, seamless support and intervention programs for families in transition and academic intervention programs designed to support a child’s learning needs.”

LeDoux envisions holding education summits every two years after next week’s meeting.

“We have to make sure our vision remains relevant,” he said. “We’re at the start of the start of the beginning.

“We’re not bringing in a lot of talking heads to listen to at the summit. It’s time to roll up our sleeves.”

Matt Nevala can be reached at 907-348-2480 or 800-770-9830, ext. 480.