5/20/03 -- School districts across the nation are struggling to meet the challenges of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, but those in Alaska face a unique set of difficulties.
At the invitation of Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski and the state's congressional delegation, U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige visited Alaska schools May 5 to see firsthand how they are dealing with NCLB.
Remote communities
Carl Rose, executive director of the Association of Alaska School Boards, who participated in the meeting, says state officials believe NCLB needs to be adjusted to meet the unique needs of Alaska schools and districts. "We wanted to let Paige know how inappropriate a bill like this would be in not just a rural area but a remote area," he says.
Alaska school boards support the concept of NCLB, Rose says, but implementing it will "take some flexibility." Paying for it also is a challenge. Because state funding has been reduced, funds slated for education had to be redirected to other areas.
According to Rose, the remoteness of Alaska communities means "it is very difficult for schools in the state to comply with the NCLB provisions that mandate highly qualified teachers and school choice."
Rose says if a map of Alaska were superimposed on the lower 48, it would stretch from Duluth, Minn., to Amarillo, Texas, and from Los Angeles or Savannah, Ga., while the entire Alaska highway system would fit around the state of Iowa. The vast majority of Alaska is accessible only by air and water.
"How will you get qualified teachers to these remote areas?," he says, "and with communities 80 to 100 miles apart, how do you provide choice?"
Of the state's 506 schools, 135 have fewer than 50 students, and 20 percent of the state's schools have no more than three teachers, he says.
"Alaska has too many small-population schools to meet the requirements for implementing a reliable and valid single system of accountability under current NCLB rules," Rose says.
He predicts the majority of small schools will be identified as low-performing, which means they must offer parents the option to transfer to a better-performing public school. He notes the majority of students in small, remote schools speak "village English," a hybrid of English and a native language, which complicates the assessment process.
Flexibility sought
"We're not asking for an exemption from the law. We're asking for flexibility," Rose says. He hopes the department will allow the state to use distance learning or other forms of technology to meet the requirements of NCLB.
Rose says the visit was an "eye opener" for Paige. "He saw the lack of capacity, the living conditions of teachers. Ruralness meant something different to him before the visit."
"He was careful not to make any commitments," Rose says of Paige, but he promised "to work with Alaska to solve these problems."
Education Department spokesperson Dan Langan says Paige found the visit "very enlightening and informative" and appreciated the opportunity to see the challenges of Alaska schools firsthand. "Paige wants to continue the conversation with Alaska officials as they continue to implement NCLB."
Other predominantly rural states also are seeking flexibility in NCLB. In North Dakota, schools have a hard time finding teachers who majored in physics or biology, for example, so teachers assigned to such classes usually have more general majors in science, notes Barb Norby, director of policy services for the North Dakota School Boards Association.
The state education department wants these teachers to be considered highly qualified under NCLB if they can pass a test in their subject area.
School leaders in New Hampshire also "are very concerned about NCLB," says Dean Michener, director of governmental relations at the New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA).
The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill to limit the state's participation in NCLB, and the state Senate is holding hearings on the measure this week.
Insufficient funding
The House bill prohibits the spending of general funds for compliance with NCLB, allows school districts to exempt themselves from compliance with NCLB if the cost of compliance is not fully covered by additional federal funds, and directs the state department of education to ensure that no costs associated with NCLB be included in the calculation of the cost of an adequate education. NHSBA supports the legislation.
School districts in New Hampshire have annual meetings where the whole community -- not just the school board -- can vote on policy issues. Michener says half the districts in the state have passed resolutions this year calling for the federal government to stop imposing underfunded mandates.
In addition to the lack of funding, NHSBA is "very concerned" about several aspects of NCLB, Michener says, including how districts and schools measure adequate yearly progress, how school choice will work when most districts have only one school, and how schools will find enough highly qualified teachers when there is a "critical shortage."
He says all of these issues "will have a profound impact on local budgets."