Our vision is an Alaska that continuously grows prosperity by maximizing individual opportunities and freedom
The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) recently received a $1 million grant, funded by the federal CARES Act, to research a “legal and practical pathway” for tribal compacting of education. Tribal compacting is an education agreement between the state and tribes where local authority for K-12 schools is vested […]
It is a sad fact, but it is true: children who cannot read by nine rarely catch up to their peers. In 2019, only 25 percent of Alaskan fourth-graders were proficient in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and almost […]
Project Nickel is a tool that makes it easy for parents and policymakers alike to understand how much is spent per student at a school by bundling together the most informative statistics and […]
Advocates of higher school spending often frame the problem as a no-brainer solution to assist struggling students. However, the school funding issue in Alaska is far more complicated; a recent report by the […]
This is a copy of the verbal testimony APF provided to the House Education Committee on May 8, 2021. Click here here to open a printable PDF of the testimony in a new […]
With one policy change, Alaska can improve learning, reduce poverty and ensure more students are on the path to success in career and college. Alaska invests huge sums into public K—12 education but […]
This is a copy of the verbal testimony APF provided to the Senate Education Committee on April 10, 2021. Click here to open a printable PDF of the testimony in a new tab. […]
It’s no surprise that reading is a critical skill for young children to learn. In fact, by third grade, students “stop learning to read and start reading to learn.” This means it is […]
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has released an interactive tool that classifies programs at universities based on average annual earnings, monthly loan payments, students’ average debt-to-earnings ratio, and gainful employment equivalent status. The debt-to-earnings ratio is calculated by dividing the median debt […]
Given the recent budget woes of the University of Alaska (UA) system and falling enrollment for nearly a decade, it is reasonable to wonder if earning a degree in Alaska is a sound economic investment for students. In other words, do Alaskan students leave […]
By Corey A. DeAngelis, Ph.D. Foreword Perhaps no societal function has been more disrupted during the 2020-and-ongoing pandemic than K-12 education. A world in which schools actually closed their doors to students […]
National School Choice Week is underway, and families across the country are celebrating and participating in a variety of events. National School Choice Week (NSCW) shines a spotlight on effective education options for […]
Early in 2020, legislation was announced again to address the third-grade literacy crisis facing Alaskan children. Year after year, the problem has been discussed and legislation with viable solutions proposed—only to go nowhere. Finally, in […]
This article originally appeared in Must Read Alaska on December 23, 2020. At a recent Kenai School Board meeting, and as reported in Must Read Alaska, an impassioned argument was made to get young […]
By Win Gruening This article was originally published in Must Read Alaska on November 26, 2020. Is anyone paying attention? Scientific evidence continues to mount that K-through-12 schools can operate with face-to-face learning […]
By Robert Pondiscio This article originally appeared on the Thomas B. Fordham Institute website on November 19, 2020. At the tail end of a recent symposium titled “Why children can’t read—and what we can do […]