Senators Joe Paskvan, Dennis Egan, and Gary Stevens during the closeout hearing of the Senate Finance DEED Subcommittee, March 20, 2012
This blog contains highlights from the Alaska Education Update. The update is issued daily during session and contains detailed summaries of education issues under consideration by the Alaska State Legislature. If there is a hearing on a Monday, a report will, with few exceptions, be released by Tuesday morning. There is also a weekly edition of the update. During interim, reports are issued only when there has been action. Interim action may include hearings, bill signings, the release of the Governor's proposed budget for the next fiscal year, and other items that may be of interest to the education community.

To subscribe to full reports, contact Shana Crondahl at (907) 500-7069 or akedupdate@gci.net. To subscribe to blog posts, submit your email:

Thursday, February 17, 2011

House Education Committee: Presentation by Saint Mary's School District Superintendent Dave Herbert

The House Education Committee has been hearing from superintendents from around the state at the beginning of every committee meeting.  On Wednesday they heard from Superintendent Dave Herbert of Saint Mary’s School District.  Saint Mary's is a remote, single site bush school district (http://www.smcsd.us/) with about 200 students in pre-school-12th grade. Their student population is 100 percent Yupik, and Mr. Herbert has been superintendent for six years.

The district made AYP for five of the last six years, and is currently at 0 AYP, which is the best level of AYP a school district can get. They have a 90 percent high school graduation rate. Superintendent Herbert said they have outstanding students, parents, community members, teachers, and support staff.

Superintendent Herbert said they’ve implemented a relevant instruction program that has helped engage the community and gain parental support. Instructional trips are a big incentive for students to perform. They use State of Alaska grade-level expectations in a relevant and meaningful manner. The trips have science, math, language arts, and Yupik language integrated into the activities. When students return from a trip, they are required to complete a project incorporating data collected on the trip. Students must.....