A controversial new intervention program intended to raise the reading scores of Alaska students in grades K-3 has produced some startling results in Sitka.
But educators are confident that the outlook will be better by the end of the year.
The Alaska Reads Act passed the state Senate unanimously in the spring of 2022, but just squeaked by the House of Representatives before reaching the governor, who was one of its most ardent supporters.
Broadly speaking, developing an early education program for reading was well-received; basing it around a three-times a year testing program – especially for students who haven’t had reading instruction yet – struck many as a reach.
Sitka’s initial screening is complete, and the results were reported to the Sitka School Board at its regular October meeting (10-4-23).
Kim Babb is the Alaska Reads intervention specialist at Baranof Elementary, which houses Sitka’s kindergarten and first grade.
“We noticed, as did other schools across the state, kindergarten scores are low, probably due to lack of preschool or prior exposure,” said Babb. “But we’ve got a lot of room to grow. We’re already seeing growth, we’re well into the process of developing individual reading improvement plans for each child that scored below proficient on the in class-benchmark screen.”
Roughly 80-percent of Sitka’s kindergarteners tested below proficiency. For many, kindergarten might be their first educational experience, and the screening is mostly about recognizing letters.
“But 80-percent kind of shocked me,” Babb said.
In the higher grade levels, proficiency rose dramatically, with 47-percent below proficiency in first grade, and then by second and third grade there were only about 14 students in each class below proficiency.
Babb said that just being in school was bringing up proficiency for many students.
“We’re gonna progress monitor, and we’re already seeing growth,” said Babb. “We really are – just from exposure. They had to know 25 upper- and lowercase letters on the first test, and a lot of them didn’t. But they’re already making great progress. So we’ll keep you guys updated on it. That’s why they did this, because that’s what’s going on in Alaska.”
The Alaska Reads Act has a fairly intensive reporting requirement, and an after-school tutoring program for students that score far-below proficiency. Two teachers from Baranof, and six from Keet Gooshi Heen have applied for literacy education from the state-funded Alyeska Reading Institute, which will qualify them to be paid after-school tutors. Other teachers have registered for literacy courses offered through the State Department of Education, to increase their effectiveness during normal classroom hours.
The Sitka School Board was not thrown into a panic by the results – it is just the beginning of the first three-year grant cycle – and the district has support: the Sitka Tribe of Alaska has contributed to reading instruction, and the Sitka Sound Science Center has an active education program in the schools.
Board member Tristan Guevin wanted to know if the state was going to back up Alaska Reads with sustained funding after the Act sunsets in 2036.
“I feel very fortunate that we have staff within the schools, administrators, community partners, who are stepping up and making this happen,” said Guevin. “But I think – maybe not for this audience, maybe this is more for the state audience – the state to really has to think about the level of funding that we need to implement these properly.”
“Implement properly” is a concern shared by other educators across the state. Many districts were worried about staffing the program in remote areas. When the bill passed last year, Petersburg superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter told her board: “I don’t know where these people are all coming from because everybody’s looking for reading specialists, interventionists, counselors, special education teachers. Everybody’s searching in the same pool for the same people to provide those supports.”
Petersburg school board president Sarah Holmgrain was even more direct: “I think it’s a total waste of money and it’s not in the right spot,” Holmgrain said. “It’s testing for things that are just ridiculous and if they would just concentrate on using that funding to train and hire and pay reading specialists… kids just progress at a different rate.”
Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the Alaska Reads Act would “sunset in 2026.” Rather, it is only the first three-year grant round that concludes in 2026. Alaska Reads is part of a broad education bill (CSSB114) that identifies funding for early education grants until June 30, 2034, making the actual sunset of the Alaska Reads Act 2036.
