August 05, 2002
Monday - 2:10 pm

The most important aspect of our state's Quality Schools Initiative (QSI) is accountability for student achievement. If we are to deliver a quality education for every student in our state it will take all of us working together.

Over the past several years, schools throughout Alaska have responded to the Quality Schools challenge by implementing academic standards and innovative programs. These changes are necessary to boost academic achievement and to answer greater public demands for accountability through QSI's Alaska School Designator Program. As a part of this program, each school will be held accountable for results and will be given a designation of distinguished, successful, deficient or in crisis so the public will know if the school is succeeding.

While our legislature recently voted to delay the Alaska School Designator Program until 2004, our schools must not delay their efforts to implement academic standards. We need the delay to collect data showing the growth of student performance over time. To designate schools now with current year student achievement data only would give us no new information.

Meanwhile, Alaska's schools are being held accountable through the state's report card system for public schools. The Department of Education & Early Development will continue to issue an annual report card for each public school. School report cards can be found at www.eed.state.ak.us/stats/. They include student test scores; information on attendance; graduation and dropout rates; numbers of high school graduates; and changes in enrollment.

The three-year delay gives families, teachers, principals, school boards and communities the time they need to build further quality in the classroom. Together they should make wise use of this time. Here are some of the things they can do.

Families

• Assume primary responsibility for your children's education.
• Get involved in your children's education by practicing effective parenting skills; communicating with teachers and school officials about how to improve your child's experience in school; volunteering in school; and helping your child learn at home.
• Hold school boards, schools, educators and students to high, measurable standards.

Teachers

• Take responsibility and be accountable for the learning of every child in your classroom.
• Bring the necessary resources, including health and social services, to your students.
• Teach and test to the student academic standards.
• Develop real partnerships with parents.

School Principals

• Establish a school climate that makes the school a community of learners focused on meeting high academic standards.
• Spend the majority of your time being an instructional leader.
• Develop supervision and mentoring programs to help teachers grow.
• Be accountable for the learning of every child in your school.
• Do quality evaluations of teachers based on standards

School Board Members & Advisory Councils

• Take responsibility and be accountable for student achievement.
• State clearly to the community that learning is the fundamental goal of all schools.
• Ensure all policies support learning and achievement.
• Set standards for student achievement, and make sure they are at least as rigorous as state standards. Use a testing system closely related to the standards to measure student progress.
• Maintain vigorous communication with parents and the community.
• Develop partnerships with businesses, corporations, and community agencies to help meet the needs of every child.
• Create school improvement plans that include a challenging, rigorous curriculum for all students and all grades; accurate ways to check student progress; effective teaching methods; appropriate textbooks and teaching materials; and policies aimed at increasing learning.
• Develop an evaluation system for teachers and administrators that holds educators to high standards.

The most profound and long-lasting changes in school improvement take place at the local level with the involvement of the entire community. Efforts at the state level such as the Quality Schools Initiative are intended to encourage and support local efforts.

Don't delay. I urge you to get involved with your schools. Together we can make sure a quality education is available for our children in every school.

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