Letters From Alaska
When it comes to education, the 49th state faces its own challenges, some of which are unique to Alaska and some that it shares with other rural states. This three-part series explores how cultural and geographic barriers, teacher shortages, historical developments, and other factors have shaped schooling in Alaska.
School & District Management
Project
An Alaskan Village's Long Wait for a New School
Rural schools struggle to maintain adequate buildings, but the quest for a new school has been fraught for this remote Old Believer village.
Recruitment & Retention
Project
A Perennial Challenge in Rural Alaska: Getting and Keeping Teachers
Recruiters are offering bonuses, free housing, and airfare to entice teachers to their remote districts—and competition is about to worsen.
Equity & Diversity
Project
On the Snowy Tundra, Alaska 69´«Ã½ Bridge Differences and Eat Moose Snout
An Alaskan high school exchange program works to promote understanding between the state's urban centers and its remote Native Villages.
Equity & Diversity
Interactive
Alaska: A Brief History of the State and Its 69´«Ã½
Alaskan schooling developed on many fronts. An illustrated timeline adds historical context for the growth of the state's education system.
School & District Management
Video
‘Just Like Them’: Urban and Rural 69´«Ã½ Make Friends on the Alaska Frontier
An unusual exchange program in Alaska pairs students from urban high schools with sister schools in some of the most remote parts of the 49th state. In April, four Anchorage students and their teacher made the trip to a Native Village in Scammon Bay. See what they learned about subsistence living, the environment, Yup’ik culture, and making connections with peers from a different culture and geographic region. July 21, 2019.
Credits:
Reporter: Victoria Petersen
Videographer: Erin Irwin
Project Editors: Elizabeth Rich, Debra Viadero
Visual Design Editor: Emma Patti-Harris
Art Director: Gina Tomko
Associate Art Director: Vanessa Solis
Web Designer/Producer: Hyon-Young Kim
Contributors: Mike Bock, Sasha Jones, Maya Riser-Kositsky