NEA-Alaska
NEA-Alaska
chools throughout the nation are facing a teacher shortage, and nowhere is this felt more starkly than in Alaska, where a large number of educators are recruited from the Lower 48. This, in addition to other factors including the remoteness of many of the state’s schools, the lack of a competitive retirement system, and legislative budget issues, makes recruiting and retaining skilled educators a monumental challenge.
According to Dr. Lisa Skiles Parady, executive director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators, the situation has become even more dire in the last couple of years.
“We are in a national crisis in terms of an educator shortage, and what makes it even worse in Alaska is that we have historically relied on the Lower 48 to recruit teachers, principals, and other educators,” she explains. “Teachers used to come to the state from all over the nation to find jobs; the Alaska Teacher Placement job fair in Anchorage had lines out the door. Now, the numbers have fallen considerably; last year, 211 participants came to the fair, and a high percentage of those were already employed here as teachers and were looking to move to other districts.”
“I’ve been part of the Lower Kuskokwim School District for twenty-seven years, and the first job fair that I went to as an aspiring teacher there were 1,300 candidates,” agrees Daniel Walker, superintendent of schools for the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD). “Now 200 people is a large number.”
Alaska’s rural areas are especially hard hit, as teacher turnover is strikingly high. According to the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project’s website, some school districts in the state suffer from up to 85 percent turnover, which not only results in a lack of cohesiveness within the school community but also tends to result in poor student performance. While the Anchorage School District is one of the 100 largest in the nation with 3,000 teachers and 50,000 students, 135 of Alaska’s 512 schools have fewer than 50 students and 82 schools enroll 25 or fewer students.
NEA-Alaska
NEA-Alaska
Principals and superintendents are not immune, either. “Last year, the principal turnover rate was 26 percent, and principals are second only to teachers when it comes to positive student achievement,” says Skiles Parady, adding that in the past five years, the total superintendent turnover rate was approximately 70 percent. “High turnover rates affect school stability, which affects learning.”
“The retirement program we had before that date included a safety net based on the number of years you worked; anyone hired after that date gets what is basically a 401K,” he explains. “The state puts in 7 percent and the educator puts in 8 percent, which, by state calculations, means that many people will be running out of money after about ten or fifteen years. We encourage people to save a whole lot more—like an additional 25 percent. But who can take an additional 25 percent out of their salary to put in a retirement vehicle?”
NEA-Alaska
NEA-Alaska
One benefit to teachers—but not to school districts—is that they are vested after five years so that they can transfer their 401K to another state that has a defined benefit system. “Because of the teacher shortage, they can easily get hired somewhere else,” says Parker. “We’ve created a massive incentive for people to leave the state by taking social security and retirement away.”
LKSD
LKSD
“When there is no forward funding, districts have to start handing out pink slips, which means that hundreds of teachers get laid off, so they head out of state,” says Parker. “Once the legislature figures the budget out in June or July, the districts try to rehire these people, but it’s too late. They need to lock up those jobs in January-April when teachers are signing contracts for where they’ll be working next year.”
While other states are actually increasing teacher pay, Alaska is not.
©Toni McFadden
While all of these issues affect teachers in both urban and rural Alaska, those teaching at remote schools face another challenge. “The number one reason for turnover in our district is distance from family, and unfortunately, we can’t control that,” says Walker, adding that, historically, LKSD has a smaller turnover than most other school districts around them, averaging between 18 percent and 20 percent.
“There are things we can control and things we can’t, so we concentrate on what we can do to make it a positive experience so that they want to stay,” says Walker. “We also make sure that we are proactive and intentional on the front end, selecting candidates that are the right fit for our circumstances—people who want to work in very rural areas that are 95 percent Alaska Native, who are seeking a very different cultural experience.”
NEA-Alaska
“Our program in Alaska isn’t like those in other states; the big difference is context,” says Steve Atwater, executive dean of the Alaska College of Education at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS). “We prepare the students to work in Alaska schools, which means that there is a strong cultural emphasis and a focus on using the local context to drive instruction.
ASMP
ASMP
Unfortunately, the program at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) School of Education was denied accreditation for its initial licensure programs earlier this year, which left the school and its students unsure of where things stand. Programs affected by the loss of accreditation are bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education, elementary education, secondary education, and the master’s degree program in secondary education.
“The state board approved UAA’s programs for students graduating this spring and in August; they will get their teaching licenses; beyond that, we don’t know,” says Atwater. In mid-February, the State Board of Education approved a request from the university to consider spring and summer 2019 graduates eligible for licensure and to show they have graduated from a state-approved program. Both UAS and University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) still have accredited teaching programs, and a small number of enrolled students are currently transferring or have already transferred to other campuses.
According to Atwater, each campus has its own recruiting strategies, which include outreach to high schools. “We partner with Education Rising, which is a national organization that encourages senior high school students to go into the teaching profession,” he explains. “UAS has also recently hired a recruiter for the UA system, and the university is dedicating resources to help with recruitment and retention.”
The university also sponsors the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project, which provides individualized support to first- and second-year teachers. Mentors visit with teachers monthly and speak weekly by phone, email, or Skype to make sure that teachers have the help they need.
LKSD recruits teachers through the Alaska Teacher Placement program and employs two former principals who live in the Lower 48 to travel to 80 to 100 job fairs each year.
Brett Stevens’ fifth-grade class in in Utqiaġvik.
©Brett Stevens, ECT
©Brett Stevens, ECT
LKSD is also developing relationships with teaching colleges in the Lower 48 and will bring up student teaching candidates to spend a semester working at a rural Alaska school. The district recently revamped its Career Ladder program to allow students multiple pathways to become teachers—either supporting them while they study at UAF; enabling them to work full-time in their communities while studying at night via distance learning; or even paying them to study full-time.
“They work for us while they’re working to get their degree; it’s a very expensive program, but it gets them through the program sooner,” says Walker. “Every semester we pay for, they owe us one year of service.”
With so many obstacles in the way, it’s a wonder that Alaska’s school districts—and its students—are doing as well as they are.
“There are a lot of dedicated people here who have a passion for teaching; you hear over and over about how much they care about learning in the classrooms,” says Parker. “You focus on the kids and you try not to think about the economics. At the end of the day, a lot of successes happen and you feel good about that. It’s what keeps you going—connecting to the communities and the kids.”