In 2004 and 2005 my colleagues and I gathered information on the boarding school and boarding home experiences of 60 Alaska Native adults who attended boarding schools or participated in the urban boarding home program from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. From the early 1900s to the 1970s Alaska Natives were taken from rural communities…

This reprint of a 10 day report, published in the "Anchorage Daily News," January 10 to January 20, 1988, examines Alaskan native alcohol use, and attendant suicide, homicide, and accident. In the village of Alakanuk, a town of 550, for example, there were eight suicides, dozens of suicide attempts, two murders, and four drownings in 16…

The role of the school as it relates to the Alaskan American Indian community and its components (teacher, student, and parent) is discussed, especially in terms of the sociocultural milieu of the school and community. (FF)

Examines dropout rates in small village high schools. Reports that the shift from boarding schools to small village high schools has dramatically reduced the dropout rates of rural Alaska native students. Suggests related characteristics are small size, personalized atmosphere, sense of community, and individualized instruction. (DHP)

The study presents findings and recommendations regarding education of Alaska natives (Eskimos, Indians, and Aleuts). The paper was prepared for the governor of Alaska by the Commission on Cross-Cultural Education of Alaska, which was designed to find ways to provide new meaning to education for Alaska's multicultural society and to provide…

In the last of a three-part series, this study examined the information processing patterns of postsecondary American Indian/Alaska Native students attending community and tribal colleges in the Southwest. Using a survey design, students completed the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, the Briggs and Myers Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and the Oltman,…

Alaska has made many attempts to find methods for providing a quality education for students living in rural areas. They include regional schools, boarding dormitories, the Boarding Home Program, area and local high schools, and correspondence study. This booklet discusses the strong and weak points relative to the major financial, social, legal,…

Boarding schools were the only option for rural high school students in Alaska until 1976, when the state began building many, very small, village high schools following a class action law suit. Selective, academic boarding schools continue to be an option. A survey of rural households found community satisfaction and improved student outcomes as…

Local high school programs represent a major change in Alaska's rural secondary school policy. This report examines the type of local high school program desired by the residents of three rural villages as a basis for designing village high school facilities. Each village is described by location, climate, population, housing, health facilities,…

The study compiles and records the history of the administration of education for Alaskan natives since the United States purchased the territory from Russia in 1876. Chapter 1, An Overview of the Development of the Alaskan Native, covers the development of missionary and government schools, the growth and development of Native education from 1906…

This report presents recommendations resulting from a study conducted during 1993-94 assessing rural secondary education in Alaska. Components of the study included a survey of 800 randomly selected rural households, a survey of boarding school graduates, an assessment of rural university student achievement, and other related research. A task…

Summarizing and synthesizing seven research studies which focus on the problem of the Alaska Native school dropout, this report describes each research project, identifies research findings, and presents recommendations. The seven studies are presented via consideration of: (1) the characteristics of the student who has dropped out of school;…

A qualitative study examined a rural Alaskan school district's standards-based reform in the sociohistorical context of Alaska Native education. Observations and interviews with 32 district staff members indicate that the district had recast the historical "civilization-savagism" paradigm as an "unhealthy Native" construct to…

The article gives a brief overview of the history of education for Alaska natives. It also includes a summary of various studies on dropout among Alaska native students; notes problems facing those dropouts; and notes implications for the community. The article calls for dropout research based on nonhome factors. (SB)

The large number of requests for general information on Alaska has resulted in the compilation of this booklet. Alaska's school system is made up of district schools and State-operated schools. The 29 school districts (controlled by the local school boards) vary in size from 40 pupils with 4 teachers to 34,000 pupils with 1,500 teachers. Boarding…