Alaska
Alaska Abstract or Conceptual Framework for
State Systemic Change
The Quality Education in the Last Frontier (QELF) project, Alaska's state improvement grant, is designed to increase educational services and successful outcomes for all students, including students with disabilities. The QELF project will accomplish this by providing direct support and technical assistance, as well as facilitating collaboration among its partners. The project will be located within Alaska's Department of Education & Early Development (EED), which will provide significant resources for achieving project goals.
Based on an extensive needs assessment, the following six goals were identified:
Goal 1: Increase the participation of all students, including students with disabilities, in activities related to Alaska's Quality Schools Initiative and other school reform effortsGoal 2: Support the full participation of parents, families, and community members in activities promoting student achievement
Goal 3: Develop and sustain effective partnerships with state agencies that provide services affecting students' educational achievement
Goal 4: Develop the infrastructure to recruit, train, and retain education professionals
Goal 5: Develop the infrastructure to recruit, train, and retain paraeducators
Goal 6: Develop an evaluation program to ensure the efficient use of federal, state, and local resources for project activities
The QELF project will advocate for full inclusion of students with disabilities in statewide education reform activities by providing training, resources, and technical assistance to school districts, parents, families, communities, and state agencies. The project will also increase cooperation among stakeholders and build the capacity of systemic structures currently in place. Twenty-six organizations representing parents, school districts, school personnel, Alaska Natives and other under-represented groups, state agencies, institutions of higher education, and private employers have signed partnership agreements that identify specific areas of collaboration. These partnerships will enable the QELF project to achieve its goals with a small staff and low administrative overhead. They will also ensure that Alaska's systemic capacity continues to grow after the project's completion.
The QELF project will implement innovative strategies to improve the recruitment, training, and retention of paraeducators and professional educational personnel. The Alaska Personnel Development Team, comprised of stakeholders in Alaska's education system, will provide continuous assessment and feedback. The University of Alaska, Anchorage, the University of Oregon, and the Alaska Staff Development Network will combine distance education programs and summer institutes, increase the number and type of courses offered, and share expertise to meet Alaska's preservice and inservice training needs.
The QELF project will enable its partners to be more effective in achieving their goals and ensure federal, state, and local resources are more efficiently integrated. The project will also permanently increase the capacity of Alaska's education system to improve student achievement.
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Project Title |
Quality Education in the Last Frontier (QELF) |
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Primary Contact Person |
Cathy Anderegg |
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Address |
Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Office of Special Education 801 West 10th Juneau, AK 99811-0500 |
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Phone |
(907) 465-8723 |
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Fax |
(907) 465-2806 |
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cathy_anderegg@eed.state.ak.us |
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Web site |
http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/sped/akspedsite/start.html |
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Date SIG Application was Written or Submitted |
15 December 1999 |
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Begin and End Dates for Funding |
Aug 2000 - June 2005 |
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Funded Amount: |
Approximately $500,000.00 |
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Who Wrote the Application |
Greg Maloney, AK SE Staff |
1. What products or activities are planned by the SIG?
Goal 1: Increase the participation of all students in activities related to Alaska's Quality Schools Initiative (QSI) and other school reform efforts.
Goal 2: Support the full participation of parents, families, and community members in activities promoting student achievement.
Goal 3: Develop and sustain effective partnerships among state agencies that provide services affecting students' educational achievement.
Goal 4: Develop the infrastructure to recruit, train, and retain education professionals.
Goal 5: Develop the infrastructure to recruit, train, and retain paraeducators.
Goal 6: Develop evaluation program to ensure efficient use of federal, state, and local resources for project activities.
2. What interstate connections are planned?
University of Oregon and other out-of-state IHEs: Implement partnership with University of Oregon and develop partnerships with additional out-of-state institutions that train related service providers.
Western Regional Resource Center: The WRRC will participate on the Alaska Personnel Development Team and also provide research and technical assistance to the QELF project.
3. What strategies are planned for service delivery?
Goal 1: Increase the participation of all students in activities related to Alaska's Quality Schools Initiative (QSI) and other school reform efforts.
Objective 1.1 Ensure state data systems track the progress of all students towards meeting state performance standards.Objective 1.2 Provide school districts with training and resources to ensure participation of all students in activities related to Alaska's Quality Schools Initiative (QSI).
Objective 1.3 Provide parents and family members with training and resources to support student participation in QSI activities.
Goal 2: Support the full participation of parents, families, and community members in activities promoting student achievement.
Objective 2.1 Increase the capacity of the PTI center to disseminate information and provide technical assistance to families of students with disabilities.Objective 2.2 Increase the participation of parents and families in training education personnel in school districts and institutions of higher education.
Objective 2.3 Increase knowledge of parents and family members regarding QSI.
Objective 2.4 Increase the participation by community members in district activities.
Goal 3: Develop and sustain effective partnerships among state agencies that provide services affecting students' educational achievement.
Objective 3.1 Collaborate with EED programs to ensure achievement of project goals.Objective 3.2 Collaborate with the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) program staff.
Objective 3.3 Collaborate with the Department of Corrections (DOC) program staff.
Objective 3.4 Collaborate with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) program staff.
Goal 4: Develop the infrastructure to recruit, train, and retain education professionals.
Objective 4.1 Increase the capacity of preservice training programs for education professionals.Objective 4.2 Design and implement comprehensive inservice training programs for education professionals.
Objective 4.3 Increase efforts to recruit special education teachers.
Objective 4.4 Create an effective recruiting program for related service providers.
Objective 4.5 Create an effective program to retain special education teachers and related service providers.
Goal 5: Develop the infrastructure to recruit, train, and retain paraeducators.
Objective 5.1 Design a comprehensive training system for paraeducators.Objective 5.2 Establish a career ladder for paraeducators.
Objective 5.3 Increase efforts to recruit paraeducators.
Objective 5.4 Develop and implement effective retention strategies for paraeducators.
Goal 6: Develop evaluation program to ensure efficient use of federal, state, and local resources for project activities.
Objective 6.1 Effectively administer the project.Objective 6.2 Implement the evaluation plan.
Objective 6.3 Disseminate materials and findings to state and national audiences.
4. What partnerships are intended?
Primary partnerships are with PARENTS, Inc., the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education, AK and out-of-state IHEs, Department of Education and Early Development, Department of Health and Social Services, Department of Correction, the Alaska Human Resource Investment Council, and the Alaska Transition Initiative.
5. Who are the partners?
6. What types of contracts or subgrants are intended to partners, LEAs, IHEs, PTIs and others (including lead agency under Part C)?
Contracts will be in place to:
7. How will resources be pooled with other resources?
The Department of Education and Early Development (EED) will contribute approximately $100,000 during each year of the project, including time contributed to the project by the State Director of Special Education and EED special education staff. In Project Years 3,4 and 5, EED will begin assuming more responsibility for project staff salaries.
8. What specific SIG products, activities, initiatives and strategies are pertinent to Part C ( birth to 3, infants, toddlers and their families) services and activities in your state?