Alaskans asked to take part in education survey

ALASKA NEWSPAPERS STAFF

October 23, 2008 at 3:11PM AKST

As Alaska takes initial steps to develop a statewide plan for education from preschool to post-secondary, the state wants to know what residents think about education and our expectations for high school graduates.

Two online surveys have been posted on the Web site of the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development, www.eed.state.ak.us. The surveys are brief, and respondents will be anonymous.

There is no deadline to complete the surveys. However, results from surveys completed by Nov. 3 will be reported to participants at the upcoming statewide summit on education, “Building Alaska’s Future One Student at a Time,” which will be held Nov. 13-14 in Anchorage.

Attendance at the summit is by invitation. But every Alaskan can have a voice by completing the surveys.

“It is very important that Alaskans from all walks of life and all regions of our state —whether they are parents, students, business people, elders, or educators — contribute their ideas and hopes for education in Alaska by completing the surveys,” said Alaska Education Commissioner Larry LeDoux. “Their expertise and perspectives will be valuable to the summit’s participants.”

The purposes of the summit are to garner consensus for a broadly stated education plan, which will be further refined by working groups after the summit, and to lay out the attributes that Alaskans want high school graduates to have.

Respondents should complete both surveys. The first, called “Education Survey,” asks respondents to rate their satisfaction with various aspects of their schools, academic standards, public information, the strengths of schools and the challenges they face, and what steps would improve the graduation rate. In addition to the questions, there are opportunities to provide open-ended comments.

The second survey, called “Student Outcomes Survey,” asks respondents about the attributes they would like to see our high school graduates possess. Attributes may include knowledge, communication skills, critical thinking, creativity, personal responsibility and citizenship, among others.

The results of the summit will be posted on the department's Web site, and the public will have an opportunity to comment online.