Director of the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR) and Research Assistant Professor of Education Policy, Dr. Dayna DeFeo, was recently featured by KTUU to discuss the growing concern around the number of teachers in Alaska. Dr. DeFeo explained that lower enrollment in education programs has resulted in less teachers being produced locally. On top of that, issues with the budget make it difficult to hold on to the ones that are currently working here.
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ISER researchers Dayna DeFeo, director of the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research and Diane Hirshberg, professor of education policy, were featured prominently in Education Week for a recent article on teacher turnover in Alaska.
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In a new education publication, Dayna DeFeo, Matthew Berman, Alexandra Hill, and Diane Hirshberg examine how Alaska’s K-12 spending compares to other states in the US. In Alaska’s fiscal crisis that has drawn increased attention to education spending, this report shows that after taking into account higher Alaska prices for items largely beyond local school districts' control, Alaska's per pupil spending is about average among all the US states.
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In the midst of a national teacher shortage, Alaska does not simply need teachers, it needs high quality educators who reflect the diversity of its students. Teachers who are prepared in Alaska not only bring cultural familiarity, but also have lower turnover rates. Grow-your-own initiatives to recruit and train local teachers are a sustainable and effective way to staff classrooms with “homegrown” educators who are culturally and linguistically similar to the students and communities they serve, but Alaska is not recruiting enough Alaskans into teaching.
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School superintendents are all too familiar with the costs of teacher turnover that deplete educational resources and challenge student achievement. A new paper, by Dayna DeFeo, director of ISER’s Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR) and Trang Tran, ISER research professional, looks at how superintendents in Alaska’s rural districts – where teacher turnover is particularly pronounced – are working to address turnover by integrating a place-conscious approach in their hiring practices.
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Dual enrollment programs provide access to college-level courses to high school students prior to graduation, often helping students become more successful in high school and easing their path to college. Between 2008 and 2017, University of Alaska (UA) dual enrollment programs experienced an 85% increase in student enrollment and, among those who graduated from high school, 41% went on to attend a UA institution within a year.
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Sarah Andrew, new director of University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Bristol Bay Campus, invited ISER’s Dayna DeFeo to deliver the keynote talk at the Bristol Bay Campus annual summit in Dillingham last month. Andrew called upon DeFeo, who directs ISER’s Center for Alaska Education Policy Research, to share research findings on how to better serve rural Alaska students, and to lead a discussion addressing difficult issues of equity, access, and privilege.
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Using U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 Annual Survey of School System Finances, Alaska ranks 6th in per-pupil education spending, however the ranking is deceptive since it doesn’t take into account the high cost of delivering education and high cost of living in different places in Alaska. When these costs are considered, Alaska’s per-pupil spending is about average, according to Dayna DeFeo, director of ISER’s Center for Alaska Education Policy Research.
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Soon, Alaska Native elementary students in 14 rural Alaska communities will be studying Drones in ways to both connect their science education to their communities and increase their engagement in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. These are among the objectives and goals of a newly awarded National Science Foundation Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) grant, “Drone Research and Opportunities for Native Elementary Students" or DRONES.
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ISER Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR) Director Dayna DeFeo and Research Professionals Jessica Passini and Trang Tran provided findings from two separate evaluation projects at a statewide meeting of educators and education administrators.