Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

Seeing Education’s Future in an Alaska District

March 16, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

In his Commentary “Waiting for the Transformation” (Feb. 25, 2009), Arthur E. Levine is overly pessimistic about the time it will take for our nation’s education system to adopt “an emphasis on outcomes, learning, and education in and out of school.” He writes, “The nation is not yet ready to move in this direction.”

In 2001, however, the Chugach school district in Alaska won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest presidential award for organizational innovation and performance excellence, by developing precisely such a system.

Chugach wrote its own standards, secured a waiver of Carnegie units from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, and advances all K-12 students based on their performance, not seat time or grade level. Chugach also developed software to support its approach.

The results were spectacular, with Chugach rising from among Alaska’s lowest-performing districts to the top in just six years.

Several of Chugach’s leaders left to form the Re-Inventing Schools Coalition, which has successfully replicated the program in several other Alaskan districts. It is now being deployed in Colorado’s Adams 50 district and will be piloted next year in Maine.

Glenn Noreen

Executive Director

Barack Obama Charter School

Claremont, Calif.

A version of this article appeared in the March 18, 2009 edition of Education Week as Seeing Education’s Future In an Alaska District

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Quiz What Lowers Teacher Turnover? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz Which State Is About to Pass a ‘Science of Reading’ Law? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz What is a Project 2025 Author Doing at the Education Department? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Briefly Stated: June 11, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
5 min read