Education grant will assist Native students

PALMER -- Local school officials and administrators Thursday greeted U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the gymnasium of the new Sherrod Elementary School for the announcement of a $1.06-million grant to fund a proposed preschool designed to improve school-readiness skills for 3- and 4-year-old Alaska Native and American Indian children.

The U.S Department of Education grant is part of an effort to fulfill promises of the No Child Left Behind Act in a vast area like Alaska, where educators often face unique challenges.

"The promise of No Child Left Behind is that all our kids deserve the best possible education," Murkowski said. "The most important thing we can do is provide them with a good education."

Murkowski noted that 49 percent of Alaska Native third-graders scored below proficiency standards last year, compared with only 15 percent of white third-graders. Similarly, 56.5 percent of Alaska Native 10th-graders scored below proficiency standards, compared to 10 percent of their white counterparts.

Murkowski said she knows there is a lot of concern and frustration over education for Alaska Natives.

"What we have is a real achievement gap," Murkowski said. "I'm not going to leave Alaska Native students behind."

John Weetman, assistant director of federal programs for the Mat-Su Borough School District, wrote the request for the grant. According to Weetman, the grant is one of only 16 that were issued nationwide.

The new Nanuaq Preschool will serve 60 kids, Monday through Thursday, with one teacher and one aide per 15 children. Nanuaq, which means "playhouse" in Yupik, will conduct both morning and afternoon sessions at Swanson Elementary and, tentatively, Big Lake Elementary.

Nanuaq Preschool is set to operate during normal school hours, helping children develop pre-reading and pre-writing skills to better prepare them for later schooling. The literacy program was first developed by academics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, to improve reading skills of children in deprived areas of the United States.

Parents interested in enrolling their children in the program should call the Mat-Su Borough School District's federal programs department at 746-9239.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.