Families flock to correspondence education

MAT-SU — The biggest school in the Mat-Su isn’t a traditional school at all.

It’s Mat-Su Central, a K-12 program that provides distance learning and home-school support for home-educated students and others from all over the Valley.

Some 1,500 students take courses, go on field trips, hit the library or play in the band — all from a modern building renovated in 2011 as the Mat-Su Borough School District scrambled to retain families looking for more educational options.

Founded in 1972, Mat-Su Central started out in Palmer and moved several times before settling in its current Wasilla location on Railroad Avenue next to the Mat-Su Legislative Information Office.

Today, the school operates out of a state-of-the art, red metal schoolhouse outfitted with Promethean boards, Apple computers, a Lego robotics lab and spacious auditorium.

The school tries to offer a wide array of courses, staffers say. Students attending Mat-Su Central can also take courses at any district school. Mat-Su Central students study chemistry at Colony High School. They join the Science Olympiad team at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School.

Families these days are looking for more flexibility — and more parental involvement.

“I’m a lifelong Alaskan. We thrive on our independence,” said principal John Brown, a veteran educator who’s worked at eight schools in the district. “No one loves to see their child thrive more than a parent.”

In the last four years, 400 new students have enrolled at Mat-Su Central as the school district focused more attention and funding on the program, according to Gene Stone, the Mat-Su Borough School District’s assistant superintendent of instruction.

Enrollment this school year is a highest it’s ever been, according to district data.

Along with the district’s help, principal Brown credited the proliferation of online learning options for his school’s growing popularity. Traditional home-schoolers attend the school, Brown said, but he’s also seeing increasing numbers of families looking for individualized learning options. About 15 percent of enrollment is at-risk high school students.

“Being here is kind of the best of both worlds,” said Susan Nelson, an administrative assistant associated with the school since 1995.

Growth hasn’t been seamless.

A state audit in 2012 revealed a number of weaknesses that school and state officials say have since been remedied.

The state’s review praised strengths such as a “welcoming feeling” and numerous activities, but found problems in areas including tutoring agreements, teacher oversight of course work and quarterly progress reviews.

Mat-Su Central complied with the audit and the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development signed off on the changes.

Like students at most of the Valley’s large middle and high schools, Mat-Su Central students failed to meet state-mandated federal goals for Adequate Yearly Progress in 2011-12. Brown said Mat-Su Central faces similar challenges as those schools; for example, just one missing student can throw off results.

Many correspondence programs struggle to meet AYP. IDEA, the state’s largest correspondence program offered by the Galena School District, did not meet AYP last year either.

“There’s a lot of ‘swinging door’ kids,” Brown said. “They come for a year and then leave.”

This year staff, parents and administrators say the school is coming into its own. Mat-Su Central holds its first prom at Kendall Ford and its first Grad Blast for the 130 students — the largest group yet — getting diplomas in May.

Olena Ellis, a school community liaison, home-schools her 16-year-old son who is graduating this year, bound for the University of Alaska’s engineering program. Her family opted for Mat-Su Central for the courses, the real diploma instead of a printout, for social events and a field trip to Washington, D.C.

“There’s just so much going on here all the time,” Ellis said.