GPRA 2.1 Number and percentage of students at or above grade level according to State mathematics assessments in at least the grades required by the ESEA

Definition. This GPRA indicator measures the number and share of students who test proficient or advanced (or comparable categories for each site’s state assessments) for the math assessment for students in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. Promise Neighborhoods should rely on the high school grade identified by their school district.

Until the 2021-2022 school year, STEPS AK used the PEAKS assessment tool for this indicator (reported above). In 2021, the state of Alaska transitioned to a new statewide academic assessment system, AK STAR.

NEW RESULTS NOT COMPARABLE TO PREVIOUS RESULTS.

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Homework Tutors (middle-high school) -

Tutoring was offered after school for students needing additional support. This solution helped students keep or recover credit. Sitka’s Student Success Center and program at the two main high schools in Juneau offer additional tutoring and academic support in the school building.

In Juneau the Navigators program also provided out-of-school tutoring. In Yakutat, teachers made a dedicated effort to work with students to ensure that they were keeping pace with the class. In Hydaburg, students participated in an after school program dedicated to developing math skills and worked intensively with students on literacy in the early fall.

​​Culturally Responsive Planning, Coaching, Training (staff K-12):

Angoon staff participated in the Ethnomath Institute PLC, led by Nikki Lineham of Educating Now. Nikki Lineham says: "Working alongside the educators through our PLC reaffirms that ethnomathematics is an accessible and engaging entry point to mathematics for educators and students. All were able to make connections to their histories, and current cultural practices in which mathematics naturally resides as a way of meaning making and helping to solve daily problems."

Hydaburg staff received culturally responsive teaching training from the Southeast Regional Resource Center (SERRC) in April and received ongoing PD and training in Haida language, culturally responsive teaching, and place-based instruction through weekly staff development hours each Friday. 4 elementary staff worked together to create 3 place-based units that are now available as a resource for all Hydaburg staff via a shared google drive folder. In addition, 2 elementary staff participated in a reading training with the AK Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) in October.

Juneau - AWARE/ Haa Tóoch Lichéesh Coalition offered two trainings focused on using native plants and indigenous teachings for educators and community members. Sealaska Heritage Institute hosted a culturally responsive education conference which included 610 participants statewide, of which 367 were Juneau School District staff members. This was the in-service and training for the Juneau School District and not an add on.

Sitka -  In the spring, SSD staff (teachers, paras, administrators) participated in a 2-day workshop on culturally responsive education, designed around local knowledge within the district and the community. 2 staff traveled to Juneau to learn from JSD’s music program’s work to integrate Lingit language. The goal is for Sitka’s elementary music programs to adopt similar practices. In the fall, based on feedback gathered from AASB’s School Climate and Connectedness Survey, staff participated in culturally responsive workshops called "Creating a Sense of Belonging" that gave staff opportunities to assess communications within the district. 4 staff from the math department attended SHI’s culturally responsive education conference and learned about how to integrate Tlingit weaving into their math curriculum. Cultural integration staff and partners also met throughout the year for planning. One tool they created was a digital form that allows classroom staff to request support from cultural knowledge bearers which will make it easier to coordinate and be able to provide this support.

Regional Culturally Responsive Teaching & Language Revitalization PLC:

Culturally Responsive Teaching learning community from each of the districts finished their five-part series of Lesson Tuning Protocol (peer review and co-creation) providing training, practice and reflection on how Lingit & Xaad Kil teachers can develop language lessons together.  A poll was taken with the learning community asking for priorities of where they’d like to focus their work and what support is needed in 2023.

Regional Tribal Organizational Language Revitalization Leaders Work Group:

Juneau School District, Tlingit & Haida Central Council, Sealaska Corp., Sealaska Heritage Institute, Goldbelt Inc., and UAS staff participated in four regular meetings and a two-day retreat to further deepen and align their work.  A draft document has been created to outline their guiding values and priorities for collaborative would like to do together. This group wants to expand language teachers, expand language learners and proficiency, better coordinate and align funding sources, clarify scope of work of various projects so that they can reduce the pressures of the limited number of Tlingit & Haida language teachers and have year-round scaffolded activities for students and families.

STEAM, Culture, PBL (In School) (students K-12):

Chatham (Angoon and Klukwan) partners with Goldbelt Heritage Institute, Tlingit Language Grant, and Indian Ed to offer Tlingit Language and Culture classes at the elementary (4x per week), middle (5x per week), and high school level (Tlingit 101 class).

Other culturally responsive STEAM offerings in the Chatham School District include:

Alaska Geology, Alaska History, and Health Today & Tomorrow courses, offered online through the E4L program.

EthnoMathematics- Students investigate the social, political, and economic elements of the current  food system in Southeast communities from multiple perspectives and an interdisciplinary approach.

Klukwan Cultural Education program - Working with local elders, community members, and the lingít language teacher, this program provides cultural instruction every Friday.  

Chilkat River Monitoring (GLOBE Citizen Science) program - Cultural values and knowledge systems integrated into learning about the Takshanuk Watershed and stewardship.

Cedar Weaving - Master weaver/educator with trauma-informed approach to teaching; delivery of lessons steeped in culture and ways of social-emotional learning.

Hoonah provides Tlingit Language and Culture programs to all students in the district, Pre-K through 12th grade, as well as a culturally responsive science and art program for elementary students. Cultural offerings include weaving, song and dance, sewing traditional regalia, and drumming. For example, 3-5 graders learned weaving techniques to make g̱uwakaan (deer) out of colored paper strips and then with cedar bark. The Pre-K-2nd graders made Tlingit ornaments with each child’s picture for the family tree. The music program collaborated with the Juneau School district’s Tlingit Culture Language and Literacy (TCLL) Program to perform songs in Tlingit and English for the winter concert– a huge gathering that brought in 700+ people from the community.

Hydaburg provides daily language and culture instruction to all students grades 3-5 and weekly culture classes including regalia making and culinary arts (including traditional foods) for elementary and middle school students. This has been able to expand from the language immersion preschool only to sustaining language knowledge up to 5th grade now.

Juneau and Sitka work with the Sealaska Heritage Institute to implement the Northwest Coast (NWC) art courses through the Sharing our Box of Treasures program. 81 students in Juneau and 33 students in Sitka were enrolled in these courses. During this reporting period, The Box of Treasures project team at SHI met with partnering school districts project personnel once per month to check on progress toward goals and objectives of the project. SHI also provides support to school staff with planning courses, arranging for visiting artists, and purchasing course materials. Juneau School District expanded staffing to include 2 full time NWC Art Instructors across 2 high schools.They also increased the number of NWC art classes and have plans for further expansion. Sitka School District also expanded course offerings and classrooms this year, utilizing a wood shop at the University of Alaska Southeast to offer a course in NWC Tool Making. All students enrolled in NWC art courses funded by Box of Treasures in Sitka are enrolled in dual credit. Personnel from both districts also aided in recruiting math teachers to participate in the Culturally Responsive Education Conference that was hosted at the new SHI arts campus for an all day workshop. Teachers from Juneau and Sitka were introduced to a variety of NWC art forms and offered strategies of exploring math concepts within the art forms.

In addition to NWC art classes, Sitka also offers an Ethnomathematics STEAM course at the middle school and, starting in fall 2022, Traditional Ecological Knowledge science classes at both high schools in partnership with Sitka Tribe of Alaska. The tribe also provides the district with 2 paraprofessional staff who work with students in kindergarten through 6th grade. These staff support cultural integration and facilitate cultural lessons and activities at the elementary schools.

Juneau, in addition to NWC art classes, implemented: “Sea Week”; a science kits program which allows teachers to check out place-based science lessons to use in the classroom and at home; Tlingit language courses; a coding program; and various place-based science field trips with local partner agencies, such as to the fish hatchery and to the planetarium. Sea Week is a weeklong program which uses the natural curiosity of students to engage them in academics. Juneau teachers combine Sea Week field trips to the beach, wetlands, and glacier, with classroom lessons and presentations by partner agencies to build concepts and STEM skills. Sea Week lessons are interdisciplinary with the inclusion of writing, reading, math, arts and culture to expand beyond science lessons. For example, at the beach, students observe the diversity of organisms in different tidal zone habitats, establish study plots, make drawings and record numbers of different types of organisms. Back in the classroom, they create a model or drawing that compares the diversity of the different tidal zones, write about what they learned and research more about local animals and their habitats in the library.

STEAM, Culture, PBL (After School) (students K-12):

Chatham (Angoon) offers Tlingit Dancing, Pottery (using natural local clay to create traditional Tlingit designs), K'áach' Red Ribbon Seaweed Traditional Harvesting and Preparation, and Gardening after school programs.

Hydaburg offers after school language instruction, math support, and open lab time.

Sitka offers a Tlingit Language and Culture afterschool program in partnership with the Sitka Tribe of Alaska through their jointly run Sitka Native Education Program (SNEP). Class offerings are available for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and include drumming, singing, dance, weaving, beading, carving, history, and language.

Juneau has completed many of the afterschool goals for STEPs and besides BAM is continuing afterschool programs through other funding sources. Their main STEPS program, the Body and Mind Afterschool Program (“BAM”), wasn’t implemented in fall 22 due to staffing shortages, but was reinstated for the spring 23 semester and will be reported on in our next APR. Other programs implemented in the spring and reflected in program numbers were LEAP (“Learning Enrichment Afterschool Program”), and the 21st Century Learning Program (“Connect!”). See previous report for more detail.

STEAM, Culture, PBL (Summer) (students K-12):

Angoon (Chatham SD) offered 5 STEAM and culture summer camps:

1) Healthy Foods/Healthy Living Camp in June, a 2-week camp focused on hands-on nutrition education and healthy living best practices that incorporated the harvesting, preparing and cooking of nutritious meals under the direction of a culinary instructor. The curriculum included Indigenous plant and seafood preparation and incorporation of multiple use meals into a healthy diet. Other activities included the identification and uses of Indigenous plants.

2) Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI), a regional non-profit tribal organization, created and hosted a High School STEAM Haa Aaní camp in June which offered a week of hands-on learning, reflection, and place-based analysis of how water quality impacts the health of Southeast Alaska salmon populations. The teaching integrates four core values of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska.

3) Haa Léelk’u Has Aaní (On Our Grandparents Land) Culture Camp in July, a 2 week program for K - 8th Graders that paired Hoonah cultural staff and Juneau School District’s Tlingit Culture and Language Literacy teaching staff, with local leaders for each age group.  Additionally, 15 high school students were hired as Youth Leaders. Campers spent the two weeks exploring the bounty of the beaches and forests surrounding Angoon.

4) I Toowú Klatseen Kids Run Program in July, a 2-week running and culture camp for elementary students, led by a former Angoon teacher and assisted by a current Angoon teacher. Due to the impacts of COVID, the program started, then stopped, then started up again, and there were fewer participants than in previous years.

5) Bushcraft Survival Camp in July, a week-long camp for middle and high school students with daily place-based learning and hands-on activities. Overarching topics included: Local & Traditional Ways of Navigation; Weather, Currents, & Tides; Bushcraft Essentials: Tools, Utilities, Cooking Methods, Bear Behavior; Keeping Yourself Safe: Firearm Safety, Traditional Fishing and Hunting Techniques, Hunting Ethics, & Food Safety.

Klukwan (Chatham SD) offered summer STEAM and culture programming 3 days per week through July and August, including a weekly gardening program with the school garden, harvesting and preparing local plants, working with the CIV Community Garden to grow, harvest, and distribute food to community members, and Stream Team (GLOBE Citizen Science water monitoring & data collection at Chilkat River and Mosquito Lake). In addition, they offered a week-long culture camp for elementary students, which included one day of family activities and participation from at least 5 different regional and local organizations.

Hoonah offered a 4-day culture camp Haa Too Yei Yatee in July. Activities included: a catamaran trip to the Xuna Shuḵa Hít (tribal house) at Glacier Bay, carving and weaving projects, pickling kelp, language games, a family day picnic at Long Island, planting Lingít kʼúntsʼ (Tlingit potatoes), and working on halibut hooks.

Sitka offered 3 culture camps by age group - 1st-2nd grade: making a tlingit word come to life using stop motion film making; 3rd-6th grade: harvesting seasonal plants; and K-5th grade: hiking, survival safety, harvesting, and seasonal knowledge.

Trauma Engaged Planning, Coaching, Training (staff K-12):

Angoon staff spends Fridays (early release day) exploring and discussing the SEL program. Teachers have incorporated the SEL strategies into their teaching and day to day communication with students, and have a common language around SEL. It is the intent of their Professional Development to begin to use ACT Mosaic's Powerful Educator in our learning community. They are hoping to determine as a group if there are particular lessons that should/could be integrated into particular lessons. In addition, Angoon and Klukwan staff participate in the TES/ SEL Champions learning community and had the opportunity to participate in the Mind-Body Practices for Prevention, Retention, and Resilience course (see below under Trauma Engaged Champions learning community).

Hoonah staff participated in Trauma Engaged Schools training facilitated by AASB at the end of the 22-23 school year and beginning of the 23-24 school year. The trainings focused on providing school staff with tools to recognize behaviors of dysregulation and ways to mitigate stress in themselves and students.

Hydaburg staff participates in regular coaching on Trauma Engaged Schools, and 7 teachers, admin, and paraprofessionals attended a trauma 2-day workshop in June. In August and in October, staff received in-service training on Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which continues to be supported by a teacher with additional expertise in this area.

Juneau's Haa Tóoch Lichéesh Coalition, in partnership with the Juneau School District and Sealaska Heritage Institute, offered a two-day Restorative Practices Training in November which was open to both district employees and the community at large.  Restorative Practice is an approach rooted in Indigenous teachings, which emphasizes personal connection by proactively building and maintaining relationships and focuses on repairing relationships when harm occurs. This training offered a thorough introduction, including the philosophical foundations, practice rationale, and concrete skills for implementing restorative approaches in organizations and individual relationships.

Sitka - all culturally responsive professional development reported above also included trauma-engaged practices such as relationship building, school/ family partnership, trauma-engaged communications, and sense of belonging. In addition, 2 staff took a course on supporting K-1 students through a trauma engaged lens.

Regional Trauma Engaged Schools (TES) Champions learning community:

The STEPS AK Trauma Engaged learning community group, which includes about 8 members, met regularly through the spring semester. During Feb and March, PLC members participated in a 6 week series with Dr. Linda Chamberlain, a national expert on trauma and ACES from Alaska, titled Mind-Body Practices for Prevention, Retention, and Resilience. This course was a hands-on experience in nurturing staff’s own resilience in the midst of the work day. The learning community took a break during the summer and was supposed to start up again in the fall. However, most staff who had been participating regularly (as well as the AASB staff lead) changed positions or retired from their district. It has been a challenge to engage new participants, especially due to lack of capacity of school staff, and being in the 5th year of this ongoing project.

Trauma Engaged Implementation (students K-12):

Angoon implements a K-12 SEL comprehensive curriculum through ACT/Mosaic. ACT includes an SEL assessment tool, which is being used in Angoon both as pre and post assessment. Angoon is piloting this assessment use with elementary students. The plan is to extend the program for use in Klukwan. Integrating SEL lessons into each classroom gives individual teachers activities that are pertinent to what students are currently experiencing. Turbo Elementary has teacher-led lessons with lesson plans, activities, powerpoint presentations, and short videos. Turbo Leader (Middle School) suite equips students with critical SEL skills to transition to and succeed in middle school academically and emotionally. Turbo Leadership (High School) supports students to develop essential, research-based leadership skills – such as goal setting and growth mindset that drive success. Students apply social emotional development strategies to realistic high school situations and experiences.

In Hoonah, the school counselor used the Second Step research-based curriculum to provide weekly SEL lessons for PreK, elementary, and middle school students until she left in November.

Hydaburg provides SEL instruction to all students through the Value Up program, as well as integrated SEL activities in academic classes and cultural values. These cultural values are reinforced through language class and cultural value signs.

Sitka - Kindergarten through 1st grade: weekly SEL Second Step lesson taught in each classroom, small group SEL work, small group counseling, SEL practices embedded throughout P.E. class, weekly BEAR PAW drawings to reinforce positive behaviors/ expectations, PlayWorks to promote social play. 2nd through 5th grade: weekly SEL Second Step lessons taught in each classroom, counselor provides one SEL lesson a month for six classrooms, morning SEL support during breakfast before school, parenting coaching training for targeted families, transition support for students coming into KGH and leaving KGH.  6th through 8th grade: Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) school-wide, SEL Second Step lessons, small group counseling. 9th through 12th grade: Students receive weekly SEL lessons through School Connect during their homeroom.

Juneau - Trauma Engaged Schools implementation is district-wide. Specific strategies include restorative practices, the Skills for a Healthy Life SEL curriculum (K-5th grade), and the #WinAtSocial SEL curriculum (8-12th grade), and cultural healing ceremonies such as planning for Ku. eex.

School Policy and Equity Scan:

AASB staff drafted a family partnership policy which was brought to a statewide Family Partnership Coalition for review and input.  The policy will be shared and reviewed further with some participating Alaska school boards and our legal counsel before being brought to share with a broader group of partner districts of STEPS AK and our Alaska Family Engagement Center (AFEC) grants. Juneau school district is slated for reviewing.

Unfortunately, the state of Alaska transitioned its academic assessment tool during the 2021-2022 school year, and the new system is not comparable with the previous one. We are not able to assess our results for this indicator in context. However, it is unlikely that much has changed in one year since the last assessment results were reported.

Our work in this GPRA area continues to be focused on meeting conditions for learning through building a positive school climate, as well as providing increased support for targeted academic skills. Typically, school data shows that Alaska Native and low-income students underperform in math and in literacy. Activities such as Ethnomath, TCLL and other Tlingit language and place-based activities are supported by research which has shown that culturally responsive and engaging programming increases student interest, learning and retention. Culturally Responsive content and teaching also helps foster relationships with families and create safe spaces for learning for all students.  Trauma Engaged Schools (TES), both the professional development with staff and implementation with students, supports students by mitigating the factors which inhibit their learning due to experiencing trauma and stress either in school or at home. TES also includes SEL programs that build SEL skills of students.

Some successes:

• Aligning to make professional development opportunities universal and culturally relevant. This fall the Juneau School District expanded professional development opportunities in place-based and culturally responsive practices by coordinating with community and regional partners. The district was able to align its inservice schedule so that all staff could participate in the Through the Cultural Lense conference, which was sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute in August. The district was also able to align its inservice days in October with the statewide STEM conference, which was also hosted in Juneau this year but was open to regional partners.
• Integrating art, culture, and hands-on learning. The Artful Teaching Team, which supports the development of these kits as well as professional development, has worked closely with community partners like Sealaska Heritage Institute to integrate a cultural perspective into the art kids as well as the professional development opportunities. In addition to workshops, the Artful Teaching team supports ongoing professional learning communities with educators who are learning from each other as they challenge themselves to grow their skills in things like speaking Tlingit words more comfortably and frequently. The district has also modeled STEM integration off of its successful Art Kit program. In addition to the science kits and trips to the fish hatchery & aquarium, every student in kindergarten through 5th grade gets to participate in the nature studies program with Discovery Southeast which includes both time in the classroom and field trips outside. This long-standing, community supported program has also been intentionally incorporating indigenous knowledge and language into its curriculum.

Some challenges:

• Persistent and chronic staff turnover combined with increased mental health and life stresses such as loss of income, decreased health, and extraordinary loss of family since pandemic and the cycle of being short-staffed.  This has led to supports and programs that have been eliminated or discontinued without adequate staff to cover classroom and after school activities.  Also, our districts have reported families have not returned to pre-pandemic engagement in schools which means that there is specific strategies that need to be employed to re-engage families.

Expand trauma-engaged schools and culturally responsive professional development to provide staff better tools and support may help increase staff retention. These same culturally responsive opportunities also provide ways for our school staff to maintain and build relationships with students and families.

Increase community conversations and opportunities for families' participation in decision-making. In early 2023, there are significant number of opportunities being scheduled to engage community and family and to get back into the practice of community members meeting and moving forward a shared vision.  There are plans for Yakutat, Juneau, Hydaburg, Sitka, and Angoon conversations. This is also included in coaching and technical assistance calls with each of our districts and community partners.

Work to address the persistent staffing challenges which include low recruitment, low retention, and staff with little experience in the communities that they are serving in requires a response on multiple levels. Non-STEPs funded staff at AASB and other organizations are working with our state legislature to look at compensation, retirement, and other benefits that impact Alaska recruitment. Various organizations and districts are looking a their on-boarding strategies. This includes both understanding and being connected to the community, but helping school staff develop new self-care and self-regulation strategies in communities where they might be isolated from their families, friends, and regular activities that are available in lower 48 communities. There is also some discussion about how to do more recruiting and training of local staff: classified staff, language teachers, and other roles that may be recruited from the community. By expanding the number and role of classified staff and Type M teachers some of the smaller communities that are in staffing crisis there may be able to be more continuity in a classroom regardless of the teacher of record. This has been extreme with some certified staff not lasting in the school for more than 2-6 months.