Yukon-Koyukuk School District Sees School District Ratings Soar

The Yukon-Koyukuk School District consists of 10 schools, one of which is a statewide correspondence school with about 1,100 students.

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By Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Story Created: Sep 18, 2011 at 7:32 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Sep 18, 2011 at 7:32 PM AKDT

FAIRBANKS — During its work days last week, the Yukon-Koyukuk School District gathered its employees in Fairbanks. There, people were pleased to hear the district was removed from the state’s intervention status, which means that after years of hard work and coaching from the state, students are performing better on standardized tests.

Schools that need intervention from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development are those that have been persistently performing under the adequate yearly progress standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Yukon-Koyukuk School District consists of 10 schools, one of which is a statewide correspondence school with about 1,100 students. In total, the school district has about 1,400 students.

“I can’t speak enough about what they are doing,” said EED Commissioner Mike Hanley.

He said the district’s motto of “Our kids are worth whatever it takes” is symbolic of the effort it took to overcome the status.

Hanley said the department had to consider, “If we step back, what will be different?”

Superintendent Kerry Boyd assured him that without as much prescriptive instruction from the state and as many hands in the district, they would still keep up the good work.

“It’s wonderful for the teachers to have that label taken away,” Boyd said.

Hanley officially removed the “intervention status” label from the district at their inservice on Wednesday, with about 100 of the district’s staff in attendance.

Not all of the district’s schools are meeting AYP, but the state has determined they are making sufficient progress.

Contact staff writer Reba Lean at 459-7523.

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Fairbanks said on Wednesday, Mar 7 at 8:44 AM

The truth should be taken from what students accomplish after high school... that should be a metric.

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