FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairbanks, Alaska - Students enrolled in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District come from across the globe to attend school at the top of the world, bringing the languages and cultures of their home communities into a school district that becomes more diverse each year. Students in the second largest school district in the state can be heard communicating in everything from Spanish to Chinese, Korean to Russian, as well as over 20 different Alaska Native languages. Teaching to this global community offers a unique challenge to educators, especially instruction to students for whom English is a second language.

Recognizing the need for more bilingual teachers in Fairbanks' increasingly diverse mutlicultural environment, the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Education has collaborated with the U.S. Department of Education and the local school district in a new project. Partners in the plan are contributing a total of $760,000 to increase the number of educators able to serve the special language needs of students in the district.

The Morgan Project, named in memory of Yup'ik kindergarten teacher and UAF graduate Bernice Morgan Martin, will direct the three-quarters of a million dollars towards three main goals: encouraging high school students to pursue bachelor's degrees in bilingual/bicultural education with a special emphasis on Alaska Native Languages; increasing certification for current school district personnel in the bilingual program; and supplementing certified teachers' instruction with bilingual endorsement or master's degrees.

A bilingual approach to using the student's native language and culture in the classroom promotes self-esteem, contributes to academic achievement of both minority and English speaking students, and develops national language resources, according to Morgan Project program director and UAF associate education professor Perry Gilmore.

As part of the project, high school juniors and seniors from the school district will be selected as Alaska Native Language Scholar Interns. Scholar interns will receive stipends to attend college-level courses in the UAF Alaska Native Language Program, getting a jumpstart on a bachelor's degree with an emphasis on bilingual needs and language instruction.

Current bilingual tutor instructors or dominant language tutors will also be eligible to receive bachelor's degrees and teacher certification from UAF. Certified teachers and participants who already have bachelor's degrees will be able to pursue additional endorsements and higher-level degrees to provide them with the knowledge and skills needed to meet the challenge of teaching in an increasingly diverse community.

The Morgan Project complements efforts begun by the UAF Alaska Native Language Center last year in a similar partnership program aimed at increasing the number of bilingual educators in rural school districts. Both rural and urban projects work with the Rural Educator Preparation Partnership, a program established at UAF in 1996 to address Alaska's critical shortage of Native teachers.

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907-474-6426., or via email at:ffpg@uaf.edu.

JCS/4-9-99/99-064