RURAL EDUCATOR PROGRAM SEEKS APPLICANTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2000
Fairbanks, Alaska - Rural Alaska residents, especially Alaska Natives, who've always wanted to be a teacher have until April 15 to take advantage of a unique program that can help them earn a state teaching certificate in their own hometowns. The Rural Educator Preparation Partnership is accepting applications from future teachers who may be eligible for the program as a candidate or intern.
REPP's primary goal is to increase the number of Alaska Native educators in the state by providing alternatives to campus-based teacher education programs. Students study and learn with a mentor at a local school rather than leave home to go to college.
Program interns are prospective teachers who have already received a four-year college degree. Program candidates are future teachers who have not yet received a bachelor's degree. Either way, REPP is designed to work with eligible program participants to help them become certified Alaska teachers.
According to REPP Director John Weise, traditional methods of training Native teachers for service in rural Alaska has not been as successful as many parents and educators would like. In 1998, Native children made up about 25 percent of the state's K - 12 population, yet less than five percent of Alaska teachers are Native.
Wiese said Alaska imports many of its new educators for rural areas from outside the state. Unaccustomed to cultural differences and isolation often afforded in small villages, the turnover rate can be as high as 50 to 100 percent each year.
"In such an environment, parents and kids can't make a connection with teachers, and districts can't provide the training teachers need to be successful," Wiese said. "Alaskan school districts want desperately to hire well-qualified Native teachers who are at home in rural Alaska."
Weise also said that Alaska's rural residents often experience great difficulty adjusting to large, urban college environments. In addition, relocating for semester-long classes disrupts subsistence hunting and fishing, and disconnects the bonds of extended families in rural areas, he said. Only about one in ten of all Alaska Natives attempting a four-year degree away from their home villages actually complete their college education.
REPP departs from traditional campus-based programs by providing student teaching in the village and by creating systems that connect isolated teacher candidates with a statewide support system. The program is a partnership with Alaska’s schools, Native corporations and the state education department. Weise said REPP fills a critical need by providing the only route open to Alaskan rural residents for gaining a teaching certificate without leaving the village.
More than 20 years of studies and reports have recommended stabilizing and improving the rural teaching force by training Alaska Native teachers, according to Weise. "REPP is turning the traditional model on its head – support and learning opportunities come to the student, not the other way around," he said.
REPP's innovative, non-traditional approach to providing a teacher certificate is approved by the Alaska State Board of Education. The program's success can be measured by the number of new teachers in Alaska. Since 1997, REPP has graduated 34 teachers representing 14 rural school districts. Currently, there are 94 candidates and 25 teacher interns involved in the program, but more are needed.
Applications packets are available at the REPP office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks upon request to fyurepp@uaf.edu, or by phone at 907-474-5586.
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CONTACT: REPP Director John Weise or Marty Thomas, assistant to the REPP director, (907) 474-5589.
DPD/3-21-00/00-058