In November 2011, Mayor Sullivan convened the first Anchorage Education Summit, intended to identify strategies to improve education performance in Anchorage schools.
Seven nationally recognized experts in education reform presented statistics on how Anchorage fares compared to the rest of the nation and examples of how other districts and nations are achieving better results.
One hundred participants, representing a broad cross section of people involved in local education attended the summit, including principals, school board members, administrators, business leaders, university leaders, parents, students, and state officials. At the end of the two day summit, there was unanimous agreement that we need to do a better job preparing our students for college or the workforce, and that all summit participants are committed to making that happen.
The specific suggestions brought forth are:
The entire community of Anchorage needs to commit to making the necessary changes to achieve the goal of becoming the best school district in the nation.
The next phase of the summit will be a series of six community conversations where residents will be asked to weigh in on the recommendations and possibly add suggestions for an action plan going forward.
In June, the original summit attendees will reconvene and develop realistic strategies for achieving the desired improvements.
The Mayor has undertaken this project as a result of years of frustration with the dramatic increase in the costs of local education with a lack of corresponding increase in student performance. This frustration has been shared by business and university leaders who are finding entry level students and workers unprepared for the demands of the job or first year classwork.
  A Good Man doing a Great Job for Anchorage
PAID FOR BY SULLIVAN FOR MAYOR
© 2012 Dan Sullivan for Mayor. All Rights Reserved. |