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student achievement?
Perspectives on Arctic Alaska Schools, Teacher Retention, and Student Achievement
The education system can become a major variable in the cultural and economic well-
being of communities or it can amplify and accelerate the process toward losing cultural
integrity, contact with nature, and community viability (Corbett, 2009). A significant factor for
healthy, resilient Arctic communities can be schools (Corbett, 2009; Eppley, 2009; Kline, White,
& Lock, 2013). In these areas, schools exceed the single role of education facility, often
functioning as places where people meet, interact, and strengthen their social networks. Schools
can become community halls or sports centers where a variety of events takes place, such as
greatly anticipated basketball tournaments (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2010). In some
instances, schools can also be perceived as the key institution that threatens Native culture,
language, and community identity.
In this paper, rural school districts include small communities, which are considerable
distances away from other communities, especially urban centers, and are often only reachable
by airplane or boat (Howley & Howley, 2010; Slack, Bourne, & Gertler, 2003). Rural school
districts for this study include communities with different local languages and heritages inclusive
of Native cultures. In such communities, indigenous people have particularly strong connections
to cultural, environmental, and spiritual practices (Corbett, 2009).
Quality education for indigenous peoples incorporates their cultures, communities, lives,
and land.
Reyhner (2012) asserts, that Indigenous “students need to learn both the knowledge and
skills included in tribal, state, and national standards, and they and their teachers also
need to respond to local concerns and have some choice in what type of learning projects
they can become engaged (p. 32).”
Access to quality education involves a consistent, well prepared, and culturally
responsive teacher work force that is integrated into the community life (Assembly of Alaska
Native Educators, 1998).
Approximately 60% of Alaska’s teachers leave the Arctic region after less than two
years, informally citing a variety of reasons, many of which are tied to school and community
relations (Hill & Hirshberg, 2014). Such teacher turnover may affect student achievement,
contribute to a school climate of instability, and redirect funds for recruitment that might be
better spent towards student learning (Barnes, Crowe, & Schaefer, 2007). Darling-Hammond
and Sykes (2003) argue that when teachers leave, low-income schools have a difficult time
attracting new teachers and end up hiring inexperienced and less prepared teachers. Teacher and
principal turnover also has a disruptive effect on the development and maintenance of social
resources including staff collegiality, community integration, and confidence in schools (Henry
et al., 2011; Hughes, 2012). When teachers leave schools, previously held relationships and
relational patterns are altered. Turnover disrupts the formation and maintenance of staff
cohesion, community relations, and school instructional program coherence. Since staff turnover
presents significant challenges to organizational knowledge and the successful and coherent
implementation of instructional programs (Guin, 2004), it also may harm student achievement.