ALASKA PUBLIC EDUCATION was once among the top academically in the nation. Today ALASKA! is at the bottom for academic outcomes. For what The People were paying teachers since the 1980s, we should have been able to hire the best in the world! Today, having a teacher workforce of some 8,500, Alaskans see a turnover of 2,000-4,000 teachers flushing through every year.
With more than 50 school districts–each with at least 10 students and a superintendent—the goal of Alaska public education is wealth distribution. As a product of Alaska education through a Master’s Degree and teaching certificate, DONN LISTON has a unique insight into how we are failing our students: DONN LISTON worked nine years in Juneau for the largest teacher union, NEA-Alaska!
Kenai Parents are Taking Back a Failing School Members of the community of Nikolaevsk met Friday, September 23, 2022 and formally voted to start a Charter School. Next will likely be war with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD) bureaucracy responsible for systemic degradation of the once vibrant school. KPBSD Board of Education Charter […]
How Bad Does YOUR Alaska School Have To Get? Read More »
A Proven Republican Steps Into the Fray: Joe Wright! Watch for a rugby style primary election scrum1 in the upcoming Eagle River-to-Eklutna Senate District L race! Voters here will have to make some calculated choices with the newly established Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in a crowded field if we expect to change the political calculus
Notice to International Readers: This site can be read in six languages. Just peck the popup at the bottom of the page to change from English. Ang site na ito ay mababasa sa anim na wika. I-peck lang ang popup sa ibaba ng page para magpalit mula sa How about that Alaska Department of Health
A MiG-17 performing a low pass at Take to the Skies Airfest 2016 in Durant, Oklahoma. Photo by Balon Greyjoy. Imagine what our government schools would be like if the deal to purchase Alaska had fallen through and this area was under Russian control today. During the 1967 centennial of purchase of Alaska from Russia
April 5th School Board Candidate Choices: What if… Read More »
Finding The Best Glidepath For Lawmaking (2022©donnliston.co) One abiding trait of a good teacher is ability to make instruction interesting and compelling to students. We teachers must instill the glory of the universe together with the wonder of a simple grain of sand. There are many ways to do this. So, when two
Hopes for the 32nd Alaska Legislature Read More »
ACPE Higher Education Opportunities Brother, Dana Scott Liston had a terrible accident in Hawaii and this photo was taken when our mother, half sister Becky McLaughlin and mother’s husband, Gil Martin, came to see him at the hospital. Scott has been a quadriplegic since 1989. Looking back over a life of making good and
Consequences from Life Choices Read More »
 What are Meaningful Vocational Options for Alaskans? Alaska’s economy is very specific about what human resources it needs. To be successful in this job market, training after receiving a high school diploma or GED must consider what have been identified as in-demand priority occupations. Let’s look back a few years and bring the needs
Job Considerations to Stay in Alaska Read More »
Seeking Alaskan Truths in 2021 (2021©donnliston.co)  Living the Alaskan Lifestyle is by definition active. Sitting at a computer screen or looking at a phone are not active pursuits. So, having lived the Alaskan Lifestyle 60 years means I have mostly found my groove in dealing with demands of Alaskan Life—I’ve done enough Alaskan stuff
Alaska’s Challenges Demand Answers (2021©donnliston.co) Ric Davidge is co-founder and “referee” of the AK Roundtable. In educational terms, one generation transfers knowledge to the next by what has been called the Intergenerational Transfer of Cognitive Knowledge.[1] That is what our teachers and schools are supposed to be doing—imparting the common knowledge to young Alaskans necessary to promote
What is the AK Roundtable? Read More »
The Unfortunate Demise of Tom Thumb Montessori Schools A previous reduced version of this story was published August 9, 2018 in ECHO Magazine Many Alaskan baby boomers experienced a remarkable 40-year Anchorage private education option at a school system I was proud in the mid-2000s to have attempted to save from foreclosure. I learned important
Alaska’s Private Education Legacy: Read More »
