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Sitka School District
Sitka, Alaska
Fourteen years ago the Sitka School District inaugurated Reading
Recovery as a strategic intervention to address an elevated dropout
rate. District-sponsored research initiated by Superintendent John
Holst had identified poor reading skills as the only commonality
among students leaving school before graduation. In 1995, six
teachers began training in Reading Recovery’s first distance
learning project through The Ohio State University.
During subsequent years, the enthusiasm and success of that
initial teaching cadre was maintained despite the personnel changes
of four new teachers and two teacher leaders. Ongoing improvements
in teacher expertise, training facilities, and materials yielded
high student success rates and widespread collegial support for
similar professional development. In 2001, the district moved to
establish a more-comprehensive literacy approach through the
Literacy Collaborative training model. A former Reading Recovery
teacher became the district’s first primary literacy coordinator.
Why is Sitka the sole surviving Reading Recovery site in Alaska?
The intervention’s success in serving almost 500 students has earned
it widespread community and school board support. Steve Bradshaw,
current superintendent, maintains the vision of every child as a
literate citizen despite challenges of a declining school enrollment
and heightened operating costs. Located on an island, the Sitka site
is limited in its growth potential and isolated from the wider
Reading Recovery community. Two scholarships to last year’s national
conference inspired its recipients to reconfigure service delivery
to more effectively reach students. In Sitka, Alaska, many
remarkable people exemplify the vision, dedication, and untiring
efforts that change students’ lives.
Jasper listens as Ethan enjoys reading
about
how he became a fat cat!
Living on an island, the staff is always "recovering"
their course through ongoing professional
development.
Five literacy specialists serve the children and
staff in the K-1 building: Toby Campbell, primary
literacy coordinator; Reading Recovery teachers
Gina Lawson, Barb Amberg, and Terry Pike; and
teacher leader Sharon Cox.
Finding a story idea is easy for Rose
who loves
to write about her dog, "Saddles".
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