EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Throughout the years, Alaska Natives have faced a number of challenges within the education system. These challenges affect their educational performance, attainment, and opportunity. In order to find ways to reduce these challenges, it is necessary to gain an understanding of how Alaska Natives value and view their education.

In an effort to gain this understanding, McDowell Group, Inc. was asked by the First Alaskans Foundation, a non-profit organization created by the Alaska Federation of Natives, to conduct a random telephone survey of one-thousand Alaska Native households. The survey, conducted in the spring of 2001, asked respondents about their opinions, attitudes, and values regarding their education. The survey sample proportionally represented the 2000 Census geographic distribution of Alaska Native households and cultural group affiliation. The results of the survey will be used by First Alaskans Foundation to seek ways to influence positive change in the lives of Alaska Native people.

Based on the results of the survey, McDowell Group offers the following summary of key findings.

Importance and Value of Education

Virtually all Alaska Natives believe graduation from high school, college, and vocational/technical school is highly important. They value classroom education as well as traditional Native learning and feel both are relevant in their lives. Alaska Natives overwhelmingly support a curriculum that includes Alaska Native culture (91 percent) and language (82 percent).

Alaska Natives expect their education to give them the skills to be competitive and employable. They also expect their education to prepare them for continuing on to college. The majority of respondents would like to accomplish a higher level of education than they have currently.

Barriers to Educational Success

A significant portion of Alaska Natives question whether the educational system is fair and feel they do not get educational opportunities equal to those given non-Natives (42 percent).

When asked for reasons why Alaska Natives may drop out of high school, the number one response was "family doesn't encourage schooling" (19 percent) . When the reasons were grouped by subject, personal situations (such as low self-esteem, lack of motivation, peer pressure, etc.) were the dominant issues. Family issues (family responsibilities, for example) and culturally-related issues (such as traditional lifestyle, ability to communicate with teachers, and racial prejudice) were also mentioned frequently by respondents. Only 19 percent of the reasons were academically-related.

Evaluating Alaska Schools

A large portion of Alaska Natives lack confidence that the Alaska educational system prepares their students well for high school, college, and the workplace (34 to 43 percent said children were not well-prepared). While respondents were largely satisfied with the quality of local teachers, there appears to be room for improvement. A positive finding was that Alaska Natives with school-aged children overwhelmingly report they feel welcome in local schools (85 percent). Although Alaska Natives ' educational aspirations for their children were similar to their own personal goals (to gain skills to compete and be employable, most commonly), many wanted their children to also gain personal fulfillment and self-respect from their education. A significant portion of respondents did not feel confident that the educational system could help their children reach these aspirations (36 percent).

Improving Education of Alaska Native Children

"Parent involvement"and "better teachers" were the most popular suggestions for improving the quality of education for Alaska Native children. When the responses were grouped according to subject, suggestions related to teaching were most common. Asked who bears the responsibility for ensuring education, however, Alaska Natives answered "parents" a remarkable 85 percent of the time. While regional boarding schools was not seen as a primary solution to improving the quality of education, Alaska Natives tended to support the concept, with over one-half in favor of them.

Educational Experience and Family Attitudes

While most Alaska Natives who attend college or a technical school do so in Alaska, relatively few (13 percent) have completed a post-secondary education. However, most Alaska Natives said their family's attitude toward classroom education, as well as their traditional Native cultural education, was positive when they were growing up.

Differing Perspectives Among Sub-Groups

Urban vs. Rural

In rural Alaska, Alaska Native students usually represent the majority of the population. This appears to contribute to higher levels of confidence in the system on the part of rural residents. Rural respondents also reported a greater sense of welcome in their schools, and a greater feeling that there is equal treatment with non-Native students.

Age

The younger generation has more confidence in the system's ability to prepare students for high school, college and the workplace, and were less likely to believe there was inequality or lack of fairness in the system. The middle-aged respondents (those between the age of 35 and 54) were the most critical of the system.

Cultural Groups

For the most part, the differences between the Alaska Native cultural groups were not significant; however, there were certain variances that are worthy of discussion. For instance, Inupiats appear to have the most positive views on Alaska's educational system and were the most likely to say that the system favors all students equally (50 percent vs. 41 percent overall). Southeast Alaska Natives (primarily Tlingit) appeared to be the most dissatisfied with the system and gave the lowest ratings of teacher quality (42 percent vs. 53 percent overall). Aleuts tended to give slightly more negative ratings than the average respondent and were least likely to say that Alaska schools prepare Alaska Native students well for college (20 percent vs. 27 percent overall). Athabascans were similar in their views to Aleuts that the local education system favors non-Natives (53 percent vs. 42 percent overall). Yu'piks reported the most positive attitudes on the part of their families regarding learning about Alaska Native culture (81 percent vs. 71 percent overall).

Return to the Alaska Native Household Education Survey

Return to the McDowell Final Report

Return to Alaska Native Knowledge Network