Jennifer Livingstone
When the sole preschool instructor departed the Harold Kaveolook School in Kaktovik, a settlement of approximately 250 residents on Alaska’s northern coastline, Chelsea Brower assumed control. In January, after serving as the preschool aide for roughly eighteen months, she found herself in charge.
“Being in the company of the children and assuming the role of their educator truly helped me recognize my desire to become their teacher – prompting me to seek certification,” shared Brower.
However, Brower encountered a hurdle as the universities offering the necessary courses were situated hundreds of miles away, while her preference was to remain in her hometown alongside her students.
Fortunately, Brower was presented with a solution through the collaborative efforts of the regional Arctic Slope Community Foundation, various tribal groups, state and federal Departments of Labor, and the University of Alaska at Anchorage. This collaboration gave rise to an apprenticeship program aimed at bolstering the teacher pipeline in Alaska, ultimately receiving approval from the University of Alaska Board of Regents recently, marking the establishment of Alaska’s inaugural apprenticeship programs for teacher licensure.
The partnership between tribal entities, the state, and the university facilitates the allocation of millions of dollars in grant funding to nurture and educate the apprentices, made feasible by the Department of Labor’s decision to declare teaching an apprenticeable trade in 2022.
Thanks to these developments, Brower can continue her role with the local students while pursuing her education at no cost. She is one of numerous apprentices scheduled to commence their coursework remotely with UAA in the upcoming fall semester.
Being of Inupiaq heritage, Brower aspires to instill cultural values within the school environment.
“By having more individuals who resemble them within the school premises, students are exposed to a familiar environment, fostering a desire for more individuals to become certified teachers across different grade levels,” highlighted Brower. “This bodes well for the integration of our language into the school curriculum, ensuring that students glean knowledge from teachers hailing from their own community rather than out-of-state educators.”
This development unfolds against the backdrop of Alaska grappling with an unparalleled shortage of teachers.
Tonia Dousay, the Dean of the UAA School of Education, emphasized how apprenticeships are long-standing practices in various industries, with the significant shift occurring in 2022 when the state officially acknowledged registered apprenticeships as a viable pathway to teacher certification.
“On a national scale, we’re observing the burgeoning trend of registered apprenticeships for educators. This fall, we eagerly anticipate welcoming the inaugural cohort of apprentice teachers from diverse regions within the state,” shared Dousay.
The program primarily targets paraprofessionals – individuals lacking formal teaching credentials but already involved in the state’s educational institutions, akin to Brower’s professional background.
Collaborating leaders from regional and tribally-affiliated groups united to establish the apprenticeship program in Alaska, envisioning the creation of a local teacher pipeline within the remote districts they serve, which pose challenges in terms of staffing shortages. Entities like Bristol Bay Regional Career and Technical Education Program, Sealaska Heritage Institute, and Arctic Slope Community Foundation serve as sponsor groups for apprentices within their respective regions.
Steve Noonkesser, affiliated with BBRCTE and a former superintendent, detailed the coordination with the U.S. Department of Labor in Anchorage to acquire apprenticeship sponsorship status. This designation unlocks federal funding and grant opportunities to monitor apprentices’ progression across various competencies crucial in the apprenticeship domain.
“By engaging in a federal apprenticeship, individuals develop specialized skills and systematically fulfill competencies, regardless of their trade, be it electrician, plumber, welder, or, in this case, a teacher,” explained Noonkesser.
While the State Board of Education and Early Development has deliberated over apprenticeship programs and passed a resolution in their favor, no official regulations governing the teacher certification process have been altered.
In compliance with state law mandating a bachelor’s degree for teacher certification, the partnerships formed with UAA and Dean Dousay outlined a structured pathway leading apprentices to a bachelor’s degree.
The sponsors, akin to Noonkesser, collaborate with the Department of Labor to supervise competencies and on-the-job learning hours, while UAA monitors degree progression and academic hours.
Noonkesser acknowledged the additional challenges faced by residents in remote Alaska regions, ranging from financial constraints to limited internet connectivity, hindering their participation in online courses. As such, the apprenticeship curriculum is thoughtfully tailored to reflect a unique emphasis on cultural and place-based connections within the community.
Notably, 80-95% of students in his region are Alaska Native, but merely 8-12% of educators share the same heritage.
He highlighted that BBCTEP’s inaugural cohort consists predominantly of Alaska Native paraeducators native to the region, anticipating a reciprocal learning process between them and their mentors. “Many of our apprentices boast extensive community ties, spanning 10 to 20 years within schools in various capacities like parents, professionals, or classroom aides. Meanwhile, our mentors, while excellent educators, often hail from distant locales,” remarked Noonkesser.
Kristy Ford, the Education Director at SHI overseeing the program in Southeast, lauded the multi-tiered certification approach, facilitating the progression through a child care development specialist certificate, associate’s, and bachelor’s degrees.
According to Ford, this initiative stands as a pioneering endeavor within Alaska’s educational landscape.
ASCFS’s Executive Director, Patuk Glenn, voiced their sponsorship of apprentices with a view to bolster student engagement and performance scores in North Slope and Arctic regions.
She underscored the necessity for performance improvements to enhance students’ future prospects.
Ryan Cope, the grant director at ASCF, outlined the program’s genesis from the premise of educators’ responsibility to tailor education to resonate with students. In the Arctic, this entails equipping teachers with a robust pedagogical foundation enabling them to infuse place-based and Indigenous knowledge into their teaching practices.
Cope bemoaned the inadequacy of the state’s traditional teacher certification framework to produce educators attuned to the diverse student demographics, underscoring the indispensable role of the apprenticeship program in rectifying this disparity. Moreover, ASCF has appended the Inuit Circumpolar Council standards to their curriculum, enriching cultural values integration in the Bristol Bay and Southeast regions.
Elucidating further, Cheryl Anderson, an administrator at ASCF, highlighted a cultural paradigm shift whereby Alaska Native educators were historically discouraged from returning to teach in their home communities.
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