Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly To Look At School District’s Marks

Courtesy of Matt Crockett

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will be offering it’s quarterly report at tonight’s Kenai Borough Assembly meeting in Chambers at 6pm.

The school district recently received a report card based off of standardized tests taken by the students.  Copies of the test results are going to be in parent’s hands soon, and the school board wants them to understand what they mean in context.

Kenai Borough School District Communications Liaison Pegge Erkeneff: “Doesn’t effect course grades, graduation or grade retention, but students do get focused  support to improve when we can look at those results.

Pegge Erkeneff 

Sunday Aurora Borealis Charter School was ranked first in all the elementary schools in Alaska by SchoolDigger.com. The average standard score for the 188 students was 96.7.  The school benefits from a 15.6 student/teacher ratio.

McNeil Canyon Elementary came in 11th, West Homer 16th, and Fireweed Academy came in 38th.  Soldotna Montessori 45th, Kalifornsky Beach 55, Chapman 59th, Seward 62, Tustumena 64, Redoubt 67, Mt. View 76, Kaleidoscope School of Arts & Sciences 80, Connections 86, Ninilchik 92, Nikiski North Star 113, Soldotna 146, Sterling 149, and Razdotna 155.

Aurora Borealis Charter School continued its domination of the field by keeping its first place ranking for middle schools, with an average score of 99. Homer Middle School ranked 5th, Chapman 14th, River City Academy 25th, Seward 27, Kenai 41, Nikolaevsk 45, Ninilchik 52, Connections 54, Skyview 62nd, and Nikiski 72.

Nikolaevsk High School came in 5th with its 64 students and 9.1 student teacher ration earing an average standard score of 91.9.  This school is distinguished in that almost 80% of students are free lunch recipients.  Homer High ranked 7th, Ninilchik 18th, Connections 29th, and Voznesenka School 36th.   Soldotna High came in 44th, Nikiski 46th, Seward 51st, and Kenai 55th.

The school rankings were updated September 3rd and based on PEAKS English Language Arts, PEAKS Mathematics, ASA Science test scores released by the Alaska Department of Education.

Story as aired on KSRM News:

http://www.radiokenai.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Dorene-on-KPBA-to-look-at-school-districts-marks.mp3

Mrs. America Alaska Kersten Gomez Rallies For Personalized Learning

Mrs Alaska Kersten Gomez

Soldotna’s own Kersten Gomez flew out this morning to Las Vegas to compete in the national Mrs. America competition, but the Redoubt Elementary second grade teacher rang the school bell before boarding.

Gomez  lent her voice to the growing crowd shouting the praises of the new personalized learning initiative at the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District.

Kersten Gomez: “To me this means guiding my children by giving them choices, resources, and instruction when and how they need it.  This way they have the ability to make their own decisions, problem solve, and take ownership in their own learning.”

A progressive new pathway for educational delivery, the four core elements of personalized learning include:  integrated digital content so students can learn at their own pace; targeted instruction aligned to specific student needs and learning goals;  instructional decisions based on real time data; and ongoing student engagement to promote pupil ownership of learning.

It is hoped that personalized learning will create lifelong learners who are resilient and can adapt to the quickly changing requirements of the modern workplace.

The KPB School District has been working with nationally recognized consultants Educational Elements to create their vision of what educational delivery looks like, and the practical tools of putting that vision into a working classroom.

KPBSD Kersten Gomez Personalized Learning Short Film

http://www.radiokenai.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Personalized-Learning-in-KPBSD-with-Kersten-Gomez.m4v

Story as aired on KSRM News:

www.radiokenai.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Dorene-on-mrs-alaska-kersten-gomez-rallies-for-personalized-learning.mp3