State officials credit the success to the Alaska Reads Act, a 2022 law that created standardised teacher training, reading curriculum and support for districts and students

Alaska students from kindergarten to third grade showed overall improvement in reading proficiency last year, according to preliminary data from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

DEED reported an overall increase in reading proficiency from the beginning to the end of the school year, for the second year in a row, “which was wonderful,” said Commissioner Deena Bishop in an interview on Wednesday. “So year after year, we look for a good trend ahead of us.”

At the beginning of the 2024–2025 school year, 44 per cent of Alaska K-3 students were reading at a nationally defined benchmark level. By the end of the year, that had increased to 60 per cent of students.

It was the second straight school year where Alaska students improved. At the beginning of the prior year, 2023–2024, 41 per cent of students were reading at the benchmark level, which was up to 57 per cent of students by the end of the year.

Bishop and state officials credit the success of the Alaska Reads Act, signed into law in 2022, for instituting reading curriculums and screenings, adding teacher training, and boosting support for school districts’ reading programs.

“These results show why it’s critical to tie clear goals and strong commitments to education policy,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a statement announcing the reading improvements. “The Alaska Reads Act proves that coupling funding with real reform works. We made the right decision, and students across Alaska are seeing the benefits.”

Kindergarteners showed the biggest gains last year, improving from 23 per cent reading at benchmark level at the beginning of the year to 62 per cent of students by the end of the year.

First through third graders showed more moderate improvements, with 64 per cent of first graders, 59 per cent of second graders, and 52 per cent of third graders reading at a benchmark level by the end of the year.

The Alaska Reads Act requires districts to create a district reading improvement plan, and offers additional support and grant funding for lower-performing schools; virtual training; and instruction and grant funds for early education programs. “Absolutely, early education matters, what’s learned in pre-K and at home,” Bishop said.

Bishop acknowledged there are ongoing challenges for Alaska students reaching reading proficiency.

She said getting new teachers caught up on reading instruction training is challenging, given the high rate of teacher turnover in Alaska. “It’s no secret that we have a larger transition of teachers,” she said. “Generally in rural Alaska, their turnover rate is about 1 in 3 teachers from K through 12.”

She said the department tries to give time and options for completing the training, and offers an annual Science of Reading Symposium for teachers’ professional development.

Bishop said chronic absenteeism is a continuous problem. In the 2022 to 2023 school year, the most recent year of available department data, 45 per cent of Alaska students were chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 17 days of school.

Anchorage Democratic Sen. Löki Tobin, chair of the Senate Education Committee, also praised the success of the Alaska Reads Act, which she worked on as a legislative aide. “We do have irrefutable evidence that when you are struggling to learn to read, interventions work,” she said.

But Tobin raised concerns that many districts used federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funding for implementing the Alaska Reads Act, which have now run out. She argued for more state funding for schools to continue reading instruction improvements. “All the gains that we are experiencing and seeing are going to be diminished and lost if we don’t adequately fund our schools,” she said.