The Alaska State Board of Education has launched a survey to hear from parents on how to improve education for students with special needs.
Program Coordinator Christie Reinhardt with the Governor’s Council on Disabilities & Special Education said it’s important for those involved in public schools’ special education programs to weigh in.
Reinhardt: “This is, across the board, what do you want for your schools?”
The survey focuses on three main points that are protecting local control, the use of technology in the classroom, and what can be done to improve teacher quality, recruitment, and retention.
Reinhardt said when modernizing special education programs, technology use is key.
Reinhardt: “A lot of kids that have autism, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, ADHD, specific learning disabilities, communication disorders, need kind of out of the box thinking.”
Another hurdle is teaching positions; Reinhardt said Alaska’s rural areas fight to keep teachers in general for more than one or two years.
Reinhardt: “So what do we do to keep our best and our brightest, our most talented students? How do we make them catch on fire and give them the tools they need to become effective teachers in their communities.”
Click here to access the State Board of Education survey.