Alaska Alive Education History

Vitus Bering

1741

Vitus Bering discovers Alaska and its native inhabitants 1741

Ioann Veniaminov

Period: 1797 to 1879

Ioann Veniaminov a Russian Orthodox priest and missionary arrives to build a church. While doing so he learns the native languages and develops an orthography to help convert the natives. He approaches this by melding religion and the native customs. Fostering a bilingual approach.

Sheldon Jackson

Period: 1834 to 1909

Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary who also wanted to convert the natives and educate. He advocated for the rejection of native cultures for American ones and was a strong supporter of Prohibition.

The First Organic Act of 1884

May 17, 1884

Creates the district of Alaska and delegates the task for the U.S. secretary of the interior with the task of schooling children “without reference to race”.

The Nelson Act

Jan 27, 1905

Congress passes the Nelson Act. Two separate education systems are established one for Alaska Native students and the other for “white children and children of mixed blood who lead a civilized life” under the territorial government.

Johnson O'Malley Act

Apr 16, 1934

Congress transferred the responsibility of educating Alaska Native children to state and local school systems and established programmatic federal funding for Native students.

Tobeluk v. Lind

1976

Also know as the Molly Hootch Case sued the state claiming that Native American boarding schools were discriminatory and unjust. At the time children were sent away for schooling because there was insufficient local school facilities. The state by means of the consent decree agreed to create a secondary school in any village with at least fifteen high school-aged children.

Noon v. Alaska

2004

Disability Rights Advocates represented a class of all students in Alaska with learning disabilities who were required to take the Alaska High School Graduation Qualifying Examination (HSGQE). Students would have been denied diplomas and a fair opportunity to pass the HSGQE.The case was settled and included a broad expansion of the accommodations available to students with disabilities among other things.

ESSA Established

2018

Every Student Succeeds Act: Alaska State Plan is approved.