Controversial reading course for Alaskan teachers on hold

The State Board of Education says Alaska teachers will NOT for now have to take a course on teaching reading to students, according to The Associated Press. Meeting in Anchorage, the board on Friday, December 7, 2007, decided not to require the course. The board instead asked the Department of Education and Early Development to go back and work with Alaskans on revisions to the course. The course is intended to show teachers how to improve student reading skills. Earlier, The Anchorage Daily News had reported that teachers and others called the plan an unfunded mandate and a waste of most teachers’ time. According to comments submitted to the state, Anchorage high school choir teacher Liesl Davenport-Wheeler found it "punitive and way out of bounds." She says it would take away from the time she has to use for her own class content.