Request to Amend Accountability Plan – Alaska – NCLB Policy Letters to States

February 10, 2011

The Honorable Mike Hanley
Commissioner of Education & Early Development
Alaska Department of Education
801 West 10th Street, Suite 200
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1894

Dear Commissioner Hanley:

Thank you for submitting Alaska’s graduation rate information for peer review in accordance with 34 C.F.R. § 200.19(b)(6)(i). I appreciate the efforts that were required to prepare for the peer review that occurred in February 2010. After careful review and consideration of Alaska’s resubmission, I am pleased to approve Alaska’s proposed graduation rate goal and targets for use in making adequate yearly progress (AYP) determinations based on assessments administered in the 2009–10 and 2010-11 school years. The approved goal and targets are set forth in Section 7.1 of Alaska’s amended Accountability Workbook, which you submitted to the U.S. Department of Education (Department) on December 7, 2010 and which will be posted on the Department’s website.

My staff and I will continue to review other aspects of your graduation rate peer review submission and, if we have any questions or concerns, we will contact you in the near future. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please do not hesitate to contact Vicki.Robinson@ed.gov or Carlos.Martinez@ed.gov.

Sincerely,

Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, Ph.D.

Enclosure

cc: Governor Sean Parnell
Erik McCormick

State Accountability Plans

Decision Letters on State Accountability Plans