Each case study was led by a researcher from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory or University of Alaska Fairbanks who worked with a small team of school practitioners and community members who participated fully in the research. The case studies tell what happened as rural schools embarked on a change journey through AOTE and other reform activities, paying attention to important educational accomplishments and setbacks, community voice, and the experiences and learning of students. The cases include qualitative and quantitative evidence, although hard data on student performance was limited and often inappropriate to the educational goals pursued by communities. Our case studies show that sustaining serious educational reform over the long run is a difficult but not impossible task in rural Alaska. The most significant barrier to sustaining reforms is persistent teacher, principal, and superintendent turnover.
Turnover derails reform efforts and leads to a cycle of reinventing school every two or three years.
A process like AOTE can help alleviate the turnover problem by creating leadership within the community, especially when respected community elders and other leaders are brought into the process. But to seriously sustain reforms, districts and local communities need to develop talent from within so that teachers have strong roots in the communities where they teach. Strong and consistent superintendent leadership was an important factor in moving reforms forward in some of these small communities and districts. However, school leaders must believe and act on the principle of shared decision making in order to engage the community through long term educational changes that benefit students. Shared leadership creates the community ownership that will move educational changes through frequent staff turnover.