Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School (ANCCS) was founded in 2007 by members of the Anchorage community with a mission to build student excellence through traditional cultural learning. It is a Title 1 public charter school within the Anchorage School District serving Pre-K through 8th grade, and it is governed by an Academic Policy Committee elected by parents and school staff alongside the principal. The academic day is built on at least two hours of Common Core language arts instruction and at least one hour of Common Core math, plus Anchorage School District social studies, health, and science curriculum. Layered on top is a cultural continuum that gives every grade level its own focus, moving from Alaska Native art, dance, and storytelling in preschool through Yup'ik and Cup'ik, Unangax and Sugpiaq, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian and Eyak, Athabascan, Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik, and on to Alaska Native government, issues, and literature in the middle grades. Coursework is organized around four quarterly themes: Living in Place, Language and Communication, Culture and Expression, and Tribe and Community. Enrollment is open to all students in the Anchorage School District through the district lottery, which provides equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, learning ability, or economic status, and no student is denied participation because of a learning disability or special need. There are no tuition or enrollment fees. Families should note that the school does not provide transportation, so parents arrange their own rides or join the carpool group.

Anchorage Waldorf School is Alaska's only nonprofit Waldorf school, located on a 2.5-acre campus at 3250 Baxter Road in Anchorage. It opened in 1989 as the Aurora Waldorf School with a single mixed-age kindergarten class and later renamed itself Anchorage Waldorf School. Today it serves children from early childhood through grade eight, following Rudolf Steiner's Waldorf philosophy of educating the whole child (head, heart, and hands). Programs run from a toddler day care (Seedlings, roughly ages 19 months to 3.5 years) and mixed-age kindergarten (ages 3.5 to 6) through Grades 1 to 8. The Waldorf curriculum balances academics with the arts, music (including violin from grade four), handwork, woodworking, eurythmy, movement, and a strong outdoor and nature-based program that uses the nearby Baxter Bog and other Anchorage green spaces. Russian is taught as a foreign language across all grades. As an independent school, Anchorage Waldorf is funded primarily through tuition set on a sliding scale so families pay according to their ability, assessed through the TADS financial-aid service. Before-care and after-care (Golden Cottage) and a summer camp are also offered.

Family Partnership Correspondence School (FPCS) began in June 1997 through the efforts of parents and Anchorage School District teachers, and it is the oldest and largest home-based school in Anchorage. The school acts as a bridge between homeschooling families and formal education: parents keep primary responsibility for teaching, while a certified sponsor teacher partners with each family to design a personalized learning plan aligned to Alaska State Standards. FPCS runs year-round, with an academic year from July 1 to June 30, and gives families wide latitude in choosing curriculum. A curriculum resource list is maintained for approved materials, and families can submit new curriculum for vetting with their sponsor teacher. Distance and online options are available, and high school students can join the Early College Program to dual enroll at UAA, UAF online, BYU, and other institutions, graduating with both an ASD transcript and a college transcript. Student life includes a spelling bee, science fair, Battle of the Books, student government, and National Honor Society. Enrollment is through the Anchorage School District lottery, and because the school no longer has an enrollment cap, every student who enters the lottery is guaranteed a spot. Each enrolled student receives an annual district allotment of $4,000 in grades K-5, $4,250 in grades 6-8, and $4,500 in grades 9-12 to put toward approved curriculum and services.