Whaley School

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.

The Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing provides Pre-K through 12th grade educational options for deaf and hard of hearing students. A bilingual, bicultural model supports the development of American Sign Language and English, with services and placement shaped through each student’s IEP. Students may learn in DHH self-contained classrooms where American Sign Language is the primary mode of communication for core academics, or in general education classrooms with an educational interpreter and specialist support. Services may include audiology, ASL development, listening and spoken language support, speech-language therapy, counseling, and interpreting for school activities. Programs are based primarily at Russian Jack Elementary, Clark Middle School, and Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School. Secondary students can build advocacy, career-planning, work, independent-living, and community skills through Transition Readiness, with vocational coursework available at King Tech High School. Families can access sign language classes, outreach, and an online interpreter-request system for school activities.

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.