The Tongass School of Arts and Sciences is a public elementary charter school approved by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District Board of Education. The Tongass School, like all charter schools, helps provide a range of public school choices through its unique educational philosophy and learning program.

Jump to: School Philosophy * School Mission * School Goals * Student Learning Goals * The Learning Program * The Facility * How to Enroll * School Charter

Coming Soon: Virtual Facility Tour, School Handbook, Student Handbook

A meaningful education includes an instructional program that develops a foundation of skills and knowledge and provides students, according to their developmental level, the freedom to ask and seek answers to important questions; to analyze, investigate, and synthesize information; and develop independent opinions and conclusions through inquiry, dialogue and reflection.

The Tongass School of Arts and Sciences believes that:

• Children need a well-rounded elementary education that includes world languages, music, fine and performing arts, physical and health education and social skills development as complementary and equal in value to the study of language arts, mathematics and the sciences;
• The process by which a child learns is as important as what the child produces;
• Children are naturally curious learners with diverse strengths, needs, interests, and talents;
• Children need a broad foundation of skills provided through in-depth instruction and investigation of subject areas and themes that connect the subject areas;
• Children need to learn respect and appreciation for the diversity of people, including their languages, cultures, and beliefs;
• Children need to learn to take responsibility for their own actions and work successfully with others in a collaborative manner;
• Children need to learn about their community and their relationship and connection to it;
• Children need the support and guidance of positive role models;
• Parents are a vital and integral part of their child's education;
• Children benefit and learn from social interaction with their peers;
• The academic, social and emotional development of children must be addressed within the educational program;
• The school is a learning community that develops respect, responsibility, cooperation, and active participation of all members.

The mission of the Tongass School is to provide an educational experience for students that:

• Fosters complex educational opportunities that include real life and real world experiences and builds on themes related to the arts and sciences;
• Effectively applies current educational research to school and classroom practice;
• Respects, values and builds on the individual and unique strengths of students in order to foster a strong sense of responsibility and self-worth;
• Creates an educational environment that provides positive relationships within the classroom, the school community and the community at large;
• Develops respect and appreciation for diversity of people, cultures, ideas and perspectives;
• Increases parental involvement in the education of their children.

• Incorporate educational research and Integrated Thematic Instruction into the educational program
• Build and maintain a strong sense of school community
• Increase parental involvement and participation in the school
• Build community connections into the educational program

• Demonstrate appropriate developmental or age level mastery of the State Performance Standards in core academic areas
• Gain knowledge and have opportunities to learn through real world connections and experiences
• Develop personal creative avenues of interest and talent
• Develop life-long learning skills, social inter-personal skills, and life-skills needed to become responsible conscientious citizens

The Tongass School offers a full day kindergarten through sixth grade program for 165 students. In addition, the school supports and implements an inclusive model for special needs and gifted students.

The learning program aligns its curriculum, instruction and assessment in a learning environment that emphasizes depth of understanding and focuses on teaching children to think critically and creatively about their world. The school uses the educational tools and training described in the program known as Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) to guide instruction and development of the school's curriculum.

The ITI model has two principal goals:

• To create citizens willing and able to participate in our democratic processes to improve life now and for future generations;
• To help educators translate current brain research into practical strategies to improve the classroom and the school.

The ITI model is based on five basic principles developed by research that explores how the human brain develops and learns throughout life. These principles are:

1. Intelligence is a function of experience
2. Learning is an inseparable partnership between brain and body.
   1. Emotion is the gatekeeper to learning and performance.
   2. Movement enhances learning.
3. There are multiple intelligences or ways for solving problems and producing products.
4. Learning is a two-step process:
   1. Step one: Making meaning through pattern seeking;
   2. Step two: Developing a mental program for using what we understand and wiring it into long-term memory.
5. Personality impacts learning and performance.

ITI translates these research principles into action in the classroom through nine "body brain compatible elements." These are:

1. Absence of Threat/Nurturing Reflective Thinking
2. Meaningful Content
3. Enriched Environment
4. Adequate Time
5. Immediate Feedback
6. Movement
7. Choices
8. Collaboration
9. Mastery/Application

A foundation of ITI and the Tongass School is development of Lifelong Guidelines and Life Skills in the school community. They form the basis for positive, valued relationships and make learning joyous and powerful. They are also the keystone to good classroom leadership and, more than instructional strategy, help eliminate threat and enhance reflective thinking.

Curriculum: The curriculum provides a rich elementary school experience. It emphasizes depth of understanding and focuses on the goal of teaching children to think independently. Using the ITI model, curricular subjects emphasize arts and science themes. The K-6 curriculum, which is based on the State of Alaska's content and performance standards, includes:

• English and Language Arts
• Mathematics
• Science
• Geography
• Government and Citizenship
• History
• Arts
• Skills for a Healthy Life
• World languages
• Technology

Instructional Methods: Research indicates that in-depth instruction, combined with a learning environment that provides high expectations in a supportive environment, directly correlates to student achievement. Instruction engages students in dialogue, problem solving, project-based learning that encourages creativity, independent and collaborative student research, social interaction, and the development of personal and civic responsibility. Instruction uses:

• dialogue and class meetings;
• journals, learning logs and essays;
• real life problem solving;
• simulations;
• project-based learning;
• social interaction;
• cooperative learning;
• team teaching;
• opportunities for student choice and decision making;
• cross-age and multi-age groupings;
• cross-age and peer tutoring;
• technology as a natural extension of exploration and learning.

The specific instructional materials are approved by school staff and the school's governing board. Instructional resources include guest speakers and presentations, a science lab, computers, art studio, music room, textbooks, primary source materials, library books, reference materials, maps, globes, computer programs and software, internet access, cameras, and field trips among others.

Assessment: Tongass School students take all of the standardized tests required by the State of Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. These currently include the State of Alaska Benchmark Tests and the Terra Nova. The school integrates student assessment within the teaching process in order to plan the next steps in instruction. Assessment is embedded in the instructional process in order to avoid interruptions to student learning. The school provides a variety of ways for students to show what they have learned and how they have learned it using methods known as authentic and performance assessment. The emphasis is on the continual growth and progress of individual students. Children, along with their parents and teachers, are important partners in evaluating student achievement.

The assessment methods of the Tongass School are based on the following four assessment principles:

1. In order to have a complete picture of a student's growth different types of assessments must be used. Assessments should focus on a student's growth towards a high standard rather than comparing a student's performance against other students;
2. There should be a close relationship between a desired student outcome and the means used to assess it;
3. Assessing what students do with knowledge is as important as assessing what knowledge they have;
4. Assessment should promote and support reflection and self-evaluation on the part of students, staff and parents.

The Tongass School evaluates and records student progress through:

1. Continuums of academic growth in reading, writing, mathematics and the sciences;
2. Personal Creative Interests and Talents Inventories;
3. Portfolios of progress in major academic and arts areas - including student self-assessment of growth;
4. Demonstrations/Performances of achievement;
5. Teacher anecdotal records, evaluative rubrics and narrative reports;
6. Parent observations and surveys; and
7. Student-led conferences with parents and teachers.

The Tongass School facility includes an open floor plan that organizes the classrooms into multi-age teaching teams. The benefit of this approach is that both students and teachers are able to collaborate more effectively consistent with the goals of the learning program. The school also has a library connected to the First City Library system, a separate music rehearsal area, covered playground, and full-size gymnasium.

Tongass School enrollment is limited to 165 students in the kindergarten through sixth grade program. Enrollment is free and open to all residents of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. In those instances where classes have reached maximum enrollment, the school uses a lottery system to determine admissions.
Questions and answers about enrollment
Enrollment Confirmation Form (for students presently in TSAS)
Transfer/Enrollment Form (for new students to TSAS)

You can read the school charter in Microsoft Word format.

Tongass School of Arts and Sciences
410 Schoenbar Road, Suite 202
Ketchikan, Alaska 99901
(907) 225-5720
secretary@tongassschool.org
© 2008 Tongass School of Arts and Sciences, all rights reserved
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