Literacy Screener for Alaska Indigenous Languages

The Department of Education and Early Development has charged us with supporting schools teaching reading in Alaska Native languages in response to the Alaska Reads Act. Specifically, we have been charged with developing early literacy screeners for use in kindergarten through fifth grade in eight to ten Alaska Native languages over five years. We have agreed to begin with three languages — Iñupiaq, Tlingít, and Yup’ik — that have existing Alaska Native language immersion programs in public schools and expand to additional languages over the coming years.