National Education Support Service Inc.

National Education Support Service, Inc. 4610 Reka Drive #A-9 Anchorage, Alaska 99508 1-888-665-9748

Alaska State Standards Lessons

N.E.S.S. has available 180 days of math and reading lessons for grade levels K-9.  The lessons are tied to state standards and designed with content strands allowing teachers of multiple grades to instruct to different ability groups.  For more information about these lessons click here.

The lessons and a training manual can be downloaded from a link on the State of Alaska's "Teacher Resources" web site at:
http://www.eed.state.ak.us/NESS/benchmark.cfm

• It may take a long time to download these lessons and uncompress them because there are many files.  It is suggested that you download the lessons overnight.  (For faster downloads use an ethernet connection instead of a wireless connection.)
  
• If you have any questions, or trouble downloading lessons, please contact us at (888)665-9748 or  bkrosschell@mac.com
  

N.E.S.S. Consulting Services

Mission

Our instructional team will train educators how to use effective teaching strategies with standards and benchmarks to improve student performance in reading, writing, and math. As educators progress through our phases they will learn the practical application of the strategies in conjunction with the Quality Schools Standards Model. Our team’s qualifications come from years of training and experience in implementing effective strategies and the Standards Model in the classroom.

Phases

Betty Sue Crain

Betty Sue Crain has written and published several articles about teaching reading in rural Alaska. In July 2000, Mrs. Crain presented a workshop for the Eastern European Reading Conference in Bratislava, Slovakia sponsored by the International Reading Association.

She came to Alaska in 1993 as a Chapter Reading Teacher in Kalskag for the Kuspuk School District. Trained and certified as an Academic Language Therapist through Southern Methodist University and Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas, Texas, Ms. Crain successfully used her knowledge of the Orton Gillingham multi-sensory approach to reading while working with students K-12. Desiring to use this method of teaching reading in a multi-graded classroom, she joined the Chugach School District and taught students K-3 in Tatitlek for 2 years. Ms. Crain developed a procedure to diagnose the particular needs of the Chugach School District population. The Reading Model of accuracy, fluency, and comprehension was created as a guide for effective instruction and assessments. She has been the Reading Specialist for the Chugach School District for the past 6 years and is involved with other Alaska school districts in staff development.

Billijo Mills

Mrs. Billijo Mills has nine years of teaching experience with the Chugach School District. During that time she assisted in developing and implementing the Balanced Instructional Model. Mrs. Mills' experiences have given her the opportunity to consult for Quality Schools Institutes for the past four years. She has traveled to many Alaskan school districts for staff in-services in the Quality Schools Model. All of her teaching experience has been in multi-grade classrooms in Bush Alaska. Billijo's main focus while with Chugach has been to make "the model" functional in the classroom and user friendly for her students.

Debbie Bontrager

Ms. Bontrager is a primary teacher who believes success is possible for every child. She has 21 years of experience, most of which has been have been in multi-graded classrooms. Teaching Kindergarten in Tilamook, Oregon for 6 years was the impetus that inspired her search for effective teaching methods when facing the challenges of struggling students. Debbie's 13 years of Alaska Bush teaching on the Y-K Delta and Prince William Sound continued the quest for successful teaching strategies. Dev eloping and implementing the Chugach Model with its standards, assessments, and effective instruction was the attainment of that goal. The fulfillment of this achievement was completed with the honor of being nominated Teacher of the Year by the Chugach School District in 2002. Ms. Bontrager is thrilled with the opportunity to share her successful classroom experiences with other Alaskan school districts. Serving as a consultant at a new teacher in-services, district level yearly thematic unit planning, and Quality Schools Institute presenter for the past four years, has equipped her well for this opportunity.

Brian Krosschell

Brian Krosschell has been working with children for 12 years, seven of them as a high school and middle school teacher in rural Alaska. The past four years he has been instructing in the Balanced Instructional Model with the Chugach School District. Mr. Krosschell has taught all subjects for grades 4-12 and led many extracurricular activities including Science Club, Technology Club, Travel Club, and On-The-Job Training. While in the classroom, one of Brian's focuses has been refining student management of the standards based system to help students take responsibility for their education. He has a Bachelors degree in Biology and a Masters in Geosciences. Other educational coursework includes Multi-sensory Approach to Reading, Excellence in Writing, Right Start Math, Multiple Intelligences, Choice Theory, Mastery Learning, and ARCTIC technology training. Brian has been consulting in education for the past three years.

Contact Information

N.E.S.S. Alaska State Standards Lessons K-9  Please read the READ ME file information about the naming format

Lesson Information / Web Resources / State of Alaska Teacher Resources