We are a team of researchers and educators at the University of Oregon dedicated to developing and validating early literacy screeners that can be used with kindergarten through fifth grade children learning to read and write in Alaska Native languages. We plan to document our process, as well as the finished products, using this website.
Contact Information
Email: LSAIL@UOregon.edu
Facebook: Literacy Screeners for Alaska Indigenous Languages
Our Charge
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.
Our Guiding Principles
We center the linguistic and cultural norms of each language in our efforts.
We rely on Alaska Native partners to keep the work valid, meaningful, and culturally responsive.
Alaska Native participation is entirely voluntary.
We prioritize progress over perfection.
The University of Oregon team’s primary objective is to serve the Alaska Native people.
Feedback or Comments?
We’d love to hear from you!
To provide general feedback, nominate a language for our future work, or let us know if you would like to become involved, please complete this survey: https://oregon.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3eEdY9ikxJ64qto
For all other questions or inquiries, please reach out to us at LSAIL@UOregon.edu
Our Team
 Gina Biancarosa, Principal Investigator email: ginab@uoregon.edu |  Naakil.aan Hans Chester, Tlingit Linguistic & Cultural Ambassador email: hans.chester@juneauschools.org |  Janice George, Yup'ik Linguistic & Cultural Ambassador email: jmgeorge@alaska.edu |
 Patrick Kennedy, Co-Principal Investigator email: ppaine@uoregon.edu |  Sylvia Linan Thompson, Co-Principal Investigator email: sthomps5@uoregon.edu |  Cengiz Zopluoglu, Co-Principal Investigator email: cengiz@uoregon.edu |
 Katherine Landau Wright, Project Coordinator email: klwright@uoregon.edu |
Graduate Students
Many graduate students from the University of Oregon have and continue to make valuable contributions to this work
 Madison Cook, Graduate Assisstant email: mcook5@uoregon.edu |  Dodjivi Amekoudji, Graduate Assistant email: dodjivia@uoregon.edu |  Seulbi Lee, Graduate Assistant email: blee3@uoregon.edu |
|---|---|---|
 Cassidy Dillard, Graduate Assistant email: cdillard@uoregon.edu |  Mandi Ward, Graduate Assistant email: mandilyn@uoregon.edu | |