Unalaska, AK – In a month, students and teachers across Alaska will be going through the first day experience, jitters and all. Darrell Sanborn, former Unalaska superintendent, will be one of these new faces in the Yupiit school district in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. That district has some of the state's lowest test scores, and only one in ten of its students are reading at grade level.

The state's Department of Education is sending Sanborn there as the district's trustee. He'll be overseeing changes to the district's curriculum and working to boost test scores at a rate of two percent each year. If scores don't improve, Sanborn will be given control of the budget.

Sanborn says that each school is different, and there's no single cure-all that can save failing school districts. But he does say that high teacher turnover is one of the biggest problems in rural school districts, including Yupiit.

"When No Child Left behind came, they talked about reconstitution. Basically, what that would mean is coming in and letting all the teachers go and all the principals go," says Sanborn. "That sounds great for San Francisco, but in the bush - you know if you can get teachers to stick around for five, six, seven years, that would make a difference."

Sanborn says that one of his main goals will be improving conditions for teachers and working on staff development. For new teachers at rural schools issues like the cost of living, transportation, housing, and even social life can present challenges and ultimately contribute to high turnover.

"When rural district get teachers, most often they're new to the state and new to the teaching profession," says Sanborn. "By providing support and getting them off to a good start, that's a real positive thing."

Sanborn says that Unalaska's committed teaching staff is one of the school district's best qualities, and says that low turnover is one of the reason the community's test scores are so high. But that's not the only thing that sets Unalaska apart.

"We were so blessed, because you've got parents who are supportive and value education," says Sanborn. "The city provides more funding than state and federal combined, and that's highly unusual. When you have that much money coming locally, there's a great deal of pressure to perform."