SISD is a standards-based educational program that strives to meet the individual needs of all students. In order to do this, our educational program has to be flexible to meet the ever changing needs of our students, the workforce, and society. It addresses the traditional content areas of reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, science, technology, and physical education, however, it also addresses three other very important areas; life assets culture, and work skills. Each student is required to demonstrate proficiency in all of these content areas. Our current curriculum and curricular resources are directly aligned to the up-to-date Alaska State Performance Standards.
SISD works to extend the traditional classroom by adding learning venues like heated greenhouses, chicken coups, rabbit hutches, and fruit tree orchards to many of the school sites. These venues help transform content standards into hands on vibrant activities that make the learning relevant to each student's life and model the value of sustainable and responsible living. Experiential learning is a large part of what we do in SISD. We encourage and support student travel when possible. We believe that in order to prepare students for what awaits them beyond high school, they need to experience some of it while in school. Many of our students are provided the opportunity to travel within the State as well as out of State by participating in sports and other activities like Real World Design Challenge, Ocean Bowl, Rose-Urban Rural Exchange, Lego Robotics, College Tours, Whalefest, Youth Leadership, Legislative Visits, etc.
SISD is proactive by keeping the teacher to student ratio low. This allows teachers to and school staff to develop relationships with students. Research shows that when a student has a meaningful connection with their teacher, they can learn at a higher level and are more apt to be engaged in the learning. SISD feels that without social emotional well being, learning potential becomes greatly diminished. Adopting the "Phlight Club" philosophy of ensuring that students have at least five caring adult anchors in their lives has made a significant difference in social emotional health and raising student achievement.
Research in effective learning and teaching gives evidence that student achievement increases as the student is empowered to make decisions about his/her learning. Student input is essential to student "buy-in" into the learning process. SISD's teaching model (direct instruction, application, simulation, real-life connection, and building relationships) fosters a curiosity of learning, the development of knowledge, and a confidence of what they are capable of doing.