Northern Lights ABC K-8 School - Anchorage, AK

Northern Lights - Anchorage Basic Curriculum (NLABC), founded in 1978 as an alternative education program, is an ethnically diverse community whose students come from locations across the Anchorage Bowl. NLABC has embraced a back-to-basics approach to education for 40 years. This approach provides students with the skills necessary to live successfully and contribute to their communities while becoming responsible citizens. Key strategies and goals within NLABC concentrate on five major developmental areas: intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and ethical. While core tenets of NLABC hold that teaching ethical behavior and morality are primarily the responsibility of parents, 18 character building blocks are embedded within our curriculum; core among them are honesty, good citizenship, responsibility, patriotism, loyalty, and compassion for others. NLABC students engage in studies, presentations, and performances which promote knowledge of these ideals and those upon which our nation was founded. Students are also encouraged to focus on STEM activities offered at our school, such as robotics, Science Olympiad, and other science- and math-based extra-curricular activities. Dedication to this school philosophy and developmental strategies is shown as families must secure personal transportation to and from school and establish personal ties within a culturally and economically diverse student populace spread across a wide geographical area. It is clear from our academic and social successes that the investment made by our staff and families in learning is a great success.