Category: Education
School Grades in Jefferson County Run the Gamut
If all the schools in Jefferson County were graded together, they would have a solid B average. But of course, children don’t attend an amalgamation of schools. The spread of grades that schools in Jefferson County scored on the Alabama Department of Education State Report Card ranges from the top to the bottom. Read more and find scores for your individual schools.
Childhood Literacy Program to Expand After City Approves Funding
The city of Birmingham has committed $1 million to expanding Birmingham Talks, a citywide program promoting early childhood literacy. With the funding, the organization is expected to more than triple its reach from 1,000 to 3,500 students across all 99 neighborhoods over the next three years. Read more.
New Aviation Charter School Aims to Diversify the Cockpit
Since the pandemic began, the aviation industry is down 2 million workers and those who remain are overwhelmingly white. One new charter school in Bessemer hopes to address both issues by preparing diverse students for jobs in aviation. Read more.
Gulf States rank at the bottom for climate-adapted housing. Organizers want to change that.
As natural disasters and extreme weather become more frequent in the Gulf South, a new report hopes to be a road map to providing more climate-adapted housing. Read more.
UAB’s Largest Alumnus Gift Ever Sets Aside $10M to Entrepreneurship, Criminal Justice Departments
UAB has received the single largest gift from an alumnus in its history. J. Frank Barefield Jr., president of Abbey Residential and chairman of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama, has given the school $10 million.
Of that amount, he committed $5 million to name the UAB J. Frank Barefield Jr. Department of Criminal Justice in the College of Arts and Sciences; and the other $5 million was committed to name the UAB J. Frank Barefield Jr. Entrepreneurship Program in the Collat School of Business, according to a statement from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Read more.
Birmingham School Budget Includes Raises, New Psychologists and More Pre-K Classes
The Birmingham Board of Education on Tuesday approved a $506,988,421 budget that includes pay increases for all employees and establishes a $15 minimum hourly pay rate. The 2023 budget also includes additional pre-kindergarten classes, six new school psychologists and adjustments in the teacher salary schedule to make pay more competitive with surrounding school districts, according to a news release from the board. Read more.
Auburn Ranked Top University in the State
Auburn University has been ranked as the best university in Alabama and tied for 97th best in the National Universities category in U.S. News and World Report’s latest Best Colleges rankings.
The magazine’s annual rankings were released Monday. Other universities that landed at the top of the list for Alabama included Samford, University of Alabama, UAB, UAH and Birmingham-Southern College. Read more.
School Resource Officers Turn to Mental Health to Make Kids Safer
Parents’ school safety concerns carry more weight this year after the mass shooting in May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. School resource officers in Hoover are adjusting by placing a greater emphasis on mental health. Read more.
New Aviation High School in Bessemer Aims to Help Students Soar
At the Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School, students, parents and teachers are excited as they prepare for the school’s take off on Monday. Read more.
3rd Graders at Risk of Being Held Back for Poor Reading Skills; Local Schools Where That’s More and Less Likely
More than one-fifth of Alabama’s third graders last spring failed to pass a standardized reading test.
In more than 50 schools across the state, 50% or more of the students ended third grade without necessary reading skills needed by that age, according to the test results released recently by the state.
Seven of those schools are in the Birmingham City School system. The Tarrant School System as a whole also fell below the halfway mark, and the Fairfield system barely topped 50%. Read more and find schools’ scores.
