Education

Who’s in Charge of Alabama Education?  Governor, Legislator, Education Leaders Disagree Publicly, Spotlight Fault Lines

There is a battle going on in Montgomery over who controls the education of Alabama's children. Fault lines are becoming increasingly evident. Tempers flared at last week’s State Board of Education meetings in a display of direct pushback by state education leaders against the Executive and Legislative branches of Alabama's government. Typically, education leaders are called to appear before legislators. On last Thursday, the tables were turned. Both the Governor and the chair of the House Education Policy committee were present at Board of Education sessions. The education leaders took full advantage of their home field position, calling both to task over perceived power grabs in recent weeks. Read more.

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

Big Education Issues on the Table for Alabama’s Lawmakers

With 12 legislative days left in the 2016 Regular Session, Alabama’s lawmakers will find a table full of education issues when they return from spring break next week. There are education savings accounts (the bill has been changed to apply only to children with disabilities), a statewide longitudinal data system to capture and track data for students from preschool through when they enter the workforce, the all-things-teachers bill, a.k.a, the PREP Act, the Alabama Ahead Act (which provides funding for wireless infrastructure for schools needing it), widening of the state’s growing virtual school program, and…the Education Trust Fund budget which has yet to be debated by the Senate after its passage in the House. Not to mention the other 60 or so education-related bills still waiting for lawmakers’ attention. BirminghamWatch has kept close watch on legislation during this session, so look there for weekly updates. We’re taking stock of what lawmakers will face upon their return. Read more . . .

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

What’s the Difference in the PREP Act & What Alabama Is Already Doing?

How are Alabama’s teachers being evaluated? Are those evaluations helping teachers get better at teaching? Are students learning more as a result of those evaluations? The first question is easy enough. The latter two are more confounding. Identifying effective teachers who improve student learning is the subject of Sen. Del Marsh’s (R-Anniston) PREP (Preparing and Rewarding Education Professionals) Act, which barely cleared the Senate Education and Youth Affairs committee last week and is expected to be considered by the full Senate in the near future. Since we published the draft of Marsh’s all-things-teacher-improvement-and-reform proposal last December, it has been the topic of conversations across Alabama. Read more . . .

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

After Months of Discussions, Alex Will Return to School, Despite Failing Heart

After months of difficult discussions, a resolution has been reached to allow 14-year-old Alex Hoover to return to his Limestone County high school---a development which delights his mother, Rene Hoover. “Alex is happy at school,” she said. “I want him to be happy.” Rene has been working to get Alex back into school since last spring,

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

Education Issues to Follow in 2016

Keep your eyes on Montgomery advises Trisha Powell Crain, executive director of Alabama School Connection and contributor to BirminghamWatch. The governor, Alabama legislature and education officials face a full plate of decisions that affect classrooms throughout the state. Among important items, Crain says, are: The RAISE Act

RAISE (Rewarding Advance in Instruction and Student Excellence Act) is still a draft proposal, not filed as a bill. It affects teacher evaluation, teacher pay and teacher tenure. An element in the draft calls for rating teacher effectiveness partly by student test scores. Del Marsh, Alabama Senate President Pro Tem, has circulated the draft to traditional players in setting education policy, including the Alabama Association of School Boards and the Alabama Education Association. This update last week is from Brian Lyman of the Montgomery Advertiser : Tenure bill greeted cautiously, raises some concerns Education Trust Fund allocations More dollars, millions more, are available to be budgeted for 2016-2017 than were allocated for the current fiscal year. The big question: What agencies and missions will get the new money?

by Liz Harris

5 Things You Should Know about Test Results for Alabama’s Public Schools

Alabama’s public school students are struggling with the annual standardized test required by the Alabama State Department of Education, judging by recently released results for the 2014-2015 school year. Though annual testing isn’t new, the ACT Aspire, first administered during the 2013-2014 school year, is. The test is given to students in third through eighth grade in math and reading, and in fifth and seventh grades in science. Statewide, of the six grades tested, only in third grade were more than half the students proficient in math; in no grade were more than half the students proficient in reading.

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

At Hueytown Elementary School, Love and Data Tackle Alabama’s Education Problems

The 850 kindergarten- through-fifth- grade students at Jefferson County’s Hueytown Elementary School have a message about education: Poverty doesn’t always mean lower scores on standardized tests. On the ACT Aspire test they took last spring, in most grades and subjects, a higher percentage of the Hueytown students scored in the proficient range than did Jefferson County school district students overall or students statewide. The accomplishment comes in a school where 58 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals and where students are a diverse mix – 52% are white, 39% are black and 6 percent are Hispanic.

by Trisha Powell Crain, Alabama School Connection

More About 2015 Alabama Student Test Scores

The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama and Alabama School Connection have taken deeper looks at recently-released tests of the state’s student academic performance. PARCA assessed results from Alabama high school juniors on the ACT college readiness test. Only 16 percent of them were “ready” on all four sections of the test: English, Reading, Mathematics

by Maggie Andrews

“Highly Qualified.” What Does That Label Mean for an Alabama Teacher?

What does it mean to be a “highly qualified” teacher for Alabama fifth-graders? That question made headlines Monday when Alabama Teacher of the Year Ann Marie Corgill resigned her teaching job at a Birmingham school. The Alabama State Department of Education ruled she didn’t meet the “highly qualified” standard. Teacher certification presents complicated questions with unsettled answers for public education policy-makers. What are the rules to be “highly qualified”? Do they apply to everybody? Why are they especially important for schools in lower income neighborhoods?

by Maggie Andrews

Alabama Teacher of the Year Leaves Classroom. Here’s Her Story.

Six months ago, Ann Marie Corgill was standing next to President Obama celebrating being named a National Teacher of the Year finalist, intent on finding a job teaching in an inner-city school after years in Alabama’s richest district. On Sunday afternoon, Corgill officially resigned after two months in Birmingham’s Oliver Elementary School, intent on never stepping foot in a classroom again. In a statement Monday, she reopened the door to future teaching but the resignation from Oliver stood.

by Maggie Andrews