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Education News in Alabama
By Sallie Owen ALABAMIANS LOVE PRE-K, RESEARCH SHOWS The Alabama School Readiness Alliance unveiled a statewide survey indicating strong support for prekindergarten in the state. Respondents also understood that pre-k helps children get ready to learn when they start school, and they think the state is not doing enough to make high-quality pre-k available to families who want it. More about the findings is available here http://snipurl.com/ASRApoll, including a link to the pollsters' PowerPoint presentation. Alabama's voluntary state-funded pre-k program recently earned a perfect 10 rating from a national oversight group. The state offers high-quality pre-k to 1,080 four-year-olds at 59 sites. The Alabama School Readiness Alliance was formed by the A+ Education Partnership, Alabama Giving, Alabama Partnership for Children and Voices for Alabama's Children. NATIONAL PRE-K ADVOCATE VISITS B'HAM, BCA LEADERS A top national prekindergarten advocate brought his message to two audiences in Alabama this month. David Lawrence, former publisher of The Miami Herald, is president of The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation (www.teachmorelovemore.org). In Birmingham, Lawrence spoke to a gathering of community, business and education leaders about the need for universal, state-funded, voluntary prekindergarten. "This place simply cannot have a bright future unless we place more investment on the early years," Lawrence said, as quoted by The Birmingham News (http://snipurl.com/bhamlawrence). That afternoon, Lawrence told the Business Council of Alabama (www.bcatoday.org) board that business leaders must lead the campaign to broaden access to pre-k. "What we're talking about is basic American fairness," Lawrence said. "This is about all children, because all children need the basics." A video of his talk is available from http://snipurl.com/prekvideo. DAVIS HEARS INPUT ON NCLB, MORTON SAYS IT HAS BEEN GOOD FOR AL More than 175 people turned out to discuss No Child Left Behind at a town hall meeting in Birmingham organized by U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham. "I honestly believe Alabama is better off having gone through five years of No Child Left Behind," said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton, noting that some improvements are needed. Davis, who took the role of facilitator for the discussion, emphasized two main points: that Congress has failed to properly fund the federal education law, shorting billions of dollars needed for the nation's school children, and that every citizen — even those who have no children or whose children go to private school — is affected by the quality of Alabama's public schools. Read more from The Birmingham News at http://snipurl.com/bnnclb. RESEARCH FINDING: Researchers from the University of Virginia found that children have less than a one-in-five chance of having a rich, challenging classroom experience throughout elementary school. Children from low-income families are even less likely to experience high-quality instruction consistently, the study indicated. Findings were based on live observations of a thousand children around the United States during their first-, third- and fifth-grade years. Here's a UVA summary of the research, with a link to a video interview with the lead researcher. http://snipurl.com/UVAstudy And this is how USA Today wrote about the findings. http://snipurl.com/uvastudy02 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION UPDATE: The Alabama State Board of Education met April 12. Board members Ethel Hall, Mary Jane Caylor and the governor were absent. Board members unanimously approved a resolution supporting specific recommendations from the Governor's Congress on School Leadership and the Governor's Commission on Quality Teaching. The resolution called for funding needed to implement the following:
The board also honored Discovery Hall at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and Guntersville student Mercedes Jones (see Examples of Excellence below). The board members also extended approval of teacher education programs at the University of Montevallo. Board members also discussed the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. They reported on meetings that U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, and U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, organized in the state to discuss the law. Board member Randy McKinney said that while the law needs tweaking, there are many beneficial aspects to it. After learning more, Bonner said he may reassess some of his thinking, McKinney reported. Adequate yearly progress, or AYP, status will be announced at a board meeting on Aug. 6. This meeting replaces the previously scheduled meeting Aug. 9. State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton noted that Alabama has the eighth-best turnaround time in the nation on AYP. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENCE
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April 23 , 2007 (A+ Education Partnership
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