Education News in Alabama

August 7, 2008 (archive)

By Sallie Owen

---

1. Alabama schools make progress
• What Alabama is doing
2. What does it take to turn around struggling schools?
3. Superintendents Leaders Network announced
4. Research Finding: Southern schools making academic gains
5. Worth Repeating
6. Alabama pre-k grows
7. Pre-k program to add math, science lessons
8. Example of Excellence
9. State Board of Education Update
10. Grant opportunity

---

1. ALABAMA SCHOOLS MAKE PROGRESS:

83 percent met achievement targets, even as goals got harder

There is good news in the 2008 accountability reports released by the Alabama State Department of Education on Monday.

• 83.39 percent of schools met all their goals to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), up from 82.25 percent a year ago
• That gain happened even while schools had to meet higher targets.
• 10 percent fewer schools are in "school improvement" (indicates inadequate progress at least two years in a row)
• The number of "school improvement" schools dropped because of progress made in schools serving large numbers of children from low-income families.

No Child Left Behind is a federal law that created this accountability system to track student learning. It requires that ever greater numbers of students demonstrate proficiency each year, with the ultimate goal that every child will be proficient in math and reading by 2014.

WHAT ALABAMA IS DOING

Many schools and school systems are working hard to improve instruction. There are a growing number of coordinated, strategic state initiatives to improve teaching and learning. The Alabama Reading Initiative heads a list which includes the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI), ACCESS distance learning and prekindergarten, plus new measures to help more students graduate. For example, credit recovery lets students who have failed a class go back and retake the portion they need, instead of the whole semester.

To read more and find a statewide database, check out this page from The Birmingham News:
http://snipurl.com/bnewsayp

2. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO TURN AROUND STRUGGLING SCHOOLS?

You can find out when you get an inside look at three Alabama schools that are on the road to excellence. It's all inside the new issue of "Working Toward Excellence: The Journal of the Alabama Best Practices Center."

Inside the Fall 2008 issue:

• Aiming for a Blue Ribbon in the Black Belt: Aliceville Middle School's turnaround story is a testament to leadership, teacher learning, and the ARI adolescent literacy initiative.
• The Road from Good to Great: To meet the needs of all its students, Boaz Middle School has changed its culture, its teaching and its "good" reputation. Today, it's a great school.
• Teaching and Learning Better Together: Huntsville's Lincoln Elementary School capitalized on the power of community partnerships, teacher collaboration and a sharply focused literacy program to become a top-performing Title I school.

Download a copy from the Alabama Best Practices Center: http://www.bestpracticescenter.org/pdfs/wte8-1.pdf (PDF, 620 KB)

3. SUPERINTENDENTS' LEADERS NETWORK ANNOUNCED

Twenty-eight Alabama superintendents will participate in the Superintendents' Leaders Network, a new network established by the Alabama Best Practices Center and the School Superintendents of Alabama, and funded by the Malone Family Foundation.

The Superintendents' Leaders Network is for forward-thinking K-12 public school superintendents, and the goal is to engage them in an ongoing forum about strategies to improve teaching and learning in their schools.

The Network, created at the request of superintendents themselves, is modeled on the ABPC's successful Key Leaders Network, which serves principals and administrators in district offices.

To learn more and see a list of participants, visit
http://www.aplusala.org/news/nr08_0724.asp

4. RESEARCH FINDING:
SOUTHERN SCHOOLS MAKING ACADEMIC GAINS

According to a new report from the Southern Regional Education Board, schools across the South are doing a better job teaching reading and math in the early grades. The report also outlines successful strategies and the challenges ahead – such as changing demographics and the overall lack of similar progress in middle and high schools.

Highlights:

• Increasing numbers of students are proficient in math and reading, as measured by state tests.
• Alabama had the nation's largest gains in fourth-grade reading on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
• Students from low-income families in Southern states outperformed their peers nationwide on NAEP.

Get the report:
"Set for Success: Improving Reading and Mathematics Achievement in the Early Grades"
from the Southern Regional Education Board
http://www.sreb.org/publications/2008/08E05ImprovingReadingMathG.asp

5. WORTH REPEATING

"We have a school system that continues to look like the industrial age…and continues to operate on an agrarian clock.”

– Congressman George Miller, addressing the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future Symposium. He urged Americans to focus on new directions for our schools to be competitive in the 21st century.

See a video clip and read more:
http://snipurl.com/millernctaf

6. ALABAMA PRE-K GROWS

Thanks to increased funding from the Legislature and recommended by Gov. Bob Riley, Alabama's voluntary pre-k program is expanding. A total of 107 classrooms are being added, and they will serve 1,926 children.

The program targets four-year-olds, and provides high-quality pre-k instruction through qualified teachers. The program is economical and available to all children, in all types of childcare programs, including public school systems, private childcare programs, faith-based programs, and Head Start programs. The primary goal is to prepare students entering kindergarten for success.

Alabama's pre-k program has received perfect ratings for quality from the top national oversight group, but it only serves a small portion of the state's four-year-olds.

Find a list of all the state-funded pre-k locations (including new ones):
http://governorpress.alabama.gov/PDFs/1st_Class_Pre-K_Sites08-09.pdf (PDF, 24 KB)

7. PRE-K PROGRAM TO ADD MATH, SCIENCE LESSONS

The Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) is piloting age-appropriate curriculum for four-year-olds in some of the state's voluntary pre-k classrooms.

To see pictures of a hands-on science experiment for four-year-olds:
"Discovery, preschool style"
Shelby County Reporter
http://snipurl.com/prekscience

For this project, AMSTI is collaborating with the Alabama Office of School Readiness, McWane Science Center and Carolina Biological Supply Co.

8. EXAMPLE OF EXCELLENCE

BEST IN THE NATION – Fred Braswell from Birmingham City Schools won the National Career Technical Administrator of the Year award for 2008 from the Family Career and Community Leaders of America.

9. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION UPDATE

The Alabama State Board of Education met Aug. 4. All members were present except Ella Bell. The board heard public comments on a proposed rule change regarding special education before approving the proposal unanimously. Rule changes relating to the Early College Enrollment Program and teacher certification also received final approval.

The state superintendent briefed the board on the 2008 accountability reports. (see above)

The board commended the following schools for having the best career technology programs in the state: Horseshoe Bend High, Tallapoosa County Schools; Danville High, Morgan County Schools; Eastwood Middle, Tuscaloosa City Schools; Franklin County Career Technical Center; Limestone County Career Technical Center; and Huntsville High, Huntsville City Schools. Scottsboro High (Scottsboro City Schools) was honored for the best Jobs for Alabama's Graduates (or JAG) program in the state.

The board also authorized review of teacher education programs at Troy University.

10. GRANT OPPORTUNITY

The National Endowment for the Humanities has just opened its Picturing America grant cycle.  NEH will provide free sets of 20 prints of American masterworks to schools and libraries. There is a downloadable Teacher's Resource Book that goes with the series. Headstart and Pre-K sites are also eligible. Deadline is Oct. 31.

 Check out the prints and get the application:http://www.picturingamerica.neh.gov

---

What is SNIPURL?
http://www.snipurl.com  is a free, online service to convert long web addresses (many stretch nearly 100 characters long) into short web addresses.

We Need You
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation. You can give online or mail your check to P.O. Box 4433, Montgomery, AL 36103.

Spread the word
Please forward this newsletter to your friends and colleagues interested in public education.

Want to subscribe?
Sign up on the A+ home page, www.aplusala.org

The A+ Education Partnership, based in Montgomery, publishes Education News in Alabama twice a month. A+ is a nonprofit organization that advances policies, programs and initiatives in Alabama's K-12 education system that result in high achievement by every child.

Past editions can be found at www.aplusala.org/ednews/index.asp

Feedback is welcome. Send messages to comments@aplusala.org