Education News in Alabama

April 9, 2004 (archive)

IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR:
Principal Bettie Griggs, of Central Park Elementary School (CPE), who received one of three 2004 Children's Advocate Awards given by the Childcare Resources in Birmingham. As principal of CPE, a high poverty, high performing school in Ensley, Ms. Griggs "set a goal that every student would be a successful reader. Today her school has academic results on par with suburban schools (with many more resources) and is a model for educators."

Ms. Griggs and the faculty at Central Park Elementary were featured in the first "Closing the Gap" issue of Working Toward Excellence, the free quarterly journal of The Alabama Best Practices Center (BPC). It is available online at http://www.bestpracticescenter.org/publ/wteindex.html. Additionally, the BPC produced a video on CPE that highlights the elements of a successful school. The video is available for a nominal fee by contacting us at comments@aplusala.org.

Other recipients of the 2004 Children's Advocate Awards were VOICES for Alabama's Children, a nonprofit organization that has been instrumental in raising awareness of conditions of children in Alabama through its annual Kids Count Data Book, and Jill Ganus, an assistant district attorney in charge of prosecuting child abuse cases in the Bessemer Division of Jefferson County.

IT WAS A BAD WEEK FOR:
Alabama's Medicaid program, which may be cut by $31 million. The March of Dimes reports that nearly half of all mothers who give birth in Alabama rely on Medicaid to cover their prenatal care and delivery costs, and they believe these cuts will result in a reduction of services to pregnant women and their children. However, Carol Hermann, commissioner for the Alabama Medicaid Agency, maintains that children are exempt from the proposed changes and that "pregnancy-related" doctor visits will still be covered. At any rate, it is clear that Alabama's Medicaid program is in dire straits, with costs increasing by $224 million in two years.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION UPDATE
On April 8, the State Board of Education held its monthly business meeting. The bulk of the three-hour meeting was devoted to discussion of the Alabama Social Studies Course of Study.

"Education News in Alabama" readers will recall that the Social Studies Course of Study Committee presented the proposed new course of study to the State Board of Education at the Board's work session in February. At that time, the Board also heard from an Ad Hoc Committee made up of university professors, members of the Eagle Forum, and members of the Christian Coalition who proposed several revisions to the arguments for revisions to the proposed course of study. In an unprecedented act of collaboration, Interim State Superintendent Joe Morton asked the Social Studies Course of Study Committee to consider each suggestion and correction made by the Ad Hoc Committee. At the end of the Committee's consideration, 217 changes were made to the January draft -- all of which were proposed by the Ad Hoc Committee. Despite these changes, members of the Ad Hoc Committee and others were still unhappy with the proposed course of study and asked to be heard at the April 8th meeting.

More than 30 people spoke in favor and against the proposed course of study. Those opposed cited three primary arguments: that the document does not specifically call for the reading of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence; that the document does not explicitly require the memorization of states and state capitals; and that the document does not explicitly require the memorizations of the Pledge of Allegiance. However, as those in favor of the document pointed out, the document does account for all three of these things. For example:

• Pg. 88 of the March 2004 Draft, Standard 2 reads "Students will analyze the purposes, organization, functions, and principles of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights." Many professors and social studies teachers testified that a student will not be able to do meet this standard if he or she has not read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
• Pg. 21 of the March 2004 Draft, Standard 9 reads, "Students will describe rights and responsibilities of citizens of the United States." An example listed underneath this standard, states "reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag." Recitation is defined as saying words from memory, hence students will have had to memorize the Pledge of Allegiance in order to meet this standard.

Once the public testimonies were complete, the Board moved to adopt the proposed course of study for Social Studies. Randy McKinney (R), District I, presented an amendment that included changes in language to include these specifics: naming and locating continents ad oceans; reciting the Pledge of Allegiance; naming and locating states, cities, rivers, etc. on a map of the United States; and memorization of key dates in U.S. history. Stephanie Bell (R), District III, seconded the amendment. The amendment was defeated four to three:

For: Randy McKinney (R), District I; Betty Peters (R), District II; Stephanie Bell (R), District III.

Against: Dr. Ethel Hall (D), District IV; Ella Bell (D), District V; David Byers (R), District VI; Sandra Ray (D), District VII; Dr. Mary Jane Caylor (D), District VIII.

David Byers (R), District VI, then proposed an amendment that added two paragraphs to the introductory position statements. The paragraphs were written to establish that that the Social Studies Course of Study defines measurable outcomes and that dates, facts, and figures are to be used as instructional building blocks to achieve these measurable outcomes. The Board unanimously approved this amendment.

Randy McKinney (R), District I, then proposed an amendment to insert the words "read and" in front of "analyze the purposes, organization, functions, and principles of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights" on page 88 of the draft document. After some discussion, the amendment was defeated by lack of majority vote:

For: Randy McKinney (R), District I; Betty Peters (R), District II; Stephanie Bell (R), District III; David Byers (R), District VI;

Against: Dr. Ethel Hall (D), District IV; Ella Bell (D), District V; Sandra Ray (D), District VII; Dr. Mary Jane Caylor (D), District VIII.

Dr. Ethel Hall then called for a vote on the entire document. The Board unanimously approved to adopt the Social Studies Course of Study as amended by Mr. Byers.

In conclusion, Stephanie Bell (R), District III, thanked the Social Studies Course of Study Committee on behalf of the board for their hard work and commitment to the production of "an excellent document" that is in the best interest of the children of Alabama.

Other items:
The Board unanimously approved a resolution commending Dr. Ed Richardson for his many years of service as State Superintendent of Education. Dr. Richardson praised the board for its adoption of the Social Studies Course of Study and challenged them to do two things he failed to accomplish: find increased revenues for K-12 education and raise academic standards even higher, specifically focusing on the content and the level of difficulty of every course offered at the K-12 level.

A+ AND PEABODY CENTER FOR EDUCATION POLICY TO PUBLISH ALABAMA EDUCATION POLICY PRIMER
A+ is proud to announce that it is partnering with the Peabody Center for Education Policy at Vanderbilt University to create an objective and comprehensive resource of education issues in Alabama. The A+ staff is working closely with Director James W. Guthrie, Associate Director Kenneth Wong, and nine talented graduates students to produce the first Alabama Education Policy Primer. This notebook will be written for and distributed to two primary audiences: the media and all education policymakers, ranging from the Governor to engaged business leaders and state legislators. We envision secondary audiences being the Alabama PTA, local superintendents, local school boards, and other advocates for public schools.

"We hope the primer will serve as an invaluable resource for promoting strategies, policies, and programs that have a direct impact on improving student achievement," says Caroline Novak, president of A+.

The expected publication and distribution date of the Alabama Education Policy Primer is July 26, 2004. It will also be available on the A+ and Peabody Center for Education Policy websites.

IN THE NEWS
STATES GIVEN MORE LEEWAY ON TEST RULE
The U.S. Department of Education's latest move to grant more flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act, this time aimed at helping schools that narrowly miss the law's requirement for high participation on standardized tests, was generally welcomed last week. But the appetite for further adjustments appears to be growing.
http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15864a100748a153913060a6

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The Legislature should have more important things to do."
— Gov. Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson of the 19-8 vote to override the Governor's veto to name an official whiskey for the State of Alabama.

SPREAD THE WORD!
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Education News in Alabama is published bi-weekly by the A+ Education Foundation and is distributed to A+ board members, the media, and list serve subscribers. View archived newsletters.

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