Education News in Alabama

May 16, 2005 (archive)

IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR:

School Leadership, as the Governor's Congress on School Leadership made its recommendations for improving the quality of school principals to Governor Riley, State School Superintendent Dr. Joe Morton and more than 100 delegates. Recommendations include a code of ethics for educators and financial incentives linked to improving student achievement.

"If we implement every one of these changes, we will give our children a better education than they've ever had before," Governor Riley said. "The decisions that we're going to make about school leadership are going to determine how successful we are in the state of Alabama in education, and that decision is going to decide to a large extent whether we are successful in economic development."

The proposed Alabama Educator Code of Ethics would define professional behavior and serve as a guide to ethical conduct. Alabama currently has no such code of ethics for educators. It would clearly define actions of an unethical nature for which disciplinary sanctions are justified, such as misusing public funds, physically or verbally abusing children, and falsifying records.

The Governor's Congress on School Leadership is also recommending a three-level certification standard for principals linked to student achievement. Currently, there is a single-level certification standard that allows for additional pay, but that system is not linked to improved performance among students.

During the meeting, Gene Bottoms, vice president of the Southern Regional Education Board, gave a presentation called, “Alabama in the Lead,” which emphasized how far ahead the state is in terms of strengthening school leadership. He commended Alabama for having the goal that every school has leadership that improves schools and increases student achievement and the vision of school leaders who have the knowledge and skills to improve student learning outcomes; and . Bottoms also recognized state policy-makers, universities and local school districts for taking action that creates a seamless system of recruitment and selection, preparation, certification, induction and professional development.

Mr. Bottoms’ entire presentation can be downloaded from the A+ website at http://www.aplusala.org/libr/pdfs/allead.pdf.

The full report and recommendations of the Governor's Congress on School Leadership can be viewed online at http://www.ti.state.al.us/gc.

TORCHBEARERS SUCCEED DESPITE ODDS:

The Alabama State Department of Education recently honored a diverse group of 13 high-poverty, high-performing elementary schools for their success in getting all students to learn at high levels. These schools, now known as Torchbearers, are rural, urban and suburban; large and small; and scattered across the state from Jackson County to Mobile. Their student bodies range from heavily minority to all white. Each has at least 70 percent of their students on the free/reduced lunch program, and each has Stanford-10 scores at or above the 50th percentile in every subject in every grade. Furthermore, their students perform exceptionally well on the Alabama Reading and Math Tests, with at least 75 percent of student at benchmark or above in reading and math.

This year's Torchbearer Schools are: Calcedeaver, Maryvale, Saint Elmo and W.C. Griggs, all in Mobile County; Highland Avenue, Montgomery County; West Jasper, Jasper City; Huxford; Escambia County; Midland City, Dale County; Asbury, Marshall County; Foley, Baldwin County; Western Heights, Eufaula City; Dutton, Jackson County; and Highland, Etowah County.

The SDE surveyed the principals to identify common traits between these high-poverty, high-performing schools. Common traits that have emerged include high expectations for all students, the use of a research-based reading curriculum in every grade (all but one of the 13 are in the Alabama Reading Initiative), strong leadership, and a dedicated staff that works together for student success.

PCPD NETWORK EXPANDS

The number of schools participating in the "Powerful Conversations about Professional Development" Network continues to grow. In the past two week, facilitators for the Alabama Best Practices Center have conducted 12 self-assessments in schools across the state. A meeting of the Key Leaders Network was held on May 5 for educators who have been part of a self-assessment and want to learn more about how to transform their schools into learning communities. As a result of this meeting, members of the Key Leaders Network have committed to developing an online book study based on the book Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don't Learn by Rick DuFour.

ALLIANCE ALERT, VOL. 1, NO. 4

The Achievement Alliance has released another issue of their online newsletter, featuring success stories of schools beating the odds. In this issue:

Myth Buster: Not everything you read about No Child Left Behind is true.

It's Being Done: At Dayton's Bluff, African-American and Hmong students outscore White Minnesotan children in math.

Other Voices: Educating the neediest of our young remains the civil rights issue of our time.

Why Schools Don't Work for All Kids: A nationally renowned high school doesn't let all of its students share the wealth.

Read it online at http://www.achievementalliance.org/files/Alert4.htm

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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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