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Education News in Alabama
By Sallie Owen ALABAMA'S PRE-K SCORES PERFECT 10 Alabama's state-funded prekindergarten program was one of two programs nationwide to earn a perfect 10-out-of-10 quality rating from the National Institute for Early Education Research. North Carolina was the only other state scoring a 10 in NIEER's 2006 State Preschool Yearbook, which evaluates states on compliance with quality benchmarks such as requiring teachers to hold a bachelor's degree or using age-appropriate curriculum that prepares children to learn to read. Alabama currently funds high-quality prekindergarten for 1,080 four-year-olds in 57 counties. Pre-k is provided free or at low-cost to families, and participation is voluntary. The program is available in 59 sites around the state and in a range of settings, including public schools, private childcare centers and churches. NIEER (www.nieer.org) ranked Alabama last for access, because the state's program reaches fewer than 2 percent of four-year-olds. The Montgomery Advertiser editorial board calls for an expansion in "Program great, reach terrible" http://snipurl.com/maprek The Alabama School Readiness Alliance hailed the state's perfect 10 and encouraged state officials to increase funding for prekindergarten. A+ is a founding member of the Alliance (http://snipurl.com/Alsra), which works to increase high-quality prekindergarten options for Alabama families. Research shows that high-quality prekindergarten improves children's chances of finishing high school and going to college, as well as boosting their future earnings. PRE-K GROWS ACROSS U.S. Thirty-eight states provide pre-k to a growing number of children, according to NIEER. A brief article in USA Today, http://snipurl.com/usatprek, notes that enrollment in state-funded prekindergarten has grown 40 percent in the last five years. The Associated Press wrote an in-depth piece, http://snipurl.com/apprek,setting the national scene. Support for prekindergarten is strong among the business community. "You want to grow the economy? Invest in kids," says financial services executive Robert Tudor in this article from Education Week http://snipurl.com/edweekprek. Tudor and other business leaders have formed a new organization to make early education a top priority for the nation's economy. The group is called the Partnership for America's Economic Success (http://www.partnershipforsuccess.org). RESEARCH FINDING: Raising high school graduation rates among at-risk students is a wise investment of taxpayer dollars, new research indicates. There are $2 to $4 in public benefit for every $1 spent to help more students graduate, researchers found. The Campaign for Educational Equity at Columbia University's Teachers College released the report, "Returns to the Public from Investing in an Excellent Education for All America's Children: A Focus on Black Males." It is available here http://snipurl.com/taxpayerbenefit. Researchers found that young black males are at the greatest risk for failure both economically and educationally. They performed a cost-benefit analysis to find the financial impact (both in cost-savings for government and in additional tax revenue) if black males graduated at the same rate as their white male classmates. ADVICE FOR COMMUNITY GROUPS When parents plus business and civic leaders team up to support a local school system, they can have a wonderful impact on teaching and learning. Citizens often form nonprofit groups called local education foundations to accomplish their goals. The Public Education Network has published a guide called "Handbook for Education Excellence" for new or long-running foundations. It's available online at http://snipurl.com/lefguide. RILEY, TOP TEACHERS WANT PERFORMANCE PAY Gov. Bob Riley and several of Alabama's Teachers of the Year called on legislators to back the governor's proposal to try performance bonuses for teachers in a few systems. “When teachers get together and come up with recommendations, I think we need to listen to them,” said Cameron McKinley, the 2006 Alabama Teacher of the Year. “This is something that in the end will reach students and get them ready for the 21st century.” Riley recommended that the Legislature allot $6 million for performance pay. School systems would compete for grants, and if selected would design a bonus plan tied to goals. The grants would require that local teachers be heavily involved in designing each program. This is the governor's news release http://snipurl.com/performancepay. "People who excel, we reward," Riley said, who has also suggested a 7 percent pay raise for all education employees. "We always have in every profession, except teaching.” The recommendation to pilot performance pay came from the Governor's Commission on Quality Teaching. Additional info about the panel's recommendations is available here http://snipurl.com/gcqt1. The Birmingham News (http://snipurl.com/bnperformancepay ) and The Gadsden Times (http://snipurl.com/gtperformancepay) have endorsed the idea. SUBSCRIBER OF THE MONTH A teacher wrote to A+ after reading Congressional testimony by Kati Haycock of The Education Trust. Haycock's words rang true, especially for this teacher working in a high-poverty school. Haycock's testimony (http://snipurl.com/Haycock0207) was featured in the March 9 Education News in Alabama. THE CHALLENGE OF REDUCING CLASS SIZE IN A TEACHER SHORTAGE Which student learns more? The child in a class of 23 taught by an under-prepared and poorly supported teacher? Or the child in a class of 30 taught by an accomplished, effective professional educator? A North Carolina teacher takes a thoughtful and provocative look at an ever-popular education reform: reducing class sizes. The idea is generally popular with parents and teachers, and it is one reform that can be explained without a lot of jargon or acronyms. Alabama is feeling the pinch of a national teacher shortage that is already making it tough for schools to attract and retain enough effective teachers. In the end, the author calls class-size reductions "political smokescreens." Check out his essay here http://snipurl.com/class_size, and let us know what you think at comments@aplusala.org. WORTH REPEATING "It is set in a world not very different terrestrially from our own, or in the way people look, but everything else is far different. Everybody's consciences appear in animal form around their human self and can speak telepathically with them." --Fifth-grader Henry Thornton, in a book review of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass." The Decatur Daily published reviews by Henry and a classmate. Read them at http://snipurl.com/bookreviews. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION UPDATE: The Alabama State Board of Education met March in Montgomery for a work session. Such meetings are designed to prepare for upcoming meetings, and no votes are taken. Board members Mary Jane Caylor, Ethel Hall and Gov. Bob Riley were absent. The board discussed releasing school accountability reports, such as which schools made adequate yearly progress (AYP), on Aug. 6. Dr. Mabrey Whetstone, state director of special education services, briefed board members on proposed revisions to the Alabama Administrative Code, mainly to comply with recent federal changes. Public hearings on the proposed changes are scheduled around the state during April. Details about the hearings can be found at http://snipurl.com/sdenews. The proposed changes are available from http://snipurl.com/admincode . Dr. Karen Starks, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Alabama, told the board about the important contributions of school social workers, especially when dealing with children who have been abused or neglected. About 25 of Alabama's school systems have hired social workers, who often serve multiple schools. Other systems contract out for these services. During a joint status report on the Governor's Congress on School Leadership and the Governor's Commission on Quality Teaching, board members learned about progress on putting into action many of the groups' recommendations. The report indicated that state universities are redesigning their programs for school leaders; the governor's recommended budget included money for K-12/university partnerships and professional development for existing school leaders; the governor recommended funding for the first group of universities to redesign their teacher preparation programs; and the governor's budget included $5.6 million to launch a statewide mentoring program for new teachers. Tyna Davis of the Alabama Education Association said state school systems hire 4,000 first-year teachers annually, but roughly half of them leave the classroom within five years. Amid a national shortage of teachers, mentoring will help in two ways, said State Superintendent Dr. Joe Morton. "We want the 50 percent who stay to be better, and we want the 50 percent who leave to stay unless we ask them to leave." Finally, board members were briefed on the recommendations from the Governor's Study Group on School Bus Seat Belts. The report is available as a PDF (2MB) from http://snipurl.com/busreport. They were reminded that students are at greatest risk when boarding or exiting buses because many drivers fail to stop for school buses. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENCE
ASU DROPOUT PREVENTION CONFERENCE Alabama State University's Dropout Prevention Center is hosting a conference April 12-13 in Montgomery. A highlight of the event will be a keynote address on April 13 from Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, a longtime children's advocate. The registration fee is $25. For more information, call 334-229-6900. WHAT'S UP @ A+ Teachers at Vestavia Hills Elementary East use blogs, a type of online journal, to communicate with parents and grandparents, according to this Birmingham News story, http://snipurl.com/VesHills. And elementary students have also recorded audio podcasts for some class projects. Check out these sites (and post a comment if you like what you see):
Teachers at the school, part of the Vestavia Hills city system, developed the online projects through work with the 21st Century Learning Project at the Alabama Best Practices Center. The A+ Education Foundation is home of the Alabama Best Practices Center, http://www.bestpracticescenter.org . Spread the word Want to subscribe? The A+ Education Foundation, 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 |
March 27 , 2007 (A+ Education Foundation
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