Education News in Alabama

May 1, 2007 (archive)

By Sallie Owen

A+ NAMES TOP 10 INVESTMENTS IN TEACHING, LEARNING

The A+ Education Foundation published a list of 10 ways the Alabama Legislature can bolster teaching and learning in Alabama. 

"The Top 10 for 2007" identifies specific ways that lawmakers can strengthen classroom instruction and opportunities for Alabama's children. These investments appear as line items within the pending state education budget and equal 1.5 percent of proposed K-12 spending. 

"Alabama has made significant progress in education, and these recommendations would build on that success," said Caroline Novak, president of the A+ Education Foundation. "We must continue to invest in things that research shows will make a difference, and we chose programs that will give all of Alabama's children a chance to succeed in school and in life."

The state's $6.7 billion education budget is scheduled for floor debate this week in the House.

The 18-page report can be downloaded in PDF form from www.aplusala.org

Top 10 Investments in Teaching and Learning for 2007

1. Provide prekindergarten: Early learning opportunities give young children the chance to explore, discover, and learn.
2. Improve leadership: School leadership may be the single most critical factor in determining student success.
3. Prepare future teachers: Tougher academic standards and increased classroom experience would better equip potential teachers.
4. Support new teachers: Professional mentoring will help new teachers be more effective from the start.
5. Attract effective teachers: Scholarships should be used to recruit and retain teachers in areas of need.
6. Reward good teaching: Like in all other professions, teacher salaries should be determined by performance.
7. Reward whole-school performance: Alabama must encourage schools that are improving learning.
8. Promote excellence: High-quality education means all students – including the valedictorian – are challenged to do their best through advanced placement courses, ACCESS distance learning and gifted programs.
9. Invest in success: Alabama needs to embrace and expand existing programs that are proven to work successfully.
10. Improve information: Data about school performance should be timely, accurate, and useful.

A+ also supports proposals currently pending in the Legislature that would increase teacher salaries, borrow money to build and renovate schools, and increase spending for other current expenses, or OCE, which pays many basic operating costs for individual school systems.

TWO NEWSPAPERS BACK A+'S TOP 10

The Montgomery Advertiser specially commended "The Top 10 for 2007" to legislators, and its editorial went on to say the ideas "deserve serious consideration." Read it for yourself at http://snipurl.com/1iwxk.

The Birmingham News' editorial page focused on prekindergarten, which A+ listed as the No. 1 investment in teaching and learning. Read the editorial here http://snipurl.com/1iwyn.

ARISE: CONSOLIDATING SCHOOLS DOESN'T SAVE $

Neither does building one big school instead of several small ones, according to research reviewed by Alabama Arise.

Just ahead of Alabama's much-needed boom in school construction, Arise released a fact sheet on small schools, which generally have no more than two classes (or homerooms) per grade level. In athletic terms, think 1A or 2A.

These often rural schools are an economic boost to the community, and they offer significant benefits to their students, such as stronger academic achievement, higher graduation rates, broader student participation in activities, fewer incidents of violence, and stronger parental and community involvement.

The fact sheet, "'Everyone matters here': Alabama's small schools," is available for download from http://www.alarise.org.

School facilities are getting some much-needed attention across the state. The Legislature is considering borrowing nearly $1 billion for school construction and renovation, and many local school boards have their own initiatives. Considered together, these efforts should make a dent in the $4.3 billion worth of facilities needs.

(Check out the database of needs, system by system here: http://snipurl.com/facilities_needs)

TOP TEACHERS URGE PERFORMANCE PAY

Eighteen teaching all-stars from across the United States – including Alabama's Dr. Betsy Rogers, the 2003 National Teacher of the Year – worked together on a new study of teacher compensation. "Performance-Pay for Teachers: Designing a System that Students Deserve" (http://snipurl.com/tsreport) says teachers will support performance-pay plans that advance student achievement and advance the teaching profession.

The authors, organized as TeacherSolutions, propose changes to traditional teacher compensation such as:

• Rewarding small teams of teachers who raise student achievement together;
• Rewarding teachers who accept challenging assignments in high-needs schools and who strengthen connections between school and community;
• Redesigning pay systems so that teacher success, not seniority or graduate degrees, determines maximum teacher pay.

The report’s teacher-authors caution against pay-for-performance plans that focus too narrowly on test scores while failing to take into account teachers’ actual impact on student progress.

In Alabama, the Governor's Commission on Quality Teaching recommended a pilot program that would allow local school systems to design performance-pay systems for their districts with heavy input from teachers. Info on the commission is available under the resources tab at http://www.aplusala.org.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION UPDATE:
INTERNATIONAL BACCCALAUREATE, HIRING ELECTED OFFICIALS & FOUNDATION PROGRAM

The Alabama State Board of Education met in the library of Decatur High School in Decatur for a work session on April 26. Such meetings are designed to prepare for upcoming meetings, and no votes are taken. Board member David Byers was absent.

The board meets at a school twice a year. Decatur City Schools Superintendent Sam Houston used the visit to spotlight bad news and good news. The bad news was the system's $21.5 million in unfunded capital needs, including a noisy 24-year-old air conditioning unit in the library. The good news was the district's growing International Baccalaureate program, which is adding 26 students to the rigorous curriculum next year. Fewer than 10 schools in Alabama offer the IB diploma.

Gov. Bob Riley pitched his proposal to forbid elected state officials from working in public schools. "If you work in the K-12 system, we expect you to be there," Riley said. "And it is very, very difficult to do when you work in the Legislature."

He urged board members to do what's best for students, and a lawyer from his staff outlined the board's authority to adopt the proposed administrative rule.

The board deferred discussion of Riley's proposal to a future work session.

Finally, Dr. Susan Lockwood of the School Superintendents of Alabama and Jim Williams of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama briefed board members on an analysis of the state's formula for allocating money to local school systems.

The formula, called the Foundation Program, is generally doing its job. "There isn't any doubt that state funding of public schools is more equitable than it was before the Foundation Program," Williams said.

One part of the program is intended to pay for routine operating expenses such as utilities, maintenance, and custodial and clerical employees. That provision, known as other current expense, falls short of meeting systems' basic needs.

"If we equitably share an inadequate amount of money, everybody goes hungry," Williams said.

PARCA will crunch another year's data before the superintendents' group recommends changes. To read more about the Foundation Program, take a look at http://parca.samford.edu/Summer2006.pdf.

The board also received the following nominations for the Alabama School of Fine Arts' board of trustees: Alan Hunter, Monty Stabler, Victor Blackledge Jr., Cleophus Thomas Jr., and James Methvin. ASFA is a public magnet school for grades 7-12 that draws students from across the state to its Birmingham campus.

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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

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