Education News in Alabama
March 4 , 2008 (archive)
By Sallie Owen
- Alabama leaders get praise, encouragement from top national expert
- Alabama's focus on reading is paying off for students.
- Follow the lead of successful schools in Alabama.
- Curb the dropout rate with a rigorous high school curriculum.
- The best high schools put all kids in demanding classes.
- Alabama should join the 18 leading states that make college prep the default curriculum.
- Kati Haycock on Alabama Public TV Monday
- State Board of Education Update: Teaching and Learning Survey, Graduation Requirements
- Scaling up changes in schools
Alabama Leaders Get Praise, Encouragement from Top National Expert
Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust ( www.edtrust.org ) in Washington, D.C., spoke today in Montgomery. Here are some highlights:
- ALABAMA'S FOCUS ON READING IS PAYING OFF FOR STUDENTS: "Don't let anyone ever tell you that the effort here is not paying off. The fact of the matter is Alabama actually led the whole country — biggest growth in 4th grade reading (of) any state in the country. That is your work by the way, and it is really really important for you to understand how much that work pays off."
- FOLLOW THE LEAD OF SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS IN ALABAMA: "It's very clear that group for group — from white kids to black kids to poor kids to nonpoor kids — Mobile County is doing better than the rest of the state. So one of the questions is, 'What is going on there that the rest of the state can learn from?' You don't need some researcher to go figure this out for you. You've got folks right here in the state who know how to make it happen."
- CURB THE DROPOUT RATE WITH A RIGOROUS HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM: "One of the things we're worried about a lot these days is as states start to get a little more honest about their dropout rate, people are panicking. They're saying, 'Oh, these kids are fleeing from our high schools, so we've got to ask less of them. Because if we ask more of them, they'll get discouraged and the dropout rate will get even higher.' Well guess what — it turns out the opposite is true. If you ask the question, what do high schools do that actually reduce their dropout rates and improve student learning? They demand more of their kids. They focus them not just on the minimum necessary to squeak by with a high school diploma, but they focus them on college and careers."
- THE BEST HIGH SCHOOLS PUT ALL KIDS IN DEMANDING CLASSES: "Higher-performing secondary schools put all of their kids — not just some of their kids — in a demanding high school curriculum. When kids complete a rigorous, college preparatory high school curriculum, they succeed, frankly, no matter where they go to college. When they have not had that kind of coursework, they do not succeed, no matter how hard they work, no matter what college they go to. The fact of the matter is, that curriculum that we used to call the college prep curriculum turns out to have benefits way beyond more college success. For starters, even kids who enter high school with really low skills, in the bottom quarter, actually it turns out they grow more if you put them in a college prep course than if you put them in a remedial or vocational course."
- ALABAMA SHOULD JOIN THE 18 LEADING STATES THAT MAKE COLLEGE PREP THE DEFAULT CURRICULUM: "This is the right thing to do. What folks are saying — the research here is clearer than almost anything else we do. Kids learn more, they fail less, and they are better prepared whether they go to college or they go to work. So why are we arguing about this?"
Haycock's Powerpoint presentation is available from http://www.aplusala.org/tools/link_categories.asp.
This event was jointly sponsored by the Montgomery Education Foundation, Partners in Education and the A+ Education Foundation.
KATI HAYCOCK ON ALABAMA PUBLIC TV MONDAY
Haycock recorded an interview with Alabama Public Television that will air on "Capitol Journal" on Monday, March 10. Tune in at 7 p.m. on APT-IQ, the digital channel, or 10:30 p.m. on other APT stations.
2. State Board of Education Update:
Teaching and Learning Survey, Graduation Requirements
The first early findings from Take 20, The Alabama Teaching and Learning Survey are in:
- Educators are positive about teaching conditions, with at least 75 percent saying that their schools are safe and good places to work and learn, their school leadership is effective, they use student data to improve student learning, and they have sufficient instructional materials and resources.
- Nine out of 10 want to keep working in their school.
- These are the most important factors on their future employment plans — adequate support from school leadership, effectiveness with students, teaching assignment and collegial atmosphere.
- Most new teachers say the state's brand-new mentoring program is effective.
- 47 percent of Alabama's educators responded (28,485 total).
- Later this month, local data will be available to schools and districts with at least a 40 percent response rate. (To find out if your district qualifies, please visit http://www.take20alabama.org/response_rate/ )
- Further analysis will be presented at the April 30 meeting of the Governor's Commission on Quality Teaching.
The survey is a project of the Governor's Commission on Quality Teaching, and results will be used to guide decision-making. Take 20 is it is rooted in the belief that for Alabama's educational progress to continue, the state must recruit, retain and support highly effective educators.
Take 20 is jointly sponsored by Gov. Bob Riley's Office, the Alabama Education Association, the Alabama Department of Education, the Alabama Best Practices Center, Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools, Alabama Association of School Boards, School Superintendents of Alabama, the A+ Education Foundation, and the Alabama Supercomputer Authority.
That was the most significant item on the agenda when the board met for a Feb. 28 work session. All members were present except David Byers, Ella Bell and the governor.
Board members were briefed on how to strengthen the requirements for a high school diploma. The biggest change would be making the advanced academic diploma the default option for all high school students. (Read State Superintendent Joe Morton's explanation, "Help more students graduate," at http://snipurl.com/moregrads )
Officials also briefed the board on a proposed new course of study for Career and Technical Education. Research shows many of the fastest growing jobs require skills taught in Career Tech.
3. Scaling Up Changes in Schools
At her 21st Century Collaborative blog, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach writes an interesting post about how meaningful change happens in public schools and how that change can be scaled up (or spread) to more classrooms. http://snipurl.com/snbscale.
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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.
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