What You Wanted to Read About Education in 2014

Posted On Jan 07 2015

Tag: 2014, ACT, ACT Aspire, Alabama, Common Core State Standards, diploma, Hoover City Schools, standardized testing

Time to look back and…keep looking ahead. Here is what you were most interested in reading about in 2014.

#1 – ACT Aspire Results: What to Do with Them – September 25, 2014 [All articles on the ACT Aspire]

#2 – The Principal, the Test Scores, and the Investigation that Wasn’t – August 12, 2014 [This isn’t over yet, friends. State Superintendent Dr. Bice is still actively looking into what more needs to be done to determine why students ran out of time while taking the test in the spring of 2012. Stay tuned.]

#3 – ACT Assessments: What You Need to Know – April 9, 2014

#4 – The Integration of Hoover City Schools: The Numbers – May 17, 2014

#5 – Which Candidates Have Indicated Their Opposition to the Common Core? – June 1, 2014

These articles from 2013 were still very popular this year (looks like April 2013 was a particularly informative time?):

The New Alabama High School Diploma – April 18, 2013 [Here’s the updated article from May 2014: Multiple Pathways Lead to One Alabama Diploma]

New Tests for Our Children in Alabama’s K-12 Public Schools – April 16, 2013 [Here’s the update from September 2014: State-Mandated Testing for This School Year]

Common Core State Standards in the State of Alabama: Why Is This Such a Big Deal? – April 23, 2013

Superintendents’ Salaries for FY14 – November 5, 2013 [No update for FY15. Here’s an article with more perspective from August 2014.]

And lastly, this one, from 2012, still draws a large crowd.

What Are Teachers Supposed to be Doing in Our Classrooms? – May 23, 2012

So Now What Do You Want to Know?

I need to hear from you. Name those topics about which you’d like to know more.

There is plenty going on in Alabama these days.

Charter schools. Unified budget. Teacher evaluations. Standards reviews. Innovation contracts (my personal favorite!). ACT tests.

What kinds of questions do you have? What do you want to know??

Post it here (below) or email me at asc(at)alabamaschoolconnection.org. Looking forward to hearing from you….

NOTE: My sincere appreciation to all of you who read your education news here (and other places, for that matter!).

We all need to be consistently engaged with what is happening in our classrooms, in our boardrooms, and in our state legislature.

Public education is a public pursuit.

That public…..is us!

Keep listening, keep talking, keep public education at the top of your priority list.

And keep talking about it with your friends at work, in the grocery store, at the ballpark, in the church parking lots.

Join us on Facebook and keep the conversation going.

Happy New Year, friends.

About School Choice

Wendy Love Cornett says:

January 9, 2015 at 3:09 pm

Trisha Powell Crain -thank you! Agreed! I do not know a lot about how insurance works with the typical school board (I plan to learn), but I know some other public entities clearly do pass along raised costs of insurance to the taxpayers and, to my knowledge, no one asks the questions about why the insurance rate is higher, etc. It is not JUST the insurance cost, but if one entity has three times as many lawsuits as another entity in similar circumstances, there is a good possibility that there is a cultural problem going on–whether it is inadequately trained personnel or some other systemic issue. I agree that legal fees are a beast that is difficult to cage in useful data. That's why I am so intrigued by trying to capture it! Thank you, again, for all that you do! We need you!

Trisha Powell Crain says:

January 9, 2015 at 5:04 am

Craig, so good to hear from you! Pesky questions are my favorite kinds. I just spoke with Nancy Ekberg of the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform yesterday about where the rewrite of the Education Article stood. She shared some plans for a way to approach that, but none are ready for prime time just yet. Having done some research looking back at the 1950s and 1960s, and the laws that were passed (plus the Constitutional amendments) to avoid integration of our public schools, the picture, while murkier in some ways, is much much clearer. I suppose I shouldn't be amazed at the legislature's prowess and brazenness back then, but I must admit it has caught me by surprise. There is much about Alabama's history that I was never taught. Keep up the great work on your end, too, Craig. Please stay in touch.

Trisha Powell Crain says:

January 9, 2015 at 5:00 am

Wendy, yes we are DEFINITELY going to look at legal fees. One of the confounding parts of investigating legal fees is that sometimes a district's insurance will pay the legal fees or judgments levied against them. The Alabama Risk Management Services (ARMS) is a self-funded insurance program through the Alabama Association of School Boards. I have not been able to get much information about it. I believe that hides a whole lot of legal fees that are paid, and even though they are covered by "insurance", that cost has to end up somewhere…and we both know it is likely paid by the taxpayers. Great suggestion! Thanks!!

Craig H. Baab says:

January 8, 2015 at 4:57 pm

Trisha – Please keep up your great reporting and asking those pesky questions. Also, please help us all keep our eye on how we can strengthen our constitution's education article.
Best, Craig

Wendy Love Cornett says:

January 8, 2015 at 4:52 pm

Thank you for all that you do! One thing that I have not had time to explore thoroughly but would be interested in is a one-glance way to compare legal fees paid by districts as well as the number of lawsuits filed in each district. I am also interested in bank/professional/lending fees and debt amounts. One day, when my more immediate obligations ease, I may attempt to compile that information myself! I think it would be enlightening.