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What’s Up with Alabama’s NAEP Scores?

Why does Alabama always land at the bottom of the list for National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results? Scores and ranking for 2015 were released late last year, and once again, Alabama found itself near the bottom in the four areas in which the NAEP produces a...
Posted On Jan 08 2016
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Seriously? The State of Special Education in Alabama

With all of the energy being put into changing special education regulations to further restrict when and how parents can file complaints about their children’s special education in Alabama’s schools, one might think that the rest of special education is going along...
Posted On Jan 04 2016
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Educators Could Face Monumental Changes in Evaluation and Pay

UPDATE: On the evening of April 12, Sen. Marsh said he is shelving the PREP Act for this session.  The second draft of a bill attributed to Sen. Del Marsh (R-Anniston) calls for historic and unprecedented changes in the way teachers are evaluated and compensated in Alabama. It...
Posted On Dec 29 2015
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Which Bold Goals Are Being Targeted in Education? Find Out Here.

The Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama is hard at work moving nonprofit organizations and government agencies toward common goals in an effort known as “collective impact”. Dan Stephens, Vice President of Community Impact for Education at United Way of Central...
Posted On Dec 24 2015
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When Test Data Is Used to Illuminate Hard Work & Success

What if we used test data not to punish, but to illuminate hard work and success? Well, that’s what we did. Here’s the story, published on collaborative partner BirminghamWatch’s web site this morning. At Hueytown Elementary School, Love and Data Tack...
Posted On Dec 17 2015
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No Child Left Behind Gets Left Behind

And, just like that, No Child Left Behind gets…left behind. The U.S. Senate passed a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), called the Every Student Succeeds Act by a vote of 85-12. President Obama is expected to sign it into law on Thursday....
Posted On Dec 09 2015
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Why Change Due Process? Attorneys’ Fees

The cost of attorneys’ fees is one of a number of problems the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) is trying to address by proposing changes to the way complaints related to special education enter and work through the system. A series of public hearings about the...
Posted On Dec 07 2015
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What Alabama’s House Delegation Said About the Every Student Succeeds Act

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the replacement for the 14-year-old No Child Left Behind Act, by a vote of 359-64. All 64 no votes came from Republicans. Alabama’s representatives were split: four voting yes,...
Posted On Dec 03 2015
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The Every Student Succeeds Act: The Highlights

It looks like Congress is set to replace the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The new law, officially a part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), has been named the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Originally passed in 2002, NCLB was...
Posted On Nov 30 2015
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ACT Aspire Results by School. On a Map.

[This article was updated on September 29, 2016, to include Per Pupil Expenditures for FY15 on the map.] A couple of weeks ago, we shared two years of district-level ACT Aspire results. On a map. This time, we’re diving into two years of school-level results. On a map....
Posted On Nov 25 2015
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We’re Neighborly, But Not So Good at Solving Our Community’s Problems

Alabama ranked highly in neighborliness, but dead last when it comes to working with each other to solve our community’s problems, according to the 2015 Alabama Civic Health Index (ACHI), compiled and designed to measure indicators of our community’s civic health....
Posted On Nov 23 2015
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Alabama’s ACT Aspire Results. On a Map. Two Years’ Worth.

The Alabama State Department of Education released the results of the 2015 ACT Aspire results on Thursday. What follows are a series of maps. And tables. Read the directions. Click the buttons. To find your individual school’s results, click here. For the results that...
Posted On Nov 13 2015
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Please Support the Alabama School Connection – We Need You!

Today marks the beginning of something we’ve never done before: a fundraising drive. If you read the news we share, if what we do is meaningful to you and your community, please consider donating to the Alabama School Connection. The Alabama education environment is...
Posted On Nov 11 2015
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The Alabama Accountability Act Basics. UPDATED.

Big changes were made to the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA) last June. This is the mostest newest-ly* updated information available. First, the big picture. The AAA is comprised of two major parts: (1) flexibility for public schools and (2) school choice for parents....
Posted On Nov 11 2015
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Student Data for Alabama’s School Districts for the Past 11 Years. On a Map.

Collecting information, a.k.a. data points, and sharing in a way that regular folks can not only understand, but also use the information, is central to the Alabama School Connection’s mission. While the Alabama State Department of Education does provide a lot of useful...
Posted On Nov 06 2015
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What Does Highly Qualified Teacher Status Really Mean?

Hearing the words “highly qualified” to describe a public school teacher gives parents a level of comfort that the teacher leading their child’s education at school is, well, highly qualified. But what does that designation really mean? And where did it come...
Posted On Nov 02 2015
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Proposed Special Education Changes to be Discussed in Birmingham Nov. 12

The Alabama School Connection, the Alabama Parent Education Center (APEC) and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP) are hosting an informational meeting on Thursday, November 12 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Homewood Public Library in Birmingham, to allow parents and...
Posted On Oct 30 2015
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The Private Schools That Receive Tax-Credit Scholarship Funds

Sometimes it takes seeing things on a map to get a clearer picture. So here’s a map showing where Alabama’s 62 56 “failing” public schools are and where the 137 private schools receiving scholarships under the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA) are.* Hover...
Posted On Oct 27 2015
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Which Schools Have Received SGO Scholarships

Because of the new quarterly reporting requirement enacted in SB71 during the 2015 regular session, we now know where students who are using scholarships made available through the Alabama Accountability Act are attending school. Here’s the spreadsheet reflecting the...
Posted On Oct 23 2015
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Numbers Matter, Particularly When You’re Changing the Rules

Three sets of numbers have been released from the Alabama State Department of Education(ALSDE) about how many and how much it costs when parents of children in special education bring due process complaints against school officials. The ALSDE has proposed changing the rules for...
Posted On Oct 16 2015
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Dyslexia Is Now in the Books

Pretty soon, you’ll see the word “dyslexia” in the Alabama Administrative Code (AAC), the book of rules that govern Alabama’s public schools. Last week, the State Board of Education approved changes to the AAC that delineate dyslexia as a learning...
Posted On Oct 15 2015
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Special Education in Alabama – The Numbers, Updated

With the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) proposing changes to the way parents can file complaints when they believe their children are not receiving appropriate special education services and accommodations, it was time to take a closer look at the number of...
Posted On Oct 11 2015
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Achievement Results for Students in Special Education

With the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) proposing changes to the way parents can file complaints when they believe their children are not receiving appropriate special education services and accommodations, it was time to take a look at the 2013-2014 ACT Aspire...
Posted On Oct 11 2015
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Special Education Due Process Changes Back on the Table

Proposed changes to the way parents are expected to file due process complaints when they believe their children aren’t receiving appropriate special education services have upset special education advocates again, just a few months after the last round of proposed changes...
Posted On Oct 11 2015
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Bold Goals Coalition Connects Schools and Community Groups

Superintendents from 15 school districts in Jefferson, Walker, Blount, St. Clair and Walker counties attended a recent meeting of the Bold Goals Coalition for Central Alabama held in Birmingham. The Coalition works in three areas, Health, Education and Financial Stability, to...
Posted On Oct 11 2015
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