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Measuring College Readiness: Remediation Rates

“Career- and college-readiness” is the education term du jour. It has become the mission of public schools, and measures of student readiness are used to judge whether schools are being successful in that mission. But what does “career- an...
Posted On Mar 22 2016
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Legislative Committees and Education-Related Bills – Wednesday, February 10

Legislative committees will be busy discussing education-related bills on Wednesday. Here’s the schedule, click the link to read the bill: 8:30 a.m., Room 727 – Senate Education and Youth Affairs Committee – Audio available at this link SB60 – Repeal of...
Posted On Feb 09 2016
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Wanna Weigh In on What’s Being Taught in Alabama’s Classrooms? Here’s Your Chance!

If you’ve ever wished someone would listen to you about what your child should be expected to learn at your neighborhood school….here’s your chance. You have until March 14th to weigh in. Each year since the state board of education adopted new math and English...
Posted On Jan 11 2016
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ACT Aspire Resources

School districts were provided with the 2014-2015 ACT Aspire results for their students in July. Some school districts have released those results to their students, while others have not yet done so. As such, I thought it useful to gather some ACT Aspire resources here. The...
Posted On Sep 09 2015
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Decline in ACT Results Not Unexpected

Alabama’s drop in overall ACT college entrance exam results for the graduating class of 2015 is not surprising, according to ACT, given that the entire graduating class in Alabama now takes the ACT. Results prior to this year only included students taking the ACT on a...
Posted On Aug 26 2015
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Toward a Common Definition of College-Readiness and the Need for Remediation

At Tuesday’s State Board of Education work session, State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice shared his plans for helping Alabama’s high school graduates avoid unnecessary remedial classes in college. While Alabama’s high school graduation rate has soared from 72% in...
Posted On Jul 15 2015
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Science Curriculum Meetings Start This Week!

Does it matter to you what your children learn about science? If so, here’s your chance to hear what changes are in store for Alabama’s science course of study. The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) has scheduled 11 meetings (one in each regional service...
Posted On May 25 2015
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Class of 2015 First to Earn Career Readiness Certificates

When Alabama’s high school seniors graduate this month, many will have earned a certificate proving they are career-ready. They will be the first Alabama graduates to have been given the opportunity to earn that certificate at the Alabama State Department of...
Posted On May 16 2015
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Education Bills Up for Debate in Committees on Wednesday

As of the end of Day 11 in Week 5 of the 2015 session, we are following 100 education-related bills. A total of 782 bills have been filed. Here’s a look at the agendas for committee meetings on Wednesday, April 8, in the Alabama legislature. UPDATE 9:00 p.m., April 7: Room...
Posted On Apr 07 2015
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Input Needed! Alabama’s Draft of ESEA Waiver Renewal Ready to Read

Alabama’s waiver from No Child Left Behind accountability measures is up for renewal. The Alabama State Department of Education has posted it online and given the public until March 31, 2015, to comment on the proposed changes. A 3-page document outlining the changes from...
Posted On Mar 17 2015
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No Changes Recommended for Math Standards after Public Review

After reviewing the public’s comments submitted during an unprecedented public review of the standards last fall, the state math course of study committee recommended no changes to Alabama’s math standards nor course of study. Only minor changes were recommende...
Posted On Feb 17 2015
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English and Math Standards Review Results: LIVE BLOG

Thursday’s State Board of Education work session is where we can expect to hear the results of the public’s review of the Math and English language arts standards last fall, according to the agenda published for the work session. The work session starts at 8:30 a.m....
Posted On Feb 11 2015
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Science Draft Course of Study Available NOW for Your Input!

Alabama’s draft course of study (COS) for Science is now available for review and input by the public (that’s us!). It is set for implementation in our schools in the fall of 2015 2016 (updated based on correction from ALSDE spokesperson received 2/20/15). Following...
Posted On Jan 05 2015
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What Do You Realllly Think of the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards? Input, Please

Loaded question, right? Wellll….the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) is giving everyone…and I mean everyone….the opportunity to state whether they agree or disagree with any of Alabama’s English Language Arts (ELA) or math standards. This is...
Posted On Oct 14 2014
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ACT Aspire Results: What to Do with Them

Word on the street is that the ACT Aspire results have been released to schools and districts…and will be heading home to students’ families in the near future. The ACT Aspire reading and math tests were administered to students in the 3rd through 8th grades in the...
Posted On Sep 25 2014
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State-Mandated Testing for This School Year

The 2014-2015 state-mandated testing schedule has arrived.  Two new things for this year: (1) the Alabama Science Assessment (ASA), given in grades 5 and 7, is being replaced by the ACT Aspire Science exam in spring 2015. The decision to use the exam was made back in 2013 when...
Posted On Sep 08 2014
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Civics Education in Alabama’s Public Schools

Having celebrated the 4th of July, a.k.a. Independence Day, a few days ago, I thought you might like a look at what our children are expected to learn about civics in our Alabama public schools. I wrote about this a couple of years ago, but figured that since a new Social Studies...
Posted On Jul 06 2014
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After the Primary, Who Is Heading to Montgomery?

After the primary, we now know who 63 of our 105 state House representatives and 16 of our 35 state Senators are for the next four years. The primary election was held on June 3. Twenty-five winning candidates (23 House and 2 Senate) are heading to Montgomery since they face no...
Posted On Jun 09 2014
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Who Are You Sending to Montgomery to Represent You? VOTE Today

Yeah, it’s June. Yeah, you’re probably not really thinking about who you will send to Montgomery to the State House for the 2015 Legislative Session. But in 32 of the 62 state legislative primary races (27 House and 5 Senate) across Alabama, the winner of the primary...
Posted On Jun 03 2014
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Which Candidates Have Indicated Their Opposition to the Common Core?

You asked for it. So here you go. Based on indicators detailed below, I have compiled a list of candidates running in the primary on Tuesday, June 3, who have indicated their opposition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) through one or more of three indicators detailed...
Posted On Jun 01 2014
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Do Your Research Before You Vote in the Alabama Primary

Here’s my best shot at collecting what has been written about the June 3 Primary Elections. It is limited to Alabama’s print and digital media. If I’ve left something out, please post it in the comments or send me an email. I’m only including articles...
Posted On May 29 2014
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Class of 2013 Remediation Rates: 2- and 4-Year College Breakdown

We recently looked at the remediation rates for the class of 2013. In the initial examination of those rates, I couldn’t help but notice that in many cases there was a tremendous difference in remediation rates among the 2- and 4-year Alabama college enrollees graduating...
Posted On May 26 2014
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Remediation Rates for the Class of 2013

With high school graduation ceremonies beginning soon, and students contemplating their next steps, now is a good time to look back at the Class of 2013 to see how prepared they were for their first year of college in Alabama. We have only one real, publicly-available measure...
Posted On May 12 2014
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Multiple Pathways Lead to One Alabama High School Diploma

It is that time again. Time for high school students to choose courses for the 2014-2015 school year. And with the changes implemented for this year’s ninth graders, it appears that everybody wants to read about graduation requirements under the Alabama High Schoo...
Posted On May 11 2014
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ACT Assessments – What You Need to Know

Annual standardized testing season is here. The ACT Aspire and ACT Plus Writing will be administered to Alabama’s public school students later this month. Here’s what you need to know. ACT has a full suite of tests to assess where a student’s achievement is in...
Posted On Apr 09 2014
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