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This Is When Alabama’s Schools Are on Spring Break

Spring Break week has begun for 122 of Alabama’s 135 school districts. Six districts are out next week, and another six districts the week of April 14, 2014. Pike County students were out for Spring Break the week of March 10. You know how much I like maps, right? So...
Posted On Mar 23 2014
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Accountability Reports: Who Has Those Online?

As Sunshine Week 2014 comes to an end, I want to share the results of one more search for reports on Alabama’s school district web sites: the set of reports known as the “Accountability Reports”. Each year, pursuant to Alabama Act 1995-313, every Alabama school...
Posted On Mar 21 2014
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Who Isn’t Posting Required Financial Statements on Time?

The simple answer to that question is: about one of every five school districts. This month. In continued celebration of Sunshine Week 2014, I reviewed all 135 school district web sites on Sunday, March 16, and Monday, March 17, looking for a few specific pieces of information....
Posted On Mar 19 2014
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Check Register Table with Links

I should have known that the post about check registers would be no fun without the table. Sorry. Below is a table depicting which of Alabama’s 135 school districts were in compliance with the ALSDE’s requirement to post check registers online as of 8:00 p.m. March...
Posted On Mar 18 2014
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Remediation Rates by District and School – Class of 2012

All this talk of College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) made me stop to remember why somebody decided creating new standards was necessary in the first place. Every source consulted agrees that one reason was to produce high school...
Posted On Mar 12 2014
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Senate’s Attempt to Takeover K-12 Education: Public Hearing Tuesday, March 11

Thirteen members of the Alabama Senate have come together to attempt what can only be called a takeover of K-12 public education. They all are sponsors of SB443. A public hearing has been called for Tuesday, March 11, at 10:00 a.m. in Montgomery in Room 304 (which does not have...
Posted On Mar 06 2014
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High School Graduates: Reflective of the Population Living There?

After reviewing the 4-year high school graduation rates for the class of 2013, the question came to mind: what is the percentage of students that graduated in 2013 compared with the population living within the school district’s geographic boundaries? In other words: are...
Posted On Feb 26 2014
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Graduation Rates Across Alabama – The Class of 2013

Graduating from high school results in a lifetime of higher pay. 80% of Alabama’s students who entered high school in the fall of 2009 graduated in the spring of 2013. State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice shared the good news about Alabama’s graduation rate, the...
Posted On Feb 25 2014
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The Hidden Cost of Public Education – Part 1: Dues and Fees

Families with children enrolled in Alabama’s K-12 public schools are footing more of the cost of public education than they were in 2007. Until now, the numbers showing exactly how much more have evaded public view. Over the next few weeks, Alabama’s state legislators...
Posted On Feb 06 2014
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Web Site Redo for Alabama State Department of Education

Looks like the Secret Decoder Ring I developed over the years in order to find all of the good stuff on the current Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) web site is about to be rendered useless. State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice, in a January 21 meeting with ALSDE...
Posted On Feb 02 2014
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Tools to Measure and Compare Students and Schools in Alabama

As legislators grapple with how much money to allocate to our public schools, and the public grapples with whether public schools are the right place to educate their children, and educators work to prove their effectiveness, one thing has become crystal clear: we need better...
Posted On Jan 20 2014
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Alabama State Legislators on Twitter – Follow Them!

Here’s an early gift for my readers: a Twitter list of all Alabama legislators for whom I could find handles. This list is only for reading, not for tweeting to the folks on the list. It is a quick way to view what our elected officials are tweeting, particularly once the...
Posted On Dec 23 2013
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Where to Get Daily News About K-12 Education in Alabama

Where do you get your daily news for K-12 public education in Alabama? Do you wait for it to come across your internet feed? Hunt for it on al.com or your local newspaper or digital news site? Check your Twitter feed? Coverage of K-12 education news is inconsistent in Alabama,...
Posted On Dec 22 2013
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How Does a Bill Become a Law in Alabama? (Infographic)

The Alabama Legislative Process. And where you have an opportunity to engage. Sources: “Alabama’s Legislative Process”, Alabama Legislative Information System Online (ALISON) web site. OpenBama.org
Posted On Dec 19 2013
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Desegregation Orders: What They Are and Which Districts Have Them

[This post was updated on May 16, 2014, to reflect information from ProPublica, showing two districts, Guntersville City and Barbour County, had their orders lifted in 2011 and 2013, respectively.] A desegregation order is a federal court order put in place to enforce school...
Posted On Dec 09 2013
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Alabama Isn’t Last in Everything Education – See for Yourself

EdSource, a nonpartisan California nonprofit founded in 1977, has created and shared an amazing data visualization tool to allow folks to compare education data variables among states. It’s called “States in Motion”. What is it?  From their web site: How does...
Posted On Nov 24 2013
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Test Scores? Who Cares?

The used-to-be-counted-as-something-but-don’t-matter-this-year standardized test scores from Spring 2013 are now available to view. But don’t attempt any analysis unless you have a few extra hours to compile your own spreadsheets. The standardized testing ritual is...
Posted On Nov 17 2013
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How Many Folks Are Working in Your Schools?

Do you have any idea of how many folks are working in your schools? Would you know where to find the information if you wanted to know? This is another of those areas where it’s really difficult to get timely information. Most of the time, you likely don’t even think...
Posted On Nov 12 2013
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Superintendents’ Salaries for FY14

About this time every year, the table of superintendents’ salaries is published. Sometimes it causes a stir, sometimes it doesn’t. The table also shows the first 20 days’ Average Daily Membership (ADM) for the 2013-2014 school year. There are lots of comparisons...
Posted On Nov 05 2013
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Data Privacy on the State Board Agenda Again

The appointment of a Chief State Data Privacy Officer is on the State Board of Education’s (SBOE) Thursday Work Session agenda. State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice was obviously serious when he said the SBOE adoption of a Data Use and Governance Policy at the regular...
Posted On Oct 23 2013
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Who’s Doing a Great Job Sharing Information with the Public? The Alabama State Department of Education

Did the headline catch you off-guard? I thought it might. Well, it’s true. I’ve been around these parts my whole life, and I have never seen a public education entity, state or local, more willing to share meaningful information with the public than the folks...
Posted On Oct 10 2013
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Who Decides What Gets Taught in Our Classrooms?

What our children learn in Alabama’s classrooms is shaped by the Alabama course of study (COS) and the textbooks that are chosen to frame the subject’s study. Two separate committees are formed at the state level  (1) to determine the COS and (2) to approve a list of...
Posted On Oct 07 2013
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Monitoring of School Districts by the ALSDE – What Are They Looking For?

While we are on the subject of education data, ed data, let’s take a look at what ed data the ALSDE is looking for when they monitor our local schools and school districts. Part of the ed data life cycle includes being accountable, right? It is important to understand in...
Posted On Oct 03 2013
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What Data Is Collected on Our School Children and How Is That Data Governed?

So just what data DO our public schools collect on our children? How is it housed? How, to whom, and in what form is it reported? These are data privacy issues and are burning questions in education in Alabama. This is a longer-than-average post, but stick with it, and you will...
Posted On Sep 30 2013
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Any Plans for Capital Projects in Your School District’s Future?

What is your board of education planning on building and/or repairing in the next five years? Here’s a handy link to find those plans yourself. You really ought to take a look. You might just find a few surprises like I did. For example, I was surprised to find that my...
Posted On Sep 23 2013
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