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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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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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No Guns at School, Period

No guns at school. Period. Not for teachers, employees, students, nor parents or family members. Not visitors. Not anybody. Not in the car. Not on school property. In spite of Alabama’s new gun law that went into effect on August 1, 2013, State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice...
Posted On Aug 12 2013
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Alabama’s Not the Only One Implementing Achievement Measures by Subgroups

By now, you’ve most likely learned of the approval of Alabama’s waiver from simplistic pass/fail measures under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). You’ve probably also caught wind of the controversy surrounding setting performance measures and benchmarks, known as...
Posted On Jul 08 2013
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Proposed Rules to Implement the Alabama Accountability Act – Public Input Opportunity

UPDATED July 2: Revised deadlines for parental notification by the district with a school on The List (July 19) and for parents to notify districts of their intent to transfer (August 9). The sample parental notification letter is posted as well. The Alabama Department of Revenue...
Posted On Jul 01 2013
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2013 Legislative Session Wrapup

The 2013 legislative session is over. There were 1,176 total pieces of legislation introduced in the 2013 Legislative Session. Some of these bills were introduced in both the House and Senate: what they refer to as “companion” bills. There were a total of 170 pairs of...
Posted On Jun 05 2013
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AAA Update – Author of Bill Says Families Currently in Private School Not Eligible for Tax Credits

This was one of those burning questions after the passage of the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA): are families of children who are assigned to “failing” schools and are already enrolled in private school eligible for the tax credits? The Senate Education Committee...
Posted On Jun 04 2013
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The State Board of Education Work Session: Tell Us How You Really Feel

C’mon, y’all. Tell us how you really feel. If you want to know how State Board of Education (SBOE) members really feel about the recently-concluded 2013 legislative session, look no further than the video of the May 23 Work Session. Here are my notes on the meeting,...
Posted On Jun 03 2013
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The Alabama Accountability Act – Part 4 – Staying and Improving Your “Failing” School – The Other Choice

UPDATE: Changes were made to the AAA in June 2015. Here is a link to the update. I didn’t originally intend to write Part 4 of this series. But as I wrote about the options for parents and families and children to leave their “failing” schools, I kept feeling I...
Posted On May 30 2013
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The Alabama Accountability Act – Part 3 – Scholarships and SGOs

UPDATE: Changes were made to the AAA in June 2015. Here is a link to the update. This is the third in a series on the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA) and how the various parts impact parents and families. This post, Part 3, is written to inform parents and families (1) who have...
Posted On May 29 2013
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The Alabama Accountability Act – Part 2 – Tax Credits and Transfer Options

UPDATE: Changes were made to the AAA in June 2015. Here is a link to the update. The Alabama Accountability Act (AAA) has three parts: the Flexibility portion, the Tax Credit/Transfer portion, and the Educational Scholarship Grant Organization/Scholarship portion. Please read...
Posted On May 28 2013
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The Alabama Accountability Act – Part 1 – Flexibility Option

UPDATE: Changes were made to the AAA in June 2015, but the Flexibility Option did not change. The Alabama Accountability Act, or AAA (“triple-A”) to which it is now being referred, was originally passed on February 28, signed by the Governor on March 14, amended and...
Posted On May 27 2013
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The Alabama Accountability Act – The Whole Thing, Read It

UPDATE: Changes were made to the AAA in June 2015. Here is a link to the update. The Alabama Accountability Act is now the law in Alabama. The final version of the Act is a combination of HB84 and HB658. I have not found the two bills combined into one for easy reading, so I did...
Posted On May 22 2013
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Five More Days Left in the Regular Legislative Session

Five more days.  One thing I have learned is that things move pretty fast the last few days of the session as our elected representatives make the final push to get their bills passed. So what hasn’t been decided upon? Big Money Items The Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget,...
Posted On Apr 29 2013
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Who Does a Board of Education Member Represent? Notes from the State Board Work Session April 25

Click to view the notes on the Tales from the Meeting blog. Though not on the agenda, there was a very interesting discussion about a state board member’s proper conduct when a board member disagrees with the decision of the board (begins at 21 minutes into the video)...
Posted On Apr 25 2013
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Common Core State Standards in the State of Alabama – Why Is This Such a Big Deal?

By now, you have likely heard of the controversy surrounding the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and are probably wondering why they’re such a big deal. Let’s start with basic facts: At this point, CCSS only exist for Math and English Language Arts (ELA). Alabama...
Posted On Apr 23 2013
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Ten More Days in the 2013 Legislative Session – What’s Left to be Done?

Ten more days left in the 2013 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature.  Here’s a numerical rundown of bills the ASC is following: Number of bills in House that the ASC is following:  55 Number of bills in Senate that the ASC is following:  38 Total number of bills...
Posted On Apr 15 2013
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When School Districts Don’t Share Information They’re Required to Share with Us

I spent my Sunday looking through Alabama’s school district web sites (jealous?) for a set of documents called “Accountability Reports”, which are three sets of reports that each of Alabama’s school districts are required to make available to the media,...
Posted On Apr 10 2013
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Stop Buying the Lie That Children in Poverty Can’t Learn at High Levels

The title pretty much sums it up.  But if you need some proof that children in poverty can learn at high levels, read on. The common belief is that children who live in poverty are unable to learn and perform as well on standardized tests as children in families not in poverty. ...
Posted On Apr 09 2013
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Let’s Look Closer at the Education Trust Fund Budget….

The ETF budget will be discussed this week in the legislature.  The Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget is where all the state money for K-12 education in Alabama comes from.  Remember, school districts’ budgets are made up of state, federal and local money.  The ETF is the...
Posted On Apr 08 2013
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Alabama’s “Failing” Schools – What Does the List Look Like Right Now?

PSSST: This post was published in early April, prior to the release of the actual “failing” schools list on June 18 by the ALSDE. Click this link to read about the actual list. “Failing” is a strong term that truly has no place in this discussion, but...
Posted On Apr 02 2013
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The Rewrite of the Education Article of the Constitution Has Begun

Truly, last week was spent in meeting after meeting after meeting.  One of the meetings in which I participated was the public hearing called by the Subcommittee of the Constitutional Revision Commission that is assigned the task of rewriting the Education Article of our state...
Posted On Mar 27 2013
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Alabama’s “Failing” Schools and Current School Choices

Due to the passage of the Alabama Accountability Act, all of a sudden everybody wants to find out which schools are failing and the children who are not being educated in our schools and the lack of choices they have.  These lists are being used to frighten school boards and...
Posted On Mar 21 2013
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The Ideal Public School

With all of the heated discussion over education reform, particularly here in Alabama, it’s easy to lose sight of what the ideal public school might look like. Forget all of the parameters and rules and regulations that have been developed over the years.  Forget all of the...
Posted On Mar 12 2013
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Interesting Pieces of Legislation This Session – Part 2

Here are a few more interesting pieces of legislation this session.  If you have an opinion about how you’d like your legislator to vote on any of these, Raise Your Voice (see the place on the home page where you can enter your ZIP code to be given an easy way to send...
Posted On Mar 08 2013
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