Thomas B. Fordham Institute - Advancing Educational Excellence

The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?

November 1, 2006

The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. It finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science. In addition, most states making significant achievement gains--including California, Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas--are national leaders in education reform, indicating that solid standards, tough accountability, and greater school choice can yield better classroom results.

View the press release for this report

Contents

Alabama

 


 


 

Rumbling, Bumbling, and Stumbling Toward the Goal Line

Where is "Bear" Bryant when you need him? The legendary Alabama football coach would hear none of the claims that a poor state university couldn't win, and six national championships proved him right. The state's K-12 system needs a leader equal in vision and determination to Bryant.

With no more than 12 percent of its minority and poor students demonstrating proficiency or above on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in any subject, the Heart of Dixie ranks dead last, along with Mississippi, in student achievement. "Just hold on," says Joseph Morton, superintendent of the Alabama Department of Education, "because there is this wave [of higher-achieving students] coming. We're betting the farm that the scores are going to be improved and start to show up. It won't be the full picture, but we'll start to see some really exciting changes take place."

Some citizens don't share Morton's optimism. "If you talk to parents and local school boards," says Michael Ciamarra, vice president of the Alabama Policy Institute, "they are so tired of promises from the state Department of Education that ‘things are going to get better. Just give us time, give us more money, things will always get better.'"

Thanks to a humming economy (auto manufacturing and health care especially) and a statute that requires surplus sales and income taxes to go to education, lawmakers finally have some money to spend on education programs. And spend they have.  Some of their choices look good. The Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) is an eight-year-old project that involves retraining every elementary teacher in concert with scientifically-based reading research. It seems to be having some positive effects on students.

Mark Dixon, education advisor to Republican Governor Bob Riley, cites gains in reading on two statewide tests between 2004 and 2005 as evidence the program is working. "We hope to begin expanding ARI into the higher grades, so that all Alabama students can have access to this proven methodology." The state has raised funding for ARI from $12 million per annum in 2002 to $78 million this year.

Spending is also on the rise for setting up a math and science initiative, expanding the number of Advanced Placement programs offered students, and rewarding schools that boost the achievement levels of minority subgroups. And there's more to come. Dixon says the governor will consider forthcoming recommendations from a commission that is exploring financial incentives for keeping good teachers in the classroom and for bringing top-quality teachers into poor school districts. Whether alternative certification routes into the classroom will play a role is not yet known.

Charter schools, however, aren't benefiting from the state's windfall. Alabama currently has no charters and probably won't anytime soon. That's because so many political and education leaders believe the state is on the cusp of turning student achievement around.  James McLean, who's been involved in Alabama's education system for 25 years and serves as the dean of the education school at the flagship university, says, "Let's fix the schools-not scatter the students." It's a popular, if misguided, sentiment. Dixon feels that, with the momentum public schools have, the state should continue investing in existing schools and people.

This stance may explain why Alabama has no school choice other than the type mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, which theoretically allows students in failing public schools to transfer to other public schools. But to where? A full 35 percent, an unusually large fraction, of Alabama's Title I schools failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years, according to 2005-06 data from the U.S. Department of Education.

Core Knowledge programs and the International Baccalaureate are also largely absent from Alabama with fewer than one percent of schools enrolled in either. For these reasons and more, the state earns a C- for school reform.

Alabama has improved its academic standards, which are now ninth best in the country, according to the Fordham Foundation. Were it not for a much-maligned disclaimer on science textbooks regarding Darwin and evolution, says Morton, the state would have done even better.

The state is also considering tying jobs to performance. In 1994, it did away with tenure for school principals and instead linked their contracts to school performance benchmarks. Some hope the same can be done for teachers.

"I'm more optimistic now than I've been at any time in my career" about our state's education landscape, says McLean.

To be sure, the state has a long way to go. Two in five Alabama students, for example, don't graduate from high school. But the state's minority and low-income students have made some progress on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In the game of school reform, Alabama is still early in the first quarter. Leaders should remind themselves of the goal-to educate every child to a high level-and remember something that Bear Bryant once said. "If you ... never quit-you'll be a winner."

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