More on the Alabama education reforms

A bit more background surrounding the issue of educational reforms in Alabama beginning with Craig Ford's initiative.

House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said today that legislators should repeal Alabama's "failed" school choice program and instead use the money to expand a math and science initiative.

Ford said he will introduce legislation to repeal the Alabama Accountability Act and use any leftover funds to expand the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, also known as the AMSTI program.

“The Accountability Act has clearly failed,” said Ford, who has been a vocal opponent of the legislation.

“So let’s use that money for its intended purpose: to improve the quality of public education in every school Alabama,” Ford said.

Ford said AMSTI is proven to work.

Alabama's PLAN 2020 approved by U.S. Department of Education

Alabama's PLAN 2020 to measure public school achievement has been accepted by the United States Department of Education, the Alabama State Department of Education announced today.

PLAN 2020 will be in effect after a request made by the ALSDE to be removed from many of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was granted. State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice said No Child Left Behind was a good start, but expectations of Adequate Yearly Progress didn't give districts credit for the growth they experienced.

What is interesting to note, PLAN 2020 is not without its own controversy.

Some black parents like Tim Robinson whose two sons attend Alberta Elementary and Englewood Elementary, are taking exception to lower standards for minority children. Robinson’s view that the lowered standards are “preparing our boys for prison” is more extreme than most, but concern over a bar lowered for minority students is widely expressed.

Other parents raised issue not only with the difference in expectations, but also that families weren’t properly notified of the changes.

Not to disregard the concerns stated, I think it is important to realize that race will play a part in this program, but not in the manner assumed. A point the original article highlighted:

It is clear that, under the Alabama Accountability Act, “choice” depends on how much your family makes and where you live. It discriminates against impoverished students in Alabama’s Black Belt and elsewhere. That’s why the SPLC filed a federal lawsuit to stop it.

Poor schools do not fair well and money talks!!

No Choice for Many Students | Teaching Tolerance

Yesterday I posted about "School Choice Week" (school vouchers) and two ensuing pieces of legislation related to said issue. The attached article deals with the same topic, specifically within Alabama and it's Accountability Act. It's a sobering read, at least for me, as I value education and feel all individuals have a right to a quality learning experience both K-12 and college.

That means J.R. is trapped in a failing school whose scarce resources will only dwindle as students with the ability to leave the school transfer out. As National School Choice Week is celebrated this week, state lawmakers will tout the Alabama Accountability Act as a shining example of school choice. But for students such as J.R., there is no choice.

[,,,]
It is clear that, under the Alabama Accountability Act, “choice” depends on how much your family makes and where you live. It discriminates against impoverished students in Alabama’s Black Belt and elsewhere. That’s why the SPLC filed a federal lawsuit to stop it.

The failure of this misguided experiment is clear. The state reported in September that only 719 students used the act to leave a “failing” school for a public school in the same district. Fifty-two children used the act’s tax credit to transfer to a private school.

And, only 18 students in the entire state transferred from one school district into another for 2013-14. That’s not enough to fill a single classroom.

Under the Alabama Accountability Act, non-failing schools aren’t even required to admit a child from a failing school. They can, for example, refuse admission because the student’s failing school didn’t teach him to read or perform math adequately.

It’s a perverse interpretation of “school choice.”

But these failures and dead ends are not surprising. This act was concocted behind closed doors by lawmakers unwilling to even consult the state superintendent of education because they feared he would try to stop it. It was slipped into an existing bill and rammed through the Legislature in one day. The average Alabamian had little chance to voice concerns.

Maybe if lawmakers had taken the time to listen, they would have heard about the Black Belt school where students read novels from transparencies on an overhead projector because there aren’t enough copies for the class.

Maybe they would have heard about the science lab where the teacher shows a single microscope to the students because there aren’t enough to go around.

Maybe they would have heard about the class where students can’t take their textbooks home to study because there aren’t enough books for the class.

Of course, you can only hear these stories if you’re willing to listen.

No Choice for Many Students | Teaching Tolerance

Bad Ideas and Principles During "School Choice Week" | American Civil Liberties Union

Two more pieces of legislation that will bare watching

,,,To understand the perils of public funds going to private schools, we can simply look to the fact that these private schools take taxpayer dollars and then can decide to exclude students based on sex, religion, academic achievement, sexual orientation, and even economic status. Not only that, but voucher programs also discriminate against students with disabilities and are mismanaged.

And what about academics? Voucher schools are often low-performing. Voucher programs don't improve reading and math achievement, and students interested in careers in the STEM fields could be at a significant disadvantage as many voucher schools reject evolution and teach creationism.

Yet, those who want vouchers continue to promote these misguided policies. Last week, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced the CHOICE Act, a bill that would authorize a range of bad ideas, including creating new federally funded vouchers for students with disabilities (even though students with disabilities often reject or drop out of voucher programs) and expanding the deeply troubled Washington, D.C., voucher program. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), introduced the Scholarship for Kids Act, which could potentially deprive $24 billion from public schools and put it into the hands of private and religious schools.


Bad Ideas and Principles During "School Choice Week" | American Civil Liberties Union