Alabama Education Department Issues School Report Cards
The Alabama Department of Education released school system report cards Thursday, issuing letter grades that assess school performance. Those grades factor in things like test results, graduation rates and attendance.
Grades varied for Birmingham-area school systems. City school systems in Birmingham, Bessemer, Tarrant, Midfield and Fairfield all received Ds. Shelby County received a B, and Jefferson County scored a C. The Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook systems all received As.
All of the local school systems with low report card grades had chronic absenteeism. In Bessemer, 21 percent of the students were absent at least 15 days during the school year. In Homewood, a similar-sized system, only 7.6 percent of the students had chronic absenteeism.
Birmingham Superintendent Lisa Herring discussed the report cards at a morning press conference, joined by Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, the school board and system leaders.
“We have strategic, intentional work to do to drive achievement for every school and every child in our organization,” she said. The grades are a benchmark, she said. “It is not an indicator of where we will remain.”
The ACT Aspire test, used last spring to help determine whether Alabama schools made the grade, will no longer be the measuring stick to determine the state’s grading system.
In July, the state board of education ended its contract with Aspire for testing students in 10th grade, elementary and middle school. The change came after the U.S. Department of Education said the Aspire test was not aligned with Alabama’s education standards.
Alabama law requires that school systems test K-12 students to help gauge the level and quality of education.
This school year, the state department of education is using a test called the “Scantron” to test mathematics and reading in grades 3-8. It measures science achievement in grades 5 and 7. State education officials say the Scantron tests more of what students study and learn in school. High schools will use the ACT college entrance exam in 11th grade for assessment.
State education officials say the Scantron was administered in the fall and will be administered again in the spring.
Alabama coal mine keeps digging after hundreds of fines and a fatal explosion
Following the death of a grandfather, Crimson Oak Grove Resources has left a community afraid for their homes and lives. An expert warns one resident may need to evacuate her home while she still can.
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban will have a ‘snowball effect’ on residents across the South
Abortion rights advocates say the ban will likely force many to travel farther for abortion care and endure pregnancy and childbirth against their will.
Attitudes among Alabama lawmakers softening on Medicaid expansion
Alabama is one of ten states which has not expanded Medicaid. Republican leaders have pushed back against the idea for years.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
