Education
Kyle Whitmire: A Closer Look at Board of Education Meetings
Kyle Whitmire with AL.com and The Birmingham News attended this week's Board of Education meeting. Tensions at the meeting were high between state intervention team officials and elected board members. Kyle explains why the state intervention team is there in the first place as well as what needs to be accomplished before it can leave.
Joseph Walter: Doing Much More Than Surviving
Pompe disease is a rare and often fatal illness that attacks the heart and skeletal muscles. Many people with the early onset form don't survive past childhood. But just north of Birmingham there's an eighteen-year-old who's not only surviving, but thriving. He recently graduated high school, and as WBHM's Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen tells us, that's just part of the story.
Kids Count: Improvement for Alabama’s Children
Alabama often does poorly when it comes to education or health outcomes for children. But a new survey out Monday offers some good news for Alabama's youth. In the Annie E. Casey Foundation's annual Kids Count report, Alabama rose to 44th in child well-being, putting it out of the bottom five among states for the first time. WBHM’s Sarah Delia speaks with Kids Count national coordinator Laura Speers about the survey.
New Map Shows Summer Feeding Sites
Alabama is a poor state, and many of its young people go hungry, especially when school is out. But an anti-poverty group has put out a digitized map and database meant to make it easier for hungry children to find free meals over the summer.
From Foster Care To College: A Little Help Bettering The Odds
Whether it's summer, spring, or fall term, some young people have trouble adjusting to campus life. College students coming from foster care face extra hurdles: 70 percent want to get a degree, but roughly three percent graduate by age 25. For the third and final part of the Southern Education Desk series "From Foster Care To College: Extra Help For Extra Hurdles," WBHM's Dan Carsen recently went to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to learn about a new program that's trying to better those odds.
From Foster Care to College: Part Two
Many high school graduates are enjoying their last summer before college. But new research shows most kids who grow up in foster care don't attend college and those who do are less likely to graduate. Yesterday, we met Briyana Dunn, who was attending college through a state program in Tennessee. Today, reporter Christine Jessel continues our Southern Education Desk series by catching up with Dunn to see how she's doing nearly a year after starting college.
From Foster Care to College: Part One
When foster care kids grow too old for the system, they're pretty much on their own. They're often unprepared for the basics of life such as finding a job, paying rent or buying insurance. Succeeding in college is a much higher bar. Many states have special programs to support foster care kids who want to go to college. Tuesday, we kick off a Southern Education Desk series "From Foster Care to College: Extra Help for Extra Hurdles."
INTERVIEW: Craig Witherspoon Reacts To Failing Schools List
Today the state education department released a list of 78 failing schools under the controversial Alabama Accountability Act. Of the 78, 11 were in Birmingham. WBHM's Dan Carsen caught up with Birmingham Superintendent Craig Witherspoon for his reaction.
Kyle Whitmire: Privacy Perceptions and Pondering Good News
Privacy concerns are news with the NSA and PRISM stories, Alabama makes news with roadblocks to gain samples from drivers. And good news about Birmingham? We talk with Kyle Whitmire, political reporter with AL.com and The Birmingham News.
Carsen Talks “AAA” And More On Capitol Journal
Our Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen recently appeared as a guest journalist on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” a highly regarded program analyzing the week's significant stories. Among other things, Dan discusses the controversial Alabama Accountability Act, which will be a subject of debate in the final session of the state legislature today as lawmakers address Governor Bentley's call to delay establishing tax credits for families sending students to private schools.
Black School, White School: Teaching The Civil Rights Movement
Most people know Birmingham was a Civil Rights Movement battleground. But how is that complicated history taught in schools today? And are there differences between white and black districts? As part of our special Civil Rights anniversary coverage, Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen went to class in urban Birmingham and suburban Mountain Brook to find out.
Common Core, Part 3: More Writing May Be A Challenge
New national Common Core education standards are designed to create better critical thinkers. To achieve this, students in 45 states can expect to be writing a lot more than they do now. Many educators say it's a good change, but one warns that the transition could be rough, especially for older students.
Common Core, Part 2: Implementation a Challenge
By 2016, students in 45 states and the District of Columbia will be learning the same things, at the same time, under the same set of standards. But it won't be easy to implement the Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Common Core, Part 1: Is The Hype Really Just Hype?
There's been a revolution in American K-12 education: the 'Common Core State Standards.' Released in 2010, they're math and language arts standards meant to raise rigor and establish consistency across the nation. They've been adopted in 45 states. But in the first of a three-part series, the Southern Education Desk's Dan Carsen tells us that even in those places, all is not quiet on the Common Core front.
White People Problems
You may have heard someone say "Sounds like a white people problem." Or how about "That's so ghetto." Some people toss around these phrases without even thinking about them, but not WBHM Race and Diversity blogger Jasmine White.
Pre-K: Politics and Poverty
Most education experts believe quality preschool programs are essential to finding a long-term solution to the achievement gap, and will ultimately play a role in helping disadvantaged students escape poverty. But politics can sometimes get in the way.
Pre-K Series, Part 3: Access Is Everything
Most education researchers and even many economists think high-quality Pre-K benefits children and the communities where they live. But the effects are limited when programs just don't reach many kids. In Part Three of the Southern Education Desk series on Pre-K in the Deep South, WBHM's Dan Carsen has more from right here in Alabama, which has a highly regarded program that reaches a just a fraction of the state's four-year-olds.
Money Talks: Paying for Pre-K
For many students, Pre-K education makes the difference between early elementary school success and failure. But in cash-strapped Southern states Pre-K is an easy target for legislative budget cuts.
Proving Preschool with Performance
Pre-Kindergarten education is a hot topic right now. In his State of the Union address, President Obama made it a priority. But critics say the research just doesn't support long-term gains from Pre-K. Today, we launch a series examining the value of Pre-K .
WBHM 90.3 FM Education Reporter Dan Carsen Receives Multiple Awards for Journalism Excellence
Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FM's Southern Education Desk Reporter Dan Carsen is the recipient of three awards for excellence in broadcast journalism for his reporting on education issues in Alabama.
John Archibald: Education Reforms, Gridlock and what of Atticus Finch?
Education was a leading topic in the courtroom and the statehouse. The Common Core seems to still be the curriculum path of choice in Alabama, despite a major effort to overturn it. Meanwhile, the Alabama Supreme Court has lifted a temporary restraining order that now paves the way for a controversial school choice bill to be signed into law by Governor Robert Bentley. John Archibald and Scott Hanley discuss how leaders came to make changes and also choose to not make a change. Is there room for reason, diplomacy, detail and unwavering decency?
School Accountability Act Either Brilliant Politics or Despicable Move
Republican legislators dropped a bomb last week with passage of a heavily revised School Accountability Act. Democrats pushed back with a legal challenge, and now the case may go to the State Supreme Court.
Kyle Whitmire: Controversial School Bill Blocked…For Now
A Montgomery judge is extending a temporary restraining order blocking Alabama's governor from signing a controversial school bill into law. But Republican leaders vow to appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court. We hear about the political fallout from The Birmingham News' Kyle Whitmire.
Nashville Works to Balance School Improvement and Diversity
This week we’ve been visiting schools across the south where student populations have increasingly resegregated. In the final installment in our series, we go to Nashville, where public school officials are finding it a challenge to balance school improvement plans with a desire for racial diversity.
When and Why Schools Resegregate
Since the 1970's, federal court orders have governed how many Southern communities integrated their public schools. But new research shows, as those orders have been lifted, school districts are gradually resegregating. In part four of our series we look at why.
Carsen Talks Education Flashpoints on Capitol Journal
Our Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen recently appeared as a guest journalist on Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal, a highly regarded program analyzing the week's significant stories. Dan discusses controversial "school flexibility" legislation, school takeovers, the federal lawsuit against the state takeover of Birmingham Schools, and the Southern Education Desk series on re-segregating schools.
Segregated Schools Fact of Life
New research shows southern schools are increasingly resegregating. In one town in Mississippi the black students attend one high school and the white students attend another. It was a conscious decision that's spurred a lot of debate about the concept of separate but equal.
Segregation Academies: Past And Still Present
Ever since the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in its 1954 Brown vs. Board of Ed decision, the racial makeup of our schools has been in flux. Forced integration made the South’s public schools some of the most integrated in the country, but now – here and across the nation – our schools are re-segregating. The Southern Education Desk is taking a deep look at the issue with a multi-part series exploring this complex trend. In the second installment, WBHM's Dan Carsen examines a strategy resistant whites once used to sidestep public school integration, one that still shapes communities today: private so-called segregation academies.
Clinton After Desegregation: A Small Southern Town’s Struggle With The Past
Half a century ago, the civil rights movement launched its legendary struggle for racial equality. Many of its biggest battles were fought here in the south and one of its greatest victories was overturning the federal law that allowed racially segregated schools. But now, 50 years on, studies show schools are resegregating, especially in the south. This week on WBHM, we ask: Why? And what does it mean for students?
John Archibald: Don’t Forget Common Sense in Gun Debate
Gun violence and school safety are taking center stage in Alabama this month. First, the fatal shooting of a school bus driver in Midland City; now, charges against a man accused of holding several Chelsea Middle School girls at gunpoint in a school locker room. And that's just the beginning...
Interview: Dr. Robert Corley
In Birmingham's historic Kelly Ingram Park, there's a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One of the names on the stone pedestal is Robert Corley. Among other things, Dr. Corley teaches history at UAB. He was a founding member of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute board and has served on the city school board. Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen recently sat down with him while researching stories for our special Civil Rights anniversary coverage. Corley says today's students are missing some of that vital history.
New UAB President Ray Watts
The University of Alabama at Birmingham has a new president. The University of Alabama Systems Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Ray Watts as UAB’s seventh president Friday morning. WBHM's Andrew Yeager spoke with Watts shortly after Friday's meeting .
