Ranking

Report: Well-Being of Alabama Children Still Lags Nationwide

Alabama’s teen birth rate has decreased dramatically in the last decade. That’s according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which has ranked the overall well-being of kids across the US for 30 years.

INTERVIEW: Trisha Powell Crain On Alabama’s Low NAEP Ranks

Alabama recently got some unflattering news about its students' proficiency, especially in eighth-grade mathematics. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, is a standardized test sometimes called "the nation's report card." On the 2013 test, Alabama eighth-graders ranked fiftieth out of 52 jurisdictions in math (schools on military bases and in the District of Columbia were counted separately). But as with most education topics, things are not quite as simple as they seem. WBHM's Dan Carsen sat down with Alabama School Connection executive director Trisha Powell Crain to go behind those results. She says we shouldn't put too much emphasis on one test, or be too surprised at Alabama's low showing.

Alabama Obesity Ranking

Alabama has once again been ranked as one of the most obese states in the country. The latest survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Mississippi was the most obese state, followed closely by Alabama.