Southern Education Desk

WBHM Reporter Dan Carsen Wins Award for Outstanding Coverage of Family Issues

Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FM’s Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen has won the Council on Contemporary Families 2016 Award for Radio Coverage of Family Issues for his four-part series “Bilingual Education in the South.”

Teaching Tough Topics: The South’s Real History

Teaching subjects that trigger strong emotions and political divides is challenging. In the South, many of those fault-lines — racial, religious and otherwise — are intimately tied to its history. This week the Southern Education Desk is exploring how teachers tackle tough topics. WBHM’s Dan Carsen starts with an overview of some the major challenges, and […]

Highlights From Issues and Ales: The Future of Education in Alabama

This year, the Alabama Legislature voted to allow charter schools in the state and expanded the Alabama Accountability Act. What does this mean for the future of Alabama’s public and private schools? Can public education adequately prepare all Alabama children for career success?

Lessons For New Orleans

Charter schools are changing American education. Some say for the better, some say the worse. This week the Southern Education Desk looks at the charter school movement throughout the south. We start in New Orleans, the testing ground for the movement.

Summer’s Season Of Learning Can Impact Graduation Rates

National education leaders are trumpeting recent increases in high school graduation rates, yet about 20 percent of kids still dropout before completing high school. That number jumps significantly among the Southern poor in places like Alabama and Mississippi. And it costs money. Dropouts earn less and governments pay more to support them. One possible solution? Make summer a season of learning for students that could help them stay engaged and in school. Sherrel Wheeler Stewart kicks off the Southern Education Desk series on Summer Learning and its impact high school graduation.