An in-depth exploration of education in the 21st century South.
There’s never a shortage of stories coming from Alabama’s schools. But before the WBHM/Southern Education Desk’s “Issues and Ales” education forum Thursday evening, we wanted to shed as much light as possible on the big picture behind the headlines because — for better or worse — that backdrop always includes money and therefore politics.
Across the country, school boards have been losing power to state and federal authorities, and some experts see local boards as increasingly ineffective. But last month the Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank, released a national report on the influence of school board leadership. According to the report, local boards actually do impact student achievement. Given recent events in Birmingham City Schools and other systems across the Southeast, our Alabama reporter Dan Carsen caught up with co-author Arnold Shober, who says the overall vision of a school board is key, as is the way members are elected.
Louisiana’s Supreme Court has now heard oral arguments over the constitutionality of the law establishing a statewide voucher program.
For the second time in less than a month, a teachers’ union is in court, challenging Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s education reforms on constitutional grounds. In a brief trial, State District Court Judge R. Michael Caldwell heard oral arguments from both the union and the state, and said he would deliver his ruling within a day.
Teachers from across Alabama recently gathered in Birmingham to discuss a troubling statewide trend. According to The Southern Education Foundation, 40 percent of Alabama’s students failed to graduate in 2010. Alabama Public Television is working hard to raise awareness and combat the problem. Through an American Graduate grant, APT hosted a teacher town hall event for teachers to come together to discuss the dropout rate and raise solutions.
A pair of Louisiana third-grade teachers are travelling to Nova Scotia, Canada this summer, tracing the history of Louisiana’s Cajun ancestors and using the their first-hand experience to develop more compelling social studies lessons on Cajun history.
If you’re starting to feel that your lazy summer season is getting longer – you may be a public school student in the South. Many southern school districts are cutting back the number of days students go to school each year. But what does that mean for student learning?
Louisiana’s two largest teachers unions are taking the state to court–challenging the constitutionality of education reforms passed by the Legislature this spring. District Court Judge Timothy Kelley has set July 24 as the date to hear challenges to the state’s recently passed “School Choice” law.
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