Talk Priority Schools

Dr. Tyna Davis

One and a half years ago, Alabama Education Association (AEA) formulated a cadre of approximately 30 educators to review the four recommended models for the School Improvement Grants (SIG). After study, the cadre recommended the transformation model.  This came after an intensive process of discussing and focusing on the pros and cons of each model.  The group unanimously agreed that the transformation model was the model that we wanted to use in our state.  Through conferences, AEA’s Alabama School Journal, editorials and news articles, we recommended to the locals the Transformation Model.  This was important because it helped shape the approaches used by our school systems.  Of 14 Alabama awardees, 13 are transformation and one is closure.  The one local that is recommending closure has had this issue on the local board agenda for several years. read more »

By Kevin Hart

If politically popular education “reforms” are so effective, why are they only being implemented in lower-income communities – predominantly communities of color?

That was the question that ran through a framework for improving education released by leading civil rights groups this week. Titled Civil Rights Framework for Providing All Students an Opportunity to Learn through Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the framework was drafted and signed by seven leading civil rights groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

“For far too long, communities of color have been testing grounds for unproven methods of educational change,” the report says, arguing that reforms advocated by federal and state governments should have to meet an evidence threshold before being foisted upon schools.

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