Education in the State of Alabama
Olivia Smith
Information About Schools in Alabama:
- Total public school student population
729,786 students
(Alabama State Department of Education)
- Total private school student population
416 private schools serving 80,018 students
(Best Alabama Private Schools (2021-22))
- Total state public education budget
Alabama ranks 19th in federal funding. Alabama K-12 schools receive $936.1 million from the federal government, $4.94 billion from state funding, and $2.84 billion from local funding for a total of $8.72 billion for K-12 education. Alabama has about $210 million left over after spending.
(Hanson, 2021)
- Total state public education spending
Alabama ranks 38th for spending in public schools. Alabama K-12 schools spend about $10,116 per pupil for a total of $8.51 billion annually. This totals 1.6% of taxpayer income.
(Hanson, 2021)
- Average private school tuition
$7,452 for elementary schools and $7,921 for high schools
(Best Alabama Private Schools (2021-22))
- Public v. private school attendance
Many more students attend public school than private school. 729,786 students attend public school while 80,018 students attend private school.
- Average per pupil expenditure
Alabama receives $1,113 per student from the federal government, $5,872 per student from state funding, and $3,376 per pupil from local funding.
(Hanson, 2021)
- High/low per pupil expenditure within state
The highest per pupil expenditure is at the Linda Nolen Learning Center in Shelby County and it is $129,631. The lowest per pupil expenditure is at the Alabama Virtual Academy at Eufaula City Schools and it is $448. There is a huge difference in the per pupil spending depending on where the school is located.
(Per Pupil Expenditures: Alabama, 2020)
- Average national per pupil expenditure
In total, Alabama receives $10,361 per pupil, while the national average is $14,455 per pupil annually, so Alabama is far below the national average when it comes to funding.
(Hanson, 2021)
- Student demographics (race/ethnicity, English Language Learners, poverty rates)
- Race/Ethnicity
- American Indian/ Alaskan Native: 3.6%
- Asian: 1.55%
- White: 58.32%
- Black: 32.79%
- Two or more races: 3.49%
- Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander: 0.25%
- Hispanic Latino: 9.47%
- Gender
- Male: 51.36%
- Female: 48.64%
- English Language Learners
- Students with Limited English Proficiency: 4.6%
- First year English Learner: 0.65%
- Poverty Rates
- Homeless: 1.22%
- Economically Disadvantaged: 50.94%
- Other
- Migrant: 0.16%
- Students with Disabilities: 13.99%
- Foster: 0.38%
- Military: 2.21%
- Chronic Absenteeism: 8.27%
- Race/Ethnicity
This is a pie chart of the student demographics
(Alabama State Department of Education)
- Graduation rates (total, and by demographics)Because of COVID, the most recent graduation data is from the 2018-2019 school year.
- Race/Ethnicity
- American Indian/ Alaska Native: 90.26%
- Asian: 94.07%
- Black or African American: 87.71%
- Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander: 85.0%
- White: 91.54%
- Two or more races: 90.65%
- Hispanic/ Latino: 87.57%
- Other
- Students with limited english proficiency: 64.36%
- Students with Disabilities: 68.04%
- Economically disadvantaged: 84.42%
- Race/Ethnicity
(Alabama State Department of Education)
- Accountability measures (testing, portfolios, growth, etc.)
States must identify at least 5% of their lowest-performing Title I schools, as well as high schools that fail to graduate one-third or more of their students, and schools for which a certain group of students is consistently performing below average over a period of time. These groups will receive comprehensive support. The group of students that is consistently below average, based on all of the indicators in the state accountability system, will need targeted intervention and support. And states and districts must work with the identified low-performing schools to determine the appropriate interventions to support student outcomes.
(Alabama Accountability System Fact Sheet)
- Subject matter assessed by accountability measures
“28% of students in 4th grade were at or above NAEP Proficient in math, reading, and science. 21% of students in 8th grade are at or above NAEP Proficient in math and science and 24% of students are in reading.”
(Data & Statistics)
- Consequences for failing to meet standards—for students, teachers, administrators, and schools
Teachers must test the reading level of children in kindergarten, first, second and third grade at the beginning, middle, and end of each school year. If a child isn’t at the appropriate grade level by the end of the third grade they will struggle to learn subject-level content from the fourth grade forward, likely falling further behind each year. Therefore, if the child cannot meet standards in third grade, they will be forced to repeat the grade.
(Powell Crain, 2021)
- Testing or proficiency graduation requirements
In 2010, college and career readiness standards were implemented in language arts and math. Last spring, Alabama administered the ACT Aspire assessments, which reported scores that were similar to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), considered the Nations Report Card.
(Alabama Accountability System Fact Sheet)
- Class Graduation Requirements
There are many paths students in Alabama can take to earn a high school diploma. All students must earn 24 credits, 21.5 of which are a required course of study. Regardless of the paths that students choose, they must complete four units each in core subjects, which are english, math, science, and social studies, one unit of physical education and a half unit of health. Students must take three units of either foreign language or career or technical education or arts education. Two and a half credits of electives complete the 24-credit requirement. Finally, to be eligible to graduate, students must complete one technology-enhanced course unless exceptions have been approved.
(High School Graduation Requirements, 2020)
- Adoption of Common Core
Alabama joined the Common Core State Standards Initiative in 2009. By 2017, Alabama had re-branded and tweaked the Common Core standards. In 2019, a repeal effort of the Common Core passed in the Senate by 23-7.
(Timeline of Common Core in Alabama)
(Powell Crain, 2019)
- Adoption of Next Generation Science Standards
In 2015, the Alabama Board of Education voted to replace its K-12 science standards with new ones informed by the Next Generation Science Standards. The new Alabama Science Curriculum will require students to meet a variety of standards, including those related to climate change and evolution.
(Vigeant, 2016)
- Number of charter schools and percentage of students served (if applicable)
2 charter schools and 598 students were served in 2018-19 school year.
(Alabama, 2021)
- Voucher dollar amounts and percentage of students served (if applicable)
Alabama does not have a voucher program.
(State Education Practices)
- Formation of Charter Schools
Alabama law requires that all schools who would like to be considered for a charter must apply, and there are additional elements for conversion schools, those using educational service providers, and replications. Alabama law requires local school board authorizers to issue requests for proposals and to conduct a thorough evaluation of each application including an in-person interview and public meeting. It also requires authorizers to make all charter approval or denial decisions in a public meeting and to state reasons for denials in writing. There are also no caps on charter school growth.
(State Education Practices)
- Average teacher salary
The average starting teacher salary is about $41,160, which is #24 in the nation, and the average teacher salary is about $54,270, which is #35 in the nation.
(Teacher Pay and Student Spending: How Does Your State Rank?)
- Presence of teachers unions/collective bargaining (e.g., AFT/NEA)
Alabama’s teacher union is called ACOE (Alabama Conference of Educators). ACOE’s membership dues are $189 per year, which is only $15.75 per month for 12 months. Nearly one-third of each member’s annual dues of $210 go directly to cover the actual cost of his or her liability insurance policy’s premium for the year.
(Alabama’s Fastest Growing Independent Education Association)
- Merit pay for teachers (in state or district)
To determine teachers’ salaries, Alabama provides local districts with a Minimum Salary Schedule. Because the salary schedule provided by the state is based on teachers’ years of experience and earned advanced degrees, the state in effect mandates how districts will pay teachers. Alabama also does not support performance pay. The state does not have any policies in place that offer teachers additional compensation based on evidence of effectiveness.
(Pay Scales and Performance Pay: Alabama, 2020)
- Teacher evaluation methods and measures
All teachers in Alabama are required to be evaluated under the state’s EDUCATEAlabama system. Alabama has received a waiver from portions of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which requires the state to include growth in student achievement as a significant factor in the evaluation framework, as well as a multitiered rating system. Alabama will need to address these stipulations in board rule or statute to maintain compliance with the waiver. Classrooms are also observed as a method of evaluation. There at least two unobserved observations per year. Teachers automatically get tenure after a three-year probationary period.
(Evaluation of Effectiveness: Alabama.)
(TEACHER EVALUATION POLICY IN ALABAMA: Where is Alabama in implementing teacher effectiveness policies?)
- Teacher Credentials
This is a pie chart of the credentials that teachers have
Data Analysis:
- Why do we still see inequities in Alabama?
Racially segregated schools are one reason why inequities persist in the state today, along with the economic status of the students’ families. Four of Alabama’s largest cities are the most segregated cities in America, and only 25 cities made the list. Mobile (#18), Tuscaloosa (#14), Birmingham (#13), and Montgomery (#9) are all cities in Alabama that contain racial segregation (Smith 2021). In Mobile, 64.2% of the black population lives in majority black neighborhoods, and this is three times more than the national average of 19.5%. In Birmingham, about 64% of black people live in predominantly-black neighborhoods, about 63% of black people in Tuscaloosa live in predominantly-black neighborhoods, and in Montgomery, Alabama’s capital, about 66% of black residents live in predominantly-black neighborhoods (Smith 2021). This segregation in the cities causes segregation in the school districts.
This segregation can be seen in the students test scores as well. In 2019, when the national average NAEP score in math for fourth graders was 240, the average math score for a white Alabama fourth grader was 239, while the average score for a Black Alabama fourth grader was 215. The gap for eighth graders showed white Alabama students scored 30 points higher in math than Black eighth graders in the state, while the national average was 281. In reading the same year, white fourth graders in Alabama scored 223, versus 195 for Black fourth graders, while the national average score was 219. White eighth graders in Alabama scored 261, just under the national average of 262, while Black eighth graders scored 239 (State Profiles).
Alabama is one state where socioeconomic disparities between Black and white students are a main cause for the achievement gap. Those socioeconomic differences go beyond just how much money a school gets (Patterson 2020).This makes sense because people with a higher socioeconomic status are going to have more educational resources than someone with a low socioeconomic status. This ties into the segregation in the cities. Most of the predominantly-black neighborhoods are more impoverished than those in the predominantly-white neighborhoods. In order to fix this problem, Alabama has out multiple accountability acts in place to prevent all students from falling behind. Alabama is in the process of developing an A-F system to identify how well schools are serving students and
whether or not a school needs intervention (Alabama Accountability System Fact Sheet). While there is still a lot of work to do to get Alabama to be desegregated, the schools are taking steps in the right direction.
In two to three paragraphs:
- Describe one trend that relates to the inequity seen in Alabama
One trend that has occurred pretty recently in Alabama is the enactment of charter schools. The charter school law was enacted in 2015 and there are currently 5 charter schools in Alabama (Alabama 2021). Dr. Jeremiah Newell is the founder and Head of School of Accel Day and Evening Academy in Mobile, the first charter school in the State of Alabama. He is a native Mobilian, which the 18th most segregated city in the country, yet he was able to accomplish this. As a student, he saw the disparities between white and black children. He is helping the predominantly-black communities of Mobile become more educated and have more educational experiences. For nearly 20 years, Newell has devoted his career to creating learning environments for kids and meeting their needs. He was very successful in that 89% of the students were accepted into either two or four year colleges (Price 2020).
The original concept of a charter school was to allow the teachers to explore and use different creative teaching methods. While this concept has been somewhat left behind, the schools are still allowed to run under their own rules. They still have to meet certain requirements, but they can do things like focusing on a particular subject (Alabama Charter Schools Principles for Ensuring Equity and Access 2020). This autonomy allows the schools to do what they will with the funding and teach the students skills that would not be normally taught in a public school district. However, there is controversy over the charter schools. Many school systems have found they are losing millions of dollars from their education budgets when public dollars are directed to charters (Strauss 2019). This is helping desegregate the schools because the state funding is now being spread to both public school and charter schools. Ultimately, the introduction of charter schools is imperative to racial integration in Alabama.
References
Alabama. (2021). National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.publiccharters.org/our-work/charter-law-database/states/alabama
Alabama – Accountability. (2020). Southern Regional Education Board. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.sreb.org/post/alabama-accountability
Alabama Accountability System Fact Sheet. (n.d.). U.S Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
Alabama Charter Schools Principles for Ensuring Equity and Access. (2020, February). Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/coms_charter_school_brief_final_final.pdf
Alabama’s Fastest Growing Independent Education Association. (n.d.). Alabama Conference of Educators. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.acoe.us/about/
[Alabama State Department of Education]. (n.d.). ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (REPORT CARD). Retrieved March 10, 2022, from
https://reportcard.alsde.edu/OverallScorePage.aspx?ReportYear=2021&SystemCode=000&SchoolCode=0000
Best Alabama Private Schools (2021-22). (n.d.). Private School Review. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.privateschoolreview.com/alabama
Data & Statistics. (n.d.). U.S Department of Education. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/landing.jhtml?src=pn
Evaluation of Effectiveness: Alabama. (n.d.). National Council on Teacher Quality. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/AL-Evaluation-of-Effectiveness-71
Hanson, M. (2021, August 2). U.S. Public Education Spending Statistics. Education Data Initiative. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics#alabama
High School Graduation Requirements. (2020). Southern Regional Education Board. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.sreb.org/diploma-requirements-high-school
National School Choice Week Team. (2021, October 6). Alabama School Choice Roadmap. National School Choice Week. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://schoolchoiceweek.com/guide-school-choice-alabama/
Patterson, N. (2020, October 4). Despite Progress, American Schools Are the Same as They Ever Were – Separate and Unequal. Birmingham Watch. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://birminghamwatch.org/despite-progress-american-schools-ever-separate-unequal/
Pay Scales and Performance Pay: Alabama. (2020). National Council on Teacher Quality. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/AL-Pay-Scales-and-Performance-Pay-72
Per Pupil Expenditures: Alabama. (2020, November 16). Office of Elementary & Secondary Education. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from
https://oese.ed.gov/ppe/alabama/
Powell Crain, T. (2019, March 27). Common Core repeal comes to Alabama: What happened in other states? Alabama.com. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
Powell Crain, T. (2021, June 7). What Parents Need to Know about Alabama’s Third Grade Reading Law. Alabama.com. Retrieved May 8, 2022, from
Price, C. A. (2020, August 27). Dr. Jeremiah Newell, Founder of the First Charter School in Alabama. New Schools for Alabama. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.newschoolsforalabama.org/post/meet-dr-jeremiah-newell
Smith, T. (2021, February 23). 4 of America’s most segregated cities are in Alabama, report says. Alabama.com. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://www.al.com/news/2021/02/4-of-americas-most-segregated-cities-are-in-alabama-report-says.html
State Education Practices. (n.d.). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 2, 2022 from
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab4_7.asp
State Profiles. (n.d.). The Nation’s Report Card. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile?chort=1&sub=MAT&sj=&s
Strauss, V. (2019, May 3). A telling story about a charter school controversy in a rural Alabama county. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
TEACHER EVALUATION POLICY IN ALABAMA: Where is Alabama in implementing teacher effectiveness policies? (n.d.). National Council on Teacher Quality. Retrieved May 1, 2022,, from https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Evaluation_Timeline_Brief_AllStates
Teacher Pay and Student Spending: How Does Your State Rank? (n.d.). National Education Association. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank
Timeline of Common Core in Alabama. (n.d.). Alabama GRIT. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.alabamagrit.org/timeline_common_core_in_alabama
Vigeant, F. (2016, May 31). New Alabama Science Standards a Resource for A+ Curriculum. KnowAtom. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.knowatom.com/blog/new-alabama-science-standards-a-resource-for-a-plus-curriculum