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Huntsville City Schools gets a C on state report card; improved overall score from last year HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Huntsville City Schools has four schools that received failing grades on the state’s report card. The district still received a C from the Alabama Department of Education, but their overall score improved by 7 points, moving from a 70 to 77. “We are continuously improving,” Christie Finley, Huntsville City Schools Superintendent, said. “That means we have to look at our data every day. It’s not waiting and then going back in to see what we can do differently. It’s looking at where we [...]

Building a Win-Win with your child’s Teacher Step 1: PLAN THE BEST METHOD Demonstration: Write your child’s teacher a letter. Begin as soon as you can to get to know him or her. Waiting until the need for a parent/ teacher conference may be too late to make an encouraging impression with the teacher. Step 2: SET UP COMMON PARTICIPATION Let the teacher know that you are an involved and active parent. Detail in your letter what they can expect from you. Studies have shown that children with active parents who are engaged in their learning and have a relationship with [...]

By Trisha Powell Crain | tcrain@al.com tcrain@al.com Though the Alabama Accountability Act has been around for five years now, little has been known about the students using the tax-credit scholarships other than their family’s income cannot exceed the threshold for a student to be eligible. Until now. While information on race and ethnicity of scholarship recipients is not required to be publicly reported, the state’s two largest scholarship granting organizations, the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund and Scholarships for Kids, agreed to provide that information to AL.com to analyze who is benefiting from the program and where recipients are zoned to attend [...]

A+ was pleased to provide research support and consultation for Leadership Matters, the new report from the Business Education Alliance prepared by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. As the report says in the Executive Summary: "Alabama public schools are producing more high school graduates, but more of them need to be graduating prepared for and connected to education and training beyond high school. Alabama's economy has the potential for impressive growth, but to capitalize on that potential, business and industry will need a new generation of better-educated Alabamians. To capitalize on this moment of opportunity for students and for Alabama's economy, creative and [...]

By Donna Thornton / Times Staff Writer Posted Jul 27, 2017 at 6:32 PM The Black Alabamians for Educational Opportunity will host a second community meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the Downtown Civic Center to discuss Gadsden City Schools. The BAEO is the same organization that hosted a meeting July 6. BAEO founder Neonta Williams describes the meetings as “A Community Conversation Series: Education and Your Community.” Williams is a Litchfield graduate now working as an education advocate. At the July meeting, she presented test scores and talked about the achievement gap among black, white and Hispanic students. Williams said the first meeting brought together [...]

By Donna Thornton / Times Staff Writer Posted Jul 23, 2017 at 4:12 PM Updated Jul 23, 2017 at 4:12 PM The Alabama Department of Education measures scores from the 2015-2016 ACT Aspire test in four categories: In need of support, close, ready and exceeding readiness. Information presented at a community meeting July 13 detailed some of Gadsden’s scores, painting a bleak picture of student readiness in math and reading. However, the numbers were pulled only from column three – the “ready” percentage. The percentage of student scores “exceeding” readiness was not mentioned. Leaving those numbers out makes a substantial difference in some grade levels and subjects, according to Gadsden City [...]

By Times Staff Report Posted Jul 7, 2017 at 6:52 PM Updated Jul 7, 2017 at 6:52 PM Those concerned with education in the Gadsden area are invited to ″A Community Conversation: Education and Your Community,” from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gadsden Civic Center, 623 Broad St. Former Gadsden City Councilman Robert Avery said the gathering is sponsored by the Legacy Education Group, a local nonprofit. He said a number of area ministers are expected to take part in the discussion. He said some members of the city’s board of education, and local elected or appointed officials [...]