The State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to announce its intent to adopt new Administrative Code rule changes for literacy coursework aligned with the science of reading and professional earning and standards for school leadership, as well as its approval of six universities' UTeach Alabama educator preparation programs. The SBOE rejected an alternative teacher preparation organization #T.E.A.C.H., Training Educators and Training Hope, with only four members voting in approval and five abstaining, after some discussion.

During the March SBOE work session, there was robust discussion about the accountability measures in the state's report card, and the performance of both virtual and charter schools. State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey announced a new Accountability Task Force will be convened by the end of this school year, with representatives from school systems, the state, and education groups, including the AASB, to review the current A-F state report card weights and components. The Accountability Task Force will present its recommendations by winter 2025, so potential changes will not impact the 2024-2025 report card. Mackey said the earliest report card that would be impacted would be in the 2026-2027 school year. 

Mackey cited conversations with superintendents who want to reconsider using the ACT as an accountability measure, and possibly adding additional indicators to better capture student growth in low-performing subgroups (e.g. in the bottom 25% of students). The SBOE requested input in this process and pressed for clarity on their role in the timeline and approval of these recommendations. The SBOE wants to ensure feedback from students and families is incorporated as well.

State A-F Accountability System: Current Indicators and Weights by Designation

Other Board Meeting and Work Session News

• Educator Preparation Programs: Both Jacksonville State University and the University of Montevallo's educator preparation programs are scheduled for approval during the April 2024 SBOE meeting.

• Alternative Teacher Preparation Organizations (ATPOs): Two ATPOs, the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence and iTeach, presented during the work session on their programs' coursework, cost, and alignment with state requirements for alternative teacher certification. Both organizations operate alternative teacher preparation programs in multiple other states, and both meet requirements detailed in Rule 290-3-3-.60 with the Education Preparation chapter of the Alabama Administrative Code adopted in November 2023. Both are now recommended for approval. Mackey noted the "legislative intent to create alternative pathways" into the classroom, explaining the differences between SDE alternative certificate programs, which are a pathway to a degree, and these alternative teacher preparation programs, which are a pathway to certification. As part of an alternative teacher preparation program, an individual must already have a bachelor's degree, complete and pass the program coursework, and then complete and pass the state's required certification tests. Mackey noted lots of interest in other states for mid-career professionals who want to become a teacher and obtain teacher certification without going back to college for this specific type of degree. He said four private ATPOs have approached the Alabama State Department of Education (SDE) for approval of their programs, one of which has been denied.

• Praxis Assessment and Score for Special Education: Last updated in 2012, when it was first required, the current Praxis subject assessment for special education and its passing score are recommended to be discontinued and replaced with the new subject assessment and the new multi-state passing score, effective Sept. 1, 2024. The new subject assessment for special education was updated by the national Educational Testing Services in September 2023 and includes positive changes with increased emphasis on learning environments and learning differences for students with special needs.

• PowerSchool Unified Insights: The SDE presented a new component of PowerSchool, the state's student information system, called “Unified Insights” which will enable teachers, schools, systems, and the state to access a dynamic real-time data dashboard of enrollment, attendance/absenteeism, behavior, academic, assessment, digital literacy, and literacy data in one location. This new component will allow for comprehensive student profiles containing an individual student's historical data, condensing multiple data sources into one singular format. The SDE began training on this new component in November 2023 and will roll out with school teams next month in preparation for implementation during summer literacy and math camps. The SDE will start creating system-level data dashboards and have discussed with each system prior to rollout. The "Unified Insights" was added onto the SDE existing contract with PowerSchool via an RFP last year. 

• Virtual and Charter Schools Performance: The SDE presented the A-F numeric and letter grades for the state's 15 virtual schools and 18 charter schools. Four of Alabama's virtual schools offer statewide enrollment - Limestone, Athens, Eufaula, and Chickasaw. Mackey noted that while most systems offer some level of virtual courses, this is different than operating a virtual school. The score of "Insufficient Data" denotes those schools which recently opened and do not have enough data available. Mackey highlighted the positive collaborative relationship between the SDE and the Alabama Charter School Commission. The Commission's Executive Director, Logan Searcy, spoke to the unique challenges facing Alabama's relatively new charter school sector, especially around funding and capacity. "These are similar challenges faced by smaller school systems," Searcy said. She noted the report card data does not consider all that happens in a charter school setting, which must operate both as a school and as its own school system. For example, she pointed out some charter schools are enrolling students from multiple communities, but because they do not have school bus transportation, these charters see higher absenteeism rates. 

• Legislative Update: Mackey provided an update on several bills as the 2024 Regular Legislative Session is officially halfway through, specifically noting the SDE's opposition to two pieces of proposed legislation - HB95 (Stubbs) and SB176 (Chesteen). SBOE Vice President Tracie West (District 2) asked about HB95, which would allow for the virtual administration of state testing. Mackey expressed serious concerns with implications for testing security and how this bill may jeopardize the state's federal funding based on potential noncompliance with federal testing requirements; these concerns were shared with lawmakers. He noted if HB95 passed, virtual testing could not be implemented before 2026 due to the current state testing contract. "The Legislature has never, ever set the parameters for standardized testing," Mackey cautioned. SB176 would create two new high school graduation requirements to be developed and administered by the Alabama Community College System (ACCS). Mackey shared he is working with the bill sponsor to address concerns. Mackey said the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget is expected to begin moving through the legislative process after the second legislative spring break during the first week of April. The SDE top budget priority is a $22 million requested increase for struggling readers beyond grade 3. He also highlighted the need for increased funding for assistant principals. These budget requests are in addition to maintaining the existing ETF for K-12 education.

Other board action included approval of resolutions recognizing:

• March 4-8, 2024 as "National School Breakfast Week"
• March 10-16, 2024 as "Child and Adult Care Food Program Week"
• Alabama 2024 Purple Star Schools, which show a major commitment to military-connected students and families. 

Next SBOE Meeting & Work Session

The board’s next meeting will take place Thursday, April 11 at 10 a.m. in Montgomery with a work session immediately following.

• Gordon Persons Building Auditorium
• Livestream viewing: https://www.youtube.com/user/aldeptofed/live
• Archived meeting and work session recordings: https://www.alabamaachieves.org/state-board-of-education/meeting-videos/