Teaching and Learning:
Meeting the Challenge of High Standards in Alabama

Summary Report

Link to the complete report

Overview: Good Teaching Matters Most


"...the single most important thing that Alabama can do to improve student achievement is to work to guarantee that every child in Alabama has well-prepared, capable and caring teachers."

-- Ruth Ash and Robin Litaker, Co-Chairs
Task Force on Teaching and Student Achievement


With this in mind, the Task Force on Teaching and Student Achievement set about the work of outlining and highlighting the critical elements necessary for making this ambitious goal a reality. Under the guidance of co-chairs, Ruth Ash, Dean of the College of Education at Samford University, and Robin Litaker, 1997 Alabama Teacher of the Year, from Trace Crossings Elementary School, task force members, representing a broad cross-section of the education, business, and public policy sectors of the state, met to study and make recommendations about strategies for improving teaching and raising student achievement.

John Norton, former Vice President of Information for the Southern Regional Education Board, wrote this report. Barnett Berry, Director of the Southeast Office for Teaching Quality served as the consultant, while Anne Lewis, one of the nation's leading education writers, prepared sidebars on some of Alabama's most successful school programs. The costs of the project were underwritten and staff support provided by the A+ Education Foundation.

Teaching and Learning: Meeting the Challenge of High Standards in Alabama is the result of almost two years of effort by members of the Task Force on Teaching and Student Achievement. This report comes at a time when Alabamians must seriously consider the condition of public education in our state and work together to ensure that our children will, indeed, have the benefit of "capable, caring teachers" in their classrooms.

Teaching and Learning demonstrates the central place of good teaching in the lives of successful students and, although there are no "quick fixes" advocated here, the task force's research shows that a dollar spent on improving teacher qualifications netted greater gains in student learning than any other single use of that same money. Couple this with studies showing that teacher effectiveness has as much influence on a child's academic success as his or her race, family income, or home environment, and it becomes clear that recruiting, training, and supporting excellent teachers is central to Alabama's goal of higher student achievement.

Teaching and Learning: Meeting the Challenge of High Standards in Alabama is divided into five sections: The first section makes the case for why good teaching matters most. The other four sections address areas identified by task force members as critical to implementing a comprehensive teacher development system. The task force advocates such a comprehensive approach in light of our knowledge that a well-prepared teacher is the critical ingredient in student learning. As we demand more from students in the classroom, Teaching and Learning notes, we must also build a teacher development system that guarantees every committed teacher will have the skills and knowledge to make a difference in their students' academic lives. Only with such a high-support system in place can every teacher be held strictly accountable for results.

The Importance of Teaching in Raising Student Achievement


From the Alabama Reading Initiative's efforts to craft a statewide approach to literacy to the local work of the Maysville Math Initiative in Mobile; from school systems like Decatur and Hoover where professional development has become a central priority to the innovations in teacher education being modeled at Samford University; from the partnership between Auburn University and Auburn City Schools to the lively classrooms of teachers like Bill Martin (Fort Payne Middle School), Becky McKay (C.E. Hanna Elementary, Oxford), and Philip Johnson (L.B. Sykes-Lanett Junior High); from the students at Collinsville School who write, produce, and distribute a local newspaper to the relationships between rural schools and higher education forged by PACERS Cooperative at the University of Alabama; our state is filled with examples of the kinds of innovative teaching, teacher support, and teacher training crucial to raising the academic performance of Alabama's students. What is missing is a coherent system that links every phase of teacher development -- from recruitment to retirement -- in an effective whole.

Teaching and Learning cites the increasing body of research confirming that skillful teachers with a deep understanding of their subjects and how to teach them can help all students make dramatic gains in academic achievement.

Among the many significant research findings on teaching and academic success, a study of 900 Texas school districts found that, after controlling for the socio-economic status of students, "the large disparities between black and white students were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the qualifications of their teachers." The combination of Alabama's new, more rigorous standards, and less than satisfactory scores on standardized tests demands that teachers develop, over the course of their careers, the capabilities necessary for helping their students succeed. Finding, supporting, and keeping teachers whose goal is to do just that must become a basic priority in our state.

Policy Options

Teaching and Learning highlights successful and suggests actions that could be taken to address the problems of recruitment, retention, and distribution of competent, caring and capable teachers in Alabama. Among the several options noted, Alabama might: Questions about Recruitment

As Peggy Connell, Talladega County Schools superintendent, states clearly, "The key to education reform resides with the ability of school systems to attract and retain quality teachers." We can begin the work of recruiting and retaining quality teachers at the local level by asking some basic questions: With these questions framing local school systems' concerns, finding and keeping quality teachers can become a priority as Alabama works to raise student achievement.

Teacher Standards That Raise Student Achievement


In the United States, we have tended to view the training of teachers as a relatively simple, short-term process. The underlying assumption has been that the work of teachers lacks the complexity of the work of doctors or architects or engineers and, therefore, does not require the high professional standards that we expect in other occupations.

We now know this assumption is wrong.

A "one-size-fits-all" approach to teaching will no longersuffice. Teaching and Learning notes that there are many kinds of intelligence and many different ways of learning. Absorbing and applying the rapidly accumulating knowledge in classrooms filled with diverse learners is clearly the work of professionals. Why would we expect any less of those whom we charge with educating our most precious gifts-
our children?

Four Critical Junctures

The task force believes that rigorous, proven standards for teaching can help guide the development and refinement of teacher licensing, evaluation, compensation, and continuing professional development in Alabama. These standards, to be effective, must be applied at critical junctures: The first step Alabama must take to assure teacher quality is to set high standards for entry into teacher education programs. Alabama requires a minimum 2.5 grade point average for students entering teacher training programs, and some institutions, including the University of North Alabama and Samford University have already raised the bar for acceptance to their programs.

While all students starting teacher education work must pass the Alabama Basic Skill Test, this standard remains lower than that of many states in our region which use more comprehensive "pre-professional skills tests."

Driving Change through Accountability

But standards don't drive change. Accountability systems do. Until our state develops better ways to accurately measure the progress of new teachers toward higher levels of competency, the Alabama State Board of Education's newly adopted regulations for teacher education and certification will not have a lasting impact on teacher quality. In 1995 the Alabama state legislature approved a provision that would require prospective teachers to pass an exit examination. Because of a long-standing court battle dealing with teacher testing, no teacher examination can be offered in Alabama without the court's approval. A preliminary agreement has been reached that would require teacher candidates in 2001 and beyond to take the Educational Testing Service's (ETS) Praxis I test. This agreement must still be approved by the courts and face a fairness hearing scheduled for late 1999.

Prior to this decision, education leaders will want to consider: Year-Long Internships

In order for education students to meet the challenges of higher entrance standards for the teaching profession, they must be supported as they move through their training. Several states and universities are experimenting with year-long internships to help ensure that new teachers arrive in the classroom well-prepared and confident. Auburn University and Auburn City Schools have worked with a small number of prospective teachers in this way, and, while year-long internships are not inexpensive, they seem much more economical when the dropout rate of beginning teachers (30 percent nationally) is factored in.

Connecticut's BEST program could provide another model for new teacher accountability and support. This two-year program includes analysis of a teacher's lessons through videotape and a portfolio assessment designed to document a teacher's understanding of good planning, teaching, and testing strategies. These accountability measures are backed by extensive professional development opportunities and a school-based mentor support program. Although Alabama has no program with Connecticut's scope, Jefferson County's TEACH Program is a promising model of mentoring that offers insights into the benefits new teachers gain from working with experienced teachers in their areas of expertise.

Teacher Evaluation Systems

As in any profession, a teacher's success depends on his/her ability to grow in knowledge and understanding throughout a career. Alabama's PEPE (Professional Education Personnel Evaluation) system gives us a way to safeguard classrooms from truly incompetent teachers while helping others identify weaknesses in their teaching methods.

As the PEPE "beliefs-and- principles" statement notes, "A sound personnel evaluation program focuses on performance rather than credentials," and "must be coupled with a strong professional development program... (and) strong programs of student and program assessment."

In order to develop a comprehensive teacher evaluation system for Alabama, we must fully realize these PEPE principles while looking more closely at the specific subjects teachers teach and by examining the evidence of good teaching found in the achievements of their students.

The Hoover school system is moving in this direction with its PATHE (Personal Assessment Toward Higher Excellence) program. PATHE identifies eight teacher standards and expects each participant to identify and focus on one standard in each evaluation cycle.

"PATHE lays the foundation for excellence by establishing rigorous standards for what professional educators should know and be able to do," says Gloria Solomon, assistant superintendent of the Hoover City Schools. PATHE "promotes dialogue between and among participants," Solomon adds, "and relies on partnerships between administrators and educators "who actively participate in the assessment process."

The involvement of highly qualified teachers in assessment "is the best way to increase the rigor of teacher evaluation programs," says task force consultant Barnett Berry.

Out-of-Field Teaching

All of our efforts to raise teacher standards and provide evaluation and support for new, as well as experienced teachers will be diminished if Alabama does not seriously address the decades-old problem of out-of-field teaching. This will not be easy given the difficulties brought about by teacher supply, principal misassignments, and teacher education programs that fail to vigorously recruit students into low-supply, high demand teaching areas.

Out-of-field teaching is especially prevalent in our middle schools where students should be receiving the fundamental knowledge and approaches to specific subjects from teachers with a deep understanding of those subjects. Instead, statistics show that two-thirds of sixth grade mathematics classes are taught by teachers with elementary education majors; only 18 percent of eighth grade math classes are taught by teachers who majored in mathematics; in science, only 11 percent of eighth grade classes are taught by teachers who majored in a science content area such as biology or chemistry; and, in grade eight, 70 percent of English classes are taught by teachers with either an elementary education major or a home economics major.

To begin to contend with this situation, state leaders must discuss several issues: Finally, as we move to set and enforce new standards for quality teaching, perhaps through a statewide teacher standards commission, we must make sure that accomplished teachers have a significant voice in setting those standards. As we ask teachers to rise to new levels of excellence, we must do them the honor of allowing them to speak with authority about their own profession.

Teacher Education That Raises Student Achievement


How well we educate teachers in Alabama has everything to do with how well our students achieve. We can not expect even the best teacher education programs to produce a "complete teaching professional." But we can demand that Alabama's teacher education programs prepare teachers who are fully equipped to survive the rigors of their first classroom years.

Some Alabama teacher colleges are doing the hard work necessary to refine their programs in ways that will assure they can graduate teachers fully prepared for "21st Century schools." Others have been slower in letting go of the past and embracing the future.

Colleges of Education -- whose "customer" is the school and, ultimately, the students and the public -- must ask themselves, "How do we restructure and optimize our organizations to guarantee a product that meets our customers' needs?"

Too often, the colleges that train teachers and the school districts that hire them do not work together to assure that "freshly minted" professionals begin their careers successfully. Districts blame colleges for not fully equipping their new hires, and colleges blame districts for not adequately supporting their new graduates.

Alabama leaders will want to ask these questions about the accountability of teacher education: The Samford Story

One example of rethinking and restructuring teacher education programs to meet "customer needs" can be found at Samford University. Students at Samford must complete a 45-hour field experience in an inner city classroom as aides to a master teacher, and, instead of the traditional 12-18 week "student teaching" experience, Samford teachers-in-training spend 30 weeks in school classrooms.

All of these decisions have come about from the dialogue between Samford's faculty and the schools it serves. As Dean Ash says, "Our program...will change as the needs in the schools change. That's what quality is all about."

Samford's relationship with its "customer" is only one example of the ways partnerships between schools and colleges can be strengthened. Bringing together college and school faculties in subject area "alliances;" establishing summer seminars where teachers can deepen their knowledge of a subject by studying with college experts and master teachers; or developing "P-16" councils to encourage educators from pre-school to graduate school to have conversations about shared responsibility for student achievement are all ways the school-college relationship can benefit the education process.

Teaching and Learning points out that, as the relationships between schools and colleges become more "seamless, " the benefits for education students grow. Through extended "clinical experiences" in classrooms, education students have opportunities to find out if they are really suited for the teaching profession. Lisa Meeks, a nationally certified teacher at Mobile's Baker Elementary School says, "We need to make sure we give these people the opportunity to opt out before they feel trapped. Children don't deserve teachers who are just showing up for work."

Auburn University and Auburn City Schools have developed a partnership in several schools that allows education students to work in real classrooms as education interns. This relationship lets students see what teaching is like "up close." It also gives professors a chance to "renew themselves" by observing and participating in the everyday work of teachers. Debbie Smith, an Auburn City principal who has teamed with Auburn University in partnerships at Wrights Mill and Yarborough Elementary schools puts it this way, "One of the neatest things is that university interns see us as learners, too. We don't want anyone who's training to be a teacher to look at us and think we have all the answers. We all need to be risk-takers, and we have as much to learn from the university students and professors as they do from us."

Finding ways to improve and extend the "clinical experiences" education students have in schools is an essential function of school-college partnerships and can add greatly to what is the most critical component of a good teacher education program.

As in the case of Auburn City, schools may opt to become "professional development schools" and serve as clinical laboratories for teachers in training. Such arrangements allow university faculty and experienced teachers to be equal partners, mentoring education students and each other.

Duplication of Programs

In many discussions of education reform, the question of duplication comes up. Teaching and Learning asserts that not every school of education should offer every kind of teacher preparation program. Teacher education programs with particular strengths in certain degree areas (e.g., math, science, physical education, early childhood education) could be encouraged to increase their number of seats in these areas through incentive grants, becoming "centers of excellence" in certain fields.

Alabama might also consider placing stricter limits on the number of degree programs a college can offer, helping to ensure that faculty have the time to offer individual support for teacher trainees, both in the college classroom and in school-based clinical experiences.

NCATE Accreditation

Teaching and Learning also suggests that national accreditation for teacher education programs is an important element in assuring standards of quality and accountability equal to other states. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) provides reasonable minimum standards for teacher education programs -- standards that NCATE continues to raise over time.

About 60 percent of Alabama's teacher education programs (producing about 95 percent of the state's teacher education graduates) have earned NCATE accreditation. Whether NCATE's standards are -- or will be -- sufficient to drive necessary reforms in every Alabama college and university remains to be seen. But it can be argued that NCATE represents a necessary first step for most teacher education programs as they set out on the long road to reform.

If NCATE standards are to be considered for all Alabama colleges of education: Along these same lines, Teaching and Learning suggests graduate programs in education need to be redefined so that teachers have the opportunity to participate in programs that are designed to produce better results in the classroom.

At present, many teachers choose to pursue graduate degrees in school administration as a way of expanding their career options, although many admit they have little interest in becoming principals or administrators. Instead, they should have a choice of graduate programs that mirror the characteristics of cutting-edge professional development and bolster the particular skills and knowledge each teacher needs to succeed in a teaching specialty.

In spite of the critical influence teacher education has on student achievement, funding for colleges of education in Alabama-and in many other states-is not at a level to support the "clinical models" and true partnerships between colleges and schools we need in order to train exceptional teachers.

In 1988, both the Alabama Department of Education and the Alabama Commission on Higher Education passed resolutions calling for teacher education programs to be funded on the same level as nursing programs, arguing that students in both disciplines needed significant clinical experiences in order to perform effectively. Action on the recommendations has never been taken and a proposed follow-up study never completed.

Dr. Richard Kunkel, Dean of the College of Education at Auburn University, illustrates the problem this way, "Our employers tell us we must prepare teachers to use instructional technology. But the funds we have available to purchase computers, software, and other technology is far below what we see in the colleges of engineering or architecture." A 1997 study echoes Dean Kunkel's concerns; it found that "education programs were funded well below the average, generally near the bottom ranks of departments and well below the level of other professional preparation programs."

If Alabama is going to make real strides in improving its teacher education programs, our leaders should ask themselves these questions about funding teacher education:

Professional Development that Raises Student Achievement


Becoming a truly accomplished teacher is a life-long journey. Few, if any, teachers arrive at the classroom with all the skills and knowledge they need to draw out the maximum potential from each student. Our common sense tells us this is true, yet Alabama currently does far too little to help teachers grow professionally throughout their careers.

Parents, community leaders, and many educators, have to rid themselves of the notion that a teacher is only working when he or she is in a classroom with students. How many times have teachers been denied the opportunity to attend important seminars or to set aside a few hours of school time each week to brainstorm about ways to improve student achievement because administrators or parents believed that time away from students was time wasted?

It is true that many of the activities labeled "teacher staff development" have been -- and often still are -- time wasters, often focusing "on safe topics such as student self-esteem or school climate," says Dennis Sparks, Executive Director of the National Staff Development Council. "In most schools," Sparks adds, "the small amount of staff development that focuses on teachers' instructional knowledge and skills isn't sufficiently rigorous or sustained to produce lasting on-the-job changes."

The answer, however, Teaching and Learning contends, is not to dismiss professional development as unimportant, but to take steps to make sure that every minute teachers spend away from our classrooms will ultimately contribute to greater student achievement. We are not shortchanging our kids when we give teachers release time to learn to do their jobs better.

"The bottom line," says Sparks, "is that staff development must shift from counting how many staff participate and whether they enjoyed the session, to determining whether the system is improving student achievement."

Effective Staff Development

A recent study by two University of Michigan researchers identified critical links between professional development for teachers, changes in their teaching practices, and improved student achievement. David Cohen and Heather Hill surveyed 1000 elementary school teachers and found that schools were more likely to have high student achievement when teachers took part in professional development that focused on specific curriculum issues (teaching fractions, for example). Equally important, teachers in high achieving schools had opportunities to work with other teachers, use research methods to study what their students did and did not know, and to improve their lessons based on what they learned.

The more often teachers had training that connected directly to real issues in their classrooms, the better their students performed. When teachers spent most of their time studying general education strategies, their students did not perform nearly so well.

Some of the hallmarks of good staff development that enhances student performance include activities that: Best Practices

Teaching and Learning highlights a core group of Alabama schools that are already involved in professional development programs that model the standards presented here. The Alabama Reading Initiative, for example, last year provided teachers from 16 schools with 10-13 days of intensive training in reading instruction. Teachers from the selected schools received continued assistance from nearby higher education institutions partnered with those schools to work toward 100 percent literacy. Principals and faculties from another 64 schools were trained during the summer of 1999.

Convinced by educators involved in the Reading Initiative that this type of targeted professional development is essential to improving achievement, the legislature provided $6 million to expand this program.

Other significant examples of the gains to be made by focusing on effective professional development abound in Alabama. The Decatur City Schools' efforts toward "Total Staff Development," led by Superintendent Larry Walter and Jeanne Payne, supervisor of staff development and curriculum for grades K-6, have netted impressive gains for many students.

Leon Sheffield Elementary School, for example, used intensive planning across grade levels and a program of professional development matched to its particular needs to raise scores on the Stanford Achievement Test by 18 points over three years. Combined with a jump from Ds and Fs to Bs and Cs on the fifth grade writing assessment, these improvements moved Sheffield from the state's list of "alert schools" to "all clear" status in one year's time.

In the Hoover City Schools, professional development plans grow out of each school's "renewal" plan and are carefully targeted to needs identified by teachers and administrators. Through a partnership forged with the University of Montevallo, the Talladega County Schools are developing a three-year staff development plan based on specific student achievement goals.

For nearly a decade, Maryvale Elementary School in Mobile County has emphasized professional development tailored to the needs of particular teachers and students, identified by teacher committees and the principal. The payoff has been significant. Maryvale is a National Blue Ribbon school and, with its 98- percent impoverished student population, has defied expectation by nearly doubling its SAT-9 scores since the 1994-95 school year. Performance in most grades has pushed beyond the national average.

Through the Maysville Math Initiative, Mobile County Schools, funded by the Mobile Area Education Foundation, and supported by the A+ Education Foundation, the University of South Alabama, the Southeastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) and the South Alabama Regional Inservice Center (SARIC), is focusing on math instruction in 6 inner city schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

"If Alabama wants all of its students to pass the tough math portion of the state's graduation exam, math teachers at every grade level must understand how math instruction fits together," says Elizabeth Evans, secondary math coordinator for the Mobile County Schools. This project can be viewed as a model of state-local, public-private cooperation. "We are trying to leverage our Foundation dollars to make sure that we strategically focus our funds where we can improve student achievement," says Carolyn Akers, executive director of the Mobile Area Education Foundation.

These are only a few of the insightful, effective actions being taken in Alabama to institute real professional development for teachers.

Increased Funding Needed

What is clear, however, is that Alabama needs to increase its investment in professional development. While we have begun investing in hiring more teachers to reduce class size, this alone will not have a major impact on student achievement. Class-size reductions, research shows, account for about 10 percent of achievement gains, while the quality and preparation level of teachers accounts for more than 40 percent.

Teaching and Learning points out that, in the 1998-99 school year, Alabama invested only $60 per teacher in direct funding for professional development (another $60 per teacher is allocated to the 11 regional inservice centers across Alabama). Together these funds total less than two-tenths of one percent of the education budget and significantly less than other professions invest in continuing education.

Most successful corporations invest 3-5 percent of their annual budgets in the professional development of their employees. The State of Kentucky invests one percent of its annual school budget in teacher staff development. A comparable investment by Alabama would have totaled about $27 million in 1998-99. We actually appropriated only about $5 million.

Standards-based Development

Any new funding for professional development, Teaching and Learning proposes, should be tied to standards that emphasize staff development strategies proven to raise teaching skills and student achievement. State leaders may also want to establish higher standards for existing state funds earmarked for on-the-job teacher training.

This is not to say that the state should dictate how local systems use professional development dollars. Teachers and principals must have maximum flexibility as they make specific decisions concerning the needs of their students. However, it is reasonable and prudent for Alabama to link professional development dollars to an evaluation system that offers flexibility in return for accountability.

As Alabama's leaders explore options for improving professional development statewide, they should consider these questions: Given the results of our best efforts at quality professional development and the strong indications of its importance to student success, we should act decisively to build a coherent system that supports on-the-job training throughout our teachers' careers. As Lisa Whatley, a fourth grade teacher at Maryvale Elementary School, makes clear, "Student achievement is all about training teachers."

Organizing Schools to Improve Teaching And Raise Student Achievement

School conditions are a critically important factor in any effort to raise student achievement and change teaching for the better. No teacher, however skillful or dedicated, can bring about the fundamental changes described in Teaching and Learning if they are trapped in a "toxic" school environment.

Successful schools have a "culture of improvement," an attitude that "we're all in this together for the sake of the kids." This attitude prevails in high-achieving schools, whether they are surrounded by the green lawns of suburbia, the plowed fields of rural Alabama, or the sidewalks and alleyways of our inner cities. Successful schools have high expectations for themselves, and those expectations are shared by their communities.

Characteristics of Successful Schools

These successful schools, Teaching and Learning reports, are given flexibility from school boards and central administrators, and: Toxic Cultures

Some schools develop "toxic cultures," which actively discourage efforts to improve teaching or student achievement. In these schools, the spirit and focus is fractured and often hostile; the value of serving students is replaced by the goal of serving self; a sense of helplessness and despair predominates; and professional growth is not a prized activity.

A school's principal, staff developers, and teacher leaders need to examine their school with an eye for time issues. Does the school's culture include ideas about time that supports adult learning? For example, do teachers want to spend time conferring with colleagues and improving their teaching? Do they feel that time spent on staff development is worthwhile?

Through creative scheduling and carefully thought-out investments in additional staff, school systems like Homewood City and Auburn City are making the time they need to pursue school-based professional development and to support daily conversations among teachers about student achievement. Creating more time for teachers and administrators to work together as professionals can lead to a professional culture where student achievement is central to a school's vision and planning.

A recent study in Georgia compared higher achieving and lower achieving schools. Researchers concluded that in the higher-achieving schools there was a "greater collaboration on decisions about staff development, a greater focus on students, a greater focus on the classroom...and more support from leadership. There was an excitement in these schools when teachers and administrators talked about working together to find ways to have a greater impact on students."

High-Performing High-Poverty Schools

Data from a study of nearly 500 successful high-poverty schools in Texas offers more insights into the "culture" of improvement. In these schools, researcher Joseph Johnson reports, a spirit of professionalism and determination prevailed: Community Involvement

One outstanding example of how schools can bring communities together can be found at Collinsville, near Lookout Mountain, where textile and other industries have attracted a growing community of Hispanic workers. Collinsville teachers have eased into teaching in much more diverse classrooms with the help of an outside support group. The PACERS Cooperative, a program out of the University of Alabama to revitalize rural schools and communities, has trained a regular teacher as an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher. PACERS also helped bring a group of teachers from El Salvador to the community. Students and teachers learned much more about Hispanic culture, tradition, and history than they could have from books.

To promote a school culture of improvement that can spur higher student achievement and bring schools and communities together in dynamic partnerships, Teaching and Learning emphasizes the critical role school leaders play. Auburn City Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Freeman states the case straightforwardly: "You have to have a strong principal."

Good Principals Are Critical

According to education researcher Barbara Neufeld, principals who are going to be leaders of school reform must know how to: To learn these things, Neufeld says, principals need wise mentors, a good professional development program, and lots of practice.

Teaching and Learning interviewed many outstanding educators across the state including: Anne Dominick Hardin, 1999 Alabama Teacher of the Year; Dot Riley, principal, Trace Crossings Elementary; Annie Crandle, principal, Whitley Elementary, Mobile County; David Stiles, principal, Mountain Brook High School; Kathy Murphy, principal, Greenville Middle School; Carol Lowe, principal, Benjamin Russell High, Alexander City; and Sherrill Parrish, principal, Byrd Elementary, Selma, and found them unified on the importance of quality leadership for student achievement. These educators stressed the need for principals to be instructional leaders in their schools; to provide atmospheres where teachers felt safe making decisions and taking instructional risks; and to set high expectations for their staff and students. As Sherrill Parrish says, "The buck stops with me. And that's the way it should be."

To bring about the kinds of reform necessary to raise student achievement to the levels now mandated by the State of Alabama, Teaching and Learning suggests, school administrators, communities, and teachers need access to information, training, and networking opportunities that can help identify creative solutions to school organizational issues. A recent task force studying the operations of the State Department of Education noted that: "There are many training programs and curricula already available throughout the state, and there is a need for a clearinghouse for resources, consultants and best practices."

Innovations Center

To accomplish this, the state should consider inviting competitive proposals from inservice centers, higher education institutions, and other appropriate organizations to create a statewide school innovations center. Such a center could serve as a "clearinghouse," exchanging ideas, promoting the sharing of resources, and identifying expertise in schools and school districts across Alabama.

As leaders ponder options for improving school organization, such as the school innovations center, they should consider these questions about school conditions that support quality teaching and student achievement:

Pulling it All Together


Alabama's tough new graduation requirements, its courses of study, its performance standards, and its determination to set higher expectations for teacher education programs combine to telegraph a clear message to our schools: "You must be accountable." Now, the hard work begins.

Teaching and Learning: Meeting the Challenge of High Standards puts forward a comprehensive strategy that, if implemented, could create a system to help teachers, students, administrators, and parents in every Alabama community meet the challenge of these high standards. This strategy, based on compelling research, relies on capable and qualified teachers who are given the tools and support to be successful.

"When educators are involved in the design and operation of their schools, they buy in (to school reform)," says science teacher Bill Martin. "When we feel we are respected as professionals who are allowed to make the best decisions for our students, then we are willing to be held accountable for results."

Former Alabama Teacher of the Year, Anne Jolly, puts it another way, "Support us, question us, hold us accountable. But most of all, believe in us. Believe in the power of good teaching."

"Meaningful reform," says nationally certified science teacher, Wilma Guthrie, "must begin in our classrooms, one-on-one with our students. The quality (and quantity) of our relationships...with students is the single most important factor in helping all of our kids perform at higher levels."

In many ways, the strategy laid out inTeaching and Learning and the examples of exceptional programs and schools highlighted here, are all based on one foundation: Respect. First and foremost, it is a respect for the worth and abilities of Alabama's children, an attitude without which there can be no true education reform. Second, it is an abiding respect for our teachers, born from our belief and our experience that, when given support and the opportunity to grow as professionals, they can "draw out" the best in their students.

Teaching and Learning calls us to the hard work of creating schools and communities where respect leads to careful planning and decisive action -- all on behalf of Alabama's real treasure, our children.

Help us identify promising practices

We know that for every story and person chronicled in this publication, there are hundreds of untold stories about effective programs, teachers, and practices in Alabama. We hope you'll share them with us. We would like to learn more about them and feature them in future articles. Write to: cathy@aplusala.org

How to order copies

Copies of the full report, Teaching and Learning: Meeting the Challenge of High Standards , are available for $6 each, plus postage and handling. To order, call or write:

A+ Education Foundation
P.O. Box 4433
Montgomery, AL 36103
(334) 279-1886

Additional copies of this summary report are available for $2.50 each (includes postage and handling). Material in this report may be reproduced without further permission providing proper credit is given to the Task Force on Teaching and Student Achievement.

Summary Report prepared by
Rick Shelton

Graphics and printing by
Compos-it, Inc.

Members of Task Force on Teaching and Student Achievement:

Carolyn Akers
Executive Director
Mobile Area Education Foundation
Mobile, Alabama

Lydia Alexander
President
Bessemer City Board of Education
Bessemer, Alabama

Ruth Ash
Dean of Education
Samford University
Birmingham, Alabama

Pam Baker
Commissioner of Children's Affairs
Governor's Office
Montgomery, Alabama

Sabra Barnett
Deputy Policy Director
Governor's Office
Montgomery, Alabama

Barnett Berry
Director
Southeast Center for Teaching Quality
Columbia, South Carolina

Fred Braswell
CEO & President
Alabama Rural Electric Association
Montgomery, Alabama

Dick Brewbaker
Vice President
Brewbaker Motors, Inc.
Montgomery, Alabama

Rick Brown
Principal
Sheffield High School
Sheffield, Alabama

Clint Bruess
Dean of Education
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama

Peggy Connell
Superintendent
Talladega County Schools
Talladega, Alabama

Donna Dickey
President
Alabama PTA
Sylacauga, Alabama

Jack Farr
Superintendent
Hoover City Schools
Hoover, Alabama

Giles Farley
Policy Director
Governor's Office
Montgomery, Alabama

Suzanne Freeman
Associate Superintendent
Auburn City Schools
Auburn, Alabama

Cathy Gassenheimer
Managing Director
A+ Education Foundation
Montgomery, Alabama

Logan Gray
Senior Vice President
SouthTrust Corporation
Birmingham, Alabama

Ethel Hall
Vice President
State Board of Education
Fairfield, Alabama

Anita Hardin
Dean of Education
Troy State University
Troy, Alabama

Fred Hattabaugh
Dean of Education
University of North Alabama
Florence, Alabama

Feagin Johnson
Associate State Superintendent
Alabama State Department of Education
Montgomery, Alabama

Carolyn Keasal
Teacher, Nationally Board Certified
Beulah Elementary School
Auburn, Alabama

Richard Kunkel
Dean of Education
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama

Robin Litaker
Former State Teacher of the Year
Trace Crossings Elementary
Hoover, Alabama

Bill Martin
Teacher
Fort Payne Middle School
Gaylesville, Alabama

Nancy McGinty
Teacher
Bear Exploration Center
Montgomery, Alabama

Jayne Meyer
Director
Teacher Education and Certification
Alabama State Department of Education
Montgomery, Alabama

Joe Morton
Deputy State Superintendent
Alabama State Department of Education
Montgomery, Alabama

John Norton
Education Writer/Editor/Consultant
Spruce Pine, North Carolina

Caroline Novak
President
A+ Education Foundation
Montgomery, Alabama

Maurice Persall
Director of the Graduate Program
Samford University
Birmingham, Alabama

Anita Raby
President
Alabama Education Association
Montgomery, Alabama

Sandra Ray
State Board of Education
Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Phil Redrick
Dean of Education
Alabama A&M University
Normal, Alabama

William E. Smith, Jr.
Chairman
A+ Education Foundation
Birmingham, Alabama

Pat Speight
Principal
Hillview Elementary
Birmingham, Alabama

Jim Williams
Executive Director
Public Affairs Council of Alabama
Birmingham Alabama

Donna Williams
Civic Volunteer
Birmingham, Alabama