Sandra Day O’Connor Develops Online Civics Game

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has helped develop a free online computer game for teens that promotes civics. The “Supreme Decision” is the first of several games that are planned. In this game, students role-play the part of a U.S. Supreme Court Clerk. They help a justice with a tie-breaking vote over a First Amendment case. The game was developed to help middle school students learn more about the Constitution and the role of the courts.

Sandra Day O’Connor is not an avid tech user herself and admits that she doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account and doesn’t even text. She does recognize that students today do use technology. O’Connor recognizes that students are more likely to learn if they are taught in ways that they like to use. She claims kids spend “40 hours a week, on average, in front of some type of screen." She is famous for having said that more people can name an American Idol judge than the three branches of government.

O’Connor hopes that as a result of this project, students will learn more about civics and develop the skills they need to analyze problems and develop sound arguments. Another game, called "Do I Have a Right," has also been released. In that game, students play the director of a constitutional law firm. They must decide which amendment resolves a problem posed by a client. Check them out at http://www.ourcourts.org/default.php

Gates Foundation Grant for Alabama Teachers

This was just sent out via the Alabama Department of Education:

Funding for Public School Teachers to Help Students at High-Need or Rural High Schools Prepare For College!

1. What’s available? Gates Foundation has given us a grant to match funding to teachers’ classroom project request(s) to prepare students for college. Last year, 93% of projects that qualified for this Gates match offer were fully funded by donors who visited our site!

2. Who qualifies? If you are a full-time teacher at a high-need or rural public high school, you are eligible for this funding.

3. How do I participate? First, log in to your teacher account on DonorsChoose.org (if you don’t have one, any public school teacher can sign up at www.donorschoose.org/teacher. Once you’re logged in, submit a project requesting materials to help prepare your students for college.

4. Then what happens? A few hours after your project is approved, you should see a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation logo on your project. This means it has qualified for this offer and now has a great chance of being fully funded by the other donors that visit our site.

To see projects recently funded via this offer, visit http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?historical=true&keywords=college&&&gradeType=4

To get started with submitting your own college prep project, log in to your account at www.donorschoose.org/teacher.

Linking the Dropout Crisis to the Economy in Alabama

Did you know that in Alabama students who are over 16 can legally dropout of high school? Perhaps that is one of the reasons The Southern Education Foundation reports that “Alabama now ranks 42nd in the nation in per capita income and nearly two-thirds of the state’s income gap with the nation is entirely due to the state’s low levels of education primarily fueled by the state’s high school dropout problems.” Last year the SEF published High School Dropouts: Alabama’s Number One Education and Economic Problem. This shocking report found the high school dropout rate in Alabama in 2006-2007 was 39 percent and it links the dropout problem to economic problems over the last thirty years. The report found that the consequences of having an undereducated population are dire indeed.

According to the report, dropouts lose the opportunity to gain the skills they need to earn livable wages. The lack of skilled workers can prevent local communities from generating the revenues needed to provide the public services that citizens require. Also, dropouts are less likely to participate in civic life, reducing the effectiveness of public engagement in democracy. Dropouts are more likely to end up marginalized, living as vagrants, creating communities of concentrated poverty and incarcerated at higher rates. This puts an even bigger burden on the community when potentially productive citizens are locked up at public expense.

I encourage everyone to read the report from the SEF. It explains how Alabama is ranked 42^nd in the nation in per capita income and clearly links that to our education system. It explores the pattern of dropout rates by county and shows that Alabama ranks 45^th in failure to graduate according to the US Department of Education.

To solve the dropout crisis facing our state, the SEF encourages Alabama to address the issues that “define the needs of the entire academic system: academic preparation for achievement, positive school environments, targeting effective programs, successful recovery and prevention measures, and adequate financing.” You can find the report online at http://www.sefatl.org/pdf/HSD%20Report-Final-2007Appendix.pdf

According to the report, “Alabama can attract and grow new industries with good paying jobs in the decades ahead only if it systematically keeps more students in school, provides them with affordable higher education, and helps them graduate from high school and college on time.”

Alabama Has a Decrease in Title I Schools In Improvement Status

Today is the day that the list of schools that did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) was released. Its also a day that many are breathing a sigh of relief! This year the number of schools in improvment status has gone down. If a school does not meet its AYP goals two years in a row in the same subject area, the school enters improvement status. Once a school is identified as in improvement, it must make AYP two years in a row to come out of improvement status.

According to the Alabama Department of Education, 1,376 public schools, including 866 Title I schools, were measured for the 2009-10 AYP status (based on 2008-09 data). This year in Alabama, 122 schools have been identified for School Improvement. Of those identified, 52 are Title I schools – a 29 percent decrease over last year’s 73 Title I schools. These 52 Title I schools must offer School Choice if a school of choice is available in the same district.

Title I schools identified for School Improvement in Year 2 and beyond must continue the school choice option to all students and provide Supplemental Education Services (SES) to students eligible for free/reduced meals. Non-title I schools may offer the same provisions, but don't have to because of the cost. In 2009, the Alabama Department of Education requested a continuation of the waiver so that schools in their first year of improvement may offer choice instead of SES. Parents can contact their local school system’s central office for more information.

Accountability results, assessment results, a listing of all schools, including their AYP and School Improvement status, and School Choice information can be found on the Alabama Department of Education’s Web site at www.alsde.edu under “Accountability Reporting.”