The World Around You

Of course Alabama is gaming the No Child Left Behind law, as is just about every other state. Why anyone wasted their time studying that is beyond me.

“While NCLB was designed to raise achievement standards every year until 2014, when 100 percent of students are required to be proficient,” the report states “the Alabama Department of Education has lowered the standards annually, to the point where even abjectly failing districts like Birmingham make the grade. …
“The serious consequences and strong interventions that NCLB’s authors envisioned for chronically underperforming districts like Birmingham are nowhere to be found.
The report, “The Pangloss Index: How States Game the No Child Left Behind Act” by the Education Sector think tank, finds that Alabama, Iowa, Tennessee and Wisconsin have underminded the No Child Left Behind law by adopting “unusually easy tests” and using lenient grading systems.

Alabama undermines No Child Left Behind law, education think tank says- al.com

If you live near a dam in Alabama, I’m sure you take great comfort in knowing that we are the only state that doesn’t inspect dams. Good luck with that.

Alabama Only State not Inspecting Dams - News - NBC13.com

It was a smart move by Speaker Seth Hammett yesterday to nip in the bud the talk about the Alabama House attempting to redraw Congressional districts early. There is enough contentiousness in the Alabama legislature without have to deal with that.

Speaker says House will not try to redraw Congressional districts - NewsFlash - al.com