Impact of the no child left behind act in Alabama: a review

Journal of Instructional Psychology, Sept, 2006 by Shawn H. Plash, Chris Piotrowski

Grants of nearly $100 million are available to school districts in The Teaching American History program which is designed to enlarge the teacher's knowledge of American history through continuing professional development. Teachers are encouraged to focus lessons on significant events and noteworthy individuals who have played important roles in the history of the United States. Emphasis is placed on encouraging good citizenship among students so they will in turn exercise their civic duties (The Achiever, 2003c).

Recently, Alabama had received additional funding to ensure quality educational services. In 2003, Alabama received $722.3 million to aid local schools, which is an increase of $87 million over the previous year. Title I funding increased to $182 million which is an increase of $34 million from the previous year. To support Alabama's goal to have highly qualified teachers in every classroom, the federal government is providing $45.4 million to train and keep teachers in the classroom. To help recruit math and science teachers in Alabama, the state has offered a financial incentive for students majoring in education. If the student commits to teach either math or science in a high poverty school the student is eligible for additional financial aid. In the fall of 2002, the program had only 24 applicants but there are hopes that there will be increased interest in the program in the near future (Alabama Education News, 2003a). The federal government provides approximately $4.5 million to after school programs for children who are found to be at risk and $199.5 million is provided in the form of Pell grants to assist students from a poor economic background to attend college. Furthermore, according to the Bush White House, $6.1 million has been provided to local school districts to assess students on their achievement level (Hough, 2003).

In summary, educators in Alabama have faced many challenges in meeting the requirements enacted in the NCLBA. Remarkable strides have been made in closing the achievement scores between minorities and low income students. Alabama has taken several important steps to improving teaching quality in the state and more highly qualified teachers are being placed in the classroom. In fact, The A Education Foundation and the Peabody Center for Education Policy predicts that the number of highly qualified teachers will increase dramatically, possibly even double in the 2004-2005 school year, as teachers pass the PRAXIS II and complete the HOUSSE model (Alabama Education Policy Primer, 2005)

References

Alabama Department of Education. (2003). The Alabama model for identifying highly qualified teachers. Retrieved December 29, 2003, from ftp://ftp.alsde.edu/documents/66/SBE Alabama Model for Highly Qualfied Teachers.pdf

Alabama Department of Education. (2004). Highly qualified criteria and Praxis II tests. Retrieved June 19, 2004, from ftp://ftp.alsde.edu/documents/66/HighlyQualifiedAndPraxisll.doc

Alabama Education News. (2003a, May). Highly qualified teachers: Can you solve the puzzle?, 26, 3.