Alabama dropout summit to tackle range of issues

ALABAMA'S DROPOUT RATE CONTINUES TO RANK AS ONE OF THE HIGHEST IN THE COUNTRY, AND GOVERNOR BOB RILEY INTENDS TO TACKLE THE PROBLEM HEAD-ON WITH A DROP-OUT PREVENTION SUMMIT AIMED AT IMPLEMENTING PREVENTATIVE PROGRAMS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.

Alabama governor Bob Riley will hold a Dropout Prevention Summit on March 5 in Montgomery to Address the state's dropout rate and highlight the best practices for prevention. The summit will be similar to several held across the country in conjunction with America's Promise Alliance.

Alabama's summit, which will address the needs of the entire state, will also feature local and national programs aimed at keeping students in school until graduation.

Linda Tilly is the executive director of VOICES For Alabama's Children, a non-profit organization that champions children's and teen's issues throughout the state.

"If a child is retained in a grade one time," Tilly said in her presentation during the Doing What Matters For Tuscaloosa's Children Conference, "it increases the likelihood that that child will eventually drop out of high school by 50 percent. We have got to start working with these kids early."

On the lips of many will also be new legislation, proposed by State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, which seeks to raise the age at which a student is allowed to drop out from 16 to 17 and also require an exit interview with the student before he or she is allowed to disenroll.

Speakers and guests at the summit will include:

*Governor Bob Riley

*Mrs. Alma Powell, chair of America's Promise Alliance

*Dr. Joseph B. Morton, State Superintendent of Education

*Dr. Don Williamson, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Public Health

Southern Education Foundation Report

The Southern Education Foundation released a report in February, detailing the Alabama dropout rates. The study showed that in 2007, Alabama had a dropout rate average of around 41 percent, up from 39 percent in 2006.

While that number may seem alarmingly high, a portion of the number can come from students failing one grade but still graduating, just not with their original class. The SEF calculates dropout rates based on No Child Left Behind standards, which define students who graduate in more than four years as non-graduates.

"As long as Alabama doesn't make any progress in reducing the number of kids who don't get high school degrees, it means that when the recession ends, other states will rebound faster and better than Alabama," said Steve Suitts, vice president of the SEF, in an interview with the Birmingham News about the economic impact of Alabama's dropout rate.

Alabama's Best and Worst Performers

Schools in the greater Birmingham area had the lowest dropout rates, including:

*Homewood City Schools: 20.1%

*Hoover City Schools: 19.8%

*Mountain Brook City Schools: 4.7%

*Vestavia Hills City Schools: 9.7%

Schools in Alabama's Blackbelt or other poorer regions tended to have the highest dropout rates, including:

*Tuscaloosa City Schools: 50.4%

*Greene County Schools: 56.6%

*Phenix City Schools: 60.4%

*Bibb County Schools: 55.3%

Researchers attributed many of the variances in school system dropout rates within the state to differences in funding. While the schools in Shelby county, on average, spent well over $10,000 per child in the 2004-2005 school year, the schools in Tuscaloosa county only spent just over $6,700.

To compare more counties and dollar-per-child ratios, see this map.

What parents, teachers, students, and administrators can do

Connie Coleman, counselor at Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa County, has some suggestions to help prevent teens from dropping out in the first place. Many have been implemented at Hillcrest, where there has been a measure of success.

She suggests:

*Early intervention programs, which identify students at risk for dropping out early and meets and counsels them to encourage staying in school.

*Specific courses targeting students who are at risk for dropping out to help them catch up

*Alabama High School Graduation Exam reviews and courses to help students pass the test and graduate on time

*Credit recovery, which helps students recover lost credits, which would prevent them from graduating with their peers

*Technical High Schools, though not in existence, would help those who choose a "straight-to-work" track, where they can still receive a diploma for completing high school.

Keeping up with the rest of the country

With the rest of the country in a recession that Alabama isn't quite feeling as strongly, it may be tougher to hold onto that prosperity with more and more students not finishing high school.

State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton believes that prevention is the best way to keep the dropout rate low, which will lead to harder economic times.

"It takes sustained funding, and right now we are being cut in funding instead of being increased," Morton said in an interview with the Birmingham News. "That's just the economic reality we face."

As dropout rates increase across the country, Alabama is keeping up with the pace. Unfortunately, it's not a race Alabama should win.

To reserve a spot at the Governor's Alabama Dropout Prevention Summit, visit ServeAlabama.gov

My random thought of the day

I miss the Gipper.

I know I was 1 and a half when he left office, but I am allowed to miss him. 

I don't want to pay for California's poor fiscal policy. I don't want to pay for energy-efficient golf carts. I don't want to pay for nationalized health care system there was no debate about. 

So I miss the Gipper.

President Obama faces the press

President Barack Obama faced the White House Press Corps as well as cameras sending his image all around the world Monday night as he delivered his grim economic message at his first prime time press conference.

Here are some highlights from President Obama's talking points and answers:

"If you delay acting on an economy of this severity, then you potentially create a negative spiral that becomes much more difficult for us to get out of. We saw this happen in Japan in the 1990s, where they did not act boldly and swiftly enough, and as a consequence they suffered what was called the 'lost decade' where essentially for the entire '90s they did not see any significant economic growth."

"That's why the figure that we initially came up with of approximately $800 billion was put forward. That wasn't just some random number that I plucked out of a hat. That was Republican and Democratic, conservative and liberal economists that I spoke to who indicated that given the magnitude of the crisis and the fact that it's happening worldwide, it's important for us to have a bill of sufficient size and scope that we can save or create 4 million jobs. That still means that you're going to have some net job loss, but at least we can start slowing the trend and moving it in the right direction. "

"And so tomorrow my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, will be announcing some very clear and specific plans for how we are going to start loosening up credit once again. And that means having some transparency and oversight in the system. It means that we correct some of the mistakes with TARP that were made earlier, the lack of consistency, the lack of clarity in terms of how the program was going to move forward."

"And so my national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them. And my expectation is in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table, face to face, diplomatic overtures that will allow us to move our policy in a new direction. "

"I think my initial measure of success is creating or saving 4 million jobs. That's bottom line number one, because if people are working, then they've got enough confidence to make purchases, to make investments. Businesses start seeing that consumers are out there with a little more confidence, and they start making investments, which means they start hiring workers. So step number one, job creation. "

"You know, I don't remember exactly what Joe was referring to. (Laughter.) Not surprisingly. But let me try this out. I think what Joe may have been suggesting, although I wouldn't put numerical -- I wouldn't ascribe any numerical percentage to any of this -- is that given the magnitude of the challenges that we have, any single thing that we do is going to be part of the solution, not all of the solution."

Doing what matters for Tuscaloosa (and Alabama's) children

She may be affiliated with a different political party, but she and the governor agree on one thing: success for Alabama's children starts with early intervention.

In her presentation to more than 200 teachers, students, and community leaders, Marquita Davis, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs, stressed the need for urgent attention to young children around the state as well as to the families that raise them.

Davis spoke at the “Doing What Matters for Tuscaloosa’s Children” conference, held at the Paul W. Bryant Conference Center on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Davis’ presentation was the first of morning and introduced the audience to the state’s efforts to provide adequate Pre-kindergarten education to young children before elementary school.

“A vision without action is just a hallucination,” Davis said. “We are focusedon doing more than just talking. And you all are doing a fabulous job here in Tuscaloosa with Jump Start. You are really pioneering something that we at the state level want to see across the state.”

Wesley Church, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Alabama echoed Davis’s message about early preventative measures.

“I think starting young is the best way to ensure these kids grow up with a chance,” Church said. “But there has to be more money. In this economy, everyone has to tighten his belt, but the kids shouldn’t suffer.”

Publisher of Kidsville News! and small business owner Mike Woodard had a different view of the funding issue.

“I agree that education is under-funded all around,” Woodard said. “But no one is remembering where all this money comes from. It comes from you and it comes from me. No one in Montgomery, or Washington for that matter, remembers that anymore.”

Woodard has gone from publishing Kidsville News!, a literacy publication delivered free to elementary school children, once a month in four counties to just one county since November. He blames the drop in advertising interest on the struggling economy, which hurts small businesses, his advertising bread and butter.

Woodard cited excessive spending on structures that could be built for less money, with the extra money going to fund the programs themselves. He said building grade schools which resembled buildings on the campus of the University of Alabama was wasteful.

“Instead of taxing us to death, why don’t they re-allocate some of the money they already have. It’s about efficiency, not ‘us versus the government.’”

According to the Department of Children’s Affairs website, the mission of the department is to “provide state leadership to identify, analyze, streamline and coordinate services for the 1.2 million children up through the age of 19 throughout Alabama.”

In a state that is not known for its stellar education standards, Alabama’s Pre-kindergarten

programs are tied for best in the country.

Davis identified distinct areas for which her department is responsible: The Children First Trust Fund, a fund set up in the mid 1990s that routes certain tax money directly to education, the Head Start program, which works in conjunction with the federal government’s Head Start policies to manage and maintain the facilities, and the Alabama Office of School Readiness, which focuses on giving children the tools they need to succeed before formal school begins. Most of her presentation focused on the school readiness.

Davis stressed the value the department places on children as young as three to four years old. In states like Texas, there are no minimum requirements for teacher/children ratios in Pre-kindergarten classrooms. She said Alabama’s requirements were much different and more structured.

In most cases, there can be no higher than a nine to one children to adult ratio in these classrooms. If there are special needs children in the class, the number is lowered to allow to proper care.

“Four year olds are smart,” Davis said. “They notice things and they will tell you all about them. If you don’t think four year olds have anything to say, try being in an environment with forty of them. That’s why we keep the ratio low.”

According to Davis, the cost of quality child care in the state of Alabama can run as high as $800 a month, higher than some private school tuitions for much older children. Having state-run programs allows parents to feel confident that the care facility is preparing their child for school and also ensuring a safe environment.

Other speakers at the conference included Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox, Northport mayor Bobby Herndon, Linda Tilly, executive director of VOICES for Alabama’s children, Stephen Black, director of Impact Alabama, and Dr. Carolyn Dahl, dean of the University of Alabama College of Continuing Studies.

Doing What Matters for Tuscaloosa's Children

Leaders of the Tuscaloosa community will gather Wednesday at the Bryant Conference Center to discuss what they believe is the most important asset in any community--the area's children.

Doing What Matters for Tuscaloosa's Children will feature speakers and presenters in various fields related to children and the problems facing families particularly in West Alabama. While Tuscaloosa itself is more prosperous than the rest of surrounding West Alabama, poverty, education levels, and other target areas have been identified as the focus of the conference.

Carolyn Dahl, dean of the University's College of Continuing studies, will be giving the closing address at the conference. Dahl believes that the greatest obstacle in the way of children is getting the funding for the educational system so it can turn them into productive adults.

"I think there have always been the same threats to kids," Dahl said. "Poverty, ignorance, drugs, and other things. What’s different now is the consequences seem more dangerous and parents, less accountable."

The speakers also will include Marquita Davis, commissioner for the Alabama Department of Children's Affairs, Linda Tilly, executive director of VOICES for Alabama's children, Milton Jackson, field director of the Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, and Stephen Black, director of Impact Alabama, among others.

Black, the director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at UA and grandson of US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, founded Impact Alabama in 2004 as a way to develop and implement substantive service-learning projects in coordination with universities and colleges throughout the state.

Black said the biggest problem facing Alabama's children today is the tax structure and the way the state distributes the money it collects from taxes.

"It's not that hard to fix," Black said. "We just have to get the message into the legislature and hope they listen."

Impact Alabama consists of three parts, all designed to help families.

Focus First uses college students to provide low-cost vision screenings to children. According to Black, up to twenty-nine percent of young children have vision problems that could prevent them from being literate upon entering public schools. Often, these children are not screened and the problems and the neglect allows the problems to worsen. Focus First allows children to have the best chance at becoming literate when they first enter public schools.

Save First helps poor families who qualify of the Earned Income Tax Credit by preparing free tax returns. Since there are no regulations on becoming at tax preparer in Alabama, many unscrupulous institutions defraud families and the government by submitting incorrect information and charging exorbitant rates.

Speak First targets low-income schools in Birmingham and finds students interested in college and debate and trains them in debate from their eighth grade year. These students attend schools that would not otherwise be able to afford debate teams. UA and UAB both support full four-year scholarships for the students participating in Speak First.

"I would call this justice, as opposed to charity," Black said. "This service model has the potential to make a huge difference in the state. Getting college students involved opens up whole new avenues of service."

Black will be speaking at 1:00 p.m. at Wednesday's conference.