Blog Post 4
Gentry Scott
Professor Jenkins
PS 101
April 28, 2022
A major issue in the state of Alabama is the education system. The main concerns of our education system are low paid teachers, test scores, and shortage of teachers. I attended a public high school in a rural area in Alabama and can say that the Alabama school systems do not prepare their students for college. At my high school in particular many teachers did not care about their jobs or would not teach the course material properly. I believe many of these issues could be improved with proper teaching, self motivation by teachers, and more money.
In Alabama many school teachers have either already left the profession, retired, or are planning to leave. In the education system we are desperate for science and math teachers to teach our children. So far in our state, 1,623 teachers have enrolled in the TEAMS act which provides teachers with more money to teach math and science. Although Governor Kay Ivey has announced she plans to raise the salary of teachers by 4% and wants to push to provide teachers with even larger salaries. The state of Alabama has also changed the teaching certification to potentially allow more people to teach but this makes concerns rise as to will the teachers provide the appropriate teaching criteria for the students.
In our school system one issue tends to lend to another for instance the lack of teachers has caused our test scores to decline. The state of Alabama is last in the nation for math and scores and is near the bottom for reading scores. Although our teachers do not receive the salary that they deserve, many teachers are in the profession for the children, not the money. As of February of 2020, 8,000 educational providers had completed an intensive math training to improve their teaching skills. Our state superintendent has a hard drive to increase these math scores and wants to see our students succeed. A goal for our education program is to place a math coach in every school to improve these scores. Although the state is last in math, I think we need to give reading the same attention so students do not let their reading skills slip away. Another way our superintendent wants to increase these scores is by providing productive and efficient after school programs to assist students in subjects they may struggle in.
Although many schools have struggled with low paid teachers, low teacher count, and test scores, covid 19 has affected school systems even more. When covid hit and our school systems transitioned into online school this affected many students, especially in rural areas. The state superintendent had to put the health of students and faculty over education which was a tough decision to make. The students in Alabama struggled due to many students not having wifi or access to a computer to do their homework which caused them to fall behind. When students returned to in person school they were always at risk of getting sick and missing more school. Also, many school systems had issues with teachers having to miss work due to covid exposure or them having the disease itself. This created instances where many students were without their teachers for two weeks at a time so the students were provided a sub who did not know their course material as properly as needed.
The state of Alabama needs to evaluate their education system closer and check in with each school to see where their weaknesses are. Our state superintendent and other educational providers need to raise the salary of our teachers to promote the career. In our state we also need to provide students with all resources to allow them to succeed at their maximum potential such as after school care, parent teacher conferences, and tutoring. I believe most of our issues could be resolved with more money. Additional ways to improve the education system in the state include summer programs for elementary students to include tutoring so they do not have a summer lag in their learning. Pre-K programs will promote early learning for children to better prepare them for school. For upperclassmen, there should be a focus on improving standardized test scores and college readiness as well as technical education to prepare students for the workforce when they do not intend to attend college. At the middle school level it has been proposed to require a computer science class to better prepare students for the cyber world. Access to high speed internet for all students in the state is also necessary so that students in rural areas have internet availability for virtual learning and homework.