Alabama places 'failing' label on majority black schools only
What does it mean? Why these 76 schools? Why "failing"?
The measure is straightforward. These are the state's lowest ranking schools on state tests of reading and math.
The larger meaning, the one that defies any safe bureaucratic commentary, is that Alabama continues to fail to educate black students who are schooled in relative isolation.
Look at the numbers. There are just under 37,000 children in failing schools in Alabama. More than 34,000 of those children are African American.
These 76 "failing" schools are the modern face of a legacy of segregation followed by desegregation followed by white flight followed by resegregation.
At three of the schools, every single child is African American this school year. Most of the schools are predominantly black. What's predominantly mean? At Hatch High in Perry County, 688 of the 689 students are black. At Hudson Middle in Selma, 465 of the 469 students are black.
There are no exceptions. Goodwyn Middle is the by far most "diverse" school on the list, and its student body is 72 percent African American.
All of these schools also serve poor families.
At half of the "failing" schools, three quarters or more of the children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. At all of the schools, more than half of the students get subsidized lunch.
To spell that out plainly, every single one of the newly announced "failing" schools is both majority black and majority poor.
The point of it all is not so plain.
The current accountability rules label as "failing" any school scoring in the bottom 6 percent on standardized tests for reading and math. That means Alabama lawmakers have guaranteed that the state will always have "failing" schools, same as in a football division. Someone has to finish last.
There are more useful options. The state could control for poverty levels to see which schools do the best with the students in their zone. This would be a better Alabama places 'failing' label on majority black schools only | AL.com: