Video: Controversial Alabama Law Begins This Fall

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LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) A new education law in Alabama is revolutionizing the way students are evaluated. The program will be implemented this fall.

It’s called Plan 2020. And if you haven’t heard of it yet, you will soon. Lamar County Superintendent Garth Moss helped shed some light on this complicated legislation.

Plan 2020 came completely unexpected into the education world. The new program will replace No Child Left Behind though many of it’s goals are similar- namely increasing high school graduation rates. Plan 2020 separates students into subgroups based on race, disabilities, and income.
“What they tried to do is take everybody from where they were at, they used the existing data that was already there and they got a standard for it. Then they tried to periodically step up that subgroup so that they were meeting the same standards in the end,” said Moss.
Education experts saw that not all high schoolers were graduating with college in mind. The system allows students to graduate with more options than just higher education.
“Some kids just don’t plan to go to junior college but we want to leave them with a vocational track so that they will go out and have a nationally recognized credential to use within the work force.”
Some parents have reacted negatively to Plan 2020, saying the program allows certain races to be ignored in the classroom because their testing standards aren’t as high. However Moss says 2020 will have the opposite effect.
“The subgroup that might be the one that has the lowest test scores to start with will get the most intensive intervention to try and get them up. The lessons out teachers prepare are going to be streamlined for where that child’s at to try to move them from point A to point B.”

Teachers will be traveling to Mobile next week to receive further instruction on how to implement Plan 2020.

Categories: Local News

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