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It’s that time of year again! The Alabama Legislature held an education budget hearing on Tuesday where state education leaders shared priorities for the FY 2022 Education Trust Fund budget. They discussed expanding pre-k, increasing funding for the Alabama Literacy Act, protecting teacher units, and more. Read about the hearing here.
This Week at A+
 
> A+ College Ready News:  A+ College Ready is proud to announce that 29 current or previous program schools have been awarded the College Board’s AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award. This award recognizes schools that are expanding young women’s access to computer science coursework in AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) and AP Computer Science A (AP CSA). Read the list of A+CR schools here.
 
> NEW on the Alabama Best Practices Center Professional Learning Blog: Are you sometimes intimidated when asked to make a big decision? Do you too often defer to experts over your own knowledge and experience? In a “book talk,” sponsored by the Next Big Idea Club, Vikram Mansharamani shares five key insights from his latest book "Think for Yourself: Restoring Common Sense in an Age of Experts." Here’s Cathy Gassenheimer’s quick summary and a link to his video talk.
 
> A+ Education Partnership's COVID-19 Resources:
 
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  STATE NEWS


Budget Watch: Alabama's FY 2022 Education Trust Fund Budget
(A+ Education Partnership, January 26)


Alabama to Give Spring Standardized Tests In Person
(written by Trisha Powell Crain, al.com, January 26)


2,155 New COVID-19 Cases Reported in Alabama Schools Last Week
(written by Trisha Powell Crain, al.com, January 22)


C Spire Spending $1 Billion to Increase 5G, Fiber Broadband in Alabama, Mississippi
(written by William Thornton, al.com, January 28)


Lawmakers Discuss Education Pay Raises, a Focus on Literacy and Learning Loss
(written by Caroline Beck and Mary Sell, AL Daily News, January 27)


After 4 Deaths, Group Calls on Montgomery Public Schools to Reevaluate Guidelines
(written by Ruth Serven Smith, al.com, January 23)


Mental Health Services in School Improving, More Help Needed
(written by Caroline Beck, AL Daily News, January 28)


Charter School Promising 'LGBTQ-Affirming Learning Environment' Set to Open This Fall in Alabama
(written by Laura Fay, The 74, January 26)


State Launches Alabama Family Central Website
(written by Todd Stacy, AL Daily News, January 25)
 




NATIONAL NEWS


How Texas Teachers Are Prioritizing Basic Skills as Instruction Time Gets Crunched During Pandemic
(written by Bekah McNeel, The 74, January 21)


How Biden's Data Mandate Could Help Schools Navigate the COVID-19 Crisis
 (written by Evie Blaad, Education Week, January 23)


Facing Declines in Reading Proficiency, Rural Libraries Step In
(written by Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report, January 21)


Examining the U.S.' "School Engagement Cliff"
(NCEE Report, January 22)


Measuring the Impact of the Coronavirus on Teachers, Students, and Schools
(written by Lauren Camera, US News & World Report, January 25)
 


OPINIONS


To Accelerate Innovation in Our Schools, the Nation Needs and Operation Warp Speed for Public Education
(written by Robert Kimball, The 74, January 24)


2021 Must be the Year for Rural Education
(written by Garris Landon Stroud, Education Post, January 21)



 
PODCASTS
 

The Alabama Literacy Network: Training the Next Generation of Reading Teachers
(from The Alabama Literacy Network Podcast  Runtime: 32 Minutes, January 2021)
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The Gist is an education news roundup curated by A+ Education Partnership. Articles and opinions included in this publication are for information only and may not reflect the views of A+.

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