The State Board of Education adopted Alabama Administrative Code rule changes pertaining to Alternative Teacher Preparation organizations (ATPO) and alternative teacher certification assessments during Thursday’s November meeting but did not act upon a proposed code change pertaining to charter school authorizers and their operational and categorical funding allocations.  

In the work session, seven teacher preparation programs presented their progress toward meeting Alabama Literacy Act requirements aligned with the science of reading, which will be up for approval at the December meeting. 

November Actions

Alternative Teacher Preparation Organizations (ATPO): The board approved an update to Alabama Administrative Code Rule 290-3-3-.60 to reflect recent legislation specifying requirements of alternative teacher certification assessments.  

• Alabama law allows ATPOs to use their own teacher certification assessment, although it must “be substantively aligned with Alabama standards in subject area, pedagogy, or both” (Act 2023-451), and the code now specifies options for meeting these testing requirements. 
• The code changes allow an ATPO to either require teacher candidates to take the assessments required of traditional teacher candidates or to take assessments used by the ATPO.  
• A teacher from the American Board of Teacher Certification spoke in support of the proposed rules, suggesting an independent third-party review be accepted as evidence of alignment with the state’s certification.  
• State Superintendent of Education Dr. Eric Mackey noted the ALSDE plans to contract with a third-party vendor to evaluate and validate any alternative teacher certification assessment for alignment with Alabama standards.  
• The code also addresses compliance with federal regulations for special education teachers and clarifies the differences in requirements for teacher candidates seeking alternative certificates and professional educator certificates.  

Items Not Acted Upon

• Although on the agenda, the SBOE did not address adopting the Alabama Administrative Code Chapter 290-3-6 pertaining to charter schools. No Board member made a motion to adopt this new code language, so it did not receive a vote. Board action would have addressed changes made to the state’s charter school law this legislative session (Act 2023-420). The code change will be brought up as unfinished business at the December meeting.  

Work Session Items:

• Course of Study and Textbook Updates: The board is expected to vote on Science and Career and Technical Education courses of study and the State Textbook Committee’s Career and Technical Education recommendations at the December meeting.  
• Teacher Preparation Programs Meeting Literacy Act Requirements: The board received updates from representatives of seven teacher preparation programs that will receive full approval of their science of reading programs, as aligned with the requirements of the Alabama Literacy Act, at the December meeting: Alabama A&M University; Athens State University; Alabama State University; Auburn University; Miles College; the University of Alabama at Birmingham; and the University of West Alabama. 
• Civics and Financial Literacy Exams, College and Career Readiness Indicator Graduation Requirements: Updates to the Alabama Administrative Code Rule 290-3-1-.02 pertaining to Regulations Governing Public Schools were announced to codify both the required high school civics exam and the new financial literacy exam, as well as to add the graduation requirement of at least one college and career readiness indicator.  
    ○ The financial literacy exam will be required for high school graduation starting with the 2024-2025 school year (Act 2023-179). Although there is no set passing score, schools must report the exam’s passage rates to the state Legislature.  
    ○ Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, high school students must earn at least one college or career readiness indicator before graduation (Act 2023-365).  

Work Session Discussion:

Literacy Act Update: Three teacher preparation program officials presented their experience and compliance with ALSDE requirements for the Alabama Literacy Act. SBOE Vice President Tracie West (District 2) said a more comprehensive report will be presented at next month’s meeting. The new higher education science of reading standards for the 2024-2025 school year also will be presented next month, followed by an expected vote in January 2024 and codification by March 2024. 

2024 Meeting Dates: The SBOE will continue to meet the second Thursday of each month except July when the board will hold its annual business meeting on the second Tuesday. SBOE retreats are scheduled for the last Wednesday of both January and August. Legislative leadership will be invited to the January retreat to discuss ongoing education policy issues from the 2023 legislative session and to prepare for expected topics such as school choice in the 2024 session. 

Other Approvals from the Board Meeting:

• Recognition of Alabama’s five 2023 National Blue Ribbon Schools:
  ◦ Creek View Elementary School, Alabaster City School System
  ◦ Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, Jefferson County School System 
  ◦ Cordova Elementary School, Walker County School System
  ◦ Mt. Carmel Elementary School, Madison County School System
  ◦ Skyline High School, Jackson County School System
• Recognition of A+ College Ready Schools of Excellence and Schools of Distinction, honoring the 10 Schools of Excellence and four Schools of Distinction that met or exceeded their goals for qualifying scores on 2023 Advanced Placement exams (for high school students) or PSAT exam (for middle schools).
• Recognition of Inclusion in Alabama Schools Week Dec. 4-8, honoring the work of special educators and their students.  
• Approval of UAB’s School Psychologist Teacher Preparation Program launching in spring 2024. 

Next SBOE Meeting

The board’s next meeting will take place Thursday, Dec. 14 at 10 a.m. in Montgomery with a work session immediately following.  

• Gordon Persons Building Auditorium, Montgomery, Ala.
• Livestream viewing: https://www.youtube.com/user/aldeptofed/live
• Archived meeting and work session recordings: https://www.alabamaachieves.org/state-board-of-education/meeting-videos/

Ada Katherine van Wyhe
AASB Director of Governmental Relations