***NEWS RELEASE***
For Immediate Release December 12, 2019
CONTACT: Becky Gerritson Becky@alabamaEagle.org or at 334-452-0453
The Fate of ALL Public Schooled Students Was Just
Sealed by Five State School Board Members
Today the Alabama State Board of Education voted to approve the 2019 Math Course of Study which all Alabama public schooled students will be required to use for the next six years.
Eagle Forum of Alabama prepared a side-by-side comparison* between the “new” 2019 Alabama Math Standards and the Common Core State Standards, and it shows they are almost identical. With few exceptions the standards not only use the exact wording or phrasing from Common Core, but in almost all cases they are in the same exact order as the Common Core! Besides an added experimental geometry/Data Analysis course in high school which has never been tested or proven, there are very few other significant changes to those standards. Alabama had NO input into the CC standards before adopting them along with 40 other states. Since their adoption Alabama has fallen to the bottom on NAEP scores, and America has declined dramatically in math achievement compared to other developed nations.
President, Eunie Smith said, “We commend those 3 elected board members – Jackie Zeigler, Stephanie Bell and Wayne Reynolds – who wisely voted to stop CC Math and wanted to replace it with classic math that works. They actually listened to the people of Alabama and voted with them in mind.”
Eagle Forum Executive Director Becky Gerritson explained, “Each board member had a printed version of our side-by-side comparison in front of them as they voted. They could see for themselves the undeniable fact that the proposed Alabama Standards ARE still Common Core. Governor Ivey, Cynthia McCarty, Traci West, Jeff Newman, and Yvette Richardson voted to continue Common Core. It feels like a slap in the face to all those parents and teachers who comprise the majority of Alabama and who want proven, classic math standards.”
The vote today shows that Alabamians cannot turn appointment of the school board over to the Governor (via Amendment One) and expect to get rid of Common Core because the Governor voted for CC Math today. This vote to continue CC Math for another 6 years is a vote to continue failure. We must do better for our students and our state.
*The comparisons can be seen at https://69b.1e9.myftpupload.com/2019/11/30/side-by-side-comparison-2019-new-al-math-standards-vs-common-core-state-standards/
