By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – A new report being released today (Tuesday) shows that Alabama is failing its neediest students by not having charter schools or giving parents alternative schooling options. The Thomas B- Fordham Foundation report also says Alabama hasn't made significant progress in improving achievement for those students over time. The Washington, D-C based think tank advocates changes in education and used 30 indicators to rank states in three major categories. Those categories were student achievement for low-income black and Hispanic students, achievement trends for those groups over the last 10-15 years and the states' progress in implementing education reforms. Alabama received an F for student achievement, a C-minus for education reform and was shown to have no progress in achievement trends for its minority and poor students. Some state education officials are disputing some of the study's methodology and say the standards of measurement that were used were especially high.