By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – A national study by Education Week Magazine shows Alabama is still struggling to keep up with the rest of the nation in public education. The Quality Counts 2007 study was released Wednesday and ranks Alabama 45th in terms of giving public school children a chance to succeed. The state came in 47th on an achievement index that includes performance on tests in reading and math, graduation rates and other student performance indicators. It shows Alabama students trailing most of the rest of the nation in reading and math achievement, despite the state implementing programs in recent years to improve performance in those areas. But in some positive news, Alabama ranked eighth in having policies in effect aimed at improving education performance.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)