The Alabama Literacy Act is a high-stakes law that requires students to be able to read well by the end of third grade, or face possible retention. But there’s a lot more to know about the law -- and how to advocate for good reading instruction at your local school.
The Alabama Education Lab, a team of education journalists at AL.com, has been exploring groundbreaking solutions to improve literacy in Alabama schools, as well as ways that schools make the most of limited funding.
Read more: This third-grader couldn’t read when he moved from California. How did his Alabama school help?
Journalists also have explored what has worked in other states, including Mississippi, which passed its own version of the literacy act in 2013. Some of our work has been supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Report for America.
Join us for a conversation about these lessons learned, hosted by the Ed Lab, on Tuesday, June 14, at 11 a.m. Central. The discussion will happen virtually on AL.com’s Facebook page. Follow the page for an alert when the event begins.
Panelists will include:
- Bonnie Short, coordinator of the Alabama Reading Initiative and a leader of the state’s K-12 literacy instruction efforts
- Kymyona Burk, a senior policy fellow at Excel in Education who developed and led Mississippi’s K-3 initiative
- Trisha Powell Crain, an education reporter for The Alabama Education Lab at AL.com