Prisons, education, taxes, trust in government. What do Alabamians think?
See the Full Survey A slight majority of Alabamians oppose building new prisons, but an overwhelming majority support expanding rehabilitation and re-entry programs for people leaving prison, returning nonviolent offenders to the community, and spending more on education. These are among the key findings of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama’s Public Opinion Survey: […]
PARCA collaborates on new research showing Alabama’s First Class Pre-K students are performing better on academic assessments than others
Alabama public school students who participated in the state’s publicly funded First Class Pre-K program performed better on academic assessments than those who did not, and the improved performance persists as students progress through the early grades and into middle school. That is according to newly released findings from the First Class Pre-K Research Evaluation […]
K-12 Education Ranks as the #1 Priority Among Alabama Voters
In late 2017, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) surveyed Alabama voters to determine their thoughts about the general direction of the state and the issues that most concern them. PARCA partnered with Samford University to survey policy professionals from across the state including academics, journalists, business and nonprofit leaders, and lobbyists. Their […]
Thank God For Mississippi: They’re Leading the Way on Educational Progress
At least in terms of education, it’s time to retire the old Alabama catchphrase, “Thank God for Mississippi.” It’s an easy response when the latest list comes out that finds Alabama and Mississippi at the bottom of the rankings. Frequently, Alabama bests Mississippi, and, in so doing, stays out of last place. However, a review […]
Student Achievement Matters: The Future of Student Assessment in Alabama
In June 2017, the Alabama State Board of Education voted to cancel its contract with ACT for the administration of the ACT Aspire, a suite of standardized tests which, for the past four years, has served as the primary assessment tool Alabama used to gauge the annual academic progress of public school students across the […]
2016 Aspire Results for the Schools and Systems
Click here to print New data show Alabama students improving performance in math, reading, and science on the ACT Aspire, the year-end standardized tests given to students across Alabama. In all three subjects, the percentage of students scoring proficient improved, at almost all grade levels. At the same time, long-term weaknesses persist. While math performance […]
2016 ACT Results by System and School
Click here to print Alabama’s 2016 school and system-level results for the ACT, the widely-known test of college readiness, are now available. With the interactive charts posted below, you can explore how well your local public school system or high school is preparing students for college-level academics. The 2016 results are for those students who […]
New College-Going Rates by High School
Click here to print What percentage of the graduates from your local high school go on to college? Where do they go? To four-year universities or two-year colleges? In-state or out-of-state? Private or public? Answers to those questions can be found in new data provided by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. The data, drawn […]
Exceeding Expectations: Keys to Alabama’s Student Success
The latest report by PARCA was released last week at the Business Council of Alabama’s 2016 Governmental Affairs Conference. The report, entitled “Exceeding Expectations: Keys to Alabama’s Student Success,” the third PARCA research report commissioned by the Business Education Alliance of Alabama (BEA). Exceeding Expectations examines the progress state schools have made toward goals established under the state’s […]
PARCA Wins National Award for Education Research
PARCA’s research reports on education funding, Alabama’s education performance, and plans for its improvement received national recognition by the Governmental Research Association (GRA) at the GRA’s annual conference in Pittsburgh last week. PARCA received the GRA award for “Outstanding Policy Achievement” on a state government issue for its ongoing work to evaluate the progress of the […]