Our CHOOSE coverage has been a huge team effort. More on tuition trends, policy questions and future outlooks here:

bsky.app/profile/gree...

None of these schools get much, if any, oversight from the state department disbursing the dollars. That means vetting of curricula and school quality comes down to two groups: parents, and a patchwork of private accredited, all with different rules.

www.al.com/educationlab...

Earlier this fall, I took a look at one of many new schools cashing in on the program. Here’s what it was like inside:

www.al.com/educationlab...

Thank you friend 🫶

So what's next?

Parents, teacher friends: I'd love to hear if y'all have questions about any of this, or if there's other data you'd like us to dig into.

Reach me on here or at [email protected].

@trishcrain.bsky.social has expertly detailed the gaps within school populations, both at the state and district level. For the first time, Alabama is parsing out scores between kids who live in poverty and those who don't.

And the results aren't pretty.
aldailynews.com/alabama-acap...

It's been interesting to witness Alabama's growth -- and its persistent challenges -- since schools shut their doors during COVID. In many ways, the state has bucked national trends. But there's a long, long road left ahead.

www.al.com/educationlab...

Who are the outliers, making big scores and big gains while met with high rates of student poverty?

We wrote about some standouts in the stories above (like Webb Elementary in Houston County), but I'd love to hear from educators: What are you doing that's moving the needle?

IMO, it shouldn't be up to journalists to interpret big results like this. There should be more of an effort from state leaders to present this data in a user-friendly way -- including the gaps among and between schools.

Because the truth is, there's SO much more to explore.

For example: ⬇️

Education data is notoriously messy, and there's so much that goes into even the most simple analyses.

A peek behind the curtain 😅

This is my first go at covering ACAP scores since I took on the lead K-12 role at @al.com. Can't thank @edwriters.bsky.social enough for giving me the opportunity to learn R at Diving into Data in 2024 – I'd probably still be wrangling those 1M-row Excel files if I didn't have a script ready to go.

And growth varies widely by schools, too.

Cool to see lots of green on this dashboard -- some schools saw jumps as high as 30 percentage points in ELA and math.

But lots of high-poverty schools are still chronically underperforming.

www.al.com/educationlab...

Last week, we finally got a closer look at schools and systems.

On the district level, some systems saw double-digit gains in ELA, while others continue to slide in math and science.

www.al.com/educationlab...

Statewide, scores are trending up in math and English language arts -- a sign, leaders say, that current numeracy and literacy reforms are working.

But big gaps still remain.

www.al.com/educationlab...

AH congratulations! You did phenomenal work here and can’t wait to see what you do next.