Advocates in Mobile, Alabama Implement Community-Based Reform

Citizens of Mobile County, Alabama, have found that grassroots, community-based efforts can create real and powerful changes in schools. The Mobile Area Education Foundation (MAEF), supported by a Standards and Accountability grant from the Public Education Network, has engaged the public in producing a long-term reform plan based on the community's priorities and concerns.

After approving a property tax increase for public schools in 2001, voters demanded concrete improvement in their schools. As reported in the Fall 2005 issue of VUE, MAEF, encouraged by the community's willingness to support public school reform, employed three key strategies.

Long-term Public Engagement

In a campaign called Yes, We Can, MAEF and the Mobile County school district engaged 1,500 people in homes, churches, community centers, and schools to discuss people's ideas for improvement and formulate a community agreement. Seeing support spread across geography and race, the school board adopted the agreement's tenets. A diverse Community Advisory Team then outlined five priority goals, including nineteen performance targets in:

Student achievement
Quality district and school leadership
Communications and engagement
Governance
Equity

Strategic Data Use and Accountability

School leaders are held accountable through the open communication of performance data. For example, every school publicly displays a single chart, called a “dashboard,” which records student achievement goals, gaps between current and target performance levels, and benchmarks for progress. The “dashboard” also compares scores school by school and with previous years. Every quarter, school-system-generated tests in core academic areas provide data on how students are faring compared to grade-level benchmarks. Furthermore, school districts have created strategic plans, which identify the individuals responsible for each aspect, and made their budget audits more transparent, publishing them online.

Staying the Course

In 2004, the school board increased funding to improve Mobile's five lowest-performing schools; in just one year, each has made significant gains in student performance. But MAEF acknowledges that “continuous improvement requires continuous public engagement.” Because school-system capacity can fluctuate according to many factors, reform efforts must be built on a civic infrastructure. For long-term sustainability, MAEF believes, civic stakeholders must mobilize political will and renew attention to the strategic plan and accountability measures.

For more information, see the VUE article.

Prepared by Katherine Lu, November 28, 2005