ALABAMA PROMISING CHANGE IN EDUCATION RANKING

For years, the state of Alabama has been ranked second to last place in the United States educational rung...just barely skating past the state of Mississippi...today one U. S. education representative says change is on the way. U. S. Department of Education Representative, Dr. Anne Hancock, has been in the wiregrass for several days promoting the "No Child Left Behind Act", speaking yesterday to local educators and offering a bit of thanks to WDHN for the Literacy Campaign that began airing August 2nd. Hancock even lended a helping hand at Webb Elementary School...in the classroom where she`s spent forty years of her career. Hancock said that in 50 years the United States has spent 10 trillion dollars on education without much headway, but says the "No Child Left Behind" program is certain, but with a few obstacles hanging in the balance for Alabama. The law requires that Alabama teachers be highly qualified by the beginning of the 2005 school year. Alabama has requested from the department, that requirement be waived in light of the number of Federal Court Orders that are in place...if a parent says, I want to send my child to school B, you can`t do it under a Federal Court Order. Hancock did say the state has made great progress with key leaders in place in the Department of Education, filtering large sums of money. Within six years, Dr. Hancock says the state of Alabama alone, is expected to receive over one hundred and two million dollars of literacy grant funds, and with that, what is going to happen is a child is going to learn to read, and when they do, the social promotion is going to stop, and they`ll be able to read on grade level.