Working Toward Excellence:
The Journal of the Alabama Best Practices Center

An educator’s professional journal filled with success stories from Alabama schools


Mobile Engineers a Dynamic School System – Fall 2009 (PDF)
  • Mobile County’s Education Journey
  • EPIC Education Through Engineering: Keeping an EYE on Mobile’s Workforce
  • St. Elmo Elementary: “We teach the children we’re blessed to have”
  • Anna Booth Elementary: “We have found the keys to success”
  • Calcedeaver Elementary: “We know what good instruction looks like”
  • George Hall Elementary: “We push our kids. We feel the challenge”
  • Holloway Elementary: “We are all accountable for these students”
  • Indian Springs Elementary: “You need funding to make your dreams come true”

Aiming for a Blue Ribbon in Alabama’s Black Belt – Fall 2008 (PDF)
  • Aliceville Middle School’s turnaround story
  • Stories of Alabama Schools Solving Alabama Problems
  • Strategic Teaching: The Human Paragraph Strategy
  • The Road from Good to Great – Boaz Middle School
  • Cross-curricular Collaboration: The Boaz Toothpick Bridge
  • Teaching and Learning Better Together – Huntsville’s Lincoln Elementary
  • Lincoln’s Powerful Community Partnership

Alabama Tackles Adolescent Literacy – Fall 2007 (PDF)
  • Strategic Teaching – Maplesville High School
  • A Time to Celebrate and Renew Our Commitment
  • ARI-PAL Wins Over No. 1 Critic
  • Ervin Elementary Defies the Myth of Low-Achieving, High Needs Schools
  • Experimenting with Single-Gender Education
  • Brighton Elementary Looks ahead to Brighter Days
  • The Challenge is More Than "Fixing" Schools

Alabama's 21st Century Schools Are Blazing Trails Through Cyberspace – Summer 2007 (PDF)
  • Growing 21st Century Teachers for 21st Century Classrooms
  • Web Safety & Access: It's Spooky Out There
  • Classroom 2.0 Projects: An Alabama Sampler
  • Schools Must Bridge the Digital Divide: Every Student Needs 21st Century Skills
  • A Day Without Paper
  • Building 21st Century Schools Requires Top-to-Bottom Support

Three Schools That Succeed by Doing Whatever It Takes – Summer/Fall 2006 (PDF)
  • A Story of School Transformation in Rural Alabama – Kinterbish Jr. High
  • Effective School Leaders
  • Down on Bayou La Batre, 100% Literacy Is The Goal
  • How Alba Elementary Uses Marzano’s 9 Strategies
  • A High School Faculty Succeeds By Learning to Teach Better Together – Montevallo High School
  • Literary Enhancement Strengthens High School Students’ Reading Skills
  • Our 21st Century Schools Are Exploring the Future of Teaching and Learning
  • Interview: Technology Leadership for 21st Century Learning
  • Avoid an I.T. Range War
  • Techie Talk and Web Lingo
  • Snapshot of a 21st Century Teacher
  • ACCESS for All: Alabama Enters the World of Distance Learning
  • Getting Started With Classroom Blogging
  • Classroom Blogging Resources
  • Learn More about Cool Web Tools That Can Deepen Student Learning

Doing Whatever It Takes -- Summer/Fall 2005 (PDF)
  • Buckhorn High School: An Unrelenting Attitude Toward Student Success
  • Some Other Ways Buckhorn High Is Doing Whatever It Takes
  • The Buckhorn Faculty Engages in Many "Powerful Conversations"
  • Calcedeaver Elementary: Doing Whatever It Takes To Move Kids
  • A Public School With a Special Cultural Heritage

Can Alabama Lead the U.S. in Reading Achievement? -- Summer/Fall 2004 (PDF)
  • What is DIBELS?
  • Southside Primary's Reading Odyssey: Taking the Struggle Out of Early Literacy
  • "It's About What They Need, Not What I Need"
  • The Power of Small Group Instruction
  • Data-driven West Jasper Educators Make Sure "Kids Come First"
  • West Jasper's Secret Weapon: A Strong Pre-Kindergarten

Today's Effective Schools Have High-Capacity Leadship -- Spring 2004 (PDF)
  • With "No Excuses" Leadership, a High-Poverty School Aims for the Top
  • Alabama Leadership Academy: Today's Principals Can't Afford to "Feel Like the Lone Ranger"
  • Peer Coaches Help Principals Fit All the Pieces Together
  • What Do Great Principals Do?
  • Leaders: Don't Be Fooled by "Collaboration Lite"
  • A Veteran Principal Learns the Value of Shared Leadership

No Child Left Behind: Accountability That's Here to Stay -- Fall 2003 (PDF)
  • Statewide Achievement Gap Analysis
  • Under NCLB's Proficiency Mandate, 'All Means Special Education, Too
  • Transforming No Child Left Behind From Tired Slogan to Vital Reality
  • Closing the Achievement Gap for English Language Learners

Powerful Conversations Can Transform Teacher Learning -- Summer 2003 (PDF)
  • How "Powerful Conversations" Began
  • Professional Development Self Assessment Rubric
  • Professional Conversations Drive Martin Luther King Elementary's Achievement Gains
  • Inside a Professional Development Self-Assessment Session

Four Schools That Teach So All Students Learn -- Winter/Spring 2003 (PDF)
  • High Gaps and Low Gaps
  • Central Park Elementary (Birmingham): A School Where Every Child Can Learn - and Does
  • Maryvale Elementary (Mobile): Doubled Expectations, and Staff Development that Never Ends
  • Characteristics of Highly Challenged, High Performance Schools
  • Weaver Elementary (Calhoun): Heart, Passion and Conviction Equal High Performance
  • Clark Math & Science (Mobile): High Expectations and High Support for Every Student

The No Child Left Behind Law: What Will It Mean for Alabama? -- Fall 2002 (PDF)
  • The Department of Education's New Achievement Gap Analysis Tool
  • Successful High-Povery Schools Rely on Continuous Professional Learning
  • What the NCLB Law Says About Professional Development
  • Alabama Educators Have the Power To Realize the Promise of NCLB

Data-Driven Schools Create Their Own Accountability -- Summer 2002 (PDF)
  • The (Disaggregated) Data Are Coming. Are You Ready?
  • Professional Learning Communities Use Data to Drive Achievement
  • Real Progress Begins When You Know What Kids Know
  • Anatomy of a Data-Driven School
  • A Conversation with Ruth Ash

Time to Speak Out Powerfully for High-Quality Staff Development -- Winter 2002 (PDF)
  • A New Approach to Staff Development Empowers Teachers to Build on Success
  • Standards-Based Staff Development Helps Teachers See the Big Picture
  • An Online "Booktalk" Discussion Creates New Options for Professional Collaboration

Support for Beginning Teachers Must Become a Top Priority -- Fall 2001 (PDF)
  • A Pair of Master Teachers Reflect on the Art and Science of Mentoring
  • What the Research Says About Alabama's Support for New Teachers
  • Bridging the Gap Between College and Classroom in Alabama
  • New Teachers Need Time to Join the Community of Learners

Time Enough for Teaching and Learning -- Spring 2001 (PDF)
  • Homewood Middle School's Daily Schedule Creates Time to Improve Teaching
  • Group Planning Time for Elementary Teachers: 200 Minutes a Week!
  • Creating More Time: It's a Three-Part Process in Decatur
  • Schools Find Teacher Study Groups Are Powerful - and Inexpensive
  • Finding Time to Develop a Professional Learning Community
  • A High School Block Schedule Focused on Everyone's Needs
  • Dreaming of Time

Effective Staff Development Raises Student Achievement -- Winter 2001 (PDF)
  • "Good" Staff Development Is Not Good Enough for Hoover City Schools
  • Quality Professional Development Is Closing Alabama's Reading Gap
  • National Certification Challenges Veteran Teachers to Reach Higher
  • A Personal Journey

Cutting-Edge Principals for Today's Alabama Schools -- Fall 2000 (PDF)
  • Building a Better Principal
  • Faced with Principal Shortages, Some Alabama Districts Are 'Growing Their Own'
  • Outstanding Teachers Speak Out About Principals
  • Good Principals Create Places for Powerful Learning: An Interview with Paul Schwarz