Important Issues

STEPHANIE BELL WILL CONTINUE WORKING TO IMPROVE EDUCATION

MAJOR ISSUES INCLUDE:

• Protecting children from violence and disruptive students (including harassment)
   
• Ensuring children are safe at school and on the school bus
   
• Teaching children to read at or above grade level by the end of first grade 
   

• Ending social promotion without leaving children languishing in the same grade year-after-year 
   

• Expanding the successful Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI)
   

• Expanding the Science, Mathematics and Technology Initiative (AMSTI)  which has shown positive results.
   

• Approving quality textbooks and courses of study that are accurate and unbiased
   

• Continually reviewing the state’s student testing program
   

• Providing appropriate assistance to students who experience difficulties 
   

• Supporting a strong Career Technical Education program
   

• Evaluating the needs of special education students on a regular basis and making appropriate changes
   

• Intervening in schools and systems that fail to measure up to specific academic, financial and safety standards
   

• Strengthening preparation programs for school principals and other school administrators and holding them accountable for their job performance
   

• Teacher testing that includes subject matter
   

• Providing quality professional development for teachers
   

• Upgrading colleges of education and closing programs that produce poor results
   

• Implementing a strategic plan for the state’s two-year colleges to ensure quality and accountability (including the prison education program)
   

• Providing a comprehensive adult education program that meets the needs of individual communities (includes GED)

THESE ARE ONLY A FEW OF THE AREAS WHERE STEPHANIE BELL WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT!