By Justin Averette
The Selma Times-Journal

A few months ago while working in Demopolis, I had the chance to hear Alabama Department of Education Superintendent Tommy Bice speak about Plan 2020.

The ambitious project comes with a vision to improve Alabama’s high school graduation rate to 90 percent by the year 2020.

Bice is traveling the state talking with parents, teachers and students during the Future of Public Education Tour.

What really stood out to me when I heard the spiel was how serious Bice is about reaching the graduation goal and what steps other school systems are taking to get there.

As Bice said in Demopolis in August and last week at Selma High School, students will learn, if we adults just get out of the way.

We have to be willing to accept change and challenge how we educate children.

Just to say, “Well, that’s the way it has always been done” isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Bice shared several examples from systems that have embraced this philosophy.

For example, schools have always started about 8 a.m. and generally let out at 3 p.m. Bice asked why that couldn’t be done differently if it improved students’ attendance and kept them on track to a diploma.

He gave examples of systems that allow students to attend school in the afternoons or even into the evenings.

Some systems have turned downtown abandoned buildings into annex campuses, giving dilapidated buildings some much needed TLC and allowing students, particularly those who drop out, to come back and finish in their own neighborhood.

But innovation doesn’t have to only help those at-risk students.

Bice told about a system that gives students a course’s final exam on the first day of class. If they have already mastered those skills, students are pulled out of that class and put into a more challenging one.

If a kid has already mastered algebra, why not take them out of that class and put them in a higher math course?

It’s outside the box thinking like this that will help Alabama exceed its 90 percent graduation goal.

I’ve only been in town a week but it’s been encouraging to see what local administrators are doing to encourage students to learn.

In the pages of the newspaper this week, we have seen Big Al visit Payne and Clark elementary schools to cheer about the importance of reading.

The School of Discovery is also giving students prizes who have perfect attendance. The school also sponsored a reading rally last week.

It’s great to see these incentives for students. We hope to cover many similar programs as the school year progresses.