News Releases

Teacher compensation needs broad changes to bring salaries in line with other professionals. And even while state revenues lag during the pandemic, states and schools can take immediate steps to support educators and keep teacher shortages from worsening.  

Those are among the findings of a new Southern Regional Education Board report, showing that states should continue to raise teacher pay and improve benefits and other types of support. 

The Southern Regional Education Board stands with black people and their allies around the South and across the nation in condemning racially motivated violence and racism in all its manifestations.

Ahmaud Arbery in south Georgia. Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. George Floyd in Minneapolis. The most recent names on a long list of black lives that mattered. That still matter.

This moment must be the impetus for change.

A new Higher Education Recovery Task Force will convene higher education leaders from the 16 Southern Regional Education Board states to address the challenges facing colleges, universities and students during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery.

State Senator Jack Hill of Georgia, a longtime Southern Regional Education Board officer and member, died on April 6, 2020.

“Senator Jack Hill was a gem, a true Southern gentleman and an unwavering statesman. For decades in Georgia, he was an instrumental education leader for education—collaborating, befriending and mentoring colleagues across the political spectrum. As the longtime chair of the Senate budget committee in Georgia, he insisted that the state’s students came first on more occasions than many people knew.

Available in All States

Georgia’s OER Online Courses, Grades 6 -12, and Free Training for Teachers on Remote Learning

Georgia Virtual’s OER (open educational resource) digital course content for middle grade and high school students and training courses for teachers are freely available to educators in all states thanks to the Georgia Department of Education and its Georgia Virtual Learning program.

K-12, college and university leaders are working across state lines to reduce barriers faced by students and to empower faculty with access to a wide range of instructional materials.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the Southern Regional Education Board a $5.3 million, five-year Teacher Quality Partnership grant to create a residency-based teacher preparation program with Georgia College & State University.

SREB bid a fond farewell this week to Cheryl Blanco. After more than a decade of service to the organization, she is looking forward to more family time while continuing to work on higher education issues.

The Southern Regional Education Board has launched a multi-year initiative to help states address growing concerns about dual enrollment, including cost and equity.

With an advisory panel of members from schools, universities, agencies and legislatures across the SREB states, the project will explore how dual enrollment can: 

Teachers and leaders from Bladen, Beaufort and Stanly county school districts in North Carolina convened in Raleigh this week to delve into systemic challenges that students, teachers and leaders face in rural communities. The goal: increase the number of middle grade and high school students who are on track for graduation, as measured by indicators such as state assessments, grade point average and passing grades in core classes.

The nation’s premier professional learning event for K-12 education, SREB’s annual Making Schools Work Conference attracts thousands of teachers, counselors, principals, technology center directors, and state and district education agency personnel.

A new report from SREB recaps the impact of technical assistance grants to help states improve their educator effectiveness strategies.

With new and better training on observations, administrators improved as instructional leaders and teachers began to receive more instructional support. Scaling support to reach all school leaders proved challenging.

Tuition, financial aid and other measures that drive college affordability vary from state to state. To help policymakers evaluate and improve affordability in their states, SREB provides affordability profiles specific to each of its 16 states.

New in this year’s reports: charts showing the changing percentages of tuition and fees versus state appropriations from 2006 to 2016.

Each report details state-specific data including:

State Representative John “Bam” Carney of Kentucky was elected chair of SREB’s Legislative Advisory Council at the group’s annual meeting in Louisville this month. State Representative Patricia Smith of Louisiana was chosen as vice chair. 
 

Making digital content accessible is a critical issue not only for schools and colleges to pursue their mission to reach and teach all students, but because it’s the law.

The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 13 percent of public school students, and 11 percent of postsecondary students, have disabilities. To do their best work they need access to all the information and resources their fellow students have. Federal law has been working to see that they do, most recently with new web content standards that went into effect in January.

LAC officers are Senator Millar of Georgia and Representative Carney of Kentucky

Atlanta, Georgia — June 26, 2018 — Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana was re-elected to serve another one-year term as chair of the Southern Regional Education Board. He was re-elected at the organization’s annual meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, on Sunday.

Dyslexia affects at least one in 10 people. But only 5 percent of them are identified so that schools can help them learn to overcome their difficulties with reading and writing.
 
A new policy brief from the Southern Regional Education Board urges states and schools to identify students with dyslexia and intervene early to help more children meet reading benchmarks.
 

Colleges in the Three SREB States Expand Online Program Access Through State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA)

Louisiana, Virginia and West Virginia have been approved by the Southern Regional Education Board as the first SREB region states to become members of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA). Virginia has an effective operational date of today; Louisiana and West Virginia have an effective operational date of December 1, 2014. 

The Southern Regional Education Board’s Community College Commission convened this week in Atlanta, charged with recommending ways to strengthen the role of community and technical colleges in raising educational attainment in Southern states.

SARA collaboration among states expands online options for students, reduces costs for institutions

The state of Florida was approved by the Southern Regional Education Board to join the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA)

Dr. Stephanie Danette Preston, interim associate dean for graduate student affairs and assistant dean for graduate educational equity at Pennsylvania State University, was presented one of two national Faculty Mentor of the Year Awards on Oct. 28 at the nation’s largest gathering of underrepresented minority Ph.D. students and faculty.

Dr. Sheila Witherspoon, an associate professor of counselor education at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, was presented one of three national Extra Mile Awards on Oct. 28 at the nation’s largest gathering of underrepresented minority Ph.D. students and faculty.

Dr. Zebulon Kendrick, the vice provost at Temple University in Philadelphia, was presented one of three Extra Mile Awards on Oct. 28 at the nation’s largest gathering of underrepresented minority Ph.D. students and faculty.

Building strong data systems on teachers’ education and early careers may be the single best way to improve teacher preparation, says a report from the Southern Regional Education Board Teacher Preparation Commission.

Educators, employers create a seamless pipeline from high school to high-demand health careers

Atlanta, June 19, 2017 — A new nursing pathway in Kentucky will accelerate high school students’ attainment of industry-approved certifications, licensures and credentials, culminating in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).
 

Need-based aid for low-income students should be a priority

Leaders from 16 states are calling for states to elevate affordability for students — especially those from low-income families — as the top priority of their higher education finance policies and practices.

This week, Kentucky and Pennsylvania were approved by the Southern Regional Education Board to join the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA). These states bring the number of participating states to 44, plus the District of Columbia.
 

SREB Insights interactive data tool is a user-friendly new way to navigate complex education topics and inform decisions and practice. State policymakers, thought leaders and education leaders can understand and compare trends, policies and recommended actions for reaching college- and career-readiness standards.

As states pass new data laws for schools, policymakers should ensure these policies address transparency, privacy, security, collection, use and sharing. Most important, these systems should drive student learning and protect student and employee privacy. A new brief, Data Privacy and Security, from SREB’s Educational Technology Cooperative provides states with clear recommendations for education data policies. This brief is a useful overview on two education data topics — privacy and security.

West Virginia State University is the 1,000th institution to participate in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), a nationwide initiative of states and institutions that makes distance education courses more accessible to students across state lines and makes it easier for states to regulate and institutions to participate in interstate distance education while improving consumer protection.  

Atlanta, GA — Delaware, District of Columbia, North Carolina and South Carolina are now members of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement. Forty states plus DC — close to 1,000 institutions — now participate in SARA.

Atlanta, GA — This week, Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi and Texas were approved by the Southern Regional Education Board to join the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA). These states bring the number of participating states to 34, with over half of the SREB states now participating in SARA.
 

In the summer of 2015, the Mississippi Department of Education trained more than 200 teachers — more than 60 in Literacy Ready and 160 in Math Ready. To support these teachers, Mississippi created an SREB Ready endorsement. The state affixes an SREB Literacy Ready or SREB Math Ready endorsement to the certifications of teachers who complete the initial training and the online follow-up training.

Atlanta, GA — The Southern Regional Education Board has added Health Informatics to the Advanced Career (AC) curricula available to all high schools.

Atlanta, GA — The Southern Regional Education Board today launched the Commission on College Affordability in the South to focus state policies on the goal of affordability for students.

Atlanta, GA — In collaboration with partner states, the Southern Regional Education Board is field testing two courses to prepare more students for college and careers when they graduate from high school. The SREB Readiness Courses are designed to prepare students to start college in credit-bearing courses instead of remedial classes. 

Melinda Gates Speaks with Teachers at Monday Keynote

Atlanta, GA — About 5,500 teachers, principals and other K-12 educators from states across the nation gather in Nashville this week at conferences hosted by the Southern Regional Education Board to help students graduate from high school ready for college and careers. All meetings take place at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.