News Releases

Stephen L. Pruitt has announced his departure as president of the Southern Regional Education Board effective June 22.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges today announced that it has selected Pruitt as the next president of SACSCOC.

SREB’s Executive Committee will name an interim president and announce a search for a new president in the coming weeks. 

The Southern Regional Education Board’s District Leadership and State Leadership awards recognize the outstanding leadership efforts of two districts and a state that established structures to help transform school and classroom practices and maintain a culture of continuous improvement.

SREB will present the awards to the recipients on July 15 at the Making Schools Work Conference in New Orleans. 

Here are this year’s winners: 

SREB states saved $10.5 million in technology purchases in fiscal year 2023. Schools, universities and agencies in each of the 16 SREB states are eligible for discounts through SREB’s collaboration with the Midwestern Higher Education Compact.

The Sylacauga City School District in Alabama is the winner of the Southern Regional Education Board’s 2024 District Leadership Award.  The district received the honor for its commitment to engaging instruction, professional development and quality career pathways.

Nashville, TN – Lake Hamilton High School in Pearcy, Arkansas, is the winner of a 2024 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board.

Nashville, TN – Waccamaw High School in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, is the winner of a 2024 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board.

Nashville, TN – Lehigh Career & Technical Institute in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, is the winner of a 2024 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board.

Nashville, TN – Sumter Career and Technology Center in Sumter, South Carolina, is the winner of a 2024 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board.

Nashville, TN – Austin Middle School in Decatur, Alabama, is the winner of a 2024 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board.

When: Wed., May 1, 2024, from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time

Where: Zoom

The Southern Regional Education Board announced this week the members of the newly formed SREB Commission on Artificial Intelligence in Education. 

Chaired by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and co-chaired by Brad D. Smith, president of Marshall University in West Virginia and former Silicon Valley CEO, the commission consists of more than 60 policymakers, education leaders and business executives from each of SREB’s 16 states.   

For their efforts to improve instruction and raise student achievement, 29 schools were honored today at the annual SREB Making Schools Work Conference in Orlando, Florida.  

Gadsden Independent School District in New Mexico received the Southern Regional Education Board’s District Leadership Award for long-term commitment to continuous improvement at its schools, leading to improved achievement for students.  

ATLANTA – The Southern Regional Education Board conference on coaching for school leadership and instruction has sold out and is sure to offer media plenty of opportunities for interviews, video, and photos with educators and SREB staff.

The 2023 Coaching for Change conference, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Tues., May 16, and 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wed., May 17, will draw school coaches from all grade levels and content areas to the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, 800 Spring St., NW.

A new interactive tool that helps policymakers explore pay and benefits in the 16 states represented by the Southern Regional Education Board is now live at  SREB.org/TeacherCompensationDashboard. 

SREB has updated its comprehensive Teacher Compensation Dashboard with the region’s latest available data on salaries, health insurance, retirement, benefits and more.

ATLANTA — Teacher raises of up to 10% in recent years likely aren’t enough to help curb teacher shortages in many Southern states, as the cost of health insurance, inflation and the demands of teaching during the pandemic take a toll on the workforce.

Kentucky State Representative Bam Carney, former chair of the Southern Regional Education Board Legislative Advisory Council, died July 17, 2021.

The legislators, educators and staff members who work together as the Southern Regional Education Board are deeply saddened by the death of John “Bam” Carney of Campbellsville, Kentucky, a leader in education and an advocate for students.

More than 1,600 educators nationwide will gather online this week for a national school improvement conference to share strategies to address unfinished learning, improve access and equity for each student, and raise the quality of instruction when school opens this fall.

The Southern Regional Education Board Making Schools Work Conference is taking place July 6-9.

ATLANTA — The rates of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented college faculty members are not keeping pace with the changing student demographics in many states, according to the Southern Regional Education Board’s 16 new state profiles and regional data on faculty diversity.
 
Only about 9.2% of full- and part-time faculty members were Black and 5.1% were Hispanic at public four-year institutions in the 16-state SREB region in 2017-18, the latest year with federal data available.
 

Effective January 2021, SREB has transitioned the Go Alliance Academy to College Success Arizona. Please contact Shaylinn Aleman, CSA coordinator of membership services, for information. 

Go Alliance Academy strives to increase the postsecondary success of all students by providing timely and relevant professional development to school counselors and by helping colleges of education transform the ways future counselors are trained. 

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 Southern Regional Education Board has launched a multi-year initiative to help states address concerns and opportunities in dual enrollment.

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

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. 
 

How are states’ new school accountability plans focusing on college and career readiness?

Many SREB states went above and beyond the basic requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which addresses readiness but does not require a comprehensive approach. An SREB analysis of state plans across the South identifies five ways states prioritize readiness for all students, statewide. They used the law’s flexibility to:

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.
 

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).