While the Alabama Legislature is still grappling with how it will handle the retention component of the 2019 Literacy Act, some Republican lawmakers are hinting at a mathematics counterpart to the Literacy Act passed by the end of the 2022 regular session.
Earlier this week, State Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur), the chairwoman of the Education Policy Committee, said with the session just halfway completed, that a math counterpart, deemed the Numeracy Act, was being considered.
During an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Hollinger's Island) backed up Collins on making the Numeracy Act a reality.
"I think so," Brown said. "I don't know why the third grade couldn't be the benchmark for all of that, really. It's not a bad idea, if you think about it, to have third grade, before you go into high school because we have a graduation exit exam. So, in essence, we're preparing these children for that as they go along."
"So, if we need to have benchmarks that have real impact -- because the real impact of school is we're supposed to teach these kids to learn, to read, to understand math. And those are the two big ones, really. In what you're going to do in society, to be able to read and being able to understand at least basic math -- I think that if that effort were really put out there, I think [Collins] is right. We could see movement on that this session."
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