Alabama State Progress Report 2024

Workforce

Summary of Workforce Prep

• Helping adults earn a postsecondary certificate or degree is vital to preparing the SREB region’s workforce for the future.
• The percentage of working-age adults with at least some postsecondary education increased over the last decade.
• The overall employment rate increased across most SREB states at all education levels.
• By 2030, every SREB state will have more dependent-age individuals than working age adults.
• Adults with higher credentials are less likely than their peers with less than a high school education to earn wages below the poverty threshold.

Educational Attainment 

Helping adults earn a postsecondary certificate or degree to prepare for employment is imperative for states. Rapid advancements in automation and artificial intelligence will increasingly displace adults with low levels of education, transforming some positions while eliminating others. Better-paying careers in the coming years will require students to earn a certificate or degree after high school.

In the SREB region, the percentage of working-age adults with at least some postsecondary education increased 7.6 points between 2012 and 2022. But across the region in 2022, 38% of working-age adults still had a high school diploma or less.

Job Share by Education Level

The share of jobs held by adults with a high school diploma or less in the SREB region between 2012 and 2022 decreased by 3.0 points, while the share held by adults with a bachelor’s degree or more increased by 6.4 points.

Employment Rates by Education Level

Despite fewer low-skilled adults in the workforce in 2022 than in 2012, there was an overall employment rate increase across most states at all education levels over the decade. In fact, employment rates for adults with high school credentials increased in all SREB states over the 10-year period, by 3.5 points (See the chart below for state data). In all 16 SREB states, adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher were employed at greater rates in 2022 compared to 2012.

These shifts point to a dire situation for low-skilled adults — those with  a high school diploma or less — who are most vulnerable to technological advancement and economic downturns.

Working-Age Adults vs. Dependent Population

Without additional education and training, some 18 million SREB adults and their children could be unemployable by 2030. Helping adults earn credentials beyond high school will be critical for 25- to 44-year-olds, who are early- or mid-career and will face job changes.

Technological progress and low educational attainment in the workforce are  not the only challenges facing states. By 2030, every SREB state will have  more dependent-age individuals than working age adults. Many adults in the  25-64 age range will either be unemployed or out of the labor force by 2030, so the gap between working adults and dependents will likely be higher than conveyed.

Percentage of Adults in Poverty by Attainment

Between 2012 and 2022, poverty rates for adults with any postsecondary education decreased in six SREB states. For adults with a high school diploma or less, poverty rates decreased in nine SREB states.

Earnings by Education Level

Adults with higher credentials are less  likely than their peers with less than a high school education to earn wages below the poverty threshold — $13,590 for an individual with $4,720 for each additional person in 2022. In the median SREB state, adults with some college or higher earned $20,645 more than those with a high school diploma or less.

With the disruption of the pandemic, along with technological advancement shifts, SREB states are facing considerable challenges in meeting workforce needs.

The growing dependent population, rising poverty rates and gaps between attainment and job share seen in 2019 pre-pandemic data will be exacerbated. With millions displaced and fewer high school graduates attending college, training for future job openings may become a necessity for 2030.

With fewer people attending and completing college, there are now millions displaced in the workforce pipeline who might need reskilling for future positions. States that coordinate thoughtful partnerships and strategic investments to attain degrees or skills will strengthen a thriving workforce in the future.

Quantity and Quality of Teachers

Alabama’s Pupil/Teacher Ratio: 17.7

Current and Future Teacher Shortages

The 2020-21 school year marked the first time in nearly a decade in which the total number of people completing teacher preparation programs increased in the region. In the SREB region between the 2013-14 and 2020-21 school years, the number of teacher prep program completers decreased by 21%.

Teacher Labor Market Best Practices

States that coordinate and distribute timely and accurate disaggregated teacher data will be better prepared for teacher shortages. Following teacher data practices will highlight inequities and inefficiencies of local labor markets that individual stakeholders cannot.

Teacher Salaries

Key Faculty Shortages for In-Demand Career Fields

The data below highlights potential contributing factors and top faculty shortages.

Faculty Quantity and Quality

The data below highlights potential contributing factors and top faculty shortages.

Public Four-Year Colleges and Universities

At public four-year colleges and universities, Alabama’s student to faculty ratio in 2020 was 17. 

Public Two-Year Colleges

At public two-year colleges, Alabama’s student to faculty ratio in 2020 was 16.

Faculty Salaries

Postsecondary

Summary of Postsecondary

• Need-based aid decreased as a portion of total state aid in eight SREB states between the 2012-13 and 2021-22 school years.
• The number of Pell Grant recipients declined in all SREB states between 2015-2022, despite the average Pell Grant award increasing.
• Of the 14 SREB states that reported persistence data for the 2020 cohort, 10 saw their persistence rates fall in  comparison to the cohort of 2015.
• In 2022, 42% of working-age adults, ages 25 to 64, had earned an associate degree or higher in the SREB region. 

Need-based Aid

Adults with education after high school are more likely to be employed, to earn incomes above the poverty level, and to be able to support their children’s academic growth. However, as the need to earn a postsecondary credential increased, so has the cost of attaining one.

Earning a higher education credential is pretty much a requisite for future well-being but paying for one is  complex. States must help more students enter college  and complete programs successfully.

The strategies states use to increase the number and diversity of students in certificate and degree programs vary. Most SREB states provide some combination of need-based and merit-based aid. Need-based financial aid remains an important tool to help students and their families overcome the affordability gap between what college costs and what families can afford. But between 2012-13 and 2021-22, need-based aid decreased as a portion of total state aid in eight SREB states. Changes in the portion of need-based aid ranged from a 37% increase to a 16% decrease. 

Pell Grants and Student Loan Debt

Students from low-income families may also receive Federal Pell Grant funding to help pay for college. Most Pell money goes to students with total family incomes below $20,000 per year. From 2014-15 to 2020-21, the average Pell Grant award per recipient at public colleges increased from $3,575 to $4,152 nationwide. In 2020-21 the average Pell Grant award in SREB states ranged from $3,795 to $4,66. 

Even though the average Pell Grant award increased in the SREB region, the number of students receiving money declined in all 16 SREB states. The number of Pell Grant recipients fell by 23% from 2015 to 2022. The proportion of college costs covered by Pell also declined in every SREB state. Federal Pell Grants are at their lowest purchasing power in over 40 years.

Students’ families are expected to pay a share of the net price cost for attending college according to their annual Expected Family Contribution. EFC varies dramatically across the five income levels established by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System at the NCES: families with yearly incomes of less than $30,000, from $30-$48,000, from $48-$75,000, from $75-$110,000, and $110,000 and above.

Families in the lowest income bracket are expected to contribute less than families in other brackets, but their contribution represents a much larger portion of their annual earnings. Student loans can help, but student debt may hinder graduates’ purchasing power for years.

Across SREB states, average student loan debt of borrowers ranged from $31,182 to $42,280 in 2023. For borrowers ages 24 and younger across SREB states, the average student loan debt ranged from $12,643 and $14,944 in 2023. Faced with the prospect of so much debt, many families may decide that college is just too expensive.

First-Year Persistence

SREB states monitor their college freshmen’s first-year persistence rates as a predictor of college completion. Unlike other persistence rates used across the country, this SREB rate is calculated with data submitted to the SREB-State Data Exchange.

For freshmen students entering in 2020, the average persistence rate at public four-year institutions in SREB states was 84% — seven points lower than for their 2013 peers. Across the region, rates for the 2020 cohort ranged from  77% to 91%. Of the 14 SREB states that reported data for the 2020 cohort, 10 saw their persistence rates fall from the cohort of 2015.

Six-Year Graduation Rates

Key performance outcome measures for states include the six-year graduation rate for four-year colleges and universities and the three-year graduation rate for two-year colleges. Institutions must report these rates to the U.S. Department of Education. The rates do not account for students who enroll at later dates, part-time students or those who transfer from other institutions. Thus, they provide a partial picture of college graduation rates.

In 2020, the SREB region’s six-year college graduation rate was 61%, up 5% from 2014. It trailed the nation by 2 percentage points. Six SREB states had graduation rates that exceeded the national average of 61% for students who enrolled in 2014. The six-year graduation rate for Hispanic students in seven SREB states exceeded the rate for their peers nationwide. In six of these seven states, Black students also exceeded the rates for their respective peer groups nationwide. In the SREB region, graduation rates for Black students ranged from 30% to 66%. For Hispanic students, the range was 42% to 71%. In eight SREB states, the six-year graduation rate for white students exceeded the rate for their peers nationwide.

Student Progression Rates

The Data Exchange partners with SREB states to track students for up to 10 years from the year they enter college to calculate an SREB student progression rate. This rate provides states an indicator of the progress a cohort is making toward graduation. In 2020, the SREB progression rate was 78% after six years for students who entered public four-year colleges and universities in 2015: 60% had graduated, 15% had transferred to other institutions and 3% remained enrolled. 

Educational Attainment of Working-Age Adults

The Challenge 2030 adult educational attainment goal calls for more working-age adults in SREB states to earn a postsecondary credential. Postsecondary certificates, as well as associate and bachelor’s degrees, count toward  the goal. In the SREB region, 42% of working-age adults, ages 25 to 64, had earned an associate degree or higher by 2022 — two percentage points below the nation. Four SREB states matched or exceeded the national average of 44%. 

In 2022, the percentages of Black or Hispanic working-age adults with an associate degree or higher exceeded their respective peer groups nationwide in six and nine SREB states, respectively. The percentage of white working-age adults with an associate degree or higher exceeded the nation in four SREB states.

States and institutions should consider ways to support  students better so that more graduate. For example:

• Provide greater support for their Pell Grant  recipients to ensure their success
• Provide support for transfer students to ensure  they graduate
• Provide rewards for postsecondary institutions  that meet or exceed completion performance targets
• Align postsecondary education and workforce needs  to provide incentives to student 

High School

Summary of High School Participation and Advanced Placement

• The percentage of ninth graders who reached 12th grade on time increased in the SREB region between 2014 and 2023.
• Between 2015 and 2022, 13 SREB states increased their high school graduation rates.
• In the SREB region, only 17% of the class of 2023 scored a 3 or higher on an AP exam.  
• Across the region, the gap between graduation rates and students meeting ACT and SAT readiness benchmarks remains a concern for the SREB region for the class of 2023.
• The percentage of students meeting both SAT benchmarks decreased in 13 SREB states.
• The percentage of students meeting all four ACT benchmarks decreased in six SREB states.
• For the class of 2023, the percentage of students meeting the ACT STEM benchmarks decreased in 15 states. 

 

9^th Grade Bulge and Grade-Level Progression

Making a successful transition from eighth to ninth grade is key to student success in high school. But this transition proves difficult for many students. In the SREB region, 111 ninth graders were enrolled in public schools in 2023 for every 100 eighth graders in 2022. The ninth-grade bulge ranged from two to 19 more students in ninth grade across all 16 SREB states.

Students can struggle with transitions as they advance through high school as well, potentially putting them at risk of failing a grade or dropping out, although states have seen some improvement. From 2014 to 2023 the percentage of ninth graders who reached 12th grade on time increased 12 percentage points to 84%, trailing the nation by five points. In 2023 the high school progression rates in SREB states ranged from 76% to 92%.

Several factors influence both the ninth-grade bulge and high school progression rates. Monitoring students’ progression into and through high school can help school staff identify students at risk of failure and show state leaders where state policies and programs can support student success. 

Graduation Rate 

Between 2015 and 2022, the region’s graduation rate rose by 3 points to 88%, one percentage point higher than the national average. Thirteen SREB states saw their high school graduation rates rise during this time, by one to nine amid overall gains in graduation rates, significant gaps remain among student groups. Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, those from low-income families, and English learners continued to graduate  at rates lower than their Asian and white peers. The median graduation rate gains for Asian and Black students, English learners and students from low-income families outpaced those made by all students in the region.

In 2022, 85% of Black students in SREB states graduated from high school, compared to 84% in 2019. Hispanic students graduated at a rate of 82%, compared to 84% in 2019.

At the same time, students from low-income families graduated from high school at a rate of 83%. English learners graduated at a rate of 69%, while students with disabilities graduated at a rate of 73%.

Advanced Placement

In addition to graduating students from high school, states need to focus on preparing students for a rapidly changing workforce. The Challenge 2030 goals call for states to increase access to accelerated programs, such  as dual enrollment, Early College, International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement.

For those students who take AP courses in high school and attempt the related exams, the research suggests that they are more academically successful as college freshmen.  This is true even if the students do not earn a score of 3 or higher on the test — considered passing and generally sufficient to earn college credit.

Nationally, 34.7% of the graduates in the Class of 2023 took an AP exam, compared to 20% to 46% across the SREB states. For students in the SREB states, passage rates ranged from 8% to 28%. Only three SREB states exceeded the national passage rate of 22%.

Focus is on College and Career Readiness

While increasing high school graduation rates is important, the focus of the SREB 2030 goal for high schools is on college and career readiness. Like Advanced Placement, dual enrollment courses may help prepare students for college and career training beyond high school.

Recently, states have paid increased attention to dual enrollment programs to provide greater access to postsecondary for more students. And there is some evidence that these programs can encourage students to enroll in college and help them be successful, though research findings are mixed.

Many of the positive outcomes attributed to dual enrollment were observed in Early College High Schools, and due to data and sampling limitations, findings from such studies are not generalizable beyond the original program(s) or location(s). Researchers have also been unable to  determine whether participation causes positive outcomes or if they are simply associated with dual enrollment due to other factors, such as student characteristics or programmatic variations. 

To help states answer these questions, SREB began a Dual Enrollment Initiative in 2019. This initiative convened an advisory panel including state and local K-12 leaders, state higher education agency leaders, and technical college system and institutional staff to evaluate ideas, problems and goals to understand the impact of dual enrollment. This panel aims to address key policy questions, explore dual enrollment as a strategy to connect secondary and postsecondary to career opportunities, and examine state methods of establishing college readiness.

The advisory panel identified five issues confronting all SREB states — student access, eligibility and costs, program quality measures, program funding streams, and data collection and reporting. 

ACT and SAT scores are used for college admission decisions and the awarding of merit-based scholarships. Both assessments are attempting to measure a high school student’s readiness for college and provide a common data point that can be used to compare all applicants.

ACT and SAT Participation and Performance

Participation rates on the ACT or SAT ranged  from 26% to 100% in the SREB states for the  graduating class of 2023. While nine states required participation on college admissions tests for high school students in 2023, six states had 100% participation. Another three states had participation rates over 90% —  Arkansas and North Carolina on the ACT and Delaware on the SAT.

Among SREB states, the percentage of students taking these admission tests differs greatly, and the proportion of students taking them has shifted in recent years. In South Carolina, 40% took the ACT and 50% of the class of 2023  took the SAT. Of those remaining, nine had  50% or more participation on only the ACT, and eight had 50% or more participation on only the SAT.

In the SREB region, 61% of the class of 2023 took the ACT, a three-percentage increase from the class of 2021. SAT participation for the 2023 class was 39%, up 8 percentage points from the class of 2021.

SREB’s 2030 goals call for states to reach national averages on the ACT and SAT. The average composite ACT score for all student groups in the SREB region for the class of 2023 was 18.8, compared with the national average of 19.5. Since 2021, both the national and regional averages fell by 0.8 points and 0.7 points respectively. For the ACT, 0.1 point is considered statistically significant.  

In the SREB region, the average ACT composite score worsened compared with the class of 2021. In 2023, two student groups in the region met their national peers’ scores while two fell behind the national average. Asian students averaged 24.2 points in both the region and nationally. Hispanic students averaged 17.4 points in the region and nationally. did not meet their national peers’ scores. Black students fell behind the nation by 0.2 points, while white students trailed the nation by 0.5 points.

SAT Benchmarks by Student Group

The 2021 SAT results cover two sections: Evidence- Based Reading and Writing, and Math. While this test  is derived from previous ones, it was greatly revised in 2017 so previous scores do not directly correspond to current and future ones. The SAT has set empirically  based benchmarks of college readiness for each section: 480 for ERW and 530 for Math. 

In SREB states, the average SAT score for the class of  2021 was 1077, 29 points lower than in 2021 and 49 points higher than the national average.

Measuring Career and College Readiness

States can use various measures to gauge their students’ progress toward the SREB college- and career-readiness goal. These include the ACT, SAT, state assessments, and indicators such as graduation rates and completion of dual enrollment courses, and industry certifications.

SREB states have significantly increased their high school graduation rates since 2002, but ACT and SAT college-readiness results show that too many graduates are leaving high school unprepared for college coursework. This readiness gap comes at a time when labor projections suggest that nearly two-thirds of future job openings will require candidates with postsecondary credentials.

ACT and SAT Performance by Student Group

Nationwide, of the students in the class of 2023 who took a college-readiness assessment, 21% met all four ACT  benchmarks and 40% met both SAT benchmarks. In SREB states, 17% met all four ACT benchmarks and 48% met both SAT benchmarks.

A closer look at ACT and SAT benchmark results shows wider performance gaps in meeting the benchmarks for Black and Hispanic students than for Asian or white students.

Across the SREB region in 2023, ACT benchmarks results showed: 41% of Asian and 23% of white students met all four college-readiness benchmarks; 9% of Hispanic students and 4% of Black students did.

The pattern of results was similar on the SAT. In 2023, 74% of Asian and 51% of white students met both SAT benchmarks, but only 24% of Hispanic students and 17% of Black students did nationwide. In the region, fewer than 22% of Black students and 38% of Hispanic students met at least one of the SAT benchmarks, compared with 58% of white students and 76% of Asian students. 

STEM and Career and Technical Education

According to ACT results, students are particularly underprepared in STEM— science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Nationwide, 15% of students in the class of 2023 who took the ACT met the STEM benchmark, compared with 12% in the SREB region. While 36% of Asian students and 16% of white students in the SREB region met this benchmark, just 2% of Black and 6% of Hispanic students did.

In the seven SREB states with full ACT participation for the class of 2023, 1-2% of Black students and 3-7% of Hispanic students met the STEM benchmark; 8-18% of white students and 27-36% of Asian students did.

According to SREB’s 2017 publication, Valuing Both C’s in College- and Career- Readiness Accountability Systems, industry leaders already struggle to find workers who possess a broad mix of workplace skills, including STEM and industry-specific technical skills. Employers have expressed a need for workers  who also have essential employability skills like the ability to communicate well, read technical manuals, work in teams and solve complex problems.  

To prepare more students to graduate with the skills needed to meet workforce needs, states offer career and technical education courses, often as part of defined pathways or programs of study. Career pathways that connect to college ready courses and career opportunities teach critical technical and employability skills, but they also keep students engaged and achieving at higher levels, preventing dropouts and promoting transitions beyond high school.

CTE courses can be funded using federal Perkins V awards that require each state to report data on at least one of three program quality indicators. Most SREB states report how many students attained a recognized postsecondary credential — an industry-recognized certification, apprenticeship or degree. The other two available indicators are students who attained postsecondary credits and those who participated in work-based learning.