Decatur City Schools Foundation

Decatur City Schools is starting 2018 with new tools to support reading among our elementary school students! Earlier this month, the BBVA Compass Foundation donated $5,000 to buy Leveled Reading Libraries for elementary classrooms. This donation is just the latest example of BBVA Compass’ commitment to excellence in our schools, shown by a lifetime of giving that totals over $67,000 since 2009. Chris Kern, Senior Vice President of BBVA Compass, says, “One of BBVA Compass’ priorities is to identify and address pressing K-12 education needs to help bridge the achievement gap, and we couldn't be more proud to team up with Decatur City Schools in support of those efforts.” BBVA Compass’ support for the Decatur City Schools Foundation to buy Leveled Reading Libraries aims to increase reading ability and reading interest among our elementary students. Students at Banks-Caddell Elementary use their Leveled Readers. L...

DECATUR, Alabama (January 11, 2018)— The “Starting Strong Pre-K” initiative is donating $42,000 to Decatur City Schools Foundation to support Decatur City Schools Pre-Kindergarten classrooms. Schools will use the money to purchase tools and supplies that will make Decatur’s early learning opportunities better for years to come. This donation will give Pre-K classrooms across Decatur access to better teaching tools, allowing our teachers to create engaging learning spaces for young children. Studies show that children who participate in Pre-K are more likely to succeed throughout elementary school. Early success in school is the foundation for long-term school success in individual students and for higher graduation rates in our community. Representative Terri Collins, a leader of the initiative states, “Starting Strong was formed to help all Morgan County children start school prepared to learn.  Each year since 2012 Pre-K has been funded in some way, many years startin...

As a longtime supporter of Decatur City Schools programs, 3M has generously given over $26,000 for middle and high school Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) projects. These projects include tools for middle school robotics, Decatur Austin Robotics Coalition (DARC), and middle school engineering. Superintendent Michael Douglas says, “With these funds, Decatur City Schools will be able to provide more students with materials, tools, and equipment needed to participate in project-based learning that will expose them to careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.” The first of these projects funded by 3M is Middle Schools Robotics. 3M funding will be used specifically in our three middle schools to provide robot kits, robot expansion kits, and other high-tech resources to spur imagination and learning in robotics. Middle school students in this program build robots using Lego parts and program the robots using the EV3 Mindstorm software. They also bui...

This Fall, Decatur’s high schools started their second year using John Baylor Test Prep to help students get ready to take the ACT. For the past three years, every 11 th -grade student in the state of Alabama has taken the ACT as a way to measure the effectiveness of education among the state’s school districts. While the test for standards is changing this year, the ACT remains an important exam for many students in our district. Often a student’s ACT score determines whether or not the student is eligible to attend the university of their choice. After acceptance, their score will help the scholarship office decide whether or not to grant the student scholarship money to attend. With the high cost of attendance for both two- and four-year institutions, scholarship money can be the deciding factor in whether a student will seek post-secondary education. John Baylor Test Prep provides students with online access to test-prep sessions for the ACT, Pre-SAT, and SAT—all of whi...