First Year, First Choice: Alabama Education Reform

In 2006, an international study on student achievement revealed that the U.S. ranked 25th out of 30 nations in math achievement, and 24th in science. According to the report, the disparity “created the equivalent of a permanent, deep recession in terms of the gap between actual and potential output in the economy.”

Today, in the midst of a severe recession in America, the McKinsey Group reports that in the nation’s largest cities, only 53 percent of young people are graduating from high school on time; Meanwhile the median income for high school dropouts is $14,000, compared with $48,000 for college graduates. Yet 63% of American high school graduates who did not go to college say that if their high school had raised its standards, they ‘strongly feel that they would have worked harder.’

Ranked among the lowest in the country for college attendance rates, the State of Alabama has decided to put that claim to the test. Under a brand new initiative beginning with the 2009 incoming freshman class, all high school students in the Heart of Dixie are now required to pursue a high-level diploma, and to participate in a rigorous curriculum – including tougher math and science courses, along with foreign language study – that was optional until now. The initiative is known as First Choice.

Shot in cinema verité, First Year, First Choice explores the inaugural year of this ambitious plan from the perspective of students and teachers living in economically disparate regions. Viewers watch each character navigate their way through the failures and triumphs of an unusually difficult school year, when teachers are pushed to their limits, students are held more accountable than ever before, and families can’t always provide the emotional and financial support a young adult needs to achieve his or her goals.

While it charts the implementation of a potentially groundbreaking public school initiative, First Year, First Choice becomes a window into the real-life struggles an American community faces — inside and outside the classroom – when they ask the next generation to live up to their personal and economic potential.

Check out the website, www.firstyearfirstchoice.com