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DEL.ICIO.USComing to a School Marquee Near You
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Department of Education has named 23 schools state “Schools of Excellence”
The title of “School of Excellence” used to mean little, because many schools that won the state award had low test scores and other undesireable qualities. It’s a shame, because schools that competed for “School of Excellence” worked hard, setting their own goals and documenting their successes with test scores and other things like PTA membership and attendance.
Flash forward to the national obsession with data - hey, I’m one of the obsessed - and the state now has what they say is more objective criteria. In other words, schools are awarded the honor based on their test scores. Those with the highest scores get recognized. Typically these schools are situated in nice neighborhoods with expensive homes and parents who are very involved in their children’s education at home and at school. Additionally, those schools that have improved their test scores, regardless of how high or low the scores are, can get the honor, though they have to meet some other criteria.
What conclusions can you draw from a school with this distinction? Not a whole lot, seeing as so many schools now boast on their marquees that they are “Schools of Excellence,” regardless of how long ago they won. I’d say a recent “Georgia School of Excellence” award signifies a school moving in the right direction - a school that , in general, “works.”
But just like a single test score cannot tell the story of a child, a single award can’t tell you everything you need to know if you are thinking of sending your child to a particular school. To get the full story, you’ll need more information, the kind you can only get from walking the school’s hallways and talking to teachers and parents.
For a list of this year’s “Schools of Excellence,” see the state’s press release
Blog housekeeping: I will try to post every weekday, though breaking news may at times make that impossible. I will not post Monday, because we are off for King Day.
Christoph Guttentag of Duke University alerted me to a correction on his interview. Curriculum, grades and test scores count for 50 percent of Duke’s admissions formula. I corrected the text as soon as he alerted me. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.
You want more links, and I promise they are coming. I’m still getting the hang of this. Some of you asked about RSS, and my tech guru tells me he’s working on it and hopes to have it in a few weeks. Another poster wants to know how to use the search feature just for Get Schooled, and unfortunately we are not able to offer that service at this time.
Thank you everyone for visiting Get Schooled during our first week in the blogosphere. Please bookmark us and check us regularly. I especially appreciate the story ideas. Keep them coming, and please keep posting. Next week, I’ll announce the first Get Schooled contest as well as the “Ask the AJC” feature.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Sam Cres
January 17, 2005 03:41 PM | Link to this
In the Judge Cooper judgement I found many of the bloogers/responants to be very intelligent, such as Den, the there was the opposite such as Republicus who had a very good point.
But the main issue is that the Judge had no grounds on this decision by the very grounds that his statement for removal was wrong. He has to answer the basic Question; “If Evolution is not a theory then where are the facts for it?” The sitcker simply pointed out the truth; as was Republicus’ statement on many theories, and yet evolution is taught as a fact while gravity is taught as nothing more than annoying. So the truth of the matter is that the Judge had an axe to grind or a certain group to satisfy which makes him unfit for office. For other than a small statement made by Thomas Jefferson which stated that no “religion” should be recognized over another by the government as is guarunteed by the Consitution. Our great and very misguided Judge can not show me where in our Consitution it states separation of church and state! I challenge him any day to prove that one.
It states clearly that there shall be no state recognized church, meaning one group recognized over another in any respect or position. Also, I would like this great Judge to show me where our great laws came from, since he so eloquently has all the answers and knows evolution to be a fact.
Sam
By Robert Gabel
January 19, 2005 12:53 PM | Link to this
It is very sad how "religon" has found its way not only into our politics but also into public education. I use religon in quotes because it seems to be only a certain religous perspective and not all religon. The USA is becoming more and more like Iraq and Afganistan were in that we are becoming driven by a specific religon. Isn't that one of the reasons we invaded Iraq and Afganistan? Those countries politics were predominately Moslum. Why is our religous politics any better? Let scientists make decisions about science, not politicans or religon. Of course evolution is a theory, but so is every other science concept! Try looking up the word theory if you are confused by this. If Cobb County wants a special sticker that says that evolution is only a theory, then we should have special stickers for each and every science concept from the model of the atom to gravity stating that they are also only theories. Each book would be covered with stickers!!!! I am not against teaching religon in school, but it should not be in a science class - create a religon class!