AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2006 > May
May 2006
Atlanta’s Grady High School
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This Midtown school has long been the jewel of the Atlanta district, known for its high SAT average (1100), a communications magnet program and a national award-winning newspaper. But this story about the kids who jumped the ex-Marine - who defended himself by stabbing two of them and killing one - has brought out concerns from parents of Grady students (some of the kids involved went to Grady).
Some parents say Grady, sometimes heralded for its racial harmony, has become dangerous and hostile. The school is 66 percent African-American and 29 percent white, a balance that has remained fairly constant over the years.
Grady parents, teachers and students, I need your input! You’re there. You know. I’m not. I don’t. Please contact me at pghezzi@ajc.com or post here. What is the school climate like at Grady?
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Edutainment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An eighth-grade science teacher posted this to an earlier thread, saying it is a “disturbing trend” she sees:
“From the students - the idea that science needs to be ‘fun’ - not as opposed to drudgery; I think that, too - but ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ or ‘The Magic Schoolbus’ type of fun - all fluff, no substance, no critical thought or proper analysis.”
I have heard this before from teachers who lament that they are expected to be performers, entertaining their students with games, prizes and hands-on activities. At some point, students have to think and that can seem so very not fun.
Teachers, is the pressure to provide edutainment, make every minute of school fun, keeping you from getting past the fluff?
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It’s All About the Teacher
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In this editorial, Maureen Downey writes that for all the this-works-no-that-works in education, it all comes down to the teacher.
She writes:
“Researchers agree that the most reliable predictor of teacher success is past success. So what parents ought to look for is a teacher who has demonstrated gains in student scores from one year to the next. That track record is more telling than a teacher’s academic credentials or experience. Yet, parents never see that crucial piece of the puzzle.
‘We should, as parents, have that full data,’ says Henry. ‘We have the capacity here in Georgia to make that data available. Basically, it is a flip of a switch. That would empower parents to really be active.’
Apparently, that’s just what schools fear, a flood of active parents armed with data showing that Ms. X raises test scores year after year and Mr. Y does not. Because that would force schools to do something about Mr. Y— either offer him professional development or suggest a career change.
Even without test scores, the informed parents in a school community sleuth out the best teachers. At a recent Girl Scout event with his own daughter, Henry says parents were deep in discussion over the one or two teachers they hoped their kids would be lucky enough to dodge next year. The parents will have to trust luck; the school has already sent them a letter saying they should not try to influence teacher assignments by making specific requests.
No reform will revitalize public education until schools stop protecting ineffective teachers and start rewarding effective ones. Parents have the right and the responsibility to try to get their kids in the classes of the teachers with proven skills.”
Agree? Disagree?
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Have a Safe and Happy Memorial Day!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Ready for Summer?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, another school year survived…
What’s everybody doing this summer?
Middle School Vs. Junior High
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MMM writes…”Patti, Can we have a middle school vs. Jr. High blog sometime?”
Sure, why not. I was trying to think of something to compose for the last day of school, but inspiration has yet to strike. Middle schools are grades 6, 7 and 8, with an emphasis on keeping kids in the same class together most of the day and otherwise resisting high school type things like changing classes for each subject. Junior high schools are 7th, 8th and sometimes 9th grades. Sixth-graders remain in elementary schools. Junior high schools typically have kids change classes and more closely resemble high school.
Which is better?
A Little Good News in Science
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia fourth-graders improved on the NAEP, a national test given to a representative sampling of students. Here’s Heather Vogell’s story. Eighth graders … not so much.
Teachers and parents, do you see science instruction going in a positive direction?
(And, yes, I saw the ominous bit at the end about high school students nationally losing ground… I just thought we could, ya know, emphasize the positive every once in a while…)
Graduation Ceremony Etiquette
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Get Schooled participant Lee wrote in an earlier post:
“The last few graduations I attended resembled something from ‘Animal House.’ It starts out okay, people sitting quietly watching the graduates receive their diplomas, and then, someone yells out something. More and more people begin yelling out to their graduates until you can’t even hear the speaker announce their names.
Graduation ceremonies are supposed to be a dignified, symbolic ritual of passage for the graduate as they enter adulthood. Too bad most of the adults in the stands never learned that lesson…”
I’ve fielded my share of phone calls about this issue. The parents of a DeKalb County valedictorian were so upset one year they called every media outlet. They couldn’t hear her speech because the students and the audience members were so rowdy.
Should school officials try harder to maintain order during commencement? Or is this a lost cause?
Graduation…Bring on the Gifts!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My colleague Marcia Langhenry wants to know… what are kids in the class of 2006 asking for as graduation gifts? She’s curious about cool, indulgent and creative gifts as well as the old standbys. Is your HOPE kid getting a car? If you’re giving the always popular and portable gift of cash, how much?
If you’re a cool-gift recipent or giver and you’re willing to be quoted in the newspaper, please contact Marcia at mlanghenry@ajc.com.
Crossblogination: Over at the Lawrenceville Talk blog, they’re talking about graduation tickets and how hard it is to choose which family members get to go.
Hitting Kids Where They Live
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For Andrea Jones’ and Heather Vogells’ update on this story, go here.
More than 8,000 kids lost their driver’s licenses because of truancy and another 2,700 lost their licenses because of discipline problems. Here’s the Associated Press story.
A 1997 state law spelled out the consequences for truant and delinquent teens. But some school districts are more aggressive than others in turning kids in. The Atlanta district hasn’t yanked a license since 2003 because of “bureaucratic oversight,” the story says.
The story goes onto say: “Students in Georgia can lose their licenses if they rack up 10 or more unexcused absences in a semester, commit a violent crime or are arrested for drug, alcohol or weapons possession
Students licenses are revoked for one year or until the student turns 18, whichever comes first.”
Obviously this law has its limits, as not all truant and delinquent teenagers have a driver’s license. When I wrote extensively about truancy several years ago, the kids who were the most hard-core school skippers did not drive. But for some suburban kids, this could be a useful incentive.
Parents, teachers, do you know anyone who has lost a license because of this law? Do you like the idea?
Crossblogination alert: MOMania is talking about the last couple of weeks of school and whether teachers do much teaching.
When Kids Try to be Funny
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our regular Get Schooled participant “V for Vendetta” suggests this blog topic, bouncing off the spate of cases where kids have gotten in trouble for things they thought were funny:
V for V writes:
“Where to draw the line between funny and inappropriate. Examples…
Girl singing “On Top of Old Smokey”
Kid making comments on MySpace
Girls suspended for singing Spice Girls song
Which are deserving of punishment? Which are idiotic overreaction?”
Well, friends? Should intent play into this at some point in determining how and if to punish?
Using E-Mail to Teach Writing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This Cherokee teacher is using e-mail to get her kids interested in improving their writing. Here’s Kristina Torres’ story.
The story says: “Literacy instruction and written instruction tend to be quite old-fashioned; we’re still working from a 1950s model,” said Jennifer Stone, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Most workplaces include some form of e-mail. Most financial things, most personal things, often include online literacies that schools are not preparing kids to do.”
Ramsey is naturally curious about how the world relates to her classroom. That curiosity brought her to the idea of using e-mail to teach her students writing, and it can be summed up by an article she saw in The New York Times more than a year ago that offered this staggering assessment: Businesses are spending as much as $3.1 billion annually to teach white-collar professionals how to write clear, concise e-mails, reports and other texts. Ramsey thought those kinds of basics should start way earlier — in places like her classroom.
What is associated with e-mail? Plain old letter-writing,” Ramsey said. She starts her students on the road to good writing by focusing on electronic letters before building up to reports, essays, biographies and poems, all of which have some sort of electronic component.”
A good idea?
We Interrupt This Class …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Do intercom interruptions drive you crazy? When I’m a guest speaker at a school I don’t know if I’m supposed to keep talking over the intercom announcement once it is made clear it is not applicable to the class I’m speaking to. Or should I stop talking and wait for the intercom spiel to end?
It seems like a little thing, but … it’s the little things that make you nuts, you know?
Today I’m off to Providence to watch my best friend from high school graduate from law school. She started out a teacher. Her first school was a Chicago middle school, one of those schools with an academic-sounding name that belies the harsh reality of what goes on inside. She got the “low class” of seventh-graders. I think she taught them all subjects. There were no activities at the school, no clubs, no sports. To say she had no support would be an understatement. When one of her students was murdered, she had no idea what to do about the girl’s desk and no one to turn to for advice. When I saw her over Christmas break, we laughed about how at age 23 she was coloring her hair to hide the gray even though it wasn’t really funny.
When people asked her what was wrong with the school, she didn’t talk about her murdered student or the schoolwide assembly when the guest speaker encouraged the kids to rise up against their white teachers. Instead she talked about that darn intercom interrupting her class all day long. Sometimes, the secretary would announce that a salesman was in the office peddling cell phones and anyone who was interested should come down. Really!
It’s a little thing, but it says it all.
Teachers, does the intercom blare into your classroom all day long? Or has your administration reeled it in in some way? Do you teach through it, or do you stop talking for the duration? Do you get do you don’t notice it?
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Textbooks: “That’s Where the Content Is”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A discussion from earlier this week begs the question: How important are textbooks?
A blog reader sent me (thanks!) this link to an MSNBC/MSN story. The story says, “few if any textbooks are ever subjected to independent field testing of whether they actually help students learn.
“This is where people miss the boat. They don’t realize how important the textbooks are,” a former textbook publisher said. “We talk about vouchers and more teachers, but education is about the books. That’s where the content is.”
Teachers, how important are textbooks? How useful are the textbooks you have? And, I know we go round and round on this, but please tell us if you have enough books for every student to have one for the year, or if the books are only for use in class…
Parents, what’s your opinion on your kids’ textbooks?
FYI: There’s a discussion going over at MOMania about choosing your child’s teacher…
Some Perspective on Recess
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was reluctant to post about recess, but a parent has requested it so here goes. My observation over nine years of education reporting is that the vast majority of elementary schools still let the kids run around and play for 15 or 20 minutes a day.
Yet the idea that any school could take away recess - and some have - really pushes parents’ buttons. Here’s an AP story on the issue.
Schools with fewer discipline problems seem more likely to have traditional recess, and schools with more discipline problems tend to have only structured play activities. It seems the fear is that some kids kids can’t handle the freedom of recess.
I don’t know that a discussion about whether recess good or bad is worthwhile. I think everyone recognizes its value. The problem seems to lie in how to fit it in amid current concerns about fighting, kids getting hurt, parents marching up to the school. Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t think the pressure to score well on tests is the major issue here. We’re only talking about 15 - 20 minutes a day, and most educators acknowledge a breath of fresh air is good for the brain.
How can recess be a part of today’s more complicated school day?
Do Educators Need Doctoral Degrees?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kennesaw State University, the former commuter college now evolving into a major university, is starting its first doctoral program, and it’s in education. Here’s Aixa M. Pascual’s story.
Officials say: “The KSU doctorate is applied, meaning its focus is not theoretical research.”
Teachers, do you need/want a doctorate? Can you tell in your school who has a doctorate and who doesn’t by their practices? Those who have gotten a doctorate, did it make you a better educator?
P.S. Did anybody notice our commenting hours have expanded to 7 p.m.? On Tuesdays, comments will continue to stay open until 9 p.m. I’m still out sick, so if you have sent me an e-mail, I won’t be able to respond until I return to work…
College Students are “Intellectually Handicapped”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bleh, I’m sick today with a cold/sore throat that’s going around…At least I got to catch up on some reading.
In this op-ed, a Louisiana writer and mother writes:
“But all the frenzy over college admissions obscures something a lot more troubling: namely, that today’s high school graduates are more poorly equipped for college than students of previous generations, and the reason is simple: they don’t read. It’s not that they can’t read, mind you — Americans on the whole are the most literate society on the face of the earth, with illiteracy rates steadily dropping.
But today’s students — like their elders — are in the grip of what I call post-literacy. True, they have board scores that would make Einstein weep with envy, varsity letters, and experience digging drainage ditches in the Third World — not to mention perfect grades and teeth — but without having put in the time snuggling up with a good book, they’re intellectually handicapped.”
Agree? Disagree?
Did Your Child Pass the Eighth Grade CRCT?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A parent writes:
“I was just informed that my 8th grader did not pass the Math CRCT and will have to go to summer school. I not only blame myself for this, but also the school. I am wondering how many 8th grade Math teachers do NOT issue and use Math books and work books. How many 8th grade Math teachers do not make printed material available to students?”
Parents and teachers: Do you know how your eighth graders did on the CRCT? Is anyone else headed to summer school? Do you think many kids will get held back because of the new must-pass rule for 8th graders? And to address this parent’s central question, do your kids have a math textbook?
(Okay, in response to the question about when to expect the scores… the state Department of Ed. says the turnaround from the time the score sheets are received by the test scoring company is two weeks. To know exactly when you’ll get your child’s scores back, I’d suggest calling the testing coordinator. You need to know how early in the testing window your child was tested and how quickly your district sent in the score sheets.)
Uncovering Superintendent Pay
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few months back, a new colleague arrived in the newsroom from Charlotte, eager to tackle her new beat covering Clayton and Henry county schools. Over the past few weeks she’s been slumped over her computer most days, decidedly less cheerful. You see, she dared to ask the question: “How much do superintendents around here make?” Not just their base salary, but how much do they really make?
You can read Heather Vogell’s story here. She reports how perks - my favorite are the cash reimbursements for social security deductions - are buried so deep in superintendent contracts and school system records, in some cases it’s impossible to determine how much they really make. In her chart of metro superintendents’ pay, she includes this disclosure: “Because of complexities in the way districts report the information, the AJC’s total perks and total compensation categories do not include reimbursements or payments for documented expenses; health, life or disability premiums; or contributions to a retirement system established by the district. Those items would have added to some superintendents’ total pay.”
Sorta begs the question … why? Why make it so hard for the public to know how much they’re paying the person who leads their school district? And while we’re asking why, why make it such a mystery where the rest of the millions and millions of dollars in the budget goes? As education reporters, we are worn out and fed up after a frustrating budget season of spin and confusing information. Are you?
For another discussion on the supe pay, go here.
More on the Spin Cycle…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roswell mama Lynn McIntyre wanted to spend a little time poring over state allottment sheets (Wouldn’t you?) and found someone at the state was busy revising the language from one innocuous phrase, “austerity reductions” to another “amended formula adjustment.”
Here’s Bridget Gutierrez’s story.
What’s in a couple of words? More clarity or just political spin to help explain continued state cuts despite a huge surplus?
Should Teachers Bring Hip-Hop Into the Classroom?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Amber, welcome!
For those who missed it, this teacher, who describes herself as young and white working with students who are African-American, posted this under another topic.
“I am so frustrated when other educators encourage me to ‘bring their culture’ into the classroom. When the celebrated elements of a ‘culture’ encourage the degradation of women, promote an ‘all party, no responsibilities’ sensibility, and inflame a ‘nobody’s gonna tell me what to do’ attitude, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to allow that into my classroom. When your ‘culture,’ your ‘music,’ speech, and attitudes tear you down, I am not going to bring it into my classroom as a ‘technique.’ I’m sorry that you can’t sit in your seat an entire hour without needing to break out into a ‘booty dance.’
I’m sorry that you cannot or do not speak standard English. I’m sorry that the ‘education system’ has ushered you into high school without the ability to do more than functional reading and writing. I’m sorry that the person you are right now wouldn’t succeed in a challenging university environment. What I’m NOT going to do is act like these behaviors are part of your learning style, or are otherwise something to be coddled. In most universities, even two-year colleges, you are expected to sit through a lecture and communicate in an essay format, at the very least. ‘Creating opportunities’ for my students to fill up their classtime doing otherwise is dishonest and ineffectual, not to mention negligent.”
Thoughts?
Harsh Penalty for Smokey Chanteuse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gwinnett County student who sang her own version of “On Top of Old Smokey,” complete with a reference to shooting her teacher with a .44 slug, gets to come back to school next week after serving out her five day suspension.
But in reading Laura Diamond’s story, I noticed a much harsher penalty. She has an administrative transfer to attend Peachtree Ridge High, but the principal has decided to send her back to her neighborhood school, North Gwinnett High. For a high school student, this seems a severe punishment.
We didn’t get a chance to discuss this when it broke, but for those of you who haven’t grown tired of this one (I find it fascinating on many levels - Can you read the first few lines of the “apology” letter she’s holding up in the photo?), tell me what you think. Has justice been served? Or did Beth Anne get a raw deal?
Update: My eyes aren’t as young as they used to be, but here’s what the “apology letter” appears to say, judging from the photo accompanying the story. “Dr. Carroll, I’m very dissappointed(sic) in the fact that you believe I was insinuating that I wanted to “shoot you.” This (Next part obscured)…was a very (underlined) false accusation … (more obscured text)… the tune stuck in my head and … remembered the words from …grade. Eric heard and told …” That’s all the photos shows… At the top, someone wrote: “The tone is threatening.”
Teachers, have you ever been the recipient of such a sincere “apology letter”?
Harry Potter Wins First Round
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gwinnett parent complaint against Harry Potter books in school libraries didn’t impress the hearing officer assigned to review the case. Su Ellen Bray found ten things to like about Harry Potter books being available to Gwinnett schoolchildren, most notably that the books encourage reading. She also noted that children old enough to read the books are old enough to understand that they are fiction. Here’s Laura Diamond’s story.
Schrenko: Eight Years, No Parole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I usually focus on classroom issues, but I could not let this one go without posting. Schrenko’s guilty plea brings to a close a bizarre case of political corruption in an office that does, if to a limited extent, impact schoolchildren. This woman held public office and didn’t bother coming to work. Now she has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government and laundering money.
I don’t know if there’s much to say, but I’ll bet Get Schooled readers will come up with something.
Career Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I feel a bit like the Maytag repairman when I visit schools for career day. Suffice it to say newspaper reporting isn’t a hot field. It doesn’t help that I’m often asked to follow a representative from a modeling agency, an EMT or a veterinarian. I was once set up to speak at the same time as one of our music writers, Sonia Murray. She had the auditorium; I had a counselor’s office, where about four students came by, probably out of pity, to ask about becoming a news reporter. Despite a general lack of interest in the field I love, I usually have a great time at career day events. I love talking to students.
On Friday, I participated in career day at Stone Mill Elementary School in DeKalb County. This was one of the most organized events I’ve ever experienced, in part because a fifth-grader named Simone was assigned to be by my side at all times, making sure I got to the right place.
A couple of observations:
I spoke to four classes, and it was clear that the teacher’s attitude determined how I was received. In my first class, the teacher said she was interested in hearing my talk because her son is studying journalism in college. Her students saw her enthusiasm and in turn asked a lot of questions and seemed to enjoy my presentation. In another class, which was in a trailer, the teacher was one of those master disciplinarians. Her students showed tremendous respect, even though their teacher sat in the back of the room. No one spoke out of turn, got silly or asked off-topic questions.
Teachers appreciate community members coming into their school. I got a certificate and was offered a nice lunch. So many people thanked me for coming out.
Career day is a great way to get inside a school. Believe me, I saw the challenges we talk about all the time at Get Schooled. I don’t get invited to career days very often. I wonder if some schools have quit doing them, feeling like they need to be all academics all the time.
Have you participated in career day? Did you enjoy it? What did you learn?
Clayton Teachers Don’t Want a Script
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This story by Heather Vogell talks about Clayton’s need to stop teacher flight. The district is creating a “blue ribbon committee” to look at discipline, which some teachers say is out of control.
But other teachers told Heather they’re fed up with Direct Instruction, a commercial curriculum that tells teachers exactly what to say and do in each lesson. To learn more about Direct Instruction, go here and here. This program is used around the country in schools and districts where test scores are low.
Some teachers like the structure. A principal once told me she was glad she had a program similar to Direct Instruction in her school, because if test scores kept falling she wouldn’t be blamed. She and her teachers were following the commercial program’s script.
But for teachers with a lot of experience, the script can make them feel like a robot. They want more control over how they teach. They want flexibility to do what they think is best for their students.
Teachers, parents, do you have experience with Direct Instruction or another scripted program? Do you love it or hate it? Should teachers cooperate with a structured program and give it a chance? Or are such programs an insult to the teaching profession?
“The Reason I Like Vouchers Is the Same Reason I Hate Vouchers.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta parent Nefertiti Denise Jones covers a lot of ground in her essay on trying to find a suitable school for her daughter, Elizabeth.
She wants a school where more than 90 percent of kids pass the CRCT, because she says that’s a school where “it’s cool to be smart.” Yet in Atlanta those schools are few and have limited seating for children outside the attendance zone. She looked at charter schools, but found they did not meet her criteria. She wishes all parents sent their kids to school ready to learn. Seeing as they don’t, vouchers are looking better and better.
Also in the op-ed pages today: The editorial board says no to the Atlanta school system’s proposed tax increase, but board chair Katy Pattillo says it’s money well spent. The board is expected to vote on Monday.
AP … Can’t Get Enough
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Okay, one more post on the AP front. The Newsweek list, created by Jay Mathews of the Washington Post, looks at the percent of students who take AP exams. But as a poster in the college admissions business noted on an earlier thread, the formula does not take into account the scores on the AP exam.
Mathews’ reasoning is that kids are better off taking the AP course and scoring poorly on the exam than taking a regular college prep course and getting an A. (There is some evidence that this is the case, that kids do better in college if they give the AP course a try..it’s not just one guy’s opinion.)
The flip side of that, of course, is that kids will be pushed into AP who can’t handle the work. Several teachers posted about their experiences with this, which compromises the class for those who truly belong in AP.
So what’s the answer? Should kids be encouraged to take AP courses, even if they probably won’t be able to get a 3 out o 5 or higher on the exam? If so, should their be separate AP courses for marginal and advanced students at schools with enough students to support two classes?
Dual Enrollment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Someone mentioned this on the previous thread. It seems too good to be true. A motivated student takes a course at a nearby college and gets high school credit and college credit. Here’s the 411.
There may be a downside to Dual Enrollment. A couple of years ago I was doing one of those “Wow, it’s hard to get into UGA!” stories and a high-ranking admissions officer at UGA told me Dual Enrollment does not help toward college admissions the way AP and IB do. Why? For starters, college courses vary widely depending on institution and instructor, and there is no standardized exam or curriculum. Also, the admissions officer said his office had tracked kids who opted for Dual Enrollment over AP or IB and found they did not do as well in college as those who took AP or IB. He said he was especially unimpressed with Dual Enrollment courses taken at the local high school, when a professor comes to the school to teach a class of high schoolers. These courses tended to be not enough like “real college courses,” the admissions guy said.
Take this with a grain ‘o salt, just something to consider. He is just one person, and he left UGA for, I believe, Florida. I’ll put in a call to UGA and see if this is still their line of thought and report back…
Meanwhile, do you like Dual Enrollment? Parents? Teachers? Counselors? Admissions people? Kids? Tell us your experiences…
Ranking High Schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By popular demand, here’s a link to Newsweek’s top 1,000 high schools list. The rankings are based on the percent of students who take AP courses. It’s a powerful tool, so it’s not surprising that the College Board is cracking down on AP courses, making sure they are the real deal and not just a slightly tougher variation on traditional high school classes.
I’m off to a meeting with Atlanta Public Schools, seeking clarification on the tax increase they say they need, so I don’t have time to see which Georgia schools are represented. In past years, Lakeside High School in DeKalb has been there, as have the usual suspects in East Cobb and Gwinnett.
Is this list a good thing for good schools and for not-so-good schools as a way of shaming them into improvement? Is it good for parents who are wondering whether to sell their home and move elsewhere in search of a good high school? Parents, do you put much stock in it? How about teachers, do you love it or hate it?
Splitting up the Sexes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What do you all think of Atlanta’s plan to reinvent one of its most test score-challenged public schools as two schools, one for girls and one for boys? Here’s my story, which ran Sunday.
Points to consider: I’m sure our West Coast blog participant will remind us that a single-gender deal went down in flames in California. I read up on that and could find few aspects of California’s plan that are similar to this much smaller one. However, it remains a fact that the California single-gender school revolution wasn’t able to get any altitude.
The question I kept getting asked while writing this story and going through the editing process, “Do single-gender schools work?” My answer: some do, some don’t. I hope this will be one that does, but there are many, many variables to consider. This is true with any Big Plan to fix a school, isn’t it?
Parents, would you want your adolescent or teenager in an all-girls or all-boys school? Teachers, would you like to work in such a school? Those of you who went to such a school, what are your thoughts?
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