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August 2006
Fayette Rejects Perdue’s Grad Coach Program
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Fayette County school district said “no thanks” to the state’s graduation coaches program, Bridget Gutierrez reports here.
The program places a person in every high school whose sole job is to help more kids make it to graduation. The state funds $40,000 of the graduation coach’s annual salary. The program was part of a push by Gov. Sonny Perdue, and every other school district is participating. But in Fayette, the funding came with too many strings, the superintendent said. Namely, the graduation coaches would not be allowed to teach. Now, if you’re a school with a low number of dropouts like, say MacIntosh High School (Where Superintendent Kathy Cox used to teach, incidentally), you might want to have your graduation coach teach a class or two. Ya know?
Do you think Fayette Superintendent John DeCotis made the right call? Do you like the state’s graduation coach program? Is it a job you would want?
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A Chicken-Egg Debate: Teachers or Parents
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state released a list of the top 25 schools for SAT scores. Accompanying the list was a quote from Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox:
“From metro Atlanta to all corners of Georgia, these high schools are models of excellence. The teachers, administrators and staff of these schools have set the bar high and their students are responding to the challenge.”
I have a lot of colleagues with kids in the schools on the Top 25 list. We also gathered quotes from parents and principals at several of the schools yesterday. I am inclined to wonder if it’s the parents who “set the bar high” and the “teachers, administrators and staff of these schools” who respond.
Which came first the high expectations of parents or the high expectations of the school personnel? For a list of the top 25 schools click on “continue reading.”
Schools With the Highest SAT Scores
- Davidson Magnet School (Richmond County) – 1752
- Walton High School (Cobb County) – 1705
- DeKalb School of the Arts (DeKalb County) – 1679
- Northview High School (Fulton County) – 1670
- Trion High School (Trion City) – 1669
- Chamblee High School (DeKalb County) – 1666
- Chattahoochee High School (Fulton County) – 1666
- Roswell High School (Fulton County) – 1663
- Lakeside High School (DeKalb County) – 1660
- North Springs High School (Fulton County) – 1647
- Milton High School (Fulton County) – 1641
- Columbus High School (Muscogee County) – 1639
- Centennial High School (Fulton County) – 1638
- Lassiter High School (Cobb County) – 1637
- Pope High School (Cobb County) – 1634
- McIntosh High School (Fayette County) – 1629
- Brookwood High School (Gwinnett County) – 1629
- Druid Hills High School (DeKalb County) – 1622
- Lakeside High School (Columbia County) – 1605
- Starrs Mill High School (Fayette County) – 1605
- Savannah Arts Academy (Chatham County) – 1604
- Etowah High School (Cherokee County) – 1599
- Alpharetta High School (Fulton County) – 1596
- Duluth High School (Gwinnett County) – 1593
- Parkview High School (Gwinnett County) – 1590
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How Does It Feel to be 46th?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The New SAT was kind to Georgia, boosting the state’s ranking to #46, when last year we were tied for last with South Carolina. The states that are worse overall than Georgia this year: Pennsylvania, Florida, South Carolina and Hawaii.
Georgia’s 487 on the new writing test made the difference. Georgia is still last in math with an average of 496. Georgia’s total is 1,477 out of 2,400. The national average is 1,518.
Please note that 70 percent of Georgia kids take the SAT, even though only about half the kids go onto college. Where they find that motivation to get to an SAT testing site on a Saturday morning and endure a 3-plus hour exam, I don’t know. But that’s the situation, and some say it’s a good thing.
In many states, such as Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, students overwhelmingly take the rival ACT. So these comparisons are not valid or fair, though they do provide useful and interesting information.
I’ll post more details later, and check out ajc.com for school-by-school results as they roll in.
How do you feel about Georgia’s ranking?
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‘No Nap for the Weary’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Okay, the last blog entry was something of a bust … how about this story by Aileen Dodd about kindergartners unwinding by looking at books instead of stretching out on a plastic sleep mat for a nap?
Teachers say children weren’t sleeping during naptime anyway, so they decided to use the time for other things. But some parents say their kids a short snooze.
Parents, teachers, what’s your experience?
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Should Men Teach Boys and Women Teach Girls?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A study showing boys learn better from teachers who are men and girls learn better from teachers who are women is generating some buzz and controversy. Here’s an AP story.
Among other findings, the study reported that “gender influences attitudes.
For example, with a female teacher, boys were more likely to be seen as disruptive. Girls were less likely to be considered inattentive or disorderly.
In a class taught by a man, girls were more likely to say the subject was not useful for their future. They were less likely to look forward to the class or to ask questions,” according to the AP story.
The author does not recommend any broad policy changes, and many are questioning his work, which looked at test scores and self-reported attitudes.
Parents and teachers, please share your experiences and help shed some light…
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High School 101
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At Fayette County High School, freshman are taking a course called High School 101, my colleague Bridget Gutierrez reports in the Fayette zoned edition this week. (Sorry the story isn’t online yet… our ajc.com person must have missed it.)
Students learn how to develop study habits and take responsibility for their academic careers. They also get help with basic skills they may be lacking. The course text: “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.” (Synergize! Think Win-Win! Be Proactive! … Not a lot of language here for a journalist to love…)
To help students get through high school without quitting, the school stopped giving freshmen zeros for missed work, instead allowing them to make it up. They can alto retake tests for partial credit, Bridget reports.
Do you like this idea?
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Teachers Covering the Solar System?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hi all, we are working on a story about Pluto’s downgrade to “dwarf planet.” Bridget Gutierrez is looking for teachers currently teaching the solar system. If you know anyone who fits the bill - public and private school teachers welcome - please e-mail me at pghezzi@ajc.com.
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How Heavy is That Backpack?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A PR person called to tell me she was sending over a release about backback safety. I haven’t gotten the release yet, but I thought I would go ahead and post on the subject. Remember a few years back when those suitcase-style backpacks with wheels were all the rage? Parents said their children used them because heavy backpacks were weighing them down, potentially causing back and shoulder problems.
Is your child’s backpack too heavy? Does your child bring home more books than the homework assignment requires? Or is your child’s backpack mysteriously void of books?
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Your Ron Clark Moment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Did you catch “The Ron Clark Story” on TNT? It’s the true-life story of Ron Clark, a teacher who went to Harlem to teach the kids he thought needed him the most. He finally found a principal who would give him a chance and he turned a class of misfits into academic stars. Here’s Rodney Ho’s story about how the TV movie came about.
I met Ron and liked him a lot. He has bought a property near Carver High - now known as the New Schools of Carver - and is building a private school. He plans to find sponsors to cover tuition, and he wants to take the kids on trips around the world.
Anyway, Get Schooled reader Kentria suggested I solicit stories of other Ron Clark moments. How did you inspire a child to turn things around?
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The First-Year Teacher Groan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ve heard parents groan upon learning their child will have a first-year teacher. Inexperienced. Too young. Immature. Parents sometimes fear a new teacher won’t be able to maintain order or get through the curriculum in time for the standardized tests.
But is it fair to assume a first-year teacher will be less effective than the seasoned teacher down the hall? Isn’t it possible for a first-year teacher to have the innate ability to connect with kids? And isn’t it possible that the more experienced teacher is burned out and ineffective?
Parents, do you dread getting a first-year teacher? Or have you had a positive experience? Teachers, do your first-year teachers get knocked down by parents before they get a chance to prove what they can do?
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Cold, Hard Cash
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s an op-ed in today’s paper titled, “It Pays to Learn: Money Rings Bell, Gets Even Poorest Students to Excel.” It’s on page A-9. Unfortunately, the ajc does not have the rights to post the piece online.
The author writes: “Why do we eliminate incentives from our public education system? We all agree that educating our children is important, but we fail to use the most proven performance-enhancement tool in the marketplace - cold, hard cash.”
He goes onto say he’s a partner in a law firm that offered cash prizes to students at a California school. Eighth-graders got from $25 to $250 based on their score on an algebra test designed to be graded on a bell curve to avoid ties, the author writes. Volunteers worked with the kids before the test. Later, when the kids took the state-mandated algebra exam, their performance was much better than the previous year’s eighth-graders.
“Our prize structure reflected the reality of our global economy, with the better educated receiving and ever-greater share of the pie,” he wrote.
Students thanked the volunteers for the cash prizes, saying their family needed it. The volunteers emphasized that the students had earned it. The program has since been expanded.
How about it, Get Schooled readers. Love it or hate it?
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Freshmores
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Have you all heard this term? I heard it for the first time at a training session for “graduation coaches” last week. You see, high schools tend to have freshman classes that are much larger than sophomore, junior and senior classes as well as eighth-grade classes at the feeder middle school. What gives?
Well, ninth-graders who have been struggling since elementary school often cannot earn enough credits to make it to sophomore status. They are “held back” and known among teachers as freshmores.
High school teachers, do you teach freshmores? Should they be given intensive remediation separate from real freshman? Or is it time for them to make it in a regular class or get off the graduation path?
Sandtown Annex Gets Ugly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATE: The Fulton district is rebuilding Westlake after all. Superintendent James Wilson said he doesn’t think the Atlanta annexation will succeed. Here’s Mary MacDonald’s story.
I was surprised to see the Westlake High School makeover project tabled. This school has been on the verge of some much-needed improvements it seems like forever. But now… the community’s interest in joining the Atlanta school district has prompted the Fulton district to put their awaited Westlake redo on hold. Here’s Mary MacDonald’s story.
Fulton officials say they are protecting their assets. Why would they build a school for another school system?
Sandtown residents looked into annexing thinking they can shed their step-child status. Instead their actions seem to have reinforced it.
You be the board member… Should Fulton County rebuild Westlake High School?
‘God, This Just Makes You Anxious.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So I’ve been a bit behind in following some of the news stories lately, especially the chilling weapons incident at Whitewater High School. Here’s Bridget Gutierrez’s most recent story as well as an earlier story about how officials got a tip in June about the student having weapons in his car.
Obviously it’s easy to say now that school officials should have acted on the tip before the first day of school. If you were in the position of the school resource officer, would you have acted immediately, even though it was the summer? As a spokeswoman said, it was an “unsubstantiated tip,” and officials didn’t think they could drive to the kid’s house during the summer based on a tip. It’s been a long time since Columbine. Afterwards, people said, “How could no one have known?”
This was a kid who played in the band, got good grades and was headed toward college. Kids don’t always scream ALIENATION with their attitudes and their wardrobe choices like the Columbine kids did. Would you really have followed up on that tip?
So, How Was the First Day?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hi all, I had the nerrrvvvveee to get sick this week, one of the busiest weeks in an education writer’s year. So, tell me how the first day of school went.
Teachers, parents, are you optimistic about the upcoming year?
Yes, sir!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lots of first-day-of-school stories in the paper today. For discussion, I picked out a comment from Laura Diamond’s survey of new teachers.
Chad Pickett, a math teacher at Mill Creek High School, says: “I’m really big on respect. It’ll be ‘Yes, sir’ or ‘No sir.’ “
Teachers, do you expect your students to say “Yes, ma’am” and “No, ma’am?” If so, are you sympathetic to students from parts of the country where this is not a custom? Parents, do you expect your students to address teachers in this manner?
‘A Matter of 30 Points’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s chew on this story, posted on an earlier thread, for a bit.
“One time when I was teaching at a troubled school in Middle Georgia, I had a senior who was taking 3 English classes because he had failed English each year. He was in my 10th grade class, my 11th grade class, and someone else’s 12th grade class. I think he passed my 10th grade class (can’t recall), but he had something like a 40 in my 11th grade class. It was strictly because he didn’t turn in work and made 0’s. Near the end of the year, the assistant principal tried to talk me into fudging his grade so he could pass. I told her it wasn’t a matter of a point or even a few points. It was a matter of 30 points. She tried to tell me if he didn’t graduate, he’d wind up in prison. Then she asked if I could give him extra credit if he worked for her over the summer in the office. Can you believe that? I said I didn’t really care what they did, because I wasn’t coming back to that school the next year, but I absolutely would not change his grade myself. They probably changed his grade.”
Teachers, has your administration pressured you to change a grade? How did you respond?
Do Zeros Lead to Dropouts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At a recent teacher training seminar, I sat next to a south Georgia teacher. We got into a discussion about what to do when students don’t turn in work on time. When she first started teaching, she was extremely strict, never accepting late papers and assigning a big fat zero. She wanted to teach the students a lesson.
Over time, she has changed her view. The dropout rate in her district is astronomical, with more than 40 percent of students disappearing between ninth and twelfth grade. She found that when she gave a student a zero, the student determined that the final grade would probably be below 70 percent, even if the student put forth some effort. So the student just gave up. Now the teacher believes it’s best for the student in the long run to give a low grade, though not a zero, for missed work and allow the student the opportunity to make it up and raise the grade.
Her ultimate goal is to keep kids in school with the hopes that they’ll graduate.
Thoughts?
Johnny Brown Returning to Texas Roots
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former DeKalb Superintendent Johnny Brown appears headed to a small Texas school district. Here’s a short story.
Here’s a link to the story in the Beaumont Enterprise about his anticipated new position. And here’s a link to the 14-page resume he gave the Port Arthur Independent School District.
Hmmm… I’m not coming up with a question here, but feel free to comment…
How Rowdy is Your Child’s School?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By popular demand, here are the school-by-school discipline reports as reported to the Georgia Department of Education.
And here is Bridget Gutierrez’s story on the questionable nature of the data because so many schools just aren’t reporting any problems.
Most notably: How did South Atlanta High end up ranking third safest in the metro area when police were called to the school 50 times???
Teachers & parents, please tell us whether your school reports appear accurate. Teachers, are you called upon to look the other way when fights happen so they don’t end up in this report?
The Idle Volunteer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our back-to-school section is posted online, and you may find it here. In it, you’ll find stories on homeschooling, choosing between public and private schools, classroom technology and other fascinating topics.
Reporter Laura Diamond offers tips on volunteering at school.
I know this can be frustrating for some parents. Some say they want to volunteer, but their child’s teacher does not have anything for them to do and does not really want their help.
Parents, do you find volunteering at school rewarding or frustrating? Teachers, do eager volunteers help you or create more work as you try to find things for them to do?
Reading By Five
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what kids are supposed to know when they enter kindergarten. A friend of mine was stunned when she took her 5-year-old son in for an assessment and walked out with a list of things to “work on,” such as helping him learn the sounds of all the letters.
This is what kindergartners should know before they walk in the door???
(An aside, my friend was praised for her child’s ability to put his shoes on the right feet. She didn’t mention that he put them on the wrong feet and she switched them in the car!)
From an earlier blog post (edited slightly for clarity):
I have a question…What does a child need to know after finishing Pre-K? My twin boys just finished and I’m wondering if they are ready for Kindergarten. Could a teacher or experienced parent let me know? Also, Do they need to be reading before Kindergarten?
And then this response:
Pre-K Teacher here. If your child knows their shapes, colors, some letters, some numbers, and can write their name, your child will be fine in Kindergarten. Kindergarten is where children are really starting to learn to read.
Parents, do you feel pressure to send your child to kindergarten already on a path to reading? Teachers, do you think parents hsould be working with their kids on sounds and letters before kindergarten? Are the expectations for kindergartners just too high given the differences in development among 5-year-olds?
“Sufficiently Disturbing”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I know we’ve talked about Roswell teenager Rachel Boim a lot, but her story raises interesting questions about how schools should handle perceived threats. If you’ll recall, she was expelled for writing a story in her journal about a student who shoots her teacher. She had the journal at school. A teacher siezed it, read it and turned her in.
Following media attention that was intense to the point of absurdity, the expulsion was reduced to a 10-day suspension.
In the latest chapter, Mary MacDonald writes in today’s story how Rachel’s family sued the school system for violating her right to free speech. A federal judge through out the suit, saying he found her writing “sufficiently disturbing” in light of the recent history of school shootings around the nation.
Do you agree with the judge? Or should Rachel’s family have been able to proceed with their suit over freedom of expression?
Is Your Child in Georgia Pre-K?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia has a lottery-funded pre-k program free to 4-year-olds across the state, but a lot of parents don’t participate.
If you have a 4-year-old child and opted not to do the state’s pre-k, please tell us why… And if you did have a child in pre-k, how did you like it?
Sub-to-Teach
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A friend’s very bright son has graduated from college and is about to start his teaching career. But he isn’t going to be a classroom teacher this year. He is going to sub in the county where he wants to live in hopes of figuring out which high school he would enjoy the most and making inroads with the principal. He hopes to start teaching full-time next year.
Many new teachers end up in challenging schools, but this shows that not all are interested in doing that. And with the reverse empty nest syndrome - grown children returning to live with their parents - this approach to job hunting is feasible for some.
Is this a good strategy for landing the plum teaching position?
Crossblogination: Over at Momania, there’s a discussion on fees/donations public schools hit parents up for at the beginning of the year.
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