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June 2007
When Raising Achievement, Students Must Step Up, Too
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes I’m puzzled when I read about school officials or politicians shooting at the diverging targets of increased rigor and higher graduation rates at the same time. Do they not understand that any time you raise the bar in education or in any endeavor you automatically exclude a higher number of students from clearing it?
Over time, some of the students will recognize that the standard has been raised and they will adjust their sights and clear the new height. Many won’t. They will continue what they have been doing and settle for a lesser outcome or, in some cases, choose to drop out sooner as the finish line is moved farther out of reach.
When I graduated from a Georgia high school in 1975, the public schools were educating a rather homogeneous student body. There were few, if any, special-needs students in regular schools. The only students who came in speaking another language were exchange students, who probably spoke English about as well as many of the American-born students.
Today’s schools are being required to teach a much more varied group. Students are coming from around the world never having heard English. Many of them had been unsuccessful in school or had not been attending school in their home country. The number of students with various disabilities also has increased tremendously. These students are now required to complete course work that would not have even been offered to them 30 years ago.
Currently, the State Department of Education is considering raising the graduation requirements from 22 to 23 credits. This will include four years of English, four years of math, four years of science, three years of social studies, one year of physical education and health and seven electives — including two years of foreign language for college-going students or three years in a job-related pathway for career-technical students.
Increasing the rigor of the high school diploma is fine. Those who achieve that goal will have a fine accomplishment and should be prepared for their next level of academic course work.
What we must understand is that we are working at cross-purposes if we expect more students to meet a more challenging standard. For those students who, for whatever reason, cannot meet the more rigorous requirements we can offer a different goal or a different level of diploma to demonstrate their abilities and efforts. If we don’t offer it, they’ll find it for themselves. It’s called the GED.
In almost every article on increasing student achievement, someone mentions helping teachers to be more effective in their efforts. When will we realize that it is not the teacher but the student who, as he enters each successive level of education, increasingly dictates the pace and amount of his learning — either enhanced by or in spite of the efforts of his parents and teachers?
Perhaps the disparate targets of more rigorous graduation requirements and a higher graduation rate can both be hit. But it will take more than one entity taking aim.
The student must come ready and willing to learn with a quality education as his foremost priority.
Today’s guest blogger is the principal of Sagamore Hills Elementary School, part of the DeKalb County School System. If you’re interested in being a guest blogger on Get Schooled, submit an entry on any education-related topic to bgutierrez@ajc.com.
Race And Schools: A Landmark Decision Or Not?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The nation’s highest court ruled this morning that two public school systems — Seattle and Jefferson County, Ky. — had unlawfully used race to assign students when trying to create more diverse campuses.
In both cases, the justices pointed out, officials had voluntarily created systems to integrate their schools — neither was doing so under a federal court order to desegregate, although the Kentucky district had been under one previously.
It’s still unclear what effect, if any, the decision will have on public schools in Georgia, where 73 of the state’s 181 school systems still operate under federal desegregation orders.
What to do, if anything, about the racial makeup of the country’s public schools has been the subject of fierce debate for decades — long before the famous Brown v. Board of Education case a half-century ago declared that separate schools for black students were not only unconstitutional, but unequal.
Just the other day, we were talking about how much more diverse Georgia’s schools are expected to become in the next decade. So for a moment this morning, I figured this decision and any others on student skin color wouldn’t matter in the future because the country will be so much more multicultural anyway.
Then I realized that regardless of how diverse the United States becomes, the majority of Americans will probably still live in their own, homogeneous enclaves — and most neighborhood schools still will be segregated by race.
UPDATE: Legal experts I spoke to were divided over whether this decision would affect school systems here that still operate under federal court orders to desegregate. A couple said it would not because the Seattle and Jefferson schools had developed their integration plans voluntarily — not under the direction of any court. But one lawyer, who represents dozens of Georgia school systems under those orders, said the decision from the U.S. Supreme Court would trump any lower court ruling. Now that the decision’s out, it’ll be interesting to see the repercussions from what many are calling a historic case.
Growing Pains At Newest State College
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After boasting that they’d have 3,000 students when they welcome their first freshman class this year, officials at Georgia Gwinnett College are scrambling to fill the slots.
Higher education reporter Andrea Jones reported today that fewer than 450 students have been admitted so far out of just 927 applications.
With less than eight weeks to go before classes start, President Daniel Kaufman seems unfazed by the shortfall. He told Andrea: “This is not Ed’s Barber College. We’re going to grow….”
Of course, the college campus — previously home to several satellite programs for well-established colleges and universities — will eventually fill out. The question is, how long will it take?
As Andrea points out in her story, GGC won’t be fully accredited for at least two years, and, right now, there’s only four majors to choose from — both factors likely limiting student interest.
So, until the campus really takes off, Georgia Gwinnett students may get some extra-special attention from professors. If the numbers don’t change before the fall semester, there will be roughly one faculty member for every five students.
Struggling Charter Schools: What To Do?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spent all day yesterday at Atlanta Public Schools headquarters observing a hearing to determine whether a long-troubled charter campus should finally be shut down.
Remember Achieve Academy of Atlanta? This was the charter school that opened as a Knowledge Is Power Program campus four years ago, but lost its affiliation with the high-profile national group last year after KIPP officials found serious financial mismanagement there.
Supporters of the fledgling charter school successfully sued last summer to keep the campus open, and it’s continued to limp along ever since without KIPP’s backing. According to state test reports Achieve’s attorney sent me earlier this week, the campus had just 36 students who spent the entire academic year there. Others apparently came and went daily.
Principal David Morgan seemed dejected after sitting through nine hours of testimony; much of it about how Achieve had not been able to maintain basic business practices — including paying teachers and bills on time, if at all.
A state official testified that the school had not contributed to all of its teachers’ retirement funds. The school’s landlord reported that Achieve hadn’t paid its rent for four months.
In addition to financial problems, one Atlanta official and several former Achieve employees told the hearing officer that basic academic requirements were not met, either. Some classes didn’t have textbooks. Students weren’t in school for 180 days. And algebra courses, demanding reading assignments and field trips —- all part of the promised academic program —- were never completed or provided.
Morgan’s defense? Of those 36 pupils who spent the entire year at Achieve, 33 met or exceeded the state standard in reading/English language arts, and 34 did so in math. Better percentages, Morgan’s quick to point out, than most of Atlanta’s middle schools.
“We have an underserved population that is doing phenomenal,” he told me.
So, should Achieve be shuttered because it can’t run an orderly campus or are those test scores reason enough to save the school?
UPDATE: As expected, Atlanta Board of Education members have agreed to shut down Achieve. Now they’ll ask the State Board of Education to approve the closure. I wouldn’t be surprised if the school is able to save itself once more. Stay tuned, this could get interesting.
Just Say No — And Don’t Talk About It, Either
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices has ruled against an Alaska student who was punished five years ago for displaying a poster near campus that read: BONG HiTS 4 JESUS.
Although the nation’s highest court has limited students’ free speech rights in the past, critics said the decision broke new ground in extending prohibitions on student expression to anything deemed as promoting illicit drug use.
For good or ill, teenagers will test teachers and principals to see how far they can go in challenging authority and asserting themselves. But will telling students they can’t talk about drugs keep them from doing them or just keep adults from learning about it?
Just The Facts, Ma’am
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are all kinds of interesting statistics in the new Fact Book on Higher Education, released this morning by the Southern Regional Education Board.
The annual report for Georgia contains all manner of information, including how women are outpacing men in college attendance (74,900 more females enrolled from 1995 to 2005 vs. 37,000 more males) and that fewer than half (48 percent) of full-time freshmen who enrolled at the state’s four-year public colleges and universities in 1999 graduated in six years.
What really piqued my interest was a chart that estimated what the state’s high school senior class might look like in 2018.
According to the report, in the next decade, the percentage of Hispanics graduating from Georgia’s public high schools will explode — growing from a mere 3 percent in 2004 to 26 percent.
During that same time, the percentages of both black and white students graduating in Georgia will decline. Whites will still make up the single largest racial or ethnic group at 39 percent (a precipitous drop from 60 percent), while blacks will barely hold onto second place with 27 percent (a slip from 33 percent).
The bottom line: Georgia’s K-12 public education system will be more diverse than ever with more of a balance among races and ethnicities. The question: Does it matter?
Single-Sex Schools: Moving Forward Or Back?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A former Gwinnett County Public Schools administrator wants to open a girls-only charter school in Norcross or Lilburn next year. But county Board of Education members turned down the plan last night, saying they had concerns that the campus would violate Title IX, which has barred gender discrimination in federally funded educational programs since 1972.
My oldest sister attended an all-girls Catholic high school and an all-girls college. I remember her telling me when I visited her at the College of Notre Dame years ago that she liked that the small, female-dominated campus gave her the opportunity to develop her leadership skills in a nurturing environment.
Nowadays, it seems reformers are looking for any means to turnaround a struggling public education system, including creating single-gender academies fashioned after a long-used private school model.
Atlanta Public Schools will open the metro area’s first public boys-only and girls-only middle schools this fall. Other local systems have experimented with single-gender classrooms within existing public schools.
Atlanta’s new initiative will be interesting to watch. But I can’t help wondering: Is the move toward publicly funded, single-gender campuses a step forward for children living in the 21st century or a step back?
Increasing Standards: Will Kids Drop Out Or Rise Up?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are so many interesting facets regarding the state superintendent of school’s push for more rigorous high school graduation requirements. But one of the key issues educators are grappling with is whether raising those standards will push more students to give up, drop out and fade away.
Some high school teachers say that too many students are coming to them behind and unprepared, and that they can’t handle the level of course work they’re getting now. Others say the problem is that kids aren’t being challenged, so they get bored and leave school.
This, of course, is an age-old debate — whether talking about toughening a curriculum, a standardized test or a diploma.
So who’s right: Teachers who worry that even more students will be discouraged right out of high school or those who say kids, once given a real challenge, will rise to meet it?
Arts For All Or Some?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spent my morning yesterday at the State Department of Education, reading through nearly 250 comments submitted on the recently proposed high school graduation rule.
Most of the comments were critical of the new requirements, which would do away with current rules that allow students to choose from a college prep, career prep or dual college-career program.
What struck me was the number of complaints about the deletion of fine arts as a specified option for a graduation credit. (Computer technology suffered the same fate.)
Granted, most of those concerns seemed to come from one local school system where art teachers must have been mobilized to respond on the issue. But there were also noteworthy comments from art professors at the University of Georgia and from the sculptor of the state’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial (which, coincidentally, is located just outside the education department’s building).
Students still would be able to take classes such as chorus, dance and drama, which could count toward credit requirements. But teachers worry that — if fine arts isn’t spelled out as an acceptable credit option — the number of enrollees would drop severely, and, consequently, their departments would suffer.
I think the question essentially comes down to this: Are some electives more important than others — and therefore, should be required courses — or not?
School Yourself On NCLB
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I just got a major reality check as I perused this new poll on the public’s opinions and knowledge about No Child Left Behind.
Because I deal with these issues on a regular basis, I sometimes forget that — even after five years — loads of Americans still have no clue what NCLB is or does.
Of course, I understand why people without connections to public schools could be ignorant of President Bush’s signature education reforms. Honestly, my own mother might not know what it was all about if she didn’t read my stories.
But what really blew me away was that fully half of the parents surveyed — those who actually have children enrolled in K-12 schools — failed to demonstrate a basic understanding of the law.
“…[W]hen presented with four possible NCLB descriptions,” the report states, “less than half (47 percent) of the public correctly associated NCLB with standards and testing. It was almost exactly the same for parents of children in K-12 schools (49 percent).”
Maybe I should feel heartened that the numbers knowing the correct answer approached 50 percent. But I can’t help wondering what would happen if the other half started paying attention.
The Other Achievement Gap
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was scrambling Friday afternoon after the State Department of Education released system-level Criterion-Referenced Competency Test scores days earlier than expected.
I didn’t have time to do a thorough analysis of the scores at the time because it was already mid-afternoon and deadline was approaching. But in my preliminary review I noticed sometimes-drastic differences in student passing rates among metro Atlanta school systems.
Every year, some systems perform better than others on the state-mandated exams. But when gaps in test performance in some subjects — particularly science — are so large you could drive a Mack truck through them, you really have to wonder what’s going on.
Some parents are quick to name demographics as the culprit when Forsyth and Fayette consistently produce some of the highest passing percentages, while Atlanta and Clayton repeatedly rank at the bottom.
Certainly, the difference in poverty levels from county to county plays some role. But that can’t be the only explanation, can it?
More CRCT Scores Are Here!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hot off the press: State officials just released the system-level Criterion-Referenced Competency Test scores from the spring administration of the exams.
You can mine the data ‘til your heart’s content at the Department of Education’s Web site. Hint: After you click on the link, you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom of the page.
The Social Studies Slump
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After looking at the new Criterion-Referenced Competency Test results more closely, I noticed a strange pattern this year: Not a single grade level made any improvement in the percentage of students passing social studies.
Nary a one.
Statewide passing rates (the “Meets” and “Exceeds” categories combined) in other subjects showed a mixture of gains and losses, but the percentages of students passing the social studies exam either stayed the same or declined in every grade, compared to last year’s performance.
Granted, the passing rates for social studies are still high — ranging from 83 percent to 89 percent, depending on the grade level. But some of the educators I spoke to for my story today found the lack of overall improvement troubling.
Could this be a sign of the so-called narrowing of the curriculum — which critics say is happening under No Child Left Behind — or is this just a passing anomaly?
Where Are All The Math And Science Teachers?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While I was covering the monthly State Board of Education meeting yesterday, my colleague Andrea Jones was over at the State Board of Regents where members were getting the latest update about the dearth of math and science teachers for Georgia’s public schools.
The statistic from Andrea’s story that jumped out at me: Last year, only a dozen public college graduates became high school physics or chemistry teachers. Just 12 for the whole state.
According to the article, within three years, officials estimate that they’ll need more than 4,500 math and science teachers for the state’s middle and high school campuses. Last year, Georgia’s public university system produced fewer than 700 in those areas.
This is happening at the same time state officials are rolling out what’s supposed to be a tougher new curriculum that expects students to learn advanced math and science concepts at earlier grades — and while state leaders are planning to beef up high school graduation requirements, which would force many students to take more math and science classes to earn a diploma.
So, tell me: Does anyone see a train wreck coming here or not?
Kathy Cox Likes YouTube
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Board of Education meetings are pretty staid affairs.
Sure, State Department of Education staffers provide plenty of PowerPoint presentations, but most of the discussions involve fairly dull stuff. Consent agenda, anyone?
Today’s meeting, where I’ve been all day, just got a little more exciting when State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox played a musical YouTube video, which looks like it was produced by some high school mathletes from New York.
Cox, who likes a good laugh, said she shared “What you know about math?” with math teachers at a recent training session on the new Georgia Performance Standards.
Who knew Cox knew YouTube?
Now, I know what you’re thinking: One of her sons probably found that video. But maybe we’ll get another installment next month.
Ed Week: Graduation Rates Still Bad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Education Week is scheduled to release its second annual report on the state of the nation’s high school graduation rates this morning.
I didn’t have time to read all the embargoed material before I wrote this, so let me know if you find something interesting in the reports.
I was surprised to learn this year that Georgia’s current graduation requirements stack up surprisingly well nationally. Compared to the average state, Georgia requires not only more credits to graduate, but also more credits in the core subjects of math, English, science and social studies.
That’s pretty good considering that the State Board of Education is getting ready to adopt even tougher standards for a high school diploma.
For a moment I thought maybe students weren’t as bad off in Georgia as everyone thinks they are. Of course, then I looked at the graduation rates.
UPDATE: Dana Tofig, spokesman for the State Department of Education, had some interesting comments about Education Week’s report. He told AJC education reporter Chris Reinolds that the state is planning to revise the way it calculates graduation rates to provide a more accurate picture.
But, he added: “We recognize no matter how you calculate Georgia’s graduation rate, it is too low.” Hmmm, I wonder what Gov. Sonny Perdue, who touted the state’s graduation rate during his re-election campaign, would have to say about that?
Is Guaranteed College Acceptance Fair?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My colleague Andrea Jones, who covers higher education for the AJC, had an interesting story this weekend about a new deal that will guarantee some two-year college students acceptance at local four-year universities.
Seems the folks at Georgia Perimeter College have been forging agreements with several local universities to give their associate’s degree students a better chance to earn bachelor’s degrees.
According to Andrea’s story, under the plan, Georgia Perimeter students with a 2.8 GPA, who have earned 60 credits, will be granted transfers to Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University or the University of West Georgia — guaranteeing them a seat, if you will.
Georgia State Provost Ron Henry told Andrea the program could aid thousands of applicants now being turned away because they don’t meet admission requirements.
“Now we can say: If you didn’t meet our initial criteria, we can guarantee you a spot if you meet certain conditions at Georgia Perimeter,” Henry said.
Sounds like a good deal for Georgia Perimeter students. But what about all the other two-year college students and graduating high school seniors, who also are trying to earn a four-year degree?
Cheating: Put To The Test
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ve been trying to catch up on some education news since I returned from vacation, and I just finished reading the first article in this timely series about widespread cheating on state exams in Texas, where I used to work.
Using statistical analysis, The Dallas Morning News found more than 50,000 cases of possible cheating during the past two years at public schools across Texas. That total represented only a fraction of all student tests, but the reporters found that fully one-third of all campuses showed evidence of cheating.
Some of the cases were so egregious that test experts told The News that there was no other possible explanation for the results than cheating — either by students copying off each other’s work or teachers and administrators colluding to improve scores.
Of course, this made me wonder how prevalent cheating is on Georgia’s state exams, which overall continue to show that the majority of kids are passing at relatively high rates. My colleague Paul Donsky, who used to cover Atlanta Public Schools for the AJC, tackled the topic a couple years ago.
“In Georgia, teachers have resorted to various tricks and schemes to boost scores,” he wrote in May 2005. “They’ve given extra time on tests, changed answers after exams were turned in, and prepped students with material taken directly from the test.”
Paul found that allegations of cheating accounted for only about 5 percent of all complaints received during state testing that year. Obviously, all the cases aren’t reported or caught.
So, is cheating as out of control in Georgia as it appears to be in Texas or not?
The CRCT Scores Are Here! The CRCT Scores Are Here!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What’s that saying? Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Well, that’s the way I feel after coming back from a blissful vacation only to find that the annual Criterion-Referenced Competency Test scores were being released.
As you’ve probably read by now, the Department of Education released statewide-only results from this spring’s elementary and middle school exams yesterday. (Check out all the charts, graphs and statements state officials released here.)
What struck me was that when you look at the results of those tests that are now based on the new Georgia Performance Standards — a curriculum that’s supposed to be more academically rigorous than the old Quality Core Curriculum — the passing percentages ain’t too bad.
What’s more, across all tests — new and old — the overwhelming majority of kids are passing. In reading, language arts and social studies, passing rates in first through eighth grade range from 82 percent to 91 percent. Math has a wider variation, but most of the passing rates are higher than 80 percent.
Science is the definite low point, with passing rates ranging from 60 percent to 74 percent, depending on the grade level. But the bulk of school kids still are showing they’ve obtained at least the basic knowledge needed to pass the test.
So here’s my question: If the new state curriculum and corresponding standardized exams are supposed to be tougher, how is it that the passing rates are all relatively high? Is the test not as challenging as state officials touted it to be or are teachers and students really that much better prepared?
Education Vogue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trends come and go in education. Remember Latin for all ? Diagraming sentences (I hear it’s coming back). Out with phonics, in with whole language. From crayons and filling in lines to cursive handwriting (printing fell out of favor); small group instruction with individual grades based on the performance of the group? No geography requirement so Senegal might as well be in Alaska?
What are some of the failed grand experiments in education that didn’t translate well into the classroom? What are some that need to come back? Any lasting damage you can think of ?
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