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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Awards for everyone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Practically any teacher, student or school that wins awards gets recognized during Gwinnett County’s monthly school board meetings.
This month board members saluted a student named the Georgia German Student of the Year; a student who was the state winner of the Invest Write essay contest; and an elementary school teacher who received a Georgia Council of Teachers of English award.
These awards aren’t unique to Gwinnett. Sit through almost any school board meeting and you’ll hear about campuses winning the Schools of Excellence label from the state. There’s also the state’s Title I Distinguished Schools honors. Let’s not even try to list the many national awards.
How meaningful are these awards when so many students, teachers and schools win them? Are these awards just feel-good honors or do they really say something about the quality of a school and its teachers?
