Georgia Safe Routes to School State Network
From David Crites,
Executive Director (volunteer),
GEORGIA BIKES!,
Event Director,
Georgia Rides To The Capitol
State Network Organizer,
SRTS State Network Project
Since the mid-1970s, fewer and fewer children nationwide have walked to school. This shift has many contributing factors, including trends toward abandonment of historic neighborhood schools and constructing larger educational facilities sited along major roadways in remote locations.
The Local Boards of Education across Georgia own many millions of dollars in school property that is no longer used for K12 education. Many of these facilities, while small, are in neighborhoods and towns with many school age children. Georgia’s current facility policy does not facilitate the rehabilitation of these properties, but instead emphasizes new school construction. A policy shift to allow construction dollars to be spent on rehabilitating intown, small, or historic school buildings for use as elementary, middle, and high schools can provide opportunities for many more children to walk or ride bicycles to school on a regular basis.
Goal 1) Work with the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, and others to get reconsideration of policies on school siting, and minimum acreage requirements for new school facilities.
Goal 2) Develop a school siting specific network and public information materials. (Sam Moss staff should read page 8 - Deferred Maintenance: The #1 problem facing historic schools.)
Why Johnny Can’t Walk to School
Helping Johnny Walk to School Project
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A Motivating "Back to School" Speech by Michelle Obama
Speaking at a London girls' school, Michelle Obama makes a passionate, personal case for each student to take education seriously. It is this new, brilliant generation, she says, that will close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be.
April, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
SpringBoard - Or is it Spring"Bored"?
by Anonymous
I think that that Dekalb middle school parents, teachers, and administrators need to have an open discussion about the efficacy of the Springboard curriculum, and the damage it could be doing to our children. Springboard is an expensive and extensive new curriculum in language arts and math offered by the College Board to increase the number of children from disadvantaged subgroups that take high school advanced placement courses. Dekalb middle school teachers spend upwards of 25% of their classroom time on the Springboard cirriculum. Dr. Lewis requires that ALL middle school students in ALL schools participate in the Springboard program, and the DCSS employs many Springboard coaches.
The College Board's Springboard website does not list a single independent study of the effectiveness of Springboard. The web site touts DCSS as a major success for the Springboard curriculum, and provides statistics like "every DeKalb middle school using SpringBoard improved its percentage of students meeting or exceeding the state’s standard on the 2008 Grade 8 Writing Assessment compared with 2007."
Teachers from Shamrock, Henderson, and Kittredge loath the Springboard curriculum. A sample of criticisms can be found on April Griffin's Blog. Teachers just read prepackaged Springboard lessons to their students. Students loath it even more, and call it tedious, boring, and mind-numbing. They call it Springbored. Language arts teachers tell me that without Springboard, their students would spend much more time reading books and writing in class.
One insider speculated that the real reason that Dr. Lewis supports this program so strongly is that "it increases the classroom effectiveness of the worst teachers, and he has many of them in his middle schools, especially in language arts and math."
Shamrock, Henderson, and Kitridge feed into high schools that US News rates in the top 5% in the nation, based on AP courses. Why must these middle school students, especially the brighter ones, be subjected to this mind-numbing curriculum, and as a result, do much less reading and writing in middle school?
Any suggestions on what parents and teachers can do to free our our children from "Springbored"?
+++++++++++++
Addendum: My notes describe a discussion by the Board that they were eliminating Springboard and implementing the replacement program called, America's Choice - in Title 1 schools. (Funding from a Perkins Grant.) Are they continuing the Springboard program in non-Title 1 schools? Do you feel it's inferior? Is there an even bigger question here regarding Title 1 schools receiving superior instruction?
I think that that Dekalb middle school parents, teachers, and administrators need to have an open discussion about the efficacy of the Springboard curriculum, and the damage it could be doing to our children. Springboard is an expensive and extensive new curriculum in language arts and math offered by the College Board to increase the number of children from disadvantaged subgroups that take high school advanced placement courses. Dekalb middle school teachers spend upwards of 25% of their classroom time on the Springboard cirriculum. Dr. Lewis requires that ALL middle school students in ALL schools participate in the Springboard program, and the DCSS employs many Springboard coaches.
The College Board's Springboard website does not list a single independent study of the effectiveness of Springboard. The web site touts DCSS as a major success for the Springboard curriculum, and provides statistics like "every DeKalb middle school using SpringBoard improved its percentage of students meeting or exceeding the state’s standard on the 2008 Grade 8 Writing Assessment compared with 2007."
Teachers from Shamrock, Henderson, and Kittredge loath the Springboard curriculum. A sample of criticisms can be found on April Griffin's Blog. Teachers just read prepackaged Springboard lessons to their students. Students loath it even more, and call it tedious, boring, and mind-numbing. They call it Springbored. Language arts teachers tell me that without Springboard, their students would spend much more time reading books and writing in class.
One insider speculated that the real reason that Dr. Lewis supports this program so strongly is that "it increases the classroom effectiveness of the worst teachers, and he has many of them in his middle schools, especially in language arts and math."
Shamrock, Henderson, and Kitridge feed into high schools that US News rates in the top 5% in the nation, based on AP courses. Why must these middle school students, especially the brighter ones, be subjected to this mind-numbing curriculum, and as a result, do much less reading and writing in middle school?
Any suggestions on what parents and teachers can do to free our our children from "Springbored"?
+++++++++++++
Addendum: My notes describe a discussion by the Board that they were eliminating Springboard and implementing the replacement program called, America's Choice - in Title 1 schools. (Funding from a Perkins Grant.) Are they continuing the Springboard program in non-Title 1 schools? Do you feel it's inferior? Is there an even bigger question here regarding Title 1 schools receiving superior instruction?
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Governor Perdue Calls for Teacher Furloughs
by Ella Smith
Governor Perdue just announced a request for school systems to furlough teachers three days this year as he cuts three percent more from Georgia’s educational funds. The three days of teacher furloughs will only cut one percent from the budget – school boards will have to cut two more percent from their budgets at a time when many school systems are struggling to stay afloat as it is. Governor Perdue’s plan to balance the budget on the backs of Georgia's 128,000 teacher families and on our more than 1.6 million students is not the way to go. More effort should have been made to find other sources – either budget cuts or enhanced revenues.
The economic crisis we are in is very real and educators are not unmindful of the difficult choices our state leaders must make. We understand that having a balanced budget is important to the state, however, how could anyone not believe teacher furloughs will inexorably damage teaching and learning? The announcement, just as the school year is about to begin, could not come at a worse time. Not only will it be a terrific blow to teacher and student morale, it will undercut the normal “back to school” enthusiasm of parents, teachers and students that gets most school years off to a positive start.
Due to all the meetings and registration procedures that school administrators require, teachers already struggle to be ready for school in the five days planning that they are currently provided. Now that teachers will have only two days for preplanning – days that are totally filled with teachers’ meetings and registration – I know there is no way teachers will have time to prepare for their classes.
Teachers already spend many hours grading work at home, attending PTA meetings, and sponsoring clubs and groups without compensation. Frequently, you will find many teachers at school at six or seven o’clock at night and in the morning before class, working to keep up with all the demands of their jobs. Many teachers currently already work many hours a week without getting compensated.
Education appears to be like a leaky ship and educational funds continue to be leaked out due to cuts made by the state over the last few years. The nearly $2 billion in "austerity cuts" to education and the failure to address an antiquated QBE funding formula for K-12 education has put pressure on local school boards in our state. These cuts had already put the education of our Georgia students in a dire position even before the current economic crisis developed. Please contact your legislative leaders and do not let the ship sink. Public education is too important to every child in Georgia and to the future of this great state of Georgia.
Our future professionals, technical staff, legislature leaders, workforce and governors are in our classrooms today. After years of consistently shortchanging the schools boards of this great state financially, our leaders today add to the downgrading of our schools by demanding teacher furloughs. A year from now many of these same political leaders will be asking for contributions and votes. Hopefully, all stakeholders in education and their families will keep the past several years in mind and vote for change to make sure our Georgia schools keep improving our education system instead of trying to sink our ship.
========================================
Below is a letter written to all Fulton County Employees from Superintendent Cindy Loe:
Dear Fulton County Faculty and Staff,
As you might have already heard in the news, Governor Perdue recommended yesterday that teachers and other employees be furloughed three days this school year. This announcement comes at an unfortunate time, especially as we prepare to begin a new school year in less than three weeks.
The school system’s 2009-10 budget already has reduced many employees’ workday calendars by 5-20 days as a cost-saving measure. With the governor’s announcement, we are now faced with implementing a similar furlough to our teachers and others who were not affected by the previous workday reductions. Employees who already have experienced workday reductions are not impacted by this new furlough.
I have communicated with school board members and other system leaders to determine how our expenditures can be reduced without negatively impacting our focus on students. Based on their input, I will be recommending to our school board that teachers take these three furlough days during preplanning week, August 3-7. The specific furlough days will be decided by each school’s principal to allow flexibility for the activities already scheduled. School administrators will contact teachers directly to share the week’s new schedule and start dates. Non-teaching staff who are impacted will have their furlough days decided by their principal. The school board is expected to take formal action on the new workday calendars next week.
The good news is that our 2009-10 budgeting process allowed us to keep most full-time staff employed and that we were able to avoid lay-offs and other personnel reductions faced by other metro Atlanta school systems. While not ideal, participating in this furlough will help keep our employment continuity.
Governor Perdue also plans to cut funding to school systems by an additional 3 percent this year. This represents a $7.6 million reduction in our Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding. While we understand the economy’s continuing effects on state funding, this requires that we again examine our spending and allocation of resources. I will be working with our school board and system leaders as to how this reduction will be addressed in our current budget.
Thank you for your support and understanding. We are doing everything possible to meet our school district’s budgetary needs with the least amount of impact on students and staff.
Sincerely,
Cindy Loe, Ph.D.
Governor Perdue just announced a request for school systems to furlough teachers three days this year as he cuts three percent more from Georgia’s educational funds. The three days of teacher furloughs will only cut one percent from the budget – school boards will have to cut two more percent from their budgets at a time when many school systems are struggling to stay afloat as it is. Governor Perdue’s plan to balance the budget on the backs of Georgia's 128,000 teacher families and on our more than 1.6 million students is not the way to go. More effort should have been made to find other sources – either budget cuts or enhanced revenues.
The economic crisis we are in is very real and educators are not unmindful of the difficult choices our state leaders must make. We understand that having a balanced budget is important to the state, however, how could anyone not believe teacher furloughs will inexorably damage teaching and learning? The announcement, just as the school year is about to begin, could not come at a worse time. Not only will it be a terrific blow to teacher and student morale, it will undercut the normal “back to school” enthusiasm of parents, teachers and students that gets most school years off to a positive start.
Due to all the meetings and registration procedures that school administrators require, teachers already struggle to be ready for school in the five days planning that they are currently provided. Now that teachers will have only two days for preplanning – days that are totally filled with teachers’ meetings and registration – I know there is no way teachers will have time to prepare for their classes.
Teachers already spend many hours grading work at home, attending PTA meetings, and sponsoring clubs and groups without compensation. Frequently, you will find many teachers at school at six or seven o’clock at night and in the morning before class, working to keep up with all the demands of their jobs. Many teachers currently already work many hours a week without getting compensated.
Education appears to be like a leaky ship and educational funds continue to be leaked out due to cuts made by the state over the last few years. The nearly $2 billion in "austerity cuts" to education and the failure to address an antiquated QBE funding formula for K-12 education has put pressure on local school boards in our state. These cuts had already put the education of our Georgia students in a dire position even before the current economic crisis developed. Please contact your legislative leaders and do not let the ship sink. Public education is too important to every child in Georgia and to the future of this great state of Georgia.
Our future professionals, technical staff, legislature leaders, workforce and governors are in our classrooms today. After years of consistently shortchanging the schools boards of this great state financially, our leaders today add to the downgrading of our schools by demanding teacher furloughs. A year from now many of these same political leaders will be asking for contributions and votes. Hopefully, all stakeholders in education and their families will keep the past several years in mind and vote for change to make sure our Georgia schools keep improving our education system instead of trying to sink our ship.
========================================
Below is a letter written to all Fulton County Employees from Superintendent Cindy Loe:
Dear Fulton County Faculty and Staff,
As you might have already heard in the news, Governor Perdue recommended yesterday that teachers and other employees be furloughed three days this school year. This announcement comes at an unfortunate time, especially as we prepare to begin a new school year in less than three weeks.
The school system’s 2009-10 budget already has reduced many employees’ workday calendars by 5-20 days as a cost-saving measure. With the governor’s announcement, we are now faced with implementing a similar furlough to our teachers and others who were not affected by the previous workday reductions. Employees who already have experienced workday reductions are not impacted by this new furlough.
I have communicated with school board members and other system leaders to determine how our expenditures can be reduced without negatively impacting our focus on students. Based on their input, I will be recommending to our school board that teachers take these three furlough days during preplanning week, August 3-7. The specific furlough days will be decided by each school’s principal to allow flexibility for the activities already scheduled. School administrators will contact teachers directly to share the week’s new schedule and start dates. Non-teaching staff who are impacted will have their furlough days decided by their principal. The school board is expected to take formal action on the new workday calendars next week.
The good news is that our 2009-10 budgeting process allowed us to keep most full-time staff employed and that we were able to avoid lay-offs and other personnel reductions faced by other metro Atlanta school systems. While not ideal, participating in this furlough will help keep our employment continuity.
Governor Perdue also plans to cut funding to school systems by an additional 3 percent this year. This represents a $7.6 million reduction in our Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding. While we understand the economy’s continuing effects on state funding, this requires that we again examine our spending and allocation of resources. I will be working with our school board and system leaders as to how this reduction will be addressed in our current budget.
Thank you for your support and understanding. We are doing everything possible to meet our school district’s budgetary needs with the least amount of impact on students and staff.
Sincerely,
Cindy Loe, Ph.D.
Friday, July 24, 2009
All About Math
by Shayna Steinfeld
Please read this keeping in mind that the United States ranks between 15 and 20 of the top 20 industrialized countries in education around the world. Then remember that Georgia is perpetually ranked in the bottom five in the U.S. Layer onto that the fact that DeKalb seems to be headed away from the top in Georgia ...
A few years ago, the State changed the math curriculum to make it more “competitive” and shifted it from QCC to GPS for “more rigor.” The theory is that if we give the kids more rigor, they will ultimately rise to the occasion and perform better in the long run. My biggest problem with the math curriculum is that Georgia seems to have manufactured it by piecing together curricula from at least three other places “to compete internationally” (this is before we make it to the top 10 domestically). I believe it is primarily from South Carolina, Texas and Japan. Although my in-laws, who taught in the New York City schools for 25 or 30 years (not as math teachers) swear it looks an awful lot like the botched math curriculum that the NY schools tried for a few years and gave up on when none of their kids - from the ghetto or the wealthy suburbs - performed well on the Regents exams. I think it lasted in NY for at most three years.
My problem is that states like Massachusetts seem to always score in the top three states in math on the NAEP test (National Assessment for Educational Progress – a nationally normed test), which the Henderson Middle School 8th graders took this year but no results were released (along with those "missing in action" EOCT for Math I). There is, therefore, a math curriculum in Massachusetts, that has trained teachers, teaching materials, curriculum, etc. for K-12 (or K-8 if you leave high school alone for Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry and Calculus, Statistics). There are teachers, I am sure, who would prefer our climate who could be swayed to moved south. Instead, our taxpayers, paid for our board of education to research a new curriculum in South Carolina, Texas and Japan and paid for new textbooks to be created (which since no other state teaches our math, they must have been created from scratch for all grades in all districts). Supplemental materials needed to be written, training materials needed to be created, and testing materials needed to be created. At each step of this process, entities and individuals made money – from tax dollars. All of this was already available for purchase in a place like Massachusetts. And the flip side? Our children get to be guinea pigs for the new Georgia curriculum to see if it works. We need the legislature to pass a law: If there is a state in the top five or top ten doing well, our state department of education isn’t allowed to make up our own version and test it on our kids (e.g. math, English, social studies (except Georgia Studies), Economics, etc.).
The Asian kids always did really well at the Sagamore Hills Math Tournament when my kids were in elementary school. They were the vast majority of the top five in each grade. It turns out that many of them attend “Saturday School” – a program called Kumon. It even turns out that some legislators I know use this program for their kids too. It’s all about drilling math facts. Over, and over, and over again. If the Kumon program works so well, why don’t we incorporate it and it’s teachers into our standard elementary school curriculum? I’m frustrated that we are recreating the wheel and testing it on our kids rather than using the “tried and true.”
Part of the new math curriculum uses a “train the teacher” approach – at the elementary level, at least in the DeKalb, one teacher per school – and not necessarily one trained in training other teachers or one who knows the most about math – but a teacher who was willing to spend the time for some extra cash, went for training on the curriculum. They were then supposed to train the others in their building on how to teach this really new math (some without text books).
Another aspect of the curriculum that could be a real problem was pointed out by a psychologist friend. She’s has a Ph.D. in psychology and listened to a mom describe 2nd grade math to her and commented that if a child were ADD or ADHD they would lose it. This is because, apparently, these kids need concepts drilled, the curriculum has a lot of jumping around and not too much drilling. This would be particularly bad if you had a child doing poorly in math and it was due to an undiagnosed problem along these lines, particularly leading up to those all important 3rd grade CRCTs. I’m not a psychologist or an expert on this curriculum so here I’m just passing on a conversation.
Another component of the curriculum is that the children are supposed to teach each other in learning groups (at least at the middle school level). This doesn’t work if there isn’t anyone in a group that knows what they are doing. It really doesn’t work if the teacher can’t help them figure it out. One of my son’s 8th grade friends is starting with Algebra I in 9th grade at a private school next year after last year at Henderson due to the ineffectiveness of this group work. My son, who was in Accelerated Math I this past year with an excellent teacher, should be ready for Algebra 2 according to the color-coded state chart on the curriculum. The chart indicates that he was supposed to have covered nearly all of geometry by now. The private schools we’ve spoken with believe he has only received half of a regular (old) geometry curriculum. The other half of the curriculum is not in the Math II curriculum either, it seems to be missing altogether. This does not facilitate the ability of families with teenaged children to move in and out of the state for business purposes (Coke – UPS – Chamber of Commerce.... WHERE ARE YOU?).
One of the top math teachers in the state, who helped develop the curriculum (a DCCS teacher), has told one of my twelfth grader’s friends that he has no idea what he will teach to his Math II kids this fall. When I was campaigning last year, a middle school math teacher I met said he was at a training session and he was told that Math II was going to be trained by DVD. Math I was trained so well that they have decided not to release the EOCT results. When I asked members of the school board how they were going to gauge whether the curriculum was working, the answer was the EOCT. For me, that isn’t the answer because that tests the state curriculum, it does not test whether they are receiving what they need to know for the PSAT, SAT, ACT and College. How about giving all 9th graders an old (already existing) Algebra EOCT at the start of the year to see just how much algebra they’ve absorbed under the new curriculum. Same for 10th graders for geometry?
My sister-in-law is not a math person. She has been enrolled in a Master of Arts, Teaching program at Brandies in Boston this past year. One of her first classes was on teaching Elementary math. One of the components of the Georgia math curriculum (possibly where they should have stopped on the elementary curriculum) is called “Everyday Math” and it is used by many of the private schools. It is not how we as adults were taught to do math – for example: they add across the page and they don’t borrow or re-group. My non-mathematical sister-in-law spent at least an hour a day in this class, five days a week for a month, with a top teacher, who has written a textbook series now being used in NY. They discussed the Georgia curriculum, which is being cited in this academic world as an example of what shouldn’t be done. By the end of the month in this class, the lightbulb went off for her and she told me that she could now teach math to any type of learner. Her brain, which is only 28 years old, had finally been reprogrammed successfully – she understood Everyday Math herself and appreciated its merits and tools and she felt as though she could adequately and appropriately convey these concepts to any child in elementary school. In Georgia, we are using “train the trainer” to reprogram the math teacher, over a much shorter duration of time, and many of these teachers are not new teachers but they have been teaching for many years. And we expect this to be successful?
Another good friend is involved in the AP Computer Science world here in Georgia. She trains those teachers and grades those exams. She has commented to me that she has seen a tremendous influx of math teachers who are all of a sudden interested in teaching computer science. That’s very good for computer science. What does it say about math?
The counties were given some latitude in how they implemented the state-wide standards. My understanding of how this was done is that DeKalb went “whole hog” and scratched the old curriculum and implemented the new curriculum. Cobb and Gwinnett, on the other hand, kept their old curriculum, and layered the integrated math on top of the old curriculum. It seems to me that the Cobb and Gwinnett approach may be working better (see, e.g. the CRCT middle school scores in each of these counties). There is also a program that enables the counties to opt around the curriculum that Gwinnett is pursuing.
I’m wondering how long it will take for all of this to play out. I’ve decided to post this column so I could share what I’ve pieced together and to provide a place for you to comment. Anyone want to take on getting a law passed?
Please read this keeping in mind that the United States ranks between 15 and 20 of the top 20 industrialized countries in education around the world. Then remember that Georgia is perpetually ranked in the bottom five in the U.S. Layer onto that the fact that DeKalb seems to be headed away from the top in Georgia ...
A few years ago, the State changed the math curriculum to make it more “competitive” and shifted it from QCC to GPS for “more rigor.” The theory is that if we give the kids more rigor, they will ultimately rise to the occasion and perform better in the long run. My biggest problem with the math curriculum is that Georgia seems to have manufactured it by piecing together curricula from at least three other places “to compete internationally” (this is before we make it to the top 10 domestically). I believe it is primarily from South Carolina, Texas and Japan. Although my in-laws, who taught in the New York City schools for 25 or 30 years (not as math teachers) swear it looks an awful lot like the botched math curriculum that the NY schools tried for a few years and gave up on when none of their kids - from the ghetto or the wealthy suburbs - performed well on the Regents exams. I think it lasted in NY for at most three years.
My problem is that states like Massachusetts seem to always score in the top three states in math on the NAEP test (National Assessment for Educational Progress – a nationally normed test), which the Henderson Middle School 8th graders took this year but no results were released (along with those "missing in action" EOCT for Math I). There is, therefore, a math curriculum in Massachusetts, that has trained teachers, teaching materials, curriculum, etc. for K-12 (or K-8 if you leave high school alone for Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry and Calculus, Statistics). There are teachers, I am sure, who would prefer our climate who could be swayed to moved south. Instead, our taxpayers, paid for our board of education to research a new curriculum in South Carolina, Texas and Japan and paid for new textbooks to be created (which since no other state teaches our math, they must have been created from scratch for all grades in all districts). Supplemental materials needed to be written, training materials needed to be created, and testing materials needed to be created. At each step of this process, entities and individuals made money – from tax dollars. All of this was already available for purchase in a place like Massachusetts. And the flip side? Our children get to be guinea pigs for the new Georgia curriculum to see if it works. We need the legislature to pass a law: If there is a state in the top five or top ten doing well, our state department of education isn’t allowed to make up our own version and test it on our kids (e.g. math, English, social studies (except Georgia Studies), Economics, etc.).
The Asian kids always did really well at the Sagamore Hills Math Tournament when my kids were in elementary school. They were the vast majority of the top five in each grade. It turns out that many of them attend “Saturday School” – a program called Kumon. It even turns out that some legislators I know use this program for their kids too. It’s all about drilling math facts. Over, and over, and over again. If the Kumon program works so well, why don’t we incorporate it and it’s teachers into our standard elementary school curriculum? I’m frustrated that we are recreating the wheel and testing it on our kids rather than using the “tried and true.”
Part of the new math curriculum uses a “train the teacher” approach – at the elementary level, at least in the DeKalb, one teacher per school – and not necessarily one trained in training other teachers or one who knows the most about math – but a teacher who was willing to spend the time for some extra cash, went for training on the curriculum. They were then supposed to train the others in their building on how to teach this really new math (some without text books).
Another aspect of the curriculum that could be a real problem was pointed out by a psychologist friend. She’s has a Ph.D. in psychology and listened to a mom describe 2nd grade math to her and commented that if a child were ADD or ADHD they would lose it. This is because, apparently, these kids need concepts drilled, the curriculum has a lot of jumping around and not too much drilling. This would be particularly bad if you had a child doing poorly in math and it was due to an undiagnosed problem along these lines, particularly leading up to those all important 3rd grade CRCTs. I’m not a psychologist or an expert on this curriculum so here I’m just passing on a conversation.
Another component of the curriculum is that the children are supposed to teach each other in learning groups (at least at the middle school level). This doesn’t work if there isn’t anyone in a group that knows what they are doing. It really doesn’t work if the teacher can’t help them figure it out. One of my son’s 8th grade friends is starting with Algebra I in 9th grade at a private school next year after last year at Henderson due to the ineffectiveness of this group work. My son, who was in Accelerated Math I this past year with an excellent teacher, should be ready for Algebra 2 according to the color-coded state chart on the curriculum. The chart indicates that he was supposed to have covered nearly all of geometry by now. The private schools we’ve spoken with believe he has only received half of a regular (old) geometry curriculum. The other half of the curriculum is not in the Math II curriculum either, it seems to be missing altogether. This does not facilitate the ability of families with teenaged children to move in and out of the state for business purposes (Coke – UPS – Chamber of Commerce.... WHERE ARE YOU?).
One of the top math teachers in the state, who helped develop the curriculum (a DCCS teacher), has told one of my twelfth grader’s friends that he has no idea what he will teach to his Math II kids this fall. When I was campaigning last year, a middle school math teacher I met said he was at a training session and he was told that Math II was going to be trained by DVD. Math I was trained so well that they have decided not to release the EOCT results. When I asked members of the school board how they were going to gauge whether the curriculum was working, the answer was the EOCT. For me, that isn’t the answer because that tests the state curriculum, it does not test whether they are receiving what they need to know for the PSAT, SAT, ACT and College. How about giving all 9th graders an old (already existing) Algebra EOCT at the start of the year to see just how much algebra they’ve absorbed under the new curriculum. Same for 10th graders for geometry?
My sister-in-law is not a math person. She has been enrolled in a Master of Arts, Teaching program at Brandies in Boston this past year. One of her first classes was on teaching Elementary math. One of the components of the Georgia math curriculum (possibly where they should have stopped on the elementary curriculum) is called “Everyday Math” and it is used by many of the private schools. It is not how we as adults were taught to do math – for example: they add across the page and they don’t borrow or re-group. My non-mathematical sister-in-law spent at least an hour a day in this class, five days a week for a month, with a top teacher, who has written a textbook series now being used in NY. They discussed the Georgia curriculum, which is being cited in this academic world as an example of what shouldn’t be done. By the end of the month in this class, the lightbulb went off for her and she told me that she could now teach math to any type of learner. Her brain, which is only 28 years old, had finally been reprogrammed successfully – she understood Everyday Math herself and appreciated its merits and tools and she felt as though she could adequately and appropriately convey these concepts to any child in elementary school. In Georgia, we are using “train the trainer” to reprogram the math teacher, over a much shorter duration of time, and many of these teachers are not new teachers but they have been teaching for many years. And we expect this to be successful?
Another good friend is involved in the AP Computer Science world here in Georgia. She trains those teachers and grades those exams. She has commented to me that she has seen a tremendous influx of math teachers who are all of a sudden interested in teaching computer science. That’s very good for computer science. What does it say about math?
The counties were given some latitude in how they implemented the state-wide standards. My understanding of how this was done is that DeKalb went “whole hog” and scratched the old curriculum and implemented the new curriculum. Cobb and Gwinnett, on the other hand, kept their old curriculum, and layered the integrated math on top of the old curriculum. It seems to me that the Cobb and Gwinnett approach may be working better (see, e.g. the CRCT middle school scores in each of these counties). There is also a program that enables the counties to opt around the curriculum that Gwinnett is pursuing.
I’m wondering how long it will take for all of this to play out. I’ve decided to post this column so I could share what I’ve pieced together and to provide a place for you to comment. Anyone want to take on getting a law passed?
Monday, July 20, 2009
DCSS BOE Meeting July 20, 2009
Even with Zepora Roberts, Paul Womack and Gene Walker missing from tonight's Board of Education meeting, it still ran about 3 hours long - 1/3 of which was Pat Pope's laundry list of construction requests and grease trap contracts. But I'll try to summarize what I found interesting as best I can - excuse me if I do it in a stream of consciousness fashion.
Dr. Lewis told us that we have just enrolled 250 new refugee students. Ella Smith asked if we could schedule a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the demolition of Cross Keys scheduled to begin August 1. The Jackson three made their usual monthly speeches, however, this time they seemed a bit incoherent to me. Maybe I just no longer listen.
A very proud Mr. Ditmann, principal of the International Community (Charter) School announced that ICS student Genevieve Wilson won a national poster contest for World Refugee Day (today!) and was flown to DC, stayed at the Ritz and was presented an award by Angelina Jolie! Her poster will be exhibited at the National Geographic Museum.
Mr. Roberson from Avondale stated that students are being squeezed out of band and workout rooms to make way for DSA construction. Ernest Brown commented that his tax bill declined by 20% which perked up my ears because ours didn't go down a dime - in fact, ours went UP!! (by $350!!!)
A couple of people complained about trailers being placed in front of Ashford Park ES near a busy road which doesn't seem safe. Lots of people referenced the bullying, the cheating and Dr. Lewis' strange email defending the administrators who did the cheating. Someone mentioned HB 2262, the Safe Schools Improvement Act supported by US Congressman Hank Johnson.
Committee reports were non-existent. All of them were covered in about one minute. Jay Cunningham stated that if anyone would like to read committee minutes, they are available to review at the main office. (There are some minutes available online if you're willing to check through the agendas.) Dr. Lewis had Josie Alexander explain that the "bonuses" which he now prefers to call "incentives" are legal use of funds from the recovery act. The Board supports the incentive pay for principals. Oddly, Don McChesney spoke for Dr. Walker and stated that Dr. Walker supports the principals incentive pay.
HB 251 transfers were covered. There is detailed info on this at the school system's website.
There was much discussion regarding an $885,000 contract using Title 1 funds to Communities in Schools Atlanta. They are being paid to improve attendance, increase parent engagement, improve school behavior and academic achievement and forge community partnerships. Jay Cunningham was concerned that there may be crossover with what the school system is already doing and that there is no method to evaluate the results.
The Board approved a partial bill of $850,000 to eSIS for the student information software that is to come. They also approved a bunch of money for printers/scanners for all schools.
Then Pat Pope took to the mic - and I hope for her sake that she was wearing her Buster Browns. There were several roofing and HVAC/ceiling tile replacement contracts approved. The interesting contracts went to Tucker HS and Lakeside HS for architectural drawings. (Tucker for amended drawings due to adjustments necessary for unexpected bad soil and Lakeside for new plans for a 28 classroom addition.) Additionally, we learned that the final price for the new Tucker high school is guaranteed at $52,928,252 - well under budget.
One most interesting point during Pope's time was the revelation that a whole lotta money gets allocated through a CIP vehicle called, "Local School Priority Requests" (Projects to be Determined on an "As Needed" Basis). These are formal requests made by principals for improvements to their school. Jim Redovian stated that if your school isn't getting money for necessary projects, then your principal is not doing their job. As I understand that, he means that the school system is not sending out people to check on needs, they instead rely on principals to report their needs. A committee does go to the schools to review the requests however.
Charter schools approved - Leadership Prep Academy and Destiny Academy. Denied - all the rest.
After all that, several board members used their alloted two minutes to make points such as the fact that most all employees who lost their jobs have been placed in other jobs, we cut $40 million from the budget without letting teachers go or increasing the millage rate, speakers during the public forum can be grossly incorrect, but the board cannot respond, and decisions made by the board are for the benefit of our children. Sarah C-Wood implored parents and community members to participate and stay involved in your local schools - they belong to you - even if you don't have a child in one. And finally, Dr. Lewis defended himself against media attacks, listing many of the systems accomplishments and saying, "Instead of calling the media, why do people not pick up the phone and follow protocol?"
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