tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post3217795401057996962..comments2024-01-08T03:21:35.616-05:00Comments on DeKalb County School Watch: Another discussion about gifted points and programs - are we offering what's required?Cerebrationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11161868015604029471noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-48866691040417755592011-05-21T08:02:48.583-04:002011-05-21T08:02:48.583-04:00I am not sure if this is the right topic heading t...I am not sure if this is the right topic heading to place this...but dekalb also misuses special education allotments. Once a student earns support the staff member is put into a general extra staff pool doing menial tasks that have absoutely nothing to do with that childs iep. If the child earns para support that translates into the teacher has a para..so instead of that child getting extra support the teacher actually has a personal assistant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-29383416735292284792011-05-19T22:48:39.011-04:002011-05-19T22:48:39.011-04:00All of this begs the question...what do we want fo...All of this begs the question...what do we want for our kids, educationally speaking? We can warehouse kids and have them pass CRCT's, but not at "exceeds" level, and make AYP and such. But if we don't give teachers the opportunity to truly evaluate students--give feedback on a regular basis and address deficiencies--we aren't doing anyone any good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-90392592671140795712011-05-19T20:46:31.242-04:002011-05-19T20:46:31.242-04:00So teachers will be going from 90 students a day t...So teachers will be going from 90 students a day to 160... say hello to multiple choice tests in all our kids high school classes and good-by to any sort of hands-on labs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-30895150980715788422011-05-19T18:55:43.195-04:002011-05-19T18:55:43.195-04:00Very true. The size of the class and the number of...Very true. The size of the class and the number of students each teacher has on their roster has much more of an effect on student performance than the size of the building or the total number of students in the school. In fact, one could argue that if done properly, a large scale school could offer more opportunities for students to become involved in clubs, sports, drama, music, art, etc...Cerebrationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11161868015604029471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-37144741569566558942011-05-19T18:23:33.859-04:002011-05-19T18:23:33.859-04:00Anonymous @8:35
The school doesn't have to ha...Anonymous @8:35<br /><br />The school doesn't have to have 3000-4000 students for those C+ to B- kids to be ignored. It's happening right now in our supposed "best" high schools. They get warehoused in those huge classes where they get very little, if any individual attention. Many of these kids could be B+ or even A students with a little extra help, but with class sizes of 30+, that help is not forthcoming. It's just not humanly possible for a teacher to give that many students the help they need to excel. The extra dollars go to the "gifted" kids and the special needs kids. Those kids in the middle get devalued.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-34879896433269549432011-05-19T11:36:33.778-04:002011-05-19T11:36:33.778-04:00Excellent questions Kim - questions our board need...Excellent questions Kim - questions our board needs to focus the budget on. These are the kinds of bottom up spending initiatives we must demand -- not just for our own children's schools -- for ALL schools! <br /><br />Use these questions as a checklist of demands for all schools. Please add your own.<br /><br />Does your ES school have a playground worth a flip? <br /><br />Do your schools have music, art, and foreign language options? <br /><br />Does your middle school have a reading bowl team, a robotics club, a math team, an orchestra? <br /><br />Does your high school have an auditorium/performing arts classrooms? <br /><br />Do you have art studios? <br /><br />An orchestra and a band? Marching band? <br /><br />How about a swimming pool (excuse me, a natatorium!) <br /><br />Easy access to a stadium? <br /><br />Does your school host a robotics team?<br /><br />Does your school offer a modern science lab and supplies?<br /><br />AP courses out the wazoo?Cerebrationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11161868015604029471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-43386468152321690992011-05-19T09:09:58.976-04:002011-05-19T09:09:58.976-04:00That certainly isn't an issue in Gwinnett. I ...That certainly isn't an issue in Gwinnett. I wonder if we could just ask for some guidance from them. Regardless of the size of high schools (I think the discussion focuses on 2000-2400 max in DeKalb) - we absolutely cannot sustain the huge inventory of tiny schools with full staffs and old buildings. Schools with 300 and fewer students, with their own building, principal, APs, counselors, teachers, cafeteria, maintenance, security, etc - are costing an arm and a leg - arms and legs of students in other schools, IMHO.Cerebrationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11161868015604029471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-59913954944706670632011-05-19T08:35:15.223-04:002011-05-19T08:35:15.223-04:00Kim...I hear what you're saying--and have been...Kim...I hear what you're saying--and have been saying--about the bigger buildings. <br /><br />My concern is this: the really strong students will survive in whatever building they are house. The really weak kids--assuming competent educators--will have their needs serviced regardeless of the building.<br /><br />I worry about the kids in the middle. When a high school houses 3000-4000 kids, those mid-range kids, the well-behaved, C+ to B- students who sit in the back and just ride the wave...when the schools get bigger, they are more and more ignored. <br /><br />Sure, that happens with smaller schools, but there is a greater chance that SOMEONE will reach that child when teachers have more contact with the kids. You put 700-1000 per class at a school...I worry about the educational process really suffering.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-12626364885065355452011-05-18T22:10:55.509-04:002011-05-18T22:10:55.509-04:00More teachers, fewer buildings please ... for the ...More teachers, fewer buildings please ... for the love of God, I am begging you, DeKalb, please!Kim Gokcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01855554437157990110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-52093779724997810442011-05-18T22:09:44.502-04:002011-05-18T22:09:44.502-04:00Anon May 17 10:11 "The mediocre education at ...Anon May 17 10:11 "The mediocre education at DCSS resulted in three Tucker students getting scholarships to Havard this year."<br /><br />Amen, brother (sister)! The mediocre education at Cross Keys produced seniors this year bound for Stanford, Pomona, and Williams College among other top institutions. I had the privilege of interviewing the young man heading to Pomona on "Mock Interview" Career Day this spring.<br /><br />Having arrived at Woodward Es in the 3rd or 4th grade with little to no English, he is now the school's salutatorian, a leader in the service club, junior class president, co-captain of the #1 ranked soccer team among public schools (behind Westminster & GAC), a swim team standout, ninth at State in Cross Country, etc., etc.<br /><br />When I interviewed him, I thought, "This guy can do anything he sets his mind to and any company would die to recruit him."<br /><br />Woodward ES -> Sequoyah MS -> CKHS can get you anywhere as well as any other district in DeKalb.<br /><br />I think many of our attendance areas can produce such scholars and achievement. There are great teachers in virtually every school in DeKalb to provide the core educational opportunites every child deserves.<br /><br />For me, the issue comes in with the amenities. Does your ES school have a playground worth a filp, music, art, and foreign language option? Does your middle school have a reading bowl team, a robotics club, a math team, an orchestra? Does your high school have an auditorium/performing arts classrooms, art studios, a orchestra, a swimming pool (excuse me, a natatorium!), a stadium, a robotics team, a modern science lab and supplies, AP courses out the wazoo?<br /><br />The list of inequities goes on and on and on in DeKalb and there is no hint that the habits of thirty years are changing any time soon ... facilities, facilities, facilities ... when will we all realize that the foundation of the system we want is built on equitable, larger scale facilities?Kim Gokcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01855554437157990110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-59347518017525003512011-05-18T10:17:24.511-04:002011-05-18T10:17:24.511-04:00That's true enough, however, I just don't ...That's true enough, however, I just don't think we're all that high a level of importance. Of course the school system doesn't want people reading and posting to a blog during school hours - this blog or any others. <br /><br />This blog is a source of information. If the school system wants to rid themselves of us, they only need to start a reliable, open, transparent blog of their own - one that they certainly can monitor the comments - but one that elicits trust. It's not exactly rocket science.Cerebrationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11161868015604029471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-36577622201597534542011-05-18T07:35:45.861-04:002011-05-18T07:35:45.861-04:00Do You Think Posting As Anonymous Allows You to Po...<b>Do You Think Posting As Anonymous Allows You to Post Safely and Undetected?</b><br /><br />I hope that Cerebration will reconsider and re-instate having to register and choose a pseudonym for posting.<br /><br />If you are posting on this blog from your DCSS computer -- before school, during school, after school, on weekends -- DCSS knows who you are. They can see everything you post and they know exactly which computer and who is posting. Further, DCSS is backing up all computers. So, for the length of time they maintain the backups, they can go back to see what you are posting.<br /><br />One of DCSS's goals is to keep status quo. Therefore, they can and will use the IT department to see who is a threat.<br /><br />If you use your DCSS computer to post to this blog and you think posting as "Anonymous" will protect you -- you are living in Fantasyland. NEVER post from your DCSS computer.SHShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07809309296308250111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-76369628480018671762011-05-17T23:00:21.801-04:002011-05-17T23:00:21.801-04:00Yes. After I left that post about STT, I realized ...Yes. After I left that post about STT, I realized I mis-wrote. I know you apply in eighth grade for STT. Then attend in ninth. Not really the point of my question though! But thanks for correcting it.<br /><br />You are incorrect when you say a student "may" opt out of STT if they get into a magnet. Absolutely not. They may not attend the STT program if they are attending a magnet program in ninth grade. They are required to alert Fernbank when and if they change high schools. This is why you hear Chamblee Middle students who are in the magnet program there say they "can't" go to STT if they choose to continue with the magnet program at Chamblee High. And of course, if they choose not to continue in the program at Chamblee High, they should either have to go back to their home school or apply to another magnet program -- like say, Arabia.<br /><br />However, it appears, once again that the rules don't apply to the s<br /><br />tudents at Arabia. I don't understand how you can have a magnet program and something called Career Pathway in the same school -- that has NO attendance zone -- and dare to say Arabia ISN'T 100 percent a magnet school. Only in DCSS.No Duhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00544438085465296470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-5622428254694634952011-05-17T22:26:36.436-04:002011-05-17T22:26:36.436-04:00The schools first find out if they make AYP in May...The schools first find out if they make AYP in May or June. After the summer retest, the final statement is made. By the first week in June, the principals can all tell you if they have made AYP.<br />I have been giving the CRCT test since it started and this is what I have observed.<br />Soon the state will provide this information.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-74775318720477043992011-05-17T21:33:21.634-04:002011-05-17T21:33:21.634-04:00AYP status now includes the summer retest for elem...AYP status now includes the summer retest for elementary and middle schools. So, it will be July before we know anything..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-10748731444375781452011-05-17T21:05:18.145-04:002011-05-17T21:05:18.145-04:00CRCT scores have been delivered to the scores. Ou...CRCT scores have been delivered to the scores. Our 3rd and 5th grade teachers were shown their scores today. I wonder which schools made or did not make AYP.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-6903371126516892562011-05-17T18:45:39.230-04:002011-05-17T18:45:39.230-04:00Harvard, the other Ivy's, and most other top t...Harvard, the other Ivy's, and most other top tier schools give only need-based aid - no scholarships whatsoever for academics or sports.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-19338092323120145092011-05-17T16:39:53.088-04:002011-05-17T16:39:53.088-04:00Harvard doesn't give scholarships -- only meet...Harvard doesn't give scholarships -- only meets need based on the financial status of the parents. That said, it is impressive if three Tucker students were accepted to Harvard.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-81473030683539047312011-05-17T16:34:49.242-04:002011-05-17T16:34:49.242-04:00By the powers invested in me by being a helpless, ...By the powers invested in me by being a helpless, put upon, deprived DeKlab County taxpayer, I hereby declare now <br />and forever more that:<br /><br />1. All DCSS students are gifted<br /><br />2. The parents of all DCSS students are one level above brain dead for letting DCSS exist in its present form<br /><br />3. The DCSS administration is smart in being able to play all DeKalb County taxpayers as suckers.<br /><br />4. The members of the BOE are also smart in being able to use the administration to find jobs for their friends and family members.<br /><br />NOW THEREFORE<br /><br />Go forth from here and send in your tax paymentssAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-68357637878178425332011-05-17T15:37:20.466-04:002011-05-17T15:37:20.466-04:00Anon @ 11:19, if you are a dekalb teacher afraid o...Anon @ 11:19, if you are a dekalb teacher afraid of being identified do not post on this blog from a DCSS computer- wait until you get home. Posting as anonymous will not keep MIS from tracking you down, if that is what you are worried about.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-34128352746744930162011-05-17T15:13:29.397-04:002011-05-17T15:13:29.397-04:002:41, I would like to see more for the gifted at h...2:41, I would like to see more for the gifted at high schools like Lakeside, but don't think it is the system's greatest need. Once my kids got to 10th grade, they challenged themselves plenty with AP classes, extracurriculars, Fernbank Advanced Studies classes, etc. And I'd rather have my child in a large AP class than not allowed to take the class because of overenrollment.<br /><br />After looking at the numbers, I wonder if the gifted kids who are really languishing are the ones at elementaries like Cary Reynolds or Stone Mountain. I have no firsthand knowledge, but the budget says they aren't getting much service.Square Pegnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-66507141214284394532011-05-17T15:08:29.120-04:002011-05-17T15:08:29.120-04:00Your school (teacher/AP/Principal) must write up h...Your school (teacher/AP/Principal) must write up how they are providing different instruction for the gifted students. This is very easy to manipulate. It's a matter of the teacher writing what she did with these kids. This kind of cheating our children is all over DCSS.teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05376631088818447603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-52458523847491394092011-05-17T14:52:50.794-04:002011-05-17T14:52:50.794-04:00We have found at the high school level that gifted...We have found at the high school level that gifted classes too often "lose" the gifted designation because they become over-enrolled. Once they are past a certain size, even if taught by a gifted certified teacher, they are no longer officially designated as gifted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-79178062540263883612011-05-17T14:41:16.438-04:002011-05-17T14:41:16.438-04:00Square Peg-
The 'gifted' students aren'...Square Peg-<br />The 'gifted' students aren't disappearing from MS to HS, their 'gifted' designation is just being ignored and they aren't being served. Remember, the school needs to actually teach them in one of the accepted gifted instructional models in order to earn the FTEs. My children were designated 'gifted' very early on in elementary school - not because we pushed for it, but simply because they both scored consistently in the 98-99th percentile and they could always handle much more than they were ever given in school. At Henderson MS their core subjects were taught as 'gifted'- only their electives were not; the administrators at HMS seemed to know how to effectively balance the master schedule to maximize the gifted FTEs. However, at Lakeside my children only had at most two or three (out of 7 periods) at a time that were designated 'gifted'. (There don't seem to be any gifted social studies options at LHS, and even my daughter's Accelerated Math is not 'gifted'.) This lack of gifted instruction at LHS is not due to a shortage of gifted students, but may be a result of a shortage of qualified teachers. More likely it has to do with administrators' inability to schedule and disinterest in this type of 'special needs' child. <br />I have been told by school officials that my children will do just "fine" no matter how they are taught, and that they can be really helpful in their classes as role models for lower-performing students. Good for the other kids, not so good for mine. I truly feel that we are trying to "narrow the gap" by keeping the top down.<br /> <br />Have my kids been "fine"? Sure.<br />Could they have been "great" somewhere else? Probably.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151096942903989101.post-76759461827374357812011-05-17T12:53:39.972-04:002011-05-17T12:53:39.972-04:00Sharon, As well, it is the question of whether th...Sharon, As well, it is the question of whether the county is conforming to state requirements. From what I can see they are not. At my elementary school, they claim they are using the cluster model for providing gifted instruction. Accordingly, when talking to the principal all of last year, she indicated that merely the fact that the instructors were gifted certified met the state requirements. NOT SO. <br /><br />According to the state doe resource manual, with cluster grouping: Identified students are placed as a group into an otherwise heterogeneous classroom; teacher must have gifted endorsement (this is happening). What follows, however, is not: Teacher must document curriculum mmodifications he/she has made for gifted students by way of (a) separate lesson plans and (b) individual student contracts which show the:<br />1. Reasons why that particular student needs an advsanced curriculum in that particular content area (pretest grades);<br />2. Learning objectives for the gifted student;<br />3. Alternative activities in which the gifted student will be engaged;<br />4. Dates and amount of time (in segments) the student will be engaged in the higher-level activities; and<br />5. Means by which the gifted student's learning will be assessed (expected outcomes or products).<br /><br />I can say that we have requested this information from the school and received a copy of a single teacher's weekly lesson plan. No contract, no discussion of points 1-5. If your student is in this sort of model, I can assure the county does NOT know what it is doing and does no follow up. The school didn't even know these were requirements.<br /><br />Further, according to this manual: Local boards of education should review and revise its curricula for gifted students at least annually. Anyone know where we can obtain a standardized gifted curricula that is referenced across schools in this county?<br /><br />Finally, from same manual: It is not the administrative delivery of the model itself that makes the critical difference; it is the quality of the curriculum. How is this being assessed when it is different across individual schools? How is the county keeping track?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com