by Robert Pondiscio
June 19th, 2009
Tags: childhood obesity, Georgia
Posted in Educational Policy | 4 Comments »
In addition to reading and math testing, schools in Georgia may soon require all students to step on a scale twice a year–a move designed to combat childhood obesity. A bill introduced Thursday in the Georgia Senate would require schools to check and report students’ body mass index, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “If school districts don’t comply with the new rules, they’d be labeled as ‘unhealthy school zones’ on a state Web site that measures school performance,” the paper says.
Hey….wait a second….isn’t MeMe from Georgia?
by Robert Pondiscio
February 10th, 2009
Tags: Georgia, parental involvement, vouchers
Posted in Education Practice, Parents | 15 Comments »
Before her twins entered first grade, Maureen Downey sent a note to the principal asking if one of them could have a beloved teacher who taught her older children in first grade. “Close to retirement, this teacher would be one of the few that my teens and my younger kids would ever share in common,” notes Downey, an editorial writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
With only 4 classes on the grade, there was a 50-50 chance that one of her kids would end up in the class, but neither did. And when she asked why not, the principal suggested it was because she had asked. ”She just didn’t believe in honoring parent requests even when it was possible and painless to do so,” Downey notes.
That uncompromising posture — shared by many school leaders across the state — has helped lay the groundwork for the voucher bill introduced last week in the state Legislature that would allow all parents to use tax dollars to send their kids to private schools. Let me be clear. I think the voucher bill is counterproductive legislation that will only help its sponsor’s political career. However, I also think the bill represents an overdue wake-up call for public schools that they must be more responsive to parents.
Georgia would be the first state to offer vouchers to all public school students under a plan introduced in the state Senate last week. Other parents have testified to far greater problems with the state’s public schools than hers, But, Downey concludes, “the most forceful defense against vouchers is a receptive, creative and innovative public school system that doesn’t treat parents as uninvited guests, that doesn’t wield policy as a shield and where children are more than faces in the crowd.”
by Robert Pondiscio
November 24th, 2008
Tags: economy, Georgia, Kathy Cox
Posted in Education News | No Comments »
The housing and credit crunch has claimed a high-profile victim in the education world. Georgia’s State Schools Superintendant Kathy Cox and her husband have filed for personal bankruptcy. Cox’s husband is a homebuilder and the couple is more than $3 million in debt, mostly due to debts associated with the business.
It’s a case off no good deed goes unpunished: Just two months ago, Cox won $1 million on the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” She said she would donate her winnings to a pair of schools for the deaf and one for the blind, and still plans to make good on that pledge despite the bankruptcy filing.
A statement issue by the Georgia schools chief over the weekend says “this filing does not affect my ability to perform the duties of my job as state superintendent of schools.”
by Robert Pondiscio
August 10th, 2008
Tags: Georgia, Georgia Parents for Math, math, math curriculum, standardized tests
Posted in Curriculum, Parents | 1 Comment »
A controversial math curriculum in Georgia is being expanded to the state’s high schools. That’s raising the eyebrows and the ire of parents, who notes test scores in the Peachtree State haven’t exactly been lights out in math. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports 38 percent of the state’s eighth-graders failed the state’s new, redesigned math exam, which was based on harder material.
“While parents and teachers expected some students to struggle with the new math, they were shocked by the high failure rates,” the paper notes.
After years of criticism that the state’s math curriculum was too weak, the Georgia Department of Education drastically changed the way students learn the subject. Officials adopted an “integrated” design, which weaves elements of algebra, geometry and statistics into a single math class, rather than teaching each separately. Elementary-school students use more hands-on activities to learn about numbers, geometry, multiplication and division. Middle school students learn some of the algebra previously taught in high school.
A parents group called Georgia Parents for Math wants more emphasis should be placed on math theory and basic concepts. “We have not come up with some foreign math,” Martha Reichrath, deputy superintendent for the state Education Department, tells the AJC. “It is an enriched math. Our students will do better with this math. I do believe we will be the national leader in math.”
by Robert Pondiscio
August 7th, 2008
Tags: adequate education, Georgia, science, social studies
Posted in Curriculum, Educational Policy | 3 Comments »
Asked under oath in a deposition if science is ”part of an adequate education” in the state of Georgia, Joanne Leonard said “I think you can do without science.” What about social studies? Is that part of a child’s ”adequate” education? “I would want them exposed to social studies,” Leonard said, ”but I think they can succeed in the world without social studies, and that is my opinion, my personal opinion.”
Ms. Leonard’s deposition was taken in a lawsuit brought by rural Georgia schools, who say the state isn’t giving them enough money to provide the “adequate education” required under law. Much of the case involves defining “adequate” And who is Joanne Leonard? Only the state Department of Education’s Director of Accountability.
I’m trying to think of what the appropriate response to this should be from Georgians, but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t involve pitchforks and torches. But I can think of something else Georgia can do without.
(HT: Joanne Jacobs)
