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Review of Education Issues for May 21- 26, 2012
Teens face adversity, juggle responsibilities to get diploma
Some good stories about teens right here in our backyard beating the odds and graduating! http://www.ajc.com/news/teens-face-adversity-juggle-1445206.html
The bait-and-switch tactic driving Georgia’s education debate
From Jay Bookman’s blog at the AJC and a link to the more comprehensive New York Times article.
“The biggest success of the school-choice movement in Georgia came in 2008, when the state Legislature passed a “scholarship program” supposedly intended to help lower-income students attend private schools. Under the law, individuals and corporations who donate to a “student scholarship organization” can receive a dollar-for-dollar credit against their state taxes. In other words, if you donate $2,000 to a SSO, you can deduct $2,000 directly from your Georgia tax bill.
The SSO is then supposed to use those contributions to help defray tuition for low-income students. But in most cases, that’s not how it works. Instead, affluent families and relatives of private-school students are donating money under the guise that it will be used for “scholarships,” and are getting a dollar-for-dollar tax reduction on that donation. They then collect the scholarship that they funded in the form of lower tuition. It operates as a direct taxpayer subsidy of private schools.”
Chronically Absent Students Missed by School Reporting
So, it is definitely important to keep track of the chronically absent. The good about this article…Atlanta does keep track. I guess the question is what they do above and beyond keeping track. http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/05/17/chronically-absent-students-missed-by-school-reporting/
Atlanta schools top peers – by far – in $100K+ salaries
This is an oldie, posted in 2010, however, it is worth revisiting just to remember where we came from. Nearly 1,000 employees in five local school districts earned $100,000 or more in 2008-09, with the heaviest concentration by far in Atlanta Public Schools, an analysis of state salary data shows. http://www.atlantaunfiltered.com/2010/01/19/atlanta-schools-exceed-peers-by-far-in-100k-salaries/
Paulding Proud, Atlanta Ashamed – By Virginia Galloway
“On the frugal side, we see Paulding and Columbia Counties, both medium sized counties, spending $137 and $130 respectively per student on central office cost. Contrast that with the Atlanta School System, which spent almost $3000 per student , which apparently did not give them enough personnel to notice the huge cheating scandal going on beneath their noses. And yes that is three thousand per student, not three hundred.”
Read more: http://americansforprosperity.org/052212-paulding-proud-atlanta-ashamed-leo-smith#ixzz1w7Kho9bZ
Read, Write, Math, and Question-Asking
Great article from the Boston Globe that someone on SEACS page posted about the importance of teaching kids how to ask questions. http://articles.boston.com/2012-05-20/ideas/31749763_1_questions-zero-answers-doctors
How can schools teach students to be more innovative? Offer hands-on classes and don’t penalize failure
Nice article in the Wall Street Journal thinking about pathways to making our students innovators by promoting trial and error, creating multi-disciplinary learning environments, and giving students hands-on learning experiences. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577337790086673050.html
Are schools teaching innovation?
Stephen F. Heffner, a software inventor and architect, outlines seven factors he thinks need to be addressed in order to promote in students the ability to innovate: http://blog.zintro.com/2012/05/15/are-schools-teaching-innovation/
Globally Competitive Does Not Mean Globally Competent
A good article talking about the need to work together to revamp our school districts and curricula so that we graduate globally competitive and competent students who are prepared to work in the global marketplace. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacie-nevadomski-berdan/american-education-global_b_1536261.html
