Archive for March 17th, 2011

Arne Duncan wants college basketball programs to pay more attention to academics (US DOE)

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, a former college basketball player, condemned the practice of allowing college basketball teams to compete in NCAA postseason tournaments even if they are graduating less than their student athletes in the program.

And he called the growing graduation gap between white and black players “unconscionable.”

On a media call Thursday, Duncan said the issue was personal. Co-captain of the Harvard basketball team and a first-team Academic All-American, Duncan also played professional basketball in Australia. He grew up playing with guys on Chicago’s Southside, where his mother runs an after-school center. (She still is operating it today.)

“I can’t not speak out on something that I have seen from the time I was a child,” he said.  He recalled playing with athletes on street courts who helped earn their colleges millions of dollars only to be leave school …

Continue reading March madness: Arne Duncan calls for no NCAA tournaments for teams graduating less than half their players. That would include UGA. »

It appears that the Atlanta school board’s show of unity during its public meetings on maintaining accreditation is masking more fractious relations behind closed doors.

Here is an e-mail sent to board members and other APS officials Monday by District 5 board representative LaChandra Butler Burks in which she maintains that Board Chair Khaatim Sherrer El was “shooting a bird” at her during an executive session from which the public and press were barred.

I asked Chairman El for a comment and he sent me his e-mail response to Burks, which is also posted here along with a statement that El provided.

Here is Burks’ e-mail:

As I reflected on our upcoming SACS report this past weekend, I am concerned about some of the items that will have to be included. As a result, I think we need to be prepared to provide information on the following:

Required Action 1: It is difficult to regain stakeholder’s trust with the comments that were made by Mr. El on V-103. I have received several …

Continue reading Crying fowl: APS board member says chair flipped her the bird at closed session »

A former Woodstock High valedictorian sent me this e-mail amid the Etowah High School controversy over who deserved to be awarded the No. 1 spot — a student at the high school or a joint enrolled college student who never attended the school. (You have to read the background on this as it’s complicated.)

I have Lauren Clark’s permission to share her comments here. What I found interesting is her observation that her college courses were easier than her high school AP classes, yet gave her a higher GPA.

I  have been told that same thing by other joint enrolled students — with the exception students enrolled in math classes at Georgia Tech. (After all the comments during the HOPE discussion about how tough Tech is compared to the rest of the state’s colleges, I have to wonder whether Tech is too hard on students or whether other campuses are too easy?)

I asked a college professor about Clark’s experience and her response was that AP classes are usually every day so students are …

Continue reading A former Cherokee County valedictorian: ”Nearly impossible not to get a 100 in a joint enrollment class.” »