No Child Left Behind: A conspiracy against public education that too few called out
Jim Arnold (Pelham City Schools)
A while back, I ran a piece from Jim Arnold, superintendent of Pelham City Schools in Mitchell County. Several of you commented that you wished you worked for such a straight-talking school chief.
I think that sentiment is going to be even stronger after this piece, which I plan to run on the Monday education page that I assemble for the AJC. But I can’t fit all of it in the newspaper, so here is the full version.
By Jim Arnold
We’ve done it now. Eleven years we had to educate the public, to register our protests and do everything in our power to warn people what was coming, and we blew it. We knew the moment would eventually come and we hem-hawed, looked at the ground, kicked at the dirt with our shoes and failed to look the opposition in the eye and face them down. All of us saw this coming, but very few took a stand and now we – and our students – are paying the price. We could have been prophets but failed the test.
We allowed the proponents of NCLB to control the discussion from the beginning. They wrote the language, sent out the media notices and explanations, wrote the definitions of AYP, Highly Qualified and leaned heavily on the fact that none of us would dare protest anything to do with a name that implies we would be providing a high quality education for every single child in America. They were right. We chose not to speak out, not to fight against a system we knew from the beginning would set us all up for failure, and instead, in our best Dudley DoRight impersonations we set about to change the way we taught and measured and tested and graded and thought.
We knew from the outset that NCLB and its goal of 100 percent – every child proficient in every area as determined by a single test on a single day each year – was patently, blatantly and insidiously absurd, but we took no concerted action. We knew Adequate Yearly Progress was a sham, and we literally and figuratively rolled over and tried our best to meet whatever impossible goals they set for us and our students. We knew that Federal law in NCLB was a violation of Federal law in IDEA but we went along with the insanity of testing Students with Disabilities based on chronological age rather than by IEP.
We learned very quickly and much to our chagrin that some student scores – usually the lowest ones – were counted not once, not twice, but often as many as three times, but we went along to get along. All of us were aware that Highly Qualified, for all the high rhetoric that went along with it, only served to make certification as much of a barrier as humanly possible for Special Education teachers regardless of degree or experience. It seems the teachers we needed most were subjected to the greatest roadblocks to reaching the nirvana of HiQ certification.
We tried our best to play the game but the game was rigged from the start. When the AMO’s were low it was pretty easy for most schools. When the AMO’s went up and more and more schools were labeled “failing” we looked around in a panic for help. Surely nobody believed a school deserved the failing label because two or three kids in a subgroup didn’t pass a test? Yes they did. Yes they still do. We let them make the definitions and apply the labels, even when we realized the absurdity of it all.
We actually pretended to believe that it was important for us to make sure that every child was tested on those all important test days so none could escape the trauma we inflicted upon them. We even learned in some places to game the system and hold back those kids we feared might not pass the test or might raise those student numbers to create a subgroup in areas we really didn’t want to see a subgroup or, God help us, to cheat or to make sure that we could hold out two or three or four of “those kids” on test days so their poor scores wouldn’t have a negative effect.
Oh sure, some of you stuck your necks out and said something to the effect of “NCLB forced us to take a closer look at ourselves, and we are better off for that” in spite of the fact that it was our students that were suffering the consequences. What balderdash. What hubris. Our kids were the ones whose education was stilted by our submission to the belief that one test could effectively distill and determine the depth and extent of an entire year of a child’s education. They are the ones whose time was wasted by “academic pep rallies” and “test prep” and by the subtle and insidious ways we told them the test was “important” and put pressure on them to “do their best because our school is counting on you.”
They were the ones that did without art and music and chorus and drama because we increased the amount of time they spent in ELA and Math. They were the ones that had time in their Social Studies and Science classes cut back more and more so schools could focus on the “really important areas” of ELA and Math. They were the ELL’s that couldn’t speak English but still had to take the test. Their teachers were the ones that were told “your grading of the children in your classes doesn’t count any more because standardization is more important to us that the individual grades you provide.” This told them in effect that their efforts at teaching were important but only if they taught using “this” methodology or “this” curriculum, then, when things started to go badly, they were the first to be blamed for the failure of public education. They were told to teach every child the same way with the same material but make sure to individualize while you’re at it. Hogwash.
After a couple of years of this insanity, the “NI” status began to take its toll. Someone somewhere invented the term “failing schools” and, unsurprisingly, the label stuck. Students were given the opportunity to transfer to more test-successful schools, but at a price. Schools that did not meet AYP standards, oddly enough, were often those with high minority populations and high poverty. Nobody seemed to notice the zip code effect that left predominantly white schools meeting AYP standards and minority schools caught by the “failing” label. Oh surely, we reasoned, our government would not want to put public education in a situation it could not win………..or would they?
I struggled with the rest of you as to why NCLB would go to such great lengths to make public education appear to be such a failure, to set up a system that would guarantee failure for practically every public school as we advanced toward that magical 100 percent level and provide no tangible rewards for success and such punitive actions for not meeting arbitrary goals. On top of all of that, I failed to recognize why our nation’s legislators so nimbly avoided even the discussion of reauthorization to change what everyone knew was a failed policy. One day it finally hit me.
They didn’t want to change the policy, because the policy was designed in theory and in fact not to aid education but to create an image of a failed public school system in order to further the implementation of vouchers and the diversion of public education funds to private schools.
I am not usually a conspiracy theory guy, but this was no theory. These were cold hard facts slapping me in the face. We failed in our obligations to protect our students from one of the most destructive educational policies since “separate but equal.” We did not educate the public on the myth and misdirection of Adequate Yearly Progress, and we allowed closet segregationists to direct the implementation of policies that we knew would result in our being the guys in the black hats responsible for “the failure of public education.”
Now we are paying the price. AYP is here to stay in one form or another, and the vast majority of our parents and public really believe the propaganda that it actually measures a school’s educational progress. If we try to convince them otherwise we are “making excuses.”
Vouchers – especially for private and charter schools exempt from the same restrictive, destructive policies we are forced to endure – are a part of every legislative session in almost every state. High stakes testing for all public education students is considered a necessary reality and teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Student test scores will soon determine teacher pay in some places even with no data to support the correlation. Students that do not graduate high school in four years are labeled as dropouts, even if they graduate in nine or 10 semesters.
Only first-time test takers are considered in the grading system for schools regardless of how many students ultimately pass the test. It will take years to undo the damage done to science, social studies, fine arts, foreign languages and other academic electives. Generations will not be enough to rid ourselves and our students of the testing mania neuroses created by our attempts to quantify the unquantifiable.
I hope the generation of teachers and administrators that follows has learned something from the failure of our generation to ward off those determined to destroy public education. We didn’t stand up to be counted, we didn’t stand in the schoolhouse door and tell them they couldn’t do that to our kids, and we didn’t educate the public about what a gigantic failure another one size fits all education policy would be. In the words of that great educator and philosopher Jimmy Buffet: “Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”
We have all been left behind.
– From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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339 comments Add your comment
Dr. Monica Henson
September 1st, 2011
5:21 pm
“nearly SIX years”
@ - Guilty APS ...What a tragic story
September 1st, 2011
5:27 pm
Poor teachers, and even worse, what a tragedy for the kids. This must be Beverly Hall’s legacy. No wonder she seems to be so reviled by so many. I hope she gets all that’s coming to her.
What a mess.
Maureen Downey
September 1st, 2011
5:35 pm
@Dr. Henson, As a New Jersey native, I can vouch for the stellar reputation of Seton Hall University. And I am delighted that my best high school pal — who has a doctorate from NYU — recently joined the administration of that campus.
Maureen
Dr. Monica Henson
September 1st, 2011
5:38 pm
Maureen, I very much enjoyed my studies there and made lifetime friends. My professors in the college of education were all former public school administrators, many of whom stay in touch with my classmates and me to this day. Seton Hall University is a terrific institution.
Another APS teacher
September 1st, 2011
5:38 pm
The Guilty APS teacher is telling the truth. In fact she’s making an understatement. It is exactly as she describe and more, all day everyday, before the school year begins until it ends.
Guilty APS Teacher and PROUD OF IT!
September 1st, 2011
5:44 pm
sorry for earlier spelling error
I cheated last year by pointing to correct answers as I walked throughout the room. I will continue to help struggling students choose the right answers until I am no longer evaluated based on my children’s scores. Low scores mean I get placed on a professional development plan with targets. We have no other choice and I do not feel as though I have committed a crime.
It’s easy to say find another job. Oh yea, where? Especially one that pays a decent salary, offers health benefits and has hours that allow for a family life. Besides teaching is what I spent 7 years (Master’s plus 30) of my life preparing for, because it is what I truly wanted to do.
What I do not want to do is teach to the test every minute of the day. There are times I would like to talk to my class about current events or the value of being good citizens. But in essence, I am scripted and better not stray from my lesson plan that has been pre-approved to make sure it aligns with what will be tested.
Everything we say, everything we teach must be match with items tested (item analysis). We have long meetings every week explicitly for this purpose. If we are observed discussing or teaching anything not aligned with these objectives you get a letter of reprimand and lots of harassing observations. You may find this hard to believe, but we can’t put an item on display in the room or God forbid, on the bulletin board if we don’t attach a note identifying which objective or standard is being addressed.
I know to those of you on the outside looking in, my comment might sound bizarre, but it is the honest to God truth.
Superintendent Arnold is telling the truth. This madness needs to stop!
Middle School Rocks
September 1st, 2011
6:22 pm
I wonder if pay for performance will last very long when teachers start to sue the parents and students in their classes for their poor performance on these tests. Maybe the proof could be zeros on assignments as well as the junk they turn in as “work.” These cases will all be won as we the teachers have proof that your students and their parents are the issue. Figure it out or pay up.
Nanna - @Guilty APS teacher
September 1st, 2011
7:21 pm
I just read Jami Sarrio’s AJC article posted 30 minutes ago and it said that the new superintendent will be ending bonuses for test scores since widespread cheating calls the whole scheme into question.
I had no idea that Beverly Hall made off with over $580,000 in bonuses, and this was in addition to her salary of $415,000. I now fully understand the motive for covering up a decade of cheating, lying and stealing.
Tape this comic above your computer
September 1st, 2011
8:43 pm
Type in “So you’re mad about something on the Internet” in Google and hit “I’m Feeling Lucky”. Read the comic.
Yeah, you went past Level 2 and probably Level 3, didn’t you? So what did you get out of posting? You know, on the Internet?
Pardon My Blog
September 1st, 2011
8:44 pm
@ Guilty APS teacher – still does not excuse the cheating. There is something called ethics, and there is a way to handle this without lowering yourself to that level.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
September 1st, 2011
8:49 pm
Dr. Henson,
Give us hell.We deserve it.
Dr. Arnold,
In light of the start of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association’s Open Championship, might I ask, “Paranoia, anyone?”
Wishful Thinking for those at APS
September 1st, 2011
9:08 pm
It is going to take more than stopping the bonus pay. The APS practice as described means it is very deeply imbedded in the system’s culture. Superintendent Davis cannot undo in a year what has become a “habit of mind” for APS educators.
It will take a decade or longer of sustained focus to lift the curse wrought ball Hall and her operatives.
Sharon Pitts must Go
September 1st, 2011
9:56 pm
Enter your comments here
Mikey D
September 1st, 2011
10:56 pm
@Dr. Henson,
Sorry, but as soon as you boasted about your admiration for Michelle Rhee, you lost the respect of about 99% of teachers out there. I hope that you’re no longer a school administrator, or if you are still supervising teachers that you aren’t imitating the vile tactics Rhee used during her time in DC.
jarvis
September 1st, 2011
11:09 pm
@Guilty APS Teacher, you are disgusting. You lack any kind of professional ethics. You would have been a failure at any line of business you had decided to go into. A lack of ethics always has a way of catching up with people.
Dunwoody Mom
September 1st, 2011
11:24 pm
Michelle Rhee’s 15 minutes are about up. Trying to brush aside the emerging cheating scandal in D.C. puts her right up there with Beverly Hall.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
September 2nd, 2011
1:43 am
(J)arvis,
Anonymity, like the law, is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
September 2nd, 2011
1:46 am
“Straight-talking chief?”
Give me a straight-shooting and -acting one. My Maternal Granny always told me. “Actions speak louder than words” and “Talk is cheap.”
Granny, 51 years-dead, remains to this day correct.
teacher&mom
September 2nd, 2011
6:47 am
@Maureen, I find it interesting that PDK polls have consistently shown the general public does not support NCLB. However, I believe in many voters’ minds, it does not play a role in how they vote. I do think more than a few teachers voted for President Obama in hopes he would make necessary changes in the law. Instead, he appointed a Education Secretary with little education experience and the result was Race to the Top…..NCLB on steroids.
Duncan is currently offering a waiver on NCLB if states promise to follow his new set of rules. Georgia will probably ask for a waiver and I fear the result will be worse than NCLB mandates.
Over 50% of the employees at the GA Dept. of Ed are paid through federal funds. The feds have GA in a vice grip. We are their puppet and they know it.
redweather
September 2nd, 2011
7:20 am
Sill waiting for Dunwoody Mom’s credentials.
Lee
September 2nd, 2011
7:30 am
“Sill waiting for Dunwoody Mom’s credentials.”
Good grief, this a blog, not a job application….
BTW, when you post to a blog using the title of “Dr.” or “Phd”, expect someone to take potshots at your title. It really has no relevance here.
UGA Doc
September 2nd, 2011
8:41 am
Dr. M – “Nova Southeastern University in North Miami Beach, Florida, also a respected brick-and-mortar institution”.
In what universe? Nova is laughed at pretty much nationwide. Spend a week or 3 a year in Florida and call it a degree? Nope. Bought and paid for degree doesn’t equal what you get at a real research University. Sorry
@Guilty Teacher
September 2nd, 2011
8:50 am
Guilty Teacher you are a fool. I’m copying and pasting your comments into a document and reporting your blog to the authorities so we can now hire people to WATCH you as you point ou the correct answers on the tests (and by the way, computer forensics are advanced these days).
Thanks for the heads up! I’m delighted you fessed up!
@Guilty Teacher
September 2nd, 2011
8:59 am
I just reported the Guilty teacher to the authorities and the rep says he will have the attorney general investigate immediately. If anyone gets wind of more cheating, contact any of the following immediately:
Do you have a question about APS policies and/or ethics training?
Contact: Rebecca Kaye @ 404.802.2897
Do you have a question about ethics and the APS balanced scorecard?
Contact: Alexis Kirijan @ 404.802.2830
Do you have a question about the APS security test plan? Contact Ray Hart @ 404.802.2702
Do you have a question about the APS anonymous hotline?
Contact William Scott @ 404.802.2732
Computer forensics are a wonderful thing, Guilty Teacher!
Perverted Thinking
September 2nd, 2011
9:07 am
Dear APS teacher:
I see Beverly Hall did a good job of schooling you. You would probably think it is okay to rob a bank if your kids needed food. Will the perversion ever stop? This method of justification is exactly why “leaders” such as Hitler were able to wreak disaster upon helpless people with impunity. Yes, you have in essence become one of Hitler’s (Hall’s) loyal soldiers.
From what I have read, Michele Rhee is self serving witch, but she is angel compared to Hall.
Thief
September 2nd, 2011
9:17 am
Guilty APS teacher
In case you don’t realized it you are stealing from taxpayering (my money) citizens. You belong in jail with the rest of those no count thugs.
Anonmom
September 2nd, 2011
9:19 am
Another big problem with the transfers and “failing” label at DCSS schools (which we pointed out to the good Senator Isakson over a decade ago) is that the highest priority is supposed to go for transfers first to the lowest performing students… then the funds from the title 1 schools do not follow the students into the non-title one schools as the student then over crowd the non-title one schools (e.g. as Lithonia HS now seems to be at 500 kids and Lakeside and Chamblee are at 2000 kids — same for middle schools). The kids don’t get (in DCSS — cp Gwinnett) individual tutoring that would, actually, really help them if they had title one reading and math teachers (not coaches — many DCSS coaches don’t even have teaching certificates yet are paid more but they have appropriate connections). The reality seems to be that mostly the level 2 or 3 kids are transferring, leaving the “failing” school with only the level one kids and rendering it next to impossible that the “transferor” school will ever make AYP in the future. The receiving school is very overcrowded (see Lithonia to Lakeside or Chamblee example) and then it makes it almost impossible for the receiving school to continue to make AYP because the in-coming kids are at a different point in the curriculum and expectations than the kids currently in the building (e.g. from no zero policies to zeros if 5 minutes late and nothing below a B policies to it’s okay if kids fail policies… — really I’m not making this up)– Also, there’s a big difference between the block schedule and the 7 period day (we should really return to the 6 period day) and the most “successful” high schools are on 7 period days – not block schedules and it’s very difficult for the kids going back and forth but none of this is explained to the parents in the mass migrations across the county at 50 some odd cents a mile under NCLB to the real detriment of the kids long term — the better plan would be to address discipline, have educated, qualified teachers in the classrooms who speak and write English with proficiency and administrators with experience teaching for more than a decade and get the kids the help they need locally in neighborhood schools with quality programs.
Anonmom
September 2nd, 2011
9:25 am
One more thought — NCLB allows any kid within a “failing” school to transfer out — even if the school only failed in 2 subgroups (e.g. non-English speakers and Free and Reduced lunch or Disabled population). The receiving school may have also failed in the same category but not as often or the numbers may have been maneuvered (e.g. as happened to Lakeside last year — they dropped a few kids off the numbers so that a few — 2 — subgroups would not count). The law should be implemented so that only those in the failing subgroup are able to transfer out and they should only be allowed to transfer into a school which passed for the subgroup — how does it work for a kid to move from a school if his/her school “worked” for his or her subgroup but not for another subgroup and they move to a different school that passed overall but failed for his/her subgroup? Not too many people really understand all the ramifications of NCLB and how the stats are really used (let alone how the state manipulates the CRCT cut scores). Wherein, I return to just give the kid an IOWA, assign the IOWA to the kid and see if the teacher can improve the kid based on the IOWA score a year later. Yeah, that, and vouchers to get rid of all the bureaucracy at the top and move the massive amount of money to the bottom of the pyramid and into the many hands of many parents and have the state start monitoring how the funds get spent — which I assure they are not currently doing. Neither the State nor SACS is watching out for the actually quality of education being received by the kids for the billions of dollars being spent on it.
Anonmom
September 2nd, 2011
9:26 am
And the media — published and news –refuse to (or are afraid to) really investigate — as in times gone by — where all those billions of dollars are really going…..
amazed
September 2nd, 2011
9:29 am
@Anonmom
The different class schedules within the district just further illustrate the gross incompetence of DCSS. Children do move.
Re: Guilty and Another
None of this has anything to do with NCLB. Administrators and teachers blame the results of incompetent administration (see DCSS class schedules) and implementation on the law. APS has its apparently incredibly strict scripting and documentation. We need administrators who take responsibility and communicate when things aren’t working like a model (such as NCLB) expects. Instead, its always fail to take responsibility and blame outside forces. NCLB clearly isn’t perfect. But its not causing the failing schools. Schools don’t fail everywhere.
To Dave from Good Mother
September 2nd, 2011
9:35 am
Dave, you wrote: “Be glad that if standardized tests are to be given it’s the CRCT, which probably makes your child look more advanced.”
You’re missing the point, Dave. I don’t want my child to “look more advanced.” I want his skills accuratey assessed. If he or she needs improvement, I want and need to know. If he or she has a gift, I want to encourage it.
I read and work with my children every day but I still need to know how they measure up against others in the nation because they will be competing for the same colleges, universities and jobs tht other students are.
It’s simple. We need to measure learning for many reasons. I don’t want a dumbed-down test so I can hide in denial that my child needs something. I want to know early so I can intervene, as any good parent would want to do.
Keystone Cop
September 2nd, 2011
9:36 am
@ – I just reported the Guilty teacher to the authorities
I much as I frown on what this teacher has stated, I believe in freedom of expression and especially freedom of the press. If it were not for the revelations brought forth by the AJC our schools would still be governed by America’s Superintendent of the Year!
You must work for APS. Trying to defend whats left of their image no doubt? Wel and the public relations department have your hands full.
Yes, as painful as the accounts might be, we want to know what is happening
AtlSouthside
September 2nd, 2011
9:36 am
LOL at the guy saying he’s copying pasting the Guilty Teacher’s blog post & turning it over to authorities… (Copy & Paste would destroy the validity of your testimony)
Really amazed
September 2nd, 2011
9:42 am
It still amazes me that some people think this just happened in APS. They were the ones that happened to get caught! Like the teacher that stated “she points to the answer sheet to the crct and will continue too”. Do you really believe this is the only teacher in the state of GA that does this????
Really amazed
September 2nd, 2011
9:48 am
@Good mother, that’s the problem, many parents want the denial end of what you are saying. Easier to believe the crct is great!! Look mommy I met the standards on the crct. I am brilliant, aren’t I!
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
September 2nd, 2011
9:49 am
(T)eacher and mom,
Have you ever looked John Barge in the eye?
Gag the Press
September 2nd, 2011
9:51 am
@ Atl Southside, @ Really Amazed, @ Keystone Cop – I agree with totally agree with you all
Gag the Press:
That’s exactly what Beverly Hall attempted to do. If I recall correctly, she made a personal visit in hopes of persuading the AJC editor & editorial board to back off the reporting of school district cheating. Hall probably said, “Please just call the APS hotline and we’ll take care of it.”
RC
September 2nd, 2011
10:10 am
The conspiracy lies here…”it is easier to lead a group of cattle than to try to explain political actions to an intelectual, questioning public.” The mission of dumbing down the population is clear…government runs amuck and we (the masses) question nothing…or will not (be able to) in the future.
@Gag the Press
September 2nd, 2011
10:21 am
Thank God for this forum. Without it and similar avenues of free expression we might not ever know what is taking place, especially the under currents.
AtlSouthside
September 2nd, 2011
10:25 am
I actually worked for the tutoring program for a short time while I was in college, until I realized that it was a scam, and this “pastor” was taking advantage of taxpayers money, while also exploited the youth… they had a van, and would even drive out to the various neighborhoods just sign up as many kids as possible.. $1,700 x 200+ kids in the program = $340k and many of the kids only attended the program for a short time..
Really amazed
September 2nd, 2011
10:27 am
@Gap the press, isn’t that the truth!!
Good Mother
September 2nd, 2011
10:32 am
RE: “If it were not for the revelations brought forth by the AJC our schools would still be governed by America’s Superintendent of the Year!”
I agree and I applaud the AJC for illuminating, uncovering and investigating the cheating. Kudos to the AJC! Freedom of speech and freedom of the press, something you can’t get in Abu Dhabi and definitely it’s something worth fighting for.
Jack
September 2nd, 2011
10:35 am
I came along before standardized tests. And I was an A student throughout grammer and high school and I was not born in an affluent neighborhood. I was, however, born in a home with both parents. It can’t be stressed enough that children born in a drug infested, one parent home will hardly ever make it to a real A student level. I’ve been accused of suffering from a pre-existing bias: maybe I do, but I agree with Mr. Arnold.
AtlSouthside
September 2nd, 2011
10:42 am
@Jack, even though I understand you’re making a generalization, but I disagree…
Most kids do not live in drug infested homes. And its funny how people automatically associate “failing kids” w/ poverty, drugs, broken homes and say “they are failing because of ____” – no the kids are failing because they have been labeled failures… the school sys & even some teachers have internalized that label, and they teach accordingly..
They are rich kids who flunk out of school… do drugs, get arrested… etc. I cam from a single home, and poverty and I made it!!!!
Nanna
September 2nd, 2011
10:51 am
I agree with everyone above that we need freedom of expression.
APS needs to first attend to the accused teachers who are “no longer in front of children,” but are costing taxpapyers SIX MILLION DOLLARS.
To Jack from Good Mother
September 2nd, 2011
10:54 am
I came from all the ills you say it is impossible from which to recover: broken home, poverty, abuse, you name it. I thrived in school even though I had some lousy teachers, there were some good ones who cared enough about children to get me going.
I scored a 27 on the ACT on the first try with no prep and got a full ride to college. I’m now an educated, tax-paying, good parent who is raising more good little educated tax-paying citizens.
So your declaration that nothing good can come from my background is a joke. It’s not real. You are suffering frm pre-existing bias.
A few good teachers made all the difference in my life. Their dedication and caring trumped the bad ones. It wasn’t an easy start and life sure isn’t easy now but good students and good citizens CAN COME from terrible home lives.
Teachers DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE !
To Nanny from Good Mother
September 2nd, 2011
10:57 am
Six million is a gross underestimate. I spoke to a State Reform Team member. The cheating, lying teachers are costing APS ONE MILLION a MONTH!
That doesn’t include Beverly Hall’s legal fees or her bloated bonuses.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 2nd, 2011
11:16 am
@UGA Doc: many would certainly have potshots to take at the University of Georgia compared to the Ivy Leagues, universities outside the Southeast, private research universities such as NSU, etc. I am not sure where you are getting your information about Nova Southeastern University, which includes colleges of law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, humanities, education, and several others. NSU is a well-respected private research university. NSU pioneered the blended distance learning concept more than 30 years ago. Distance courses in the graduate school of education operate on a similar schedule to brick-and-mortar courses (meaning that they meet live at scheduled times weekly in addition to asynchronous sessions such as discussion boards and study groups), along with in-person seminars with professors at central locations on a monthly basis (three full days in session in person).
Your characterization of a degree from NSU as a week or three weeks in Florida, bought and paid for, is ludicrous and ignorant. I’d expect far more, even from a UGA graduate. (I attended law school at UGA, and I’d match NSU’s research programs against UGA’s anytime.)
Dr. Monica Henson
September 2nd, 2011
11:18 am
To my knowledge and understanding, the NSU colleges of medicine, law, and pharmacy operate exclusively in the brick-and-mortar world. As a public school teacher, I also attended Advanced Placement institutes hosted at NSU’s main campus that included attendee teachers from all across the Southeast.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 2nd, 2011
11:19 am
I’d also like to know “UGA Doc’s” real name and professional affiliation. Posting behind an alias eliminates all credibility.