Ron Clark’s magic. I saw it for myself today. It’s not money. It’s passion.
Ron Clark founded his school with Kim Bearden, a former Cobb middle school teacher and a Milken top teacher award winner. (Ron Clark Academy)
When I wrote about the Ron Clark Academy, some of you argued that the private Atlanta school and its gifted founder are recipients of many donations and grants so there aren’t many lessons in their success for public education. (I interviewed Clark this summer.)
A school that counts Oprah Winfrey among its supporters, the Ron Clark Academy goes from fifth to eighth grade. While the annual tuition is $18,000, only 10 percent of students pay the full bill. Most attend on scholarship, paying on average $45 month.
This morning I attended the first day of classes at Ron Clark, which opened five years ago in a bleak corner of Atlanta behind the federal pen. I saw many lessons for public schools. Elements of the festive morning could easily be replicated. Much of the excitement was provided by volunteers, including a public high school band.
It was not money that distinguished the morning. It was creativity, energy and passion.
The school’s inspiration and namesake is Ron Clark, a former Disney Teacher of the Year who is part showman, drill sergeant and motivational speaker. (And he is a heck of a math teacher.)
Despite the rain, Clark and his staff — dressed like a team of IBM execs in natty black suits — gathered in front of the school at 7:15 a.m. to greet every arriving child. Behind them were 55 high-stepping and high-energy members of the Southwest DeKalb High School band and the school’s dance team. It was impossible not to sway to the band, but the Ron Clark staff did more than that.
They strutted. They swirled. They jumped. They got down — lower than most of us can manage at 7 in the morning, but they are a young and remarkably fit group. They sprang into full blown jubilation as each child stepped out of the car. They engulfed students in bear hugs, high-fived them, lifted them off the ground and twirled them. Parents drove off beaming. Some parents set up across the street with video cameras to record the celebration.
And that’s what the opening two hours were — a celebration. There was no sense these kids were marching off to the mines. The students walked or danced through the flanks of the SW DeKalb High School band and were given a school sweater before they entered the school. Inside the whimsical lobby with the famous two-story blue slide, students were met by fraternity and sorority members from Clark Atlanta and Georgia State, Falcon cheerleaders and the Morris Brown College drum line. The college students and cheerleaders taught the kids step and dance moves. The drum line provided the beat. Several photographers snapped their photos and videotaped them.
Once all 105 students were assembled, Ron Clark took the floor. He delivered a short inspirational speech before calling up the “House” leaders. Clark created four Houses within his school, ala Hogwarts and Harry Potter. The Houses serve as support systems and create an instant family for the nervous fifth graders. Each House leader welcomed the newly minted fifth graders with speeches, all of which were warm and well delivered. With great fanfare and hoopla, Clark then introduced the teachers and staff, who arrived in the lobby via the slide, tumbling onto the floor amid cheers from the delighted students.
Then came a surprise. The entire school staff spent several weeks learning their own step routines and launched into them. They traded their jackets and button-down Oxford shirts for cool T-shirts with fun nicknames on the back. (My favorite was the “N Forcer,” worn by the woman who maintains the front desk. ) Their clever and original raps and songs stressed academic excellence, team work and discipline. (You can watch the step routines here on YouTube.)
The eighth graders were held up as role models and school leaders and applauded as they raced down the hall through a paper banner. But the real excitement came next. On the landing of the coin staircase —coins from every nation are embedded in the steps to remind the students of the wider world — stood a big sorting spinning wheel with the four Houses. When their names were called by Clark, fifth graders ran to the wheel, spun it once and then rushed to the top of the stairs before the wheel slowed to a stop to reveal the name of their House.
The students took their first slide down the slide to be met at the bottom by their new House. As the children burst out of the slide, their House mates swept them up, cheering and shouting the new member’s name. The House leaders placed a House tie on the new member to replace the generic school tie. By 9:15, the students were sorted into their Houses and were likely convinced they were about to begin the best year of their lives.
I understand that public schools can’t do all these things, but they can borrow pieces of this strategy. A friend lamented to me last week that her daughter told her that she felt lost in her new middle school, that “no one in the school really sees me or even knows that I’m there.”
I doubt any child at Ron Clark feels that way, and that’s what we can learn from Clark and his school — you have to tell kids early on that they matter, that their education matters and that the staff will do whatever it takes to help them achieve.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
208 comments Add your comment
RCA Visitor
September 7th, 2011
5:48 am
I visited RCA last year with a team of teachers from my school (my principal paid for the visit). I teach in a Title I district so needless to say, while I left RCA feeling energized and hopeful I also saw a great disparity between Clark’s educational utopia and my own reality.
That being said I do agree with Maureen. There were several things that stuck out. None of them were new or revolutionary.
1) Have high expectations.
2) Expect that every student will succeed.
3) Teach with rigor and for mastery.
4) Engage students so they are excited about what you are trying to teach them.
5) Have a classroom theme. (This was the fun one!)
Why is RCA so much more effective? No bureaucratic red tape. Clark is living a teacher’s dream: running a school the way it should be.
Hey Maureen, how about featuring some regular everyday public school teachers who are doing extraodinary things with a similar population of students? Now that would be inspiring!
long time educator
September 7th, 2011
6:19 am
@Maureen,
RCA Visitor is right; it would be great to focus on individual public school teachers who are doing extraordinary things in ordinary or substandard settings. Usually there is at least one positive attitude master teacher in every school. The principal knows who it is and will usually take visitors to that room if they want to observe a classroom. If a school is lucky enough to have a positive attitude principal, there will be more positive attitude teachers who often join together to make school more fun for students. It’s 95% about ATTITUDE!
Anonmom
September 7th, 2011
7:36 am
So mulling over vouchers again and the recurrent theme (true, I know) that parents make most of the difference and must have “skin in the game” and some (if not the bulk of) responsibility for outcome — so my query du jour: if all parents are required to “spend” their voucher to “choose” the school for their child (with some default mechanism to a “local” school if they opt not to with some note somewhere for DFCS to review if more that that piles up), wouldn’t that begin to “force” the issue of parent involvement? At the very least, parents would have to “spend” the voucher and then if they weren’t happy, they would have to move the child…. Food for thought for those of you who are quick to rule this idea out (I really was very anti-vouchers until fairly recently when I’ve finally decided that the current system was too corrupt and too much of a failure and then decided to figure out the best way to try and undo the problems….).
long time educator
September 7th, 2011
8:19 am
I think teachers might be more open to pay for performance if it were not tied to individual classroom scores, but rather to the achievement of the whole team, which is the way the best schools work, as a team. Maybe you could tie that to vouchers; the schools with the longest waiting lists, get pay for performance! School statistics could be made public and let parents decide. It is not a bad idea.
HS Public Teacher
September 7th, 2011
8:19 am
@Anonmom – I agree with that tiny aspect of vouchers. However, there are just too many negative sides of vouchers that make them ‘evil’ in my book.
HS Public Teacher
September 7th, 2011
8:23 am
@OTOT – So, you suddenly “pop up” in this blog? More likely, you are the same person as “Good Mother” and the other handles. Why have you no spine to pick on handle and stick to it?
Just as those other handles, you missed the point. The point was that our taxes PAID for these materials yet none are provided. These materials are published by the same publisher of the textbook and go along with the curriculum. So, why aren’t they provided.
I never claimed that not having them hampered my job. In fact, if you would read my posts you would see that I am very successful in my job. However, like those other handles, and since I think that you are the same person, I am sure that you have not read them at all.
Joyful
September 7th, 2011
8:25 am
Ron Clark Academy is the most amazing school on the planet!! My son attends and it’s changed both our lives forever.
Oprah Show - Reality show films at local restaurant
September 7th, 2011
8:57 am
[...] pay the full bill. Most attend on scholarship, paying on average $ 45 month. … Read more on Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) Tags: films, Local, Reality, restaurant, Show No Comments » Click here to [...]
Jerry Eads
September 7th, 2011
9:10 am
Remember, Maureen, that the parents care enough to choose, and the kids are supported. Some kids will hate uniforms, others will love the uniformity. The academy does NOT have to serve all; they can toss non-fitters (or, if need be, “low scorers”) in a heartbeat. Whether they do or not is a matter for record, not conjecture. One size never has, and never will fit all. The ones that don’t fit – guess what – get to go back to whatever public school the system makes them attend. And the academy isn’t directed by the fed and the state to spend 6.5 hours a day drilling and killing on math and reading rote skills, either. That being said, OF COURSE there are things to be learned from a place like this – not the least of which is that decent leadership of a school is critical, and the publics often fail miserably at that. But simply parading this place in front of those with kids who are less fortunate (if not in bux, in parental support) as an exemplar to copy will not solve anything.
teacher who cares
September 7th, 2011
9:37 am
One thing that is also forgotten in this message – each one of his students have to go through an extensive interview/testing process. Only the best are selected – so therefore they produce the best. Now understandably the environment is fantastic! But public education does not have the choice of who we take. Teachers (the majority) are doing the best they can with what comes through their doors. Another item not mentioned, is the regulations/standards/red tape/paper trails teachers in public school have to deal with. Everything we do has to be documented and reviewed. The definition of micro management can be found in many if not most school systems. If public school teachers did not have to spend all the time satisfying the powers that be, we could spend the time creating those outstanding, interactive, WOW lessons for every subject. Right now all I can manage is about 1 of those a week for my students. And for that I feel guilty-but again I’m only human….not superman!
William Casey
September 7th, 2011
10:11 am
“Secrets” of good teaching based on 31 years of experience:
1. Genuine enthusiasm for and knowledge of the subject matter. I loved history and it showed. I also knew my subject.
2. Being “yourself” and have a sense of humor. Current practices seem to be beating this out of teaching.
3. Demanding excellence and tolerating temporary failure. My tests made standardized tests seem like cakewalks.
4. Exhibiting concern for students but no phony baloney “I love all kids” mantras. My motto: “Only your Mother HAS to love you, the rest of us get a choice.”
5. Telling the truth even when it hurts. Kids recognize BS when they hear it.
6. Willingness to accept criticism and make changes when necessary.
7. Hard work.
Digger
September 7th, 2011
10:53 am
Good Mother is neither good nor a mother. Fake.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
September 7th, 2011
10:54 am
With the likes of John Barge, John Trotter, Brad Bryant, Fran Millar and Brooks Coleman at the lead, reform efforts in our state face an unprecedented opportunity to banish “excuse-based” education from our red clay-soil forever.
RCA Graduate Parent
September 7th, 2011
11:06 am
If anyone wants to know if the RCA methods work, they do. The RCA Staff are some of the best in the education business. My child attended RCA (one of the 1st to graduate) and now attends a private prep school in metro Atlanta, my kid is thriving in high school, involved in many clubs and sports. These methods may not be for everyone but for my family it worked.
Edugator
September 7th, 2011
11:09 am
Sorry- I’m not impressed. Sounds more like a circus than a school. I’m an enthusiastic teacher who creatively instructs his class. I don’t need a band to tout educational values. RCA is loads of fun, but only marginally replicable for most of us. Lots of successful schools manage without the “magic”.
South Atlanta Descendant
September 7th, 2011
11:09 am
I private school hired a Public School Marching Band? Does anyone have a problem with this? Why not one of the Marching Bands in the South Atlanta area? There are two? What will this school put back in this community? Is the school located where the land is cheap? How many of the kids are from the S. Atlanta Community?
Clarissa
September 7th, 2011
11:32 am
@ HS Public Teacher, 8:23 am. Yes, it seems that OTOH is another name for Good Mother, for again that word whine” appears in this 2:08 am posting: “I think your complaint about the Teacher’s Edition suggests you are either looking for an excuse to whine…”
Digger has it right. Good Mother has been appearing on these Get Schooled blogs for several weeks now, posting endless entries at all hours that complain about “whiny brats of teachers.” Something obsessive and weird about it all…the person clearly isn’t working and must not really have children. Ignoring doesn’t help much, for the flood of posts attacking teachers continues.
To Eddie G from Good Mother
September 7th, 2011
11:32 am
No need to wonder. I am a business woman. I came from a poor background and went to a poor school. I had some lousy teachers and some good ones; the good ones made a tremendous difference in my life and I am now an educated tax payer with children in APS. I don’t reveal much else about myself because I know retribution is alive and well.
Although I work full time, I reguarly volunteer at my children’s school. I am a room parent and go to every meeting and get involved in their lives.
I send my well-rested, well-fed, disciplined children to school on time, homework complete with gracious manners and appropriate and respectful attire.
I regulary do without so that I can give donations to the teachers and other students and to the school. This year my income was slashed in half and I have zero benefits, not a single day off work. When I don’t work, I don’t get paid yet I take off work to volunteer at the school.
Life is difficult for me but education is important. It is THE way out of poverty and it is THE way to have a democracy. We need educated, tax paying citizens to maintain our freedoms.
I hold myself and my children to high standards and I expect the same from my government, which includes teachers.
Good News from Good Mother
September 7th, 2011
11:47 am
Maureen and others,
Did you watch this morning’s news? I consider it good news. The entity that determines whether a teacher is accredited or certified as a teacher is reviewing the circumstances to determine whether the 178 teachers who confessed to cheating will either get their teaching licenses permanently revoked or suspended long term.
This entity’s purvue is different from the criminal one. Whereas a teacher who took a plea deal and admitted wrongdoing may be immune to criminal charges, the teacher will likely have other consequences, which I agree is fair.
Why is this good news?
Many teachers said they cheated because they were threatened with their jobs. Now the other side has stepped in to balance the scales. In other words, to cheat has greater consequences than not cheating. Someone can threaten you with losing your job if you cheat but cheating will make you lose your job, send you to jail and eliminate the possibility of teaching elsewhere.
The consequences for cheating are now more considerable than not cheating and administrators know this. It will be harder to put some teeth into their threats.
Also, some schools had significant high erasure rates yet no confessions. The entity understands there is a conspiracy of silence at those schools but they are patiently waiting. The person interviewed this a.m. says that ultimately somebody gets mad at somebody and that somebody will turn in another cheating teacher….so the cheating teachers are not all uncovered yet but there is significant evidence more will be prosecuted than the 178 who have already confessed.
That’s good news for every parent and good news for every honest teacher out there. I know there are many good teachers and I hope the bad and dishonest ones will be eliminated making APS a better place for all of us.
Maureen, I am very surprised you did not post a blog about this topic this a.m. as it is certainly newsworthy.
Good Mother
Clarissa
September 7th, 2011
12:17 pm
@ Good Mother, 11:32 am. If you are a business woman and room parent, then why are your continual, long posts on the blogs for the last month or so during work hours, during school hours, during evening hours? You yourself have provided evidence to the contrary.
Most of those entries are devoted to a lot of autobiographical details…the focus is always on you, you, you. Your impoverished background, broken home, hard times….over and over. Of course, on blogs one can make up anything.
And compare the rational reasonable tone in your long 11:32 am and 11:47 am entries here with the tone of your earlier snarling, contemptuous entries on this same blog thread which seem a lot more genuine.
Something obsessive and weird going on….
Once Again
September 7th, 2011
12:20 pm
The success of this academy cannot be duplicated in the government prison/school system. These kids care because their parents care because their parents have actually been empowered to make the choice themselves as to the school their children attend. The money that is filling the gap comes from charitable giving, not from their fellow citizens at the point of a gun as government funding does. Nobody feels entitled to this education – and nobody is. Kids are here because they want to learn because this business has the goal and market requirement to keep them enthusiastic and happy. That’s the way you treat paying customers. The government treats children exactly as you would expect them to treat prisoners – for they are little more than that.
To Clarissa from Good Mother
September 7th, 2011
1:27 pm
Ever heard of a lap top? It goes where I go and I work everywhere. No mystery.
I demand and expect honest government and that includes teachers.
We in the private sector have done with less for years. Just now government workers, including many but not all teachers, are feeling the effects of a rotten economy and are whining. To them I say grow up and take it like the rest of us.
For those dishonest teachers who cheated, lied and stole, I have no sympathy. We need them gone, now.
For those teachers who cannot even write and speak common everyday English, we need them gone yesterday.
It’s simple. I am a parent who cares about her child’s eduction, something teachers everywhere say is vitally important to academic success. Of course, you choose to call that obsessive and weird. Something is indeed wrong…with you.
Grow up and stop whining.
Aieda
September 7th, 2011
1:38 pm
@Maureen, first, thanks for covering a very accurate picture of how RCA distinguishes itself from others, both public and private. It has a lot to do with MOTIVATION, PASSION AND CREATIVITY!
@HS Teacher, every grade level at Ron Clark Academy all started with 30 students and even one year, 31. If the class size is reduced, it has to do with either the parents decision or a lack in meeting the expectations set forth by the school. So, basically, numbers should not be an issue when you…..
KNOW YOUR MATERIAL….
Most don’t know that, Mr. Clark and other math teachers at RCA don’t rely on textbooks. Most times, Mr. Clark will “hand-write” problems, xerox the sheets and teach from pure inspiration. Not only will he covers 5th-8th grade math concepts in 5TH GRADE, he will cross-over into high-school concepts as well. I am proud to have two children attending who can mentally solve problems, visualize problems, use inductive and deductive reasoning when observing a situation, real or imagined.
Now for the pay…
The teachers pay is comparable if not less to those teaching in county school districts PLUS they MUST help lead after-school activities that lasts to 6p.m.–which means their workday starts before 7 a.m. and lasts till 7 p.m. On top of that, some willingly ask to work with our students on their on-time– and this is done independently.
I have worked as an Middle School Educator in New Orleans prior to moving to Atlanta. Most of my earnings went directly back to my “children”, some refer to them as students. When I saw a need that I could meet personally, I did it (and I was a mother of three at the time, I’m now mother of four). When I couldn’t, I sought ways to meet their needs which sometimes meant going to the community and sharing my experience and my vision for them.
Like RCA, it was important to me that I knew ALL of my students so I made home visits on my way home and I invested time/money in the experiences they valued. I had aspiring authors, nurses, athletes, musicians, aestheticians, educators, philosophers, etc…
Yes, I was nominated by the students AND colleagues for school awards, but that wasn’t the source of my motivation. When agreeing to educate anyone’s child, your motives must be sincere, genuine, and pure. Your intellectual abilities is what distinguish you from being a novice. Your enthusiasm is what keeps you waking each morning “knowing” that you were called to perform a special task that only you can make happen. When that drive and taste for educating and leading young adults is absent, seek professional development or entertain something that brings you passion.
I am a parent of RCA but I’m also an educator and a mother. It’s unfortunate when some teachers experience burn-out and lose their way, but I refuse to push them further into the mud. @HS Teacher, I think that the leadership at your home school and possibly school district can use some restructuring because of your tone. You obviously have been fulfilling your job expectations without the teacher’s edition which tells me that you are resourceful. The economy coupled with daily living expenses will frustrate any typical professional. My advice, become what you want and make it happen. In the end, you would have taught your students a greater lesson that a text cannot– there will always be adverse situations, but it’s how you respond to those situations that matter.
I am a proud parent of RCA and a stronger advocate for EDUCATION. Be encouraged.
What would you do if you knew you wouldn’t fail? — Then do it!
Clarissa
September 7th, 2011
2:31 pm
@ Good Mother, 1:27 pm. What’s obsessive and weird is your constant postings of sarcastic attacks on all teachers, along with extended self-portraits designed to draw pity. You may send them in by lap-top, but that means that you’re sitting in the back of a classroom tapping away instead of being a helpful room parent, or at work instead of doing whatever you say you’re paid to do.
But now…. good-bye, troll.
To Clarissa from Good Mother
September 7th, 2011
2:52 pm
Clarissa, your petty little name-calling says everything about you, not me. If you don’t like my comments, don’t read them.
OTOH
September 7th, 2011
3:41 pm
No, I am not anyone else. I do only occasionally pop in to the discussions but have been doing so for a long time.
NMS_Principal
September 7th, 2011
3:48 pm
I am a middle school principal at a public school system in Oklahoma. My assistant principal and I have heard Ron speak at least 15 times between us. I can assure you that the RCA system works. Several years ago our school conducted fund raiser after fund raiser and took 30 teachers to visit the Ron Clark Academy over our spring break. What a trip. It was the best educational workshop I have ever attended. 7 years ago our school was dull and boring. Every class had the same shade of off-white walls. After visiting RCA our teachers came back energized, and rejuvenated. Today we have vibrant classrooms where the students feel at home. Yes, RCA does some things that a public school can not do. But I dare anyone to say they are not a better teacher or administrator by watching and learning from them. For those in the Atlanta area, be glad you have such a great educator nearby for you to learn from. If you can not go and see the school, go out and buy Ron’s book “The End of Molasses Classes”.
irisheyes
September 7th, 2011
3:51 pm
@Aieda, teaching from “pure inspiration” is great, until you are required to turn in lesson plans to an administrator complete with the standards covered, the Quality Plus strategies used, and how the lesson will be differentiated for all learners. While I don’t have to do that now, I did have to at my previous school. Here, I’ve had an administrator question me after an observation why the lesson I was teaching didn’t match what I had written in my lesson plans. (I had decided to do something a little different with my class.) I was also dinged on an observation one time because I didn’t include homework after a lesson (it was a two part lesson, and my principal was only observing the first day). So, you see, while there are lots of times where teachers love to teach “from inspiration”, many of us are handcuffed by administration.
And, I still don’t understand why so many people are upset by HS Teacher complaining about a lack of lab equipment. Aren’t the sciences one of the areas that reformers say need more of an emphasis? I can’t imagine being in chemistry and not doing hands-on labs. That’s where I learned the most, not through the lectures given by my excellent teacher. He was great at explaining, but in science, don’t you have to actually DO something?
Scott
September 7th, 2011
5:01 pm
To all those giving HS Public Teacher a hard time… sure there’s bad attitude there, but it sounds legitimate. There is an obvious lack of support, and the school is not treating this teacher as a professional and equipping him/her for success. You are also failing to support a frustrated, hard-working teacher, and you don’t appear to deserve a good teacher for your kids. Shame on you for judging someone for legitimate complaints and a clear desire to provide a better quality education for kids in a less than ideal environment.
“Leave the profession” – such words of encouragement! Are you agreeing to take the job? Would you even last a month in a public school? Or will you continue to take potshots in ignorance? No teacher book… would you expect a plumber to work without the best tools, or a doctor to check your temperature and blood pressure without appropriate equipment? Please! No wonder no one wants to teach for parents like you! I expect Ron Clark would support her side of the argument, not yours…
Yes, I know every teacher faces limitations and deals with them to the best of their ability. But don’t expect a rosy response from them when you trumpet the utopian environment of Ron Clark’s school and they haven’t been provided with necessary (or at least highly useful) materials. Such a fervent response indicates a teacher who actually cares how much students learn.
Jordan Kohanim
September 7th, 2011
6:49 pm
“The teachers pay is comparable if not less to those teaching in county school districts PLUS they MUST help lead after-school activities that lasts to 6p.m.–which means their workday starts before 7 a.m. and lasts till 7 p.m. ”
I wish I could say I’m dedicated enough to helping my students that I would work from 7AM until 6PM every day for less pay. I’m not though. I took a second job.
Does that mean I care less about my students?
I don’t think so. How do RCA teachers do it?
Susan Graham
September 7th, 2011
7:36 pm
I teach at a public high school with 3000 students and I can (and do) still implement many of the suggestions and ideas from Ron Clark’s books in my own way. He knows that the school is an extreme of what’s possible in education, but that’s not the point. You can take the spirit of it and have that extreme inspire you to do even little bits and pieces. I’ve seen a huge response from my students when they see you care enough to try be creative with your lessons, make an organized learning environment and find ways to encourage them to reach for higher goals. Go RCA!
irisheyes
September 7th, 2011
9:30 pm
“The teachers pay is comparable if not less to those teaching in county school districts PLUS they MUST help lead after-school activities that lasts to 6p.m.–which means their workday starts before 7 a.m. and lasts till 7 p.m.”
Guess I’m not dedicated enough, either. I have four young children at home, and there’s no way I’d take a job where I would be away from them for over 12 hours a day (including commute time). God bless the teachers who are. I’m curious how many of them are married with families.
Former APS student
September 7th, 2011
10:23 pm
@ Wow
I totally agree with your post. I commend the things that Ron Clark is doing for the students at his school. But I also think that there was a bit of false advertising involved. This school was supposedly opened in the southwest atlanta community to help up lift the community. But for this to be a Middle school that sits in area that serves 2 middles schools several elementary schools and several high schools how is impacting the students in that neighbor hood. I bet out of 105 students that attend the Acadmey Nearly none comes from that area of town. Those are the kids who could truly benefit from a school like Ron clark academy not the ones who’s parent is driving lexus and BMW and wearing rolex watches. Why was this school placed in that area again? So that the children in that area can only wish they could attend. Ron Clark academy is not a benefit to that area if they are not reaching back to the children in that neighborhood.
Time4change
September 8th, 2011
5:26 am
So the kids aren’t overtested and
they still learned? The teachers
were allowed to be creative and use
their own discretion instead of collaborating
to a mediocre lesson (not allowed in Cobb)?
Were their standards posted on the board?
We could all take a lesson from an innovative
approach, I don’t believe as an educator it is money
but rather some good instruction and common sense-
something we are losing every day!
chuck
September 8th, 2011
8:10 am
It isn’t MONEY?!?!? Really? The tuition is $18,000 per child per year. DOUBLE what we spend on PUBLIC Education. DOUBLE!!! You can have TONS of positive energy, creativity, and “passion”, if you never have to get furloughed, you have money to do whatever little creative thing you want to do, AND you aren’t forced to follow every edict that comes from a useless central office drone trying to justify his existence.
Anonmom
September 8th, 2011
8:54 am
Ah… in DCSS, some schools spend upwards of $20k-$40-k per child (e.g. Kittredge/DSA/ and the joint high school/associates program), others spend $10k a year per child and the rest are probably closer to $5k per child. If more effort were to be put into allowing a philosophy of “hire good teachers and trust the teachers” and then test the child at the end of the year (because, gee, a good teacher should be able to get a child to learn basics by the end of the year with creative approaches) — we could do away with a lot of this madness — and with the money we are currently spending on public education — it goes into Maureen’s original post. (I realize, of course, that there is still those “small” pieces of discipline and parental involvement which private schools are able to eliminate – which, in my mind, vouchers may coerce — but there may be other ways to “skin that cat” — at least start by enforcing rules and giving out zeros (legitimately)–(keep in mind at some point when an actual crime is committed — the police and the judge don’t generally give “redos”)).
Parents, Be partners, not prosecutors. Create standards for your child, not excuses. | Get Schooled
September 8th, 2011
10:05 am
[...] After I wrote Tuesday about attending the first day of school at the Ron Clark Academy , two dozen readers sent me links to Ron Clark’s new essay on CNN.com on what teachers really want to tell parents. So, I am linking to the piece for those of you who haven’t read it. [...]
CatsRule
September 8th, 2011
11:33 am
Wow. I just read all the comments, all 187 of them. I noticed 3 things:
1- Ron Clark has unconventional methods that have produced positive results in his students (current private school students AND his former inner city Harlem students). Good for you Mr. Clark! You followed your passion and are changing children’s lives.
2- There will always be disagreement on topics, but many Americans have lost the art of expressing disagreement without being disagreeable or vilifying the person holding a contrary opinion.
3- You get to choose YOUR contribution to this life, not the contribution of someone else. It has always bothered me when I hear people deride others for their efforts, especially philanthropists like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates because they did not give to a certain cause, or the amount given was not enough. Be positive and do the best YOU can do with YOUR talents, and rest assured you will make a positive impact.
Ole Guy
September 8th, 2011
12:13 pm
Let’s keep one indisputable issue in focus…all this Ron Clark business is fine in a Never-Never Land setting, but…IT’S NOT LIFE. Sure, the kid’s gonna smile, be happy…might even eat all his greens without kickin up much of a fuss. Presuming the whole purpose of educating the kid for life…for assuming a responsible role within the mysteries of life, this is NOT the way to go about it. Kids are supposed to do what the hell they’re told…and do it to the best of their abilities. It’s called… preparing the kid for the life, and for the pressures of life. If you insist on playing games with these kids, thats exactly what they are going to expect…GAMES. Life, in case you haven’t heard, is NOT a game. Once you have mastered life’s skills and demands, you, as a mature adult, have the option of approaching life as a game…and that’s well and good.
I think I’VE gained a bit of that mastery…NOT through a “fun-and-games” approach to my basic schooling, but through the discipline I have acquired through my early years of tending to STANDARDS and DETAILS, NOT because I wanted to, but because it was required of me; failure to achieve minimum standards (and I had plenty of experience in that) was met with…let me think…what’s that word…oh yea…CONSEQUENCE.
If you, as educators, cannot build/refuse to build fires of urgency under your kids’ sixes, you are only cheating them out of fulfilling lives…and you’re fooling yourselves in the process.
To Old Guy from Good Mother
September 8th, 2011
3:05 pm
You and I agree and sometimes disagree. Here’s another where we part — putting fun in education.
As an adult I used to train adults about the most boring subject on planet earth — how to understand and sell liability insurance. Are you asleep yet?
The adult managers didn’t even want to attend the training session because of the subject matter. It was a TWO day class.
I made it fun. They were excited. They understood what liability was and they learned how to sell it — from me. Our company profited and everybody was happy.
It wasn’t costly either. I made my own props.
Learning IS fun. We have to TRY to make to boring.
So even when I taught adults…I added the fun…and we made a profit. This was REAL LIFE and it was fun.
To Former APS Student
September 8th, 2011
3:09 pm
Are you saying that only rich kids go to Ron Clark academy?
I don’t think that is accurate. Maureen, can you provide any information about the income of the families?
Good Mother
Maureen Downey
September 8th, 2011
3:41 pm
@To Mother, Ten percent of the Ron Clark student body is able to pay the full $18,000. The other kids all get aid; the average monthly family payment, according to Clark, is $45 a month so those families are paying less than $600 a year.
I will note that Clark could easily open a school in more upscale area and fill it with kids whose families could and would pay the full freight. That would eliminate a lot of the fundraising that the school has to now do. He says that’s not his mission.
Maureen
Once Again
September 8th, 2011
4:59 pm
Maureen, you confirmed everything I have ever said about the free market doing what is needed to address the needs of its customers. Everyone looks at the current cost of private schools and assumes first, that every private school would have to charge that amount, and that everyone would have to pay that amount. It is clear from the statistics that not everyone has to pay that amount first of all, and if there was actually a truly free market that allowed for creativity and innovation and forced the inclusion of the 80+% that currently support the government system, the prices would fall like bricks. No, these creative alternatives would probably not look like today’s government schools, but I would guess that the lack of metal detectors, police, drug sniffing dogs, high fences, etc. might come as a welcome change to most parents.
Thank you Maureen from Good Mother
September 8th, 2011
5:39 pm
Thank you, Maureen. I guessed that was the case, which contradicts former APS student’s claims –that only rick kids went to Ron Clark’s academy.
To Chuck from Good Mother
September 8th, 2011
5:42 pm
I think you should re-read Maureen’s comments. Only 10% of the students pay the full tution and most pay $45 a week.That’s less than public schools.
Struggling Teacher but Proud
September 8th, 2011
7:15 pm
I go into every school year into every class with passion about my teaching area. I wish I could have the same “playing field” Clark has in my public school, but, no, I have to sit in meeting after meeting and fill out paper after paper and listen to data after data about all of the things that somebody someplace else says is right and wrong about the education process in my school. The college degrees of my peers and I don’t seem to account for anything anymore. We are becoming mere puppets of forces we never see, even though we know we are not doing what is right and what is good for the students sitting in front of us who are real and not merely numbers on a page somewhere else in the United States. Pity.
Anonmom
September 8th, 2011
7:57 pm
Actually, I think that there is much more “financial aid” available to students who are in the “really need it” category than people assume is available. Most of the really good private schools in the city have “diversity” programs and most of them are really looking for “strong” minority students and they have the financial wherewithal to cover a good chunk of tuition for folks who qualify (I find that those in the “middle” — as with most of life — get “squeezed” — the lower class is almost covered completely and the “upper” class doesn’t really feel the pain). If you are interested in any of the privates, and have a child who may be accepted, you really should not rule it out based on “base sticker price” without at least further investigating what’s there.
Former APS student
September 8th, 2011
8:47 pm
I want to know how is the school impacting the children in the surrounding community. There was a reason why Ron Clark put the school in the neighbor hood. What percentage of the children that live in the surrounding neighborhood is benefitting from the Ron Clark Experience.
Remember many of the public schools that are just short distances from the Ron Clark academy was embroiled in the cheating scandal. Im almost for certain there arent many if any.
Daphie
September 8th, 2011
10:17 pm
I have had the pleasure of visiting the school and then having the pleasure of hearing Ron speak to our whole district. Yes, the money is important. I also know he went for private school instead of charter school because it allowed him more freedoms. He did not have operate by all the regs. However, the biggest think is skill, concern, heart and skill. The school was started because a couple of really passionate people (Ron Clark and his friend and co worker) with big hearts and lots of skill went out on the limb for kids.
Ole Guy
September 9th, 2011
4:13 pm
Good Mom, maybe I’m being an ole stickinthemud, but there’s (presumably) a big difference between kids and (presumably) mature adults. DISCIPLINE is not something which magically descends upon the kid by way of good thoughts, prayers and healthy sprinkling of the foo foo dust borne of the self esteem movement. Just like exercising the muscles of the body, the “muscles of discipline” can be developed ONLY through purposeful and objective-oriented exertion. While adults are presumed to possess the discipline to percevere, if necessary, toward end-goals, kids do not possess such discipline; they will NEVER develop such goal-orientation unless they are exposed, early on, to the “MUST DOs” in life’s demands. As kids, we did not study such (relatively) boring issues, in the total absence of “fun stuff”, because we were disciplined to do so…we were far too young to even know the meaning of “goal orientation” and the discipline to push on through the poo poo stuff which life has a (sometimes) nasty habit of tossing in our direction…we attacked the issues in the classroom…the studies of mathematics, the sciences, etc…because that was what we knew was expected of us, because we knew that failure to achieve MINIMUM STANDARDS would surely be met with more trouble than if we simply dig down and, by hook or crock, made the grade…if only to get the “ole man” off our backs and the social stigma of not making grade as our peers had managed to do.
Is it wrong to make learning fun? NO WAY! However, the fun aspects seem to have taken on more of a “must do” flavor rather than a “could do” or “it might be nice to” aspect of teaching, instructing and motivating. My observations, during my short tenure in the classroom, were that kids EXPECT lessons to be fun; in the absence of fun, therefore, they reject any-and-all attempts in teaching. EXPECTING EVERYTHING TO HAVE A “FUN” COMPONENT IS SIMPLY NOT LIFE. When we go to the circus, a movie, a party, etc, we expect FUN. When we, as adults, are obliged to face the issues of life, we are “conditioned”, if you will, to NOT expect any fun…if the fun component should appear, as disciplined responsible adults, we can accept the fun components as part of the “meat an’ potatos’ of the issues at hand. As adults, WE CAN AFFORD THIS LATTITUDE, for we, as adults, are presumed to be able to distinguish between the fun stuff and the important topics. We, as adults, have (presumably) already captured the mental discipline to do so. Kids, on the other hand, should NOT be presumed to possess this ability. IF, through demonstrated ability, they prove receptable to receiving instruction via “fun stuff”, then by all means…FUN AWAY!
I realize, Mom, that…as you recently pointed out…we agree on the essence of many issues. However (and I do not know what you might claim as “your generation”), our approaches to these issues may diverge to some degree. All Iknow is that, through my observations in the classroom, and, as a leader in the military, I can vividly see the distinctions/the approaches to which young people seem to gravitate in dealing with life’s challenges. My gen was just as screwed up/just as confused, and, yes, just as freightened, in meeting the mean ole world head on. However (and at the same time, fully aware that we may tend to view these things through the “goggles of time-altered reality”), I can only pose this one question: CAN WE AFFORD TO ALLOW KIDS TO LEARN ABOUT LIFE’S CHALLENGES THROUGH “ON-THE-JOB TRAINING/THROUGH TRIAL AND ERROR?
Let’s put the fun stuff on the back burner and concentrate on the meat n’ potatos. There will always be time for fun at a later point…if they don’t get the “meat n’ potatos” first, there won’t be another chance in a few short years.