Retired teacher: Make admins teach. Reduce testing. Eliminate gifted. Restore recess.
Retired Atlanta Public Schools teacher Scott Stephens — he taught English for 15 years at Grady High School and taught for a decade in Fulton County — sent me a list of reforms. I thought it was a great list and have his permission to share it here:
Courtesy of Scott Stephens:
1. All certified personnel at a school, including academy leaders, graduation coaches, instructional coaches, assistant principals and principals, should teach at least one class during the school year. This would be of benefit in two ways. First, it would help reduce class size and, most important, it would provide administrators with continued input from the classroom. I believe that when a number of people are at school, but not teaching, morale is adversely affected.
2. All students (K-12) need daily physical activity, both recess and structured physical education. Many students need to get rid of excess energy. Others need to lose weight and get in shape. Further, many discipline problems result from making children sit all day in a classroom. Physical education should be a part of all students’ (k-12) daily schedule. It should be demanding and rigorous, resulting in an elevated heart rate and some sweating. Only athletes get that kind of physical education now.
3. Students need models for behavior. To that end, teachers need to be present, on time and prepared for each class. There are far too many teacher absences on Fridays and Mondays. Stricter guidelines for absences around a holiday or weekend should be implemented.
4. There is too much standardized testing, particularly at the elementary level. At the high school level, I applaud the elimination (finally) of the graduation test as it is replaced by End-Of-Course-Tests (EOCT). However, the EOCT should reflect the curriculum taught in the classroom. The present 9th grade English EOCT, for example, does not test students on any of the readings from the textbook that we have done. It is a generic reading comprehension test that is so easy that many of my students fail to take it seriously. Another issue is the system’s emphasis on PSAT, SAT and AP tests. In many instances, these tests are given during class time. Even more troubling is that many school systems pay the Educational Testing Service for these tests. The Educational Testing Service has been criticized for profit making and high administrative costs. These tests should be paid for by students’ families with a few exceptions made for pupils on free or reduced lunch. Let’s stop subsidizing an out-of- state company.
5. Transportation to and from school could be reformed in several ways. First, school buses should be eliminated for high school students. Instead, all students in Fulton and DeKalb counties eligible for transportation should be given a monthly MARTA pass. This is similar to the system in New York City where students take the subway or bus to school. The present system duplicates already existing MARTA routes. Even worse, many days the buses arrive late to school because they have been used earlier for elementary and middle school routes. Having ridden both school buses and MARTA buses with students, I know that most of the discipline problems on the school bus would be eliminated if the students rode with the general populace on MARTA. Teachers and staff who choose to ride MARTA to school should be given incentives for doing so, eliminating the growing parking problem for school staff. Finally, students who choose to drive to school should be required to pay for a parking pass and park in assigned spots. This would help with the problem of unwelcome visitors to the school and would generate some much needed revenue. Atlanta taxpayers should not be providing free parking to students, especially where there are public transportation alternatives.
6. Struggling students and low achieving schools need the best teachers. In order to provide the best teachers for those students who need extra help, teachers who work in low-performing schools should receive incentive pay and be given reduced class sizes. Also, teachers who teach below-grade-level students should be paid extra for the tutorials they often provide.
7. We are suffering from grade inflation. There are several reasons for this. One is that a passing grade has been raised from 60 to 70. A passing grade should be dropped to a 50 or 60, giving teachers more latitude in creating challenging tests and giving teachers a greater range of numbers for use in evaluating students. Many students are receiving a 70, not having mastered 70 percent of the work. Second, the HOPE Scholarship program has resulted in many more “B” averages. Some students that qualify for HOPE based on their GPA have not been able to pass a graduation test or get a decent score on the SAT. Many more lose their HOPE after their first year in college.
8. Eliminate the challenge and gifted programs. Too many parents are having their children privately tested, resulting in a huge increase in the “gifted.” Even worse, gifted classes are kept at 20 or fewer students. Without an increase in the number of teachers, that means that the students who really need the smaller class size are actually being placed in larger classes. Meanwhile, the gifted students, who can be effectively taught in larger classes, are now in classes that should be reserved for those needing academic help.
9. We need to provide better alternatives for the non-college bound students and provide more practical learning experiences for all students. Classes in keyboarding, wood and metal shop, auto shop, carpentry, cooking, fashion design, sewing, first aid, gardening and personal finance among many others should be expanded or introduced.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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209 comments Add your comment
Pluto
August 29th, 2012
10:27 am
From many of the comments above, it is apparent that there are just too many sacred cows out there so by paralysis of analysis let’s do nothing and maintain the status quo. If we don’t start moving outside the box and thinking of what could benefit most of the kids, we will continue this sham of an education system.
Lexi
August 29th, 2012
10:30 am
Talk about pennywise and pound foolish. If schools eliminate programs for gifted students, they dumb down curricula for high achievers and likely bore the most promising students who have the potential to accomplish the most.
Another idea: when our children were in public school we were told that the cost of educating them in their talented and gifted programs was twice that of educating “average” students and equal to the average cost of educating children of illegal aliens. Why not eliminate esol programs for illegals, thus reducing the cost of educating those children and reducing the incentives for them to migrate [illegally] to our state in the first place. Our children’s elementary school had far more illegals than “gifted” children.
Logic please...
August 29th, 2012
10:33 am
Most of the problems associated with grade inflation would vanish if the HOPE scholarship was tied to SAT or ACT scores rather than GPA.
Too many students qualify for HOPE yet the same students have SAT scores of less than 900.
Carl
August 29th, 2012
10:41 am
The best thing to improve schools would be to eliminate high school sports. Let the county or municipal recreation departments run sports programs. Think of the pressure that would be removed from teachers to let little Johnny play in this week’s football/basketball/baseball/soccer game. School should be about learning … not sports. Too much money is spent on sports and not enough on academics.
Big Mama
August 29th, 2012
10:42 am
@the prof
I cannot speak for the requirements and tests administered today, but back in my day (late 70s and early 80s) the children flagged for the gifted program took an IQ test (which one I do not remember) in 4th grade. There were 2 ways in: an IQ in the top 2% of the population or an IQ in the top 4% of the population plus the grades to support inclusion. I do recall 2 students whose grades dropped significantly during middle school and they were excluded from the program.
jarvis
August 29th, 2012
10:45 am
Good luck with that Carl.
Aquagirl
August 29th, 2012
10:48 am
Aquagirl…I’m not trying to be disrespectful here, but according to Ms. Downey’s intro, Scott taught for 15 years and “a decade in Fulton County.”
Not only did I read that wrong, I was corrected by somebody with “dawg” in their handle. *hangs head in shame*
Returning DCSS Parent
August 29th, 2012
10:53 am
#8 Definately not!! Too many gifted children on the high school level face few choices in Dekalb County. I sent my son to private and charter schools until he became a freshman in HS this year. He was chosen in a lottery to attend Arabia Mountain HS. I still paid my taxes and had to pay tuition because he is gifted and the local elementary and middle schools did not make the grade in my opinion. Don’t penalize the brightest students but make it better for the average student that does want to learn and wants to become a productive citizen.
Maureen Downey
August 29th, 2012
10:53 am
@jarvis, A friend of mine is an executive with a chain of women’s stores. She does work on the floor every now and then — probably three times a year — to see how the store is run, how quickly people are helped, how efficient the checkout system is. She has been doing that for years.
Maureen
keeping it real
August 29th, 2012
11:03 am
IMO Miltonman has the right of it. I don’t particularly like the language he used, but he is right on target. Most of these suggestions just simply will not work.
Ann
August 29th, 2012
11:04 am
I was a substitute teacher and school volunteer from 1999 to 2009. I spent many years in all levels and types of classes. I spent time with all levels of students, even the behavior disorder classes and the severe and profound disabled classes. My children were fortunate to be placed in the “gifted” programs. I explained to them they were not any better than anyone else except they learned more easily in the school environment. Recess and Physical Education is very important in elementary school, recess is needed in middle school and Physical Education should be available EVERY semester in middle and high school. However’ requiring P.E. in middle and high school should not be required at that stage of life. You are not going to change anyone’s habits and you are going to “hurt” a lot of self conscience young people. You cannot take all the core subjects, foreign language, and cultural classes that are required if you require P.E. all the time. It SHOULD be available, but the one semester requirement is nothing but a job for the coaches.
Gifted education should only be made available when there are enough teachers to have smaller class sizes. I don’t know what that magic number might be, but I do know in k-12 it is critical to have enough time to help individual students. Here is the rub. The only way this would work is to go back to putting students who learn quickly together and students who learn more slowly together. Require the standards be learned by EVERYONE and once those are mastered move to the next level. This would NOT be politically correct, because parents, like myself, would move heaven and earth to see that our children learned whatever was necessary to be in the most difficult class they could handle. An interesting aside, the school my children attended did this in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. A lot of the students who didn’t want to work hard, would calculate what they had to make on pretests to be assigned to a classroom that would put them in a class with not quite as much work as they could have handled.
You can fix everything else, but until you find a way to “fix” the behavior problems, you cannot get the best results from students; nor can you keep GOOD teachers in the classes where they must spend a lot of time keeping order when what they WANT to do is teach.
Hall Mom
August 29th, 2012
11:07 am
I would add #10. Level the classes. Put kids in classes with other kids that learn at the same pace. Our county does not consistently do this, but this is the single biggest factor that helped my ‘gifted’ student (not the joke of a gifted program). The faster learners can handle larger class sizes because there are fewer discipline problems in those classrooms.
jarvis
August 29th, 2012
11:08 am
“probably three times a year”
That’s great. I’m all for that. Stephens says he wants them to teach a class, and given that he says it would reduce class sizes, I assumed he meant teach it from soup to nuts….as in from semester beginning to semester end.
Overseeing your operations with a working visit is one thing. Ask your friend if she has the time to work in the store everyday.
jarvis
August 29th, 2012
11:08 am
every day
Elder Ray
August 29th, 2012
11:11 am
Thanks for a very insightful article. My wife and I taught for almost 75 yrs combined, mostly here in TN. In all my years I have not seem or experienced the turmoil that exists in public education as I see today. From one retired teacher to another: Thanks for your insight. My prayer is that those who can will at least attempt to make a difference as these children, our children, will be the leaders of tomorrow. It’s sad to think that they would lead future generations of our children armed only with the convolution of education being dumbed upon them in the name of test score enhancements. If Mr. Stephens wants to be state School Superintendent, or better yet, Governor, I just might move back to my beloved Georgia so I could vote for these types of reforms postulated by him. I hate to even imagine where we will be if we continue along the tortuous trek we are tumbling along now. Be blessed.
Dr. K EdD
August 29th, 2012
11:15 am
How about stricter parenting laws. If your kid misses a day of school, YOU GET FINED $50! And a bill just gets sent. That money is used to pay for gifted education. Also, test the parents on the same information the kids have in the EOCT. If the overall grade of the parents does not meet a pre-designated score, then the parents in that school district have to pay a tuition supplemet of $500 a year. It’s THEIR kids that are costing us money and keeping the children of smart parents back. Education starts at home!
stooge
August 29th, 2012
11:15 am
@ William Casey: Spot on. Most of our adm came from coaching backgrounds and taught health or maybe science 15-20 years ago.
Gifted Chem Teacher
August 29th, 2012
11:22 am
Gifted classes are small? Then explain why my 2 gifted honors chemistry classes are at 36 and 40 students!
Students at all levels need to be challenged and given teachers who are up to that challenge along with the resources they need to do their job well.
William Casey
August 29th, 2012
11:24 am
@JARVIS: I made it into administration and don’t think it’s silly at all for “leadership” to get back in the trenches now and then. It happened in both private schools where I taught. Generated a lot of RESPECT.
Bill & Ed's Excellent Adventure
August 29th, 2012
11:24 am
#8 fail…There’s no logic in eliminating gifted.
It would be fun to see #5 implemented and hear about all the mommies/daddies upset their high schooler has to ride with the riff raff on MARTA. That will never happen.
Hall Mom
August 29th, 2012
11:34 am
Question to all objectors to #8: Does your school system level? Do your kids take classes with other advanced students, or are all abilities mixed? Would it change your mind if your kids were accelerated instead of pulled out into a gifted program?
jarvis
August 29th, 2012
11:36 am
@William, what wasn’t being done in your normal duties during the time you were in the classroom? Or did you have spare time when you weren’t teaching?
Just A Teacher
August 29th, 2012
11:36 am
I agree with having administrators teach classes. I couldn’t care less about transporting kids to school. I agree that there is way too much standardized testing. I also agree that grades are inflated; under the scale our system has in place A = Outstanding, B = Above Average, C = Average, F = Failing. If I give an average student a C, however, the parents get very annoyed. Let’s face it, people: no one is above average in everything, but try telling that to the possible valedictorian’s parents when he / she gets a C in a class.
Stephanie
August 29th, 2012
11:38 am
I’m not sure about the state where Mr. Stephens teaches, but in my state getting rid of the gifted program would be illegal. Gifted children are protected just like any other special education child. I agree with many of the previous posters that if you get rid of gifted education, many of the parents would pull those children out of public schools. Already I’ve noticed a small exodus of bright children towards online charter schools. Every time a child enrolls in one of these schools, funds are pulled from the local school district. .
Gifted children definitely learn differently. People don’t really think about how a child with an iq of 130 is as different from the normal child as a child with an iq of 70. We all understand that a child with an iq of 70 needs intervention, but the average person doesn’t really think about what the gifted student needs. That’s why we have gifted education. To make sure that someone is paying attention to these students, that they don’t get lost in the system, and that they do good things with their abilities.
Historically, public schools have always taught to the middle. With a class of 25 students, a teacher really had no choice but to teach to the average student. This was hard enough on the gifted child. Now with all of the standardized tests, an alarming new trend is that teachers are now starting to teach to the below average student so that no child is left behind. Gifted pull-out programs are needed now more than ever.
Another alarming trend is that schools have abandoned traditional basic education in favor of the latest new strategy or trick. It’s funny how many of today’s teachers think that their strategies, tricks, and teaching methods are so much better than the methods used by teachers 40 or 50 years ago. I pushed for my child, who is gifted in math, to be tested for the gifted program in second grade because of the nonsense they call touch point math. My child could add and subtract double digit numbers in her head at the age of 4 ½. Despite this, I was told that my seven year old had to learn to add simple numbers like 2 + 3 by counting dots on a number. When I told them that this was demeaning to her, they told me that she had to learn it just like all the other children. I ask any adult, how many of you would like to be forced to count silly dots on a numeral to balance your checkbook? Most would go insane – and so do gifted students.
Another new “strategy” they tried to force on my other daughter is using reading strategies instead of sounding out words. My daughter was in first grade and could read at a second grade level, but her teacher insisted that she wasn’t a very good reader because she wasn’t using “strategies”. Imagine that – she was reading above grade level, but because she wasn’t using this teacher’s tricks, she wasn’t a good reader. This teacher had a script that she insisted parents follow that included the phrases “good readers make connections” and “good readers look at pictures”. She wanted us to stop our child’s normal flow of reading just to say these phrases. Parents were told that children were not allowed to sound out words. Imagine that – children are not allowed to sound out words! They had to use the trick of using substitute words or leaving a blank in a sentence. God forbid they try to sound it out!
Gifted education is a tiny ray of sunlight in a dismal public education system.
hildymac
August 29th, 2012
11:43 am
Get rid of gifted? Seriously? The higher achievers (both gifted and non) get shafted by the system due to the one size fits all approach to begin with, but sure, let’s make education less meaningful for the kids who have IQs in the top 4% of the population. Why would we ever want to give them special consideration? /sarcasm
In truth, gifted students are as far away from the mean IQ range as people who suffer from disabilities. We’d never cut those programs, so why cut the programs for those on the other end of the spectrum? As much as special needs kids absolutely need their classes and dedicated teachers, so do the gifted ones.
The reason why there is such a flood of gifted students now isn’t so much outside testing but changes to what counts as “gifted.” When I was in high school, I remember my gifted teacher saying that they changed the qualifications to “gifted and talented,” meaning that creativity counted as much as IQ. While being talented is a wonderful thing to be appreciated, it does not equal giftedness — the students who were placed in this program because of talent usually wound up failing out.
My gifted and AP classes in HS were the only ones where I was even remotely challenged. I don’t want the kind of boredom I suffered through forced on gifted kids nowadays.
Inman Park Boy
August 29th, 2012
11:48 am
I agree with everything except No. 8. However, in order to serve the truly gifted, I would not allow “outside” testing. Anyone can get a hired gun.
Tired
August 29th, 2012
12:01 pm
I truly don’t mean to sound snarky, and this may have been covered previously, but what are the criteria for “gifted”? It used to be 3 – 5 students in an elementary school class of 25. But right now I swear everyone I know or read on here has all their children in the gifted program.
Dr. Monica Henson
August 29th, 2012
12:04 pm
This is a thought-provoking and interesting list. I happen to agree with all of the points. I had 11 years of classroom experience and became a National Board Certified Teacher before I went into school administration. I resumed teaching when I became a principal, one period per day in high school (in the fall I taught at-risk Freshman English, in the spring I taught AP Literature & Composition). I don’t teach now, as I am in a superintendent role. I do take responsibility coordinating for the staff development program in my statewide charter school LEA, including delivery of some of the instructional training. I’m teaching a mini-course this Tuesday for my high school teachers called “Managing the Grading Load so You Don’t Drown in a Sea of Papers.”
Eyes Rolling
August 29th, 2012
12:17 pm
I see Maureen’s penchant for censoring people who note that Education is the least intellectually-demanding major in any given college is still alive and well. No wonder educrats like her pen pal are so opposed to gifted classes… they can’t handle being shown up as dumber than their students.
Mike
August 29th, 2012
12:19 pm
Eliminate the kind of education that should be taught at home. Manners, discipline, etc. All that character education isn’t necessary for the majority of students who were raised to respect their teachers and parents.
The ones who aren’t behaved properly should be sent to some kind of school that teaches these skills before they are allowed back in the building.
And school uniforms never hurt anyone. They should be standard in every public school.
jarvis
August 29th, 2012
12:28 pm
@Eyes Rolling, it is true that on average Educaion Majors have the highest GPA’s. Is that because they are the best students or because they have the easiest curriculum?
I’m sure the opinions on that are widely varying split evenly between teachers and all other people.
Dr. John Trotter
August 29th, 2012
12:31 pm
Good thoughts, Mr. Stephens. At MACE, we have been talking about most of these things (grade inflation, eliminating much of the standardized testing, restoring recess, bringing back vocational/alternative schooling for those not interested in college, etc.) for years. I am not, however, for administrators/supervisors just teaching one class per day. This is not realistic for what a classroom educator must endure daily. I am for this administrator/supervisor being anonymously (as much as possible) sent to another part of the system as a teacher for an entire year. This is more akin to what a regular teacher goes through, although this “new” teacher still has the confidence and hope that after one year, he or she will be back in administration/supervision. But, perhaps this experience will lend the person to being more empathetic and sympathetic to what a classroom education goes through each day.
http://www.theteachersadvocate.com
http://www.georgiateachersspeakout.com
Eyes Rolling
August 29th, 2012
12:33 pm
@jarvis Education majors have the lowest test scores (ACT/SAT) of all incoming students at most colleges. To paraphrase P.J. O’Rourke, if you want to know what’s wrong with the schools, all you have to do is date an el-ed major…
Another Retired Educator
August 29th, 2012
12:43 pm
There is some merit in most of these suggestions. Most also have practicality issues.
There is no one set of solutions that will work for all schools anymore than there is one set of methods and curricula that will be right for every student.
In a diverse nation as America is, we need many kinds of schools and parents willing to help their child learn by finding the right school for their child.
More choice is a good thing, but not more state controlled approaches like the Georgia legislature is trying to push on us with their “Charter School Amendment”. That is another way to remove local control and give it to the GA DOE and state legislature while raising local taxes.
Dekalbite
August 29th, 2012
12:47 pm
State laws governing the placement of and subsequent funding for a student in gifted does not allow for private testing. When Gifted identification changed in the mid 90s (mental ability tests were no longer a required criteria), the use of private testing to place a child in gifted was taken away. If a students sitting in a Gifted class due to a private test, the state will not fund that student. That’s a Georgia regulation, and Gifted funding comes from the state (60% over per regular pupil funding).
Great suggestions – especially the admins teaching.
Jordan Kohanim
August 29th, 2012
12:52 pm
It still amazes me, even after all these years, that we go from discussing possible solutions to issues in education and examining thought-provoking discourse to bashing teachers.
I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I my goodness. Is it just too hard for some of these posters to take anything said by a teacher seriously? I wonder if the same vitriol would be spewed if this man were a CEO of an insurance company offering education reform suggestions.
Wow. It is both sickening and sad that even someone who is no longer a teacher, can’t be taken seriously.
Katie
August 29th, 2012
12:53 pm
I agree with every point in the article. And while I see what Mike is saying in hie previous comment about keeping the gifted programs and challenging students in the classroom I do have to wonder how many of these so called “gifted kids” are actually gifted and how many are from relatively affluent families who pay for private testing and then the tax payers pay extra for their education. So perhaps their should be higher standards to be labeled as “gifted.” Personally, I think that the school problem in this country comes down to the fact that parental involvement has decreased in the past few decades. With more single parent families and more families with both parents working outside the home there is a lot less involvement inside the school, but also less time available to spend working together on homework or on enrichment activities. I think it’s way to much to ask the schools to be 100% responsible for the education of each kid, something has to happen in the home too.
Warrior Woman
August 29th, 2012
12:55 pm
If Stephens thinks eliminating gifted education is a good thing, he is an idiot. Doing so, IMO, would result in brain drain to private and charter schools, purposefully encouraging mediocrity, and violating gifted students rights under the state constitution to a free and appropriate education.
hssped
August 29th, 2012
1:03 pm
40-55 moderately retarded
55-70 mildly retarded
70-85 below average
85-115 average
115-130 above average
130-145 bright
145-160 gifted
160-+ genius
This is what I learned in college. What happened? When were the standards lowered? I’m not against gifted by any means. I am totally for giving the gifted kids the extra attention. If we spent half as much money/time on the gifted as we do the poor performers the advancements we could make would be endless. We might become number one in science again.
When I was growing up (60s-70s) the gifted kids were very different, especially in the social realm. One played chess, through the mail, with a kid in Russia. He got a full ride to Baylor. The gifted kids from “back in the day” were probably autistic. So…while I’m not against gifted classes for gifted kids, I am against calling anyone between 115 and 145 gifted. Or have the requirements changed?
nsnstv
August 29th, 2012
1:07 pm
I love the way ‘Milton Man’ assumed that only thugs use public transportation. I live in North Fulton and have children in North Fulton schools. The arrogance of the a lot of the people up here is shameful.
It’s amazing how all of the parents who respond on these blogs have geniuses for kids. They use this blog as a way to pat themselves on the back for having an over rated kid.
Hillbilly D
August 29th, 2012
1:08 pm
I agree with all of them except #5. Not everybody lives in Fulton or DeKalb County. What might work there, in this instance, has no relevance for those of us who don’t. It isn’t really clear whether he was speaking of school reforms in general of just in his sphere. When I think of school reforms, I tend to think more statewide than just one or two systems.
southern dekalb teacher
August 29th, 2012
1:09 pm
gifted in dekalb is a joke; our administration packs the class with “advanced” kids who can’t and/or won’t do anything. gifted kids get ignored, the teacher is frustrated, and the level of education drops even further.
BehindEnemyLines
August 29th, 2012
1:10 pm
Sounds like a good thing this guy retired. The “let’s not waste time on the smart kids” mentality is part of how we got in this mess in the first place. The taxpayers are better off without this schlub wasting their money, doubtless whining about his bosses all the while.
skipper
August 29th, 2012
1:12 pm
I am not sure about losing the gifted program. I do not know how to say this, but there were people in my class that could NEVER come close to keeping up with the top folks…..they could never in a thousand years or with the best instructors keep up with the top tier. They could not be on the radar screen with them. It is like having natural speed in running……some are faster than others. You can work and improve speed with practice, but you will never be able to keep up with the speed-merchant that runs the 4.3 who is naturally fast. All can improve, but there have to be some parameters whereby those not capable of superior work are identified and helped with out keeping others in the “aqua” of SRA reading! (Remember SRA….aqua was the first color….then purple, orange, olive, blue, brown, green, red, and later tan and gold.) It was painfully obvious to even us little second graders that the ones in aqua and purple while most were at least in blue or higher had issues.
claytondawg
August 29th, 2012
1:14 pm
@Aquagirl. Thanks for taking my comment in stride.
Now, I should have read and revised my own comment. Two misspellings–uh oh–inexcusable.
Lee
August 29th, 2012
1:16 pm
@Bill, you’re right. He did specify MARTA passes for HIGH schoolers.
@NotMilton. You’re a day late and a dollar short. @Bill already corrected me – and he did it without being a jerk.
————————————
Mad Russian
August 29th, 2012
1:17 pm
@MiltonMan Be careful about indictments upon a person based upon association. I worked with Scott for ten years and he personifies integrity in the classroom. That may have been the culture at other schools, but definitely not at Grady. I would expect an apology from you but I highly doubt your elitist viewpoint would allow such a concession. I guess the true term to described you instead of using MiltonMan would be “Mighty Whitey” because it’s obvious that you maintain bigoted perceptions of children that live in large cities such as Atlanta. Enjoy your day plebe.
Kasturi Talukder
August 29th, 2012
1:19 pm
Having being a teacher for 18 years I can relate to the many of the good points made in the article. To all respect to the good Adm. I would like to express my opinion what I have actually experienced in one particular school : The Adm. come to class just to evaluate the teacher, the person is disconnected to actual teaching in recent years.The person is preoccupied with bias hearsay . Most of the time I personally felt that, I was not praised for the things I was good at, rather that my fate was already predetermined.
How can we improve Adm. evaluation methods? Let them teach some of the difficult classes.
My 2 cents.
williebkind
August 29th, 2012
1:20 pm
#10 Take government out of the schools.
williebkind
August 29th, 2012
1:22 pm
# 8. Gifted? What is gifted? Students who study and score good on tests. I thought gifted was when someone exceeded social normal not just the class normal.