Archive for the ‘UGA’ Category

Many immigrants in Atlanta pushed to allow children to attend college legally. (AJC photo)

JoBeth Allen is a professor in the University of Georgia Department of Language and Literacy Education. She sent me an essay about the plight of undocumented students and the role that educators ought to play.

Here is Dr. Allen’s essay:

By JoBeth Allen

Gabrielle is a National Honors Society student whose goal is to be a translator at the United Nations. She speaks three languages, passed seven Advanced Placement courses, and leads her section in the youth symphony. Her parents work long hours and depend on her to take care of her younger siblings after school.

While her family came to the U.S. legally on work visas when Gabrielle was a baby, they have not been able to become citizens.

Gabrielle is undocumented.

Like thousands of students throughout Georgia, Gabrielle will be affected by the Barack Obama administration’s announcement that ends  deporting undocumented immigrants ages …

Continue reading UGA professor: Giving voice and hope to undocumented students. (Panel on issue at UGA today.) »

The News York Times has a good story today on the fact that even workers with jobs are struggling because they are underemployed. The story opens with an Atlanta woman at a job fair; she has a job but her hours and her pay has been cut and she can’t make ends meet.

But what is applicable to our discussions are these two points addressed in the news story: College tuition has been rising faster than inflation or salaries and college grads are still faring better in the job market that those without degrees.

According to the story:

Expenses like putting a child through college — where tuition has been rising faster than inflation or wages — can be a daunting task. When Morgan Woodward, 21, began her freshman year at the University of California, Berkeley, three years ago, her parents paid about $9,000 a year in tuition and fees. Now they pay closer to $13,000, and they are bracing for the possibility of another jump next year. With their incomes flat, though, they recently …

Continue reading College: Expensive but worth the cost? »

UGA professor Peter Smagorinsky has penned another provocative essay for us to discuss on whether all the laments about the state of education have an underlying purpose: To further profits and agendas.

By Peter Smagorinsky

I recently read a document about the need to improve high school writing instruction so as to prepare students better for the expectations that await them in college. Like just about every story written about education these days, the paper opened with the rhetoric of crisis. The argument goes like this: High school teachers aren’t doing their jobs well, because 32 percent of all high school graduates, according to some studies, are performing on writing tests at rates that do not meet the standards for quality writing at the college level. We therefore need to intervene to improve this horrid rate of success, so that kids can better compete in this global economy.

From there, the authors took their own direction. To them, what we need is more university …

Continue reading UGA prof: The real educational crisis is manufactured educational crises »

Here is another good piece by UGA professor Peter Smagorinsky. As always, his piece is provocative and worthy of discussion.

By Peter Smagorinsky

This week, Maureen Downey published “Rockdale student: Make students work for grades and limit reliance on technology” in her AJC Get Schooled blog. The essay was written by Jennifer Lee, a 16-year-old sophomore at the Rockdale Career Academy charter school in Conyers.

Jennifer wrote what I consider to be a mature and well-reasoned essay expressing her view that technology was producing lazy minds among her peers, and that along with other “security nets” such as summer school and credit recovery, they should be removed so that students may become more responsible for their actions and their consequences.

As of noon or so on May 25, there have been 53 “comments” posted in response to Jennifer’s essay. I am moved to write today after reading all 53, not so much to react to what they say, but to comment on what they don’t say, and what …

Continue reading Is there a teacher in this room? Why don’t we ever recognize the great teachers behind the great students? »

UPDATED a 11:45 a.m with news that Luella High in Henry also has twins in the top slots.

UPDATED at 2 p.m with news that triplets took the top three slots at Upson-Lee High School.

UPDATED at 3:34 p.m. with news that twins took the top honors at Franklin High School.

Bill Maddox of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education pointed me to these two news story, which he thought were worth noting. I agree. The valedictorians and salutatorians at Grovetown High School in Columbia County and at Clarke Central High in Athens are twins.

In addition, I am awaiting details from Henry County where twin brothers are the valedictorian and salutatorian at Luella High School. Sheldon C. Scoggins  is valedictorian; his brother Brennan M. Scoggins is salutatorian.

I just confirmed a twin valedictorian/salutatorian at Franklin High School. According to principal Wayne Randall, Scout Josey is valedictorian and her sister Kate is salutatorian. They are the twin daughters of Ricky …

Continue reading Triplets and four sets of twins take the very top honors at their Georgia high schools. »

The AJC reported this yesterday, but here is an official announcement from the Board of Regents, chancellor and governor:

Today’s announcement by University of Georgia President Michael Adams that he will step down on June 30, 2013, will mark the conclusion of 16 years leading one of the nation’s top public universities. In response to Adams’ announcement, Governor Nathan Deal, Board of Regents Chairman Benjamin Tarbutton III and University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby each made a statement.

Governor Nathan Deal said, “President Michael Adams has dedicated his most productive years to our University System’s flagship institution, the University of Georgia. He will leave behind a tremendous legacy, and his tenure will have long-lasting positive effects. Under his leadership, the University of Georgia has grown in size and in stature. These changes are manifested in the tremendous physical improvements to the school, particularly the development of East Campus and …

Continue reading It’s official: Michael Adams leaves UGA next year »

Big news today for UGA. The AJC is reporting that University of Georgia President Michael Adams will announce Thursday that he will step down effective next year.

Any suggestions on replacements?

There are some dynamic young college presidents out there. I would love to see Georgia choose someone from outside the usual pool, someone who would shake up the campus and the status quo.

According to the AJC:

Adams, who has led the state’s flagship college for 16 years, will be 65 by the time he retires. During his tenure at UGA, the university has become more selective and is consistently ranked as one of the top 20 public colleges in the country. Meanwhile enrollment has grown by almost 6,000 students to nearly 35,000.

Adams is expected to publicly discuss his pending retirement to the campus, according to a state official and a high-ranking University System of Georgia employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled …

Continue reading Any nominees for the new UGA president? »

Many parents worry about how they’re going to pay for their children’s education even when their kids plan to attend public colleges.

It doesn’t look like the struggle is going to get any easier. Reporting from today’s Georgia Board of Regents meeting, the AJC says Georgia college students would pay between $31 and $218 more per semester in tuition next fall under a proposal just approved. In addition, special fees that were due to sunset will continue.

The Regents issued a preemptive press release already today that the tuition hike represents “the smallest tuition increase in a decade – 2.5 percent.”

According to the statement from the Regents:

The action taken by the Board of Regents on tuition today is possible in part due to Gov. Nathan Deal recommending and the General Assembly agreeing to full funding of the formula for the University System of Georgia. By doing so, the regents were provided with a strong financial base upon which to set current tuition policy in …

Continue reading Unless their summer job is selling a kidney, most students can’t earn enough to pay for college »

Communities that buy lottery tickets at a high rate get the least return from HOPE, according to a new study. (AJC file)

Today’s guest entry is by Taifa S. Butler, deputy director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit providing research and analysis of the state budget and impact of policy decisions.

The institute released a report today on the HOPE Scholarship. The report — “HOPE for Whom: For Some it Doesn’t Pay to Play the Georgia Lottery” — outlines a few of HOPE’s shortcomings and builds a case for the necessity of HOPE reform. Read it here.

By Taifa S. Butler

Georgia’s commitment to graduate 250,000 more college students by 2020 is a worthy goal — and a necessary one if the state wants to remain competitive in an economy that increasingly requires knowledgeable, highly skilled workers.

Ensuring that Georgians can afford to attend universities and technical colleges is a critical component of this effort. Financial hardship is the No. 1 …

Continue reading Less HOPE for those who contribute larger share of their income to the lottery »

Here is a great essay by Georgia classroom teacher Beth Pittard, who is also a grad student at the University of Georgia College of Education:

By Beth Pittard

While many people around the country complete brackets for basketball, teachers everywhere gear up for their own version of March Madness. To prepare for the Criterion Referenced Competency Test to be taken sometime between April 4- May 6, elementary school teachers will actually have to convince students to forget what they have learned about reading.

The high-stakes testing situation leads, literally, to madness.

Let me explain. Teachers are required to teach the Georgia Performance Standards with fidelity. We are expected to “prove” we are doing this by posting the standard in a “highly visible” place in our classrooms along with an essential question (EQ) for each lesson of each day and for each subject area (forget integrating the curriculum, but that’s another story).

Each standard has a code that gives …

Continue reading Testing season revs up: March madness leads to April angst »