Archive for the ‘State Department of Education’ Category

The investigation in The New York Times about the abuses of the Georgia Private School Tax Credit program has riled up a lot of people. (See earlier blog on this.)

The AJC has also written about this law, noting that the Georgia Legislature has enshrouded this questionable program in so much secrecy that it is near impossible for taxpayers to see where the money is going.

An investigative piece last year by AJC reporters James Salzer and Nancy Badertscher raised questions about the weak public accountability imposed on the program, which was created by the Legislature in 2008. (The bill was part of the general heave-ho given to public education that year.)

Last year, the Legislature made changes this year to the law that make it a crime for state officials to release key information about the program.  In contrast, other states with similar laws have strict public accountability rules including Florida.

Because of the lax language and virtual absence of oversight, a …

Continue reading Some private schools refuse to follow lawmaker’s advice and cheat the state »

The state Department of Education released its list of Alert Schools today.

The new DOE accountability designations — priority schools, focus schools and reward schools — replace the “needs improvement” label in No Child Left Behind that educators deemed unclear and unhelpful. These three designations target  “Title I” schools that have a high percentage of low-income students. DOE also designated a fourth category, “alert schools,” so the state can focus on struggling schools that do not necessarily have a high percentage of low-income students.

DOE defines Alert Schools are those that need to raise student achievement on statewide assessments in the areas of graduation rate for high schools and subgroup performance and subject performance for elementary and middle schools. Alert Schools can be Title I Schools or Non-Title I Schools.

The criteria used to identify Alert Schools are:

(1) Graduation Alert Schools: High Schools whose subgroup graduation rate falls at …

Continue reading State DOE releases list of Alert Schools today »

Margaret Spellings

Daniel Malloy, the AJC’s reporter in Washington, D.C., sat down with former U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings for an interview at an event in Washington today.  Here are her answers to a series of questions on major education issues:

DM: Cheating scandal call testing into question?

Spellings: I think obviously the vast majority of educators and education leaders take assessment seriously and the integrity seriously and don’t cheat. When it does happen it ought to be addressed and attended to vigorously. Obviously, we saw that exact same thing play out in Atlanta and what encourages me when I think about the Atlanta case study, the business community, as you know, was very engaged, got a little sideswiped by the scandal, a little aggrieved by their engagement that was rewarded with this sort of behavior. I think to their credit they’ve stayed engaged and active and continue to be and are moving forward to the benefit of kids. Often we take our eye …

Continue reading Former U.S. ed secretary on legacy of No Child Left Behind »

I thought this memo from David Schutten of the Organization of DeKalb Educators to his members about the contract mess in DeKalb was worth sharing as it clears up several points.

While his memo speaks to the plight of DeKalb educators this week, his comment about the failure of administrators to spend the required time to do the new, more comprehensive teacher observations underscores a statewide concern.

When the state unveiled its plan for new teacher evaluations that will consider student performance and require increased classroom observation, I asked DOE whether it was a realistic, whether principals would be able to find the time to go into classrooms and watch teachers at work.

Schutten’s comments suggest that they are not finding the time –  even under a limited pilot model involving a handful of teachers. How can we expand this model to every teacher in every school?

Here is Schutten’s memo, which was written for members of ODE:

I met with Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith, …

Continue reading DeKalb teachers group: Sign that contract if you want your job »

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which certified and polices educators, has voted to take action against 67 Atlanta educators implicated in the cheating scandal first uncovered by the AJC in 2008, a scandal that topped the regime of former school chief Beverly Hall and led to a statewide examination of testing integrity by the governor.

According to the AJC:

The commission handed down two-year suspensions for 47 teachers. One teacher was given a one-year suspension, and 19 educators in leadership positions, such as principals and testing coordinators, were recommended for revocation.

The action signals significant progress in the cheating case. Before today, the commission had taken action against 16 Atlanta educators accused of cheating. The educators could still face termination from Atlanta Public Schools and criminal charges.

Details were not released about the educators, including their names or where they worked. The commission does not …

Continue reading PSC moves to suspend or revoke 67 alleged APS cheaters »

No surprise here.

Under the new, more accurate method of measuring, Georgia’s high school graduation rate dropped 12.6 points to 67.4 percent. No one believed it was ever the 80-plus rate that the state had been reporting for the last few years. In fact, official announcements of the rate would often be accompanied by disclaimers that regardless of what the rate was or wasn’t, the important issue was whether it was increasing over time.

Here is the AJC’s new searchable database of the rates.

At a media conference last year, several lawmakers including Senate Ed chairman Fran Millar of DeKalb expressed certainty that the rate would fall under the new criteria.

You can read the state’s release on the new grad rate here, which also contains links to district and school-level data at the bottom.

You can read how the new rate was calculated in this DOE primer, which is quite thorough.

According to the AJC story on the new rate, which DOE announced this morning:

But it’s also less …

Continue reading New calculation method lowers Georgia’s high school grad rate to 67.4. Anyone surprised? »

The state will release the Georgia high school graduation rate tomorrow based on a new federal formula considered a more accurate reflection of what is happening. The new “cohort” formula also will enable us to compare states, something we could not do when each state had its own methods of figuring out graduates and dropouts.

Georgia’s authentic graduation rate is open to debate. Independent research has placed it as low as 58 percent, although the state DOE places it above 80  percent.

Georgia has been using the National Center for Education Statistics “leaver rate,” which defines a graduate as a student who leaves high school with a regular diploma in four years. This does not include certificates of attendance or special education diplomas. About half the states use the leaver method, but critics contend the leaver methodology is flawed because it relies on incomplete dropout data.

The cohort rate takes the number of students who graduate in four years with a …

Continue reading DOE will release newly configured grad rate Tuesday. Here is a primer. »

Several recent news stories have underscored the vulnerability of children with special needs. Now, the AJC is reporting that the U.S. Justice Department plans to investigate allegations that Georgia schools are discriminating against students with disabilities, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced Thursday.

The complaint takes aim at the state’s funding formula, which gives schools more money when students with disabilities are not mainstreamed into regular classes.

At least six state commissions have examined school funding, including one now under way, but there has yet to be any real reform to how Georgia funds its schools.

The investigation by the department’s Office of Civil Rights follows a complaint filed by the center in November, claiming  the Georgia Department of Education uses a funding formula that encourages districts to segregate students with disabilities in order to collect more money.

Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the state …

Continue reading Justice Department to look into discrimination against students with disabilities »

Senate Bill 410 passed tonight in the last hurrah — or harrumph, depending on your view of our lawmakers in action — of the 2012 Georgia General Assembly.

The bill grades public schools on “indicators of quality of learning, financial efficiency, school climate, and any other indicators the office adopts shall be compared to state standards, progress on improved student achievement, and comparable performance.” In these areas, schools would get stars; five stars is the top ranking and presents excellence. One star signals unsatisfactory performance.

The bill also sets forth numerical grading of schools. The bill states: “The office, in coordination with the Department of Education, shall establish and annually calculate individual school and school system ratings, which shall be a numerical score on a scale of 0-100, for each public school and school system in this state based on the indicators of quality of learning adopted pursuant to this Code section for student …

Continue reading Bill to grade schools makes it across finish line tonight »

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 »