The Report Card

State Superintendent Addresses Clayton's Accreditation Loss

2008-08-28T12:55:00.003-04:00

An AP story reported today that the Clayton County school system lost its accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

It's the third school district in the nation in 40 years to lose its system accreditation, the AP reported.

State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox released this statement:

"My immediate thoughts are with the students, teachers and
parents who are directly affected by this decision. The future of many
excellent students, especially those in Clayton County high schools, has
been thrust into turmoil by the actions of the very people who were
elected to look out for their best interests."

"I fully support Governor Perdue's decision today to follow Judge Malihi’s
ruling to remove four of the Clayton County School Board members. There
is now a window of opportunity for the new and remaining board members to
seek reinstatement of the district's accreditation within a year and I
hope they will commit themselves to fully addressing all of the concerns
raised by SACS. As new members of the Clayton County School Board are
seated, it is my hope they will commit to operating in full compliance
with the letter and spirit of all local and state rules, laws and
regulations."

"It is important for the public to know that today's decision reflects
solely on the actions of the Clayton County School Board. It is not
reflective of the many excellent educators and students in Clayton
County."

"Additionally, I hope today's announcement serves as a reminder to all
citizens just how important it is for a district to have a functional,
productive and professional school board. As we approach election day, I
hope Georgia voters will take the time to get to know their school board
candidates and choose those that they believe will best represent the
interests of students, teachers and citizens. The power is in your hands."

Maybe school board members across the state and country are taking note of this!

Heard of the "Guyland" Phenom?

2008-08-27T11:46:00.004-04:00

Since I had a night assignment tonight and came in a little late, I had a chance to watch the Today Show this morning.

They had a segment on "Guyland."

Have you guys heard about this book?

Author Michael Kimmel theorizes that the passage from adolescence to adulthood for young men was once clear, but not anymore.

It used to be that by a guy's late teenage years and early twenties, they "put away childish things" and entered their futures as responsible adults.

But today, Kimmel says, young men drift casually through college and beyond—hanging out, partying, playing with tech toys. A more dangerous social world has developed, far away from the traditional signposts and cultural signals that once helped boys navigate their way to manhood.

More guys today live in a buddy culture, "unfazed" by demands of their parents, girlfriends, kids and jobs. Some men are even living at home with their parents longer.

You know what, I know some guys like this. It also makes me want to take away my 10-year-old son's playstation 2.

What Schools Should Do in Event of a Tornado

2008-08-26T12:07:00.005-04:00

As I'm listening to the police scanner it's airing the National Weather Service's tornado warning advisory in Jones and Monroe County.

With tropical storm Fay bringing us rain and potential tornadic weather, here are some good tornado tips for schools.

Take students to a ground floor, with no glass windows.

Exit students out of portable classrooms ASAP.

Didn't know this, but large, open-span areas, such as gymnasiums, auditoriums and most lunchrooms, can be very dangerous even in weak tornadoes, and should not be used for sheltering people, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

(Note, this photo shows kids hunkered down in the hallway near glass windows. Not Smart!!!)

SACS rules on Clayton Co. Schools Status this Week

2008-08-25T10:31:00.003-04:00

The AJC reports today that SACS will determine this week whether or not Clayton County schools will lose its accreditation with their organization, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Let's hope they don't for students' sake.

If students graduate from a high school without SACS accreditation they can lose out on the HOPE scholarship and have a harder time getting into selective colleges.

It can make transferring to another high school hard too. Some high schools may not take their credits.

Let's hope for Georgia that the school board has cleaned up its act. If SACS takes away accreditation, Clayton County will be the first school district in the country to lose it.

That's a big black eye for our public school systems.

Clayton County was put under scrutiny last November for several school board meddling incidents, in which later caused at least five board members to resign or be forced out.

On the plus side, there is a state sponsored panel now making recommendations for school board members job duties as a result of this debacle.

The Commission for School Board Excellence meets next month to make their suggestions so that other school boards won't end up making the same mistakes.

Bibb School Leader Bets on Fifth-grader

2008-08-21T21:06:00.010-04:00

State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox is going to be a contestant (to air Sept. 5) on the game show "Are you Smarter than a Fifth-grader?"

And here's what Bibb County school leaders had to say about it today:

"My money's on the fifth-grader." -- school board member Tommy Barnes.

"No comment. It's her decision how she spends her time." -- Superintendent Sharon Patterson.

"She's our lead learner. She'll do wonderfully well representing the teachers for the state of Georgia." -- Tanya Allen, school principal.

"She's not a fair representation of our educational system in Georgia." -- board member Kenny Rodgers.

"Some people like to be in the spotlight, some don't."--board member Albert Abrams.

"I've gotten stumped a few times watching it. I hope she wins."--school principal Ron McCall.

What do you think about her appearance and how do you think she'll do? Here's the story

Want to See How Your School Scored on ACTs?

2008-08-19T15:21:00.002-04:00

Sorry if you guys are tired of hearing about ACT scores, but wanted to leave you the state link so you can look up your school (or child's school) to see how students fared on the ACT.

In Bibb's

Northeast High students had a 17.2 composite average
Southwest High students had a 16.1 composite average
Rutland High students had a 17.9 composite average
Central High students had a 18.4 composite average
Westside High students had a 19.1 composite average
Hutchings Career Center had a 15.9 composite average

Only between 14 to 60 students here took the ACT this year depending on the high school. Most who take ACTs are headed to out of state colleges. ACTs are popular among MidWestern states.

Generally, Georgia colleges prefer SATs, although accept ACTs.

Here's the state link

Jones, Northeast Get Most Improved ACT Score

2008-08-18T18:21:00.003-04:00

Good news for Jones County High School and Northeast High School in Macon.

Both were among the state's 25 schools with the most improved ACT scores, the Georgia Department of Education announced today.

Jones County High had an ACT composite of 21, a 2.5 percentage point gain from last year.

Northeast High School had a 17.2 composite, a 2.1 percentage point increase from last year.

No midstate high schools were among the 25 schools with the higest ACT scores.

Georgia's composite average was 20.6 and the national composite average was 21.1.

Congrats!

Ok Kids, Come and Get Your Hot Wings!

2008-08-14T11:06:00.005-04:00

Ok, so check this out.

I asked my son yesterday (who attends a public elementary school here in Macon) what he ate for lunch at school.

His answer, "Well, I had to eat hot wings. They shoved me through the line so fast I didn't get to get a sloppy joe."

Elementary school students have at least two entrees to choose from each day.

After telling my son to stick up for himself and speak up, then I thought to myself, Why in the world do schools serve hot wings to kindergarten through fifth-graders?

Personally, my favorite school lunch was the macaroni and cheese and little smokies.

What's your favorite school lunch? And am I crazy, or do you think schools serving hot wings go over well? Take my poll at upper right.

Inadequate School Funding Lawsuit Heads to Oct. Trial

2008-08-13T15:08:00.003-04:00

The Athens Banner-Herald is reporting that a Fulton County Superior Court Judge denied the state's motion to dismiss a lawsuit in which 51 school systems argue they don't receive adequate state funding.

The state had argued the school districts, which include Crawford, Pulaski and Peach County schools in the midstate, couldn't prove that spending more on education would increase student achievement.

The trial is scheduled for Oct. 21.

Read the entire story here

Read a Telegraph archive story about the lawsuit for further background here

Georgia Students Not As Prepared for College, ACT scores show

2008-08-13T09:52:00.002-04:00

Georgia students who took the ACT exam in 2008 are less prepared for college courses than students nationally, an ACT report released today shows.

This year about 33,000 students in the state took the ACT college entrance exam.

This is what percent of those students were considered "college ready" in core courses compared to students nationally.

English
State 66 percent
National 68 percent

Math
State 38 percent
National 43 percent

Reading
State 49 percent
National 53 percent

Science
State 23 percent
National 28 percent

"We still have far too many high school graduates who are not ready for college-level work," said Richard L. Ferguson, ACT's chief executive officer. "There is much work left to be done to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills they need to succeed at the next level."

ACT officials suggest for Georgians to improve state officials should make sure students are taking the right kind of courses.

Five percent of Georgia's test takers took less than three years of math courses. Six percent took the minimum number of core math (Algebra, Algebra II, Geometry).

Getting more students to take Algebra prior to ninth-grade was one recommendation, in which the state has now implemented, by the way.

The study also showed 25 percent of students who took at least three years of science coursework was college ready.

Read the report here

Should Students Go to School Four Days a Week?

2008-08-12T16:14:00.004-04:00

How do you think four-day school weeks would go over here?

The Southern Regional Education Board, an Atlanta-based education improvement group that works with 16 states, just put out a new "Focus on the School Calendar" report that delves into this notion.

When the economy weakens, school systems look at ways to save money.

This could cut back on fuel and electric bills, some may argue.

Very real discussions about implementing four-day school weeks — with students attending school more hours each day — are surfacing in some states, the SREB claims.

The National School Boards Association reports that as many as 100 school systems in 17 states use this alternative schedule.

The Pros: Save on fuel, longer blocks of time to study, lower absenteeism.

The Cons: Parents would need childcare one extra work day, students would get tired of being in class longer and may lose focus, could impact extracurricular activities.

Would you be in favor of it?

Read the study here

Northeast High mentioned in USA Today

2008-08-11T15:55:00.002-04:00

A 2008 story in USA TODAY about schools that offer students incentives to make better grades featured a Macon high school.

Northeast High School Principal Sam Scavella was quoted in the controversial pay for grades story as saying students need incentives in today's education environment.

"We have to reward the behavior we expect," Scavella is quoted in the article as saying. "I don't see it as a way of paying students to do well — it's a reward. If you do well in school, then life will pay you well. If you do well in school , you can afford a lifestyle that will pay you well."

Read the story here

(And catch my story in The Telegraph tomorrow about Pastor Troy in Perry offering to pay students $5 for an A on their report card. I made mention of it in an earlier blog post.)

School Budgets Looking Scary!

2008-08-11T09:50:00.002-04:00

Every time you turn around you can't help but read another news story about how bad the economy is.

Lately, we keep hearing about it as it relates to public school funding.

I reported last week that Georgia's school systems will lose 2 percent of their state funding this school year as a result of the state trying to ax $1.6 billion in spending since tax revenues are not projected to come in as once predicted.

The Georgia Department of Education is set to lose 6 percent of its budget, too.

That equates to about $171 million from its budget.

Any idea what could go? The state board nor Georgia Department of Education have announced where the cuts will fall.

Spokesman Matt Cardoza said late last week that training and travel will likely be one area of target.

Is this getting you guys depressed as well?

Rollin' Into School

2008-08-08T14:40:00.002-04:00

Now that's a ride to school!

A group of parents from Alexander II Magnet School in Macon rented Miss Molly the trolley to send their children to school Thursday for the first day.

Church Paying Students for Good Grades

2008-08-07T09:09:00.006-04:00

School is back in session this week and one church is breaking out of the norm to "help" students.

Pastor Troy Wynn Sr., with U.G.K. Ministries in Perry is offering to pay students for their good grades to keep them in school and out of jail.

I have a call in to Pastor Troy to see where the money to pay students is coming from and how much the church will pay for an A.

In the meantime, read more about Pastor Troy here. Do you think kids should get paid to make good grades?

Georgia's New Curriculum Prepping Kids for College

2008-08-04T11:40:00.002-04:00

The Georgia Department of Education announced today that its new curriculum is teaching students what they need to know for college and the work world.

Achieve Inc., rated 16 states for its curriculum and out of a possible 3.0 high, gave Georgia a 2.96 for its English curriculum and a 2.79 for math content.

State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox said the report validated the state's hard work to help our students be successful in the 21st Century.

Read the full press release here

$10,500 vouchers for students in failing schools?

2008-08-04T10:09:00.003-04:00

Sen. Eric Johnson, Senate President Pro Tem, suggested Thursday the state should give vouchers to every child to attend any private school that will accept them.

Johnson, R-Savannah, spoke at an event in Atlanta last week sponsored by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.

His idea, which could end up being introduced next legislative session to already some critism, is to maximize school choice statewide and allow tax dollars spent on education to follow the child instead of going directly to a county school system.

Florida uses such a program. Johnson also led the special needs vouchers.

It allows students with disabilities vouchers, on average about $5,000 to attend private school. It already passed the General Assembly and is now in use.

With this one, parents may be given a debit card, an “E-card” like the health care card, with $10,500 on it for a year’s worth of education, he suggested.

"We can provide vouchers for children in failing schools, or we can be truly bold and offer vouchers to every single child in Georgia," Johnson said at the event. "I know you think this is radical – and it is. We would be the first state in the nation to adopt universal vouchers. But let me offer some comfort and hope: The people of Georgia want this."

He also pointed to a metro Atlanta poll in which he cited that parents would love more choice, although Georgia Association of Educators say parents want the state to fix a broken public school system instead.

Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Association of Educators dismissed the voucher idea Friday.

"Our reaction is vouchers are still a poor idea," Hubbard said. "It's a fairness issue and a quality issue."

Public education is now underfunded by 2.5 billion in cuts to the Quality Basic Education funding formula for public schools, he said.

The majority of students in the state, 94 percent or 1.65 million students, attend public school and vouchers would take even more funding away from public schools, he said.

"Before you go off on unfounded ideas, you need to work on public schools first," Hubbard said. "Let's say every child in Bibb County in a chronic failing school got a voucher and applied to FPD, Mount de Sales or Stratford. Those schools don't have to take every child. They don't get a guaranteed in."

If 50 get accepted, what happens to another 150 not accepted?, he asked.

"It is literally now a form of reverse discrimination," he said.

Do you think parents want more choice and would utilize these vouchers? And at the same time, what do you think would happen to public schools if vouchers were approved? Would they get better to compete or worse from losing funding? And do you think private schools would accept voucher children and if not, what would be the fallout?

To read Johnson's entire proposal click here

In a Back to School Shopping Pinch?

2008-08-01T16:26:00.003-04:00

Are you guys finding back to school shopping hitting your wallet a lot harder this year?

It's hit my household. I sent my 5th grader around the house this morning on a scavenger hunt for last year's scissors, glue, pencil bag, and other goods to reuse this year.

I tried to cut his hair earlier in the summer to save a buck or two, but that's just a cost I'll have to ante up. I'm no stylist.

You may have noticed a story in The Telegraph Thursday about more families are shopping at places like Goodwill to buy school supplies as a means to save money.

Those stores usually get consignments from last year's stores that weren't purchased.

Several tips out there suggest, sticking to a list, buying in bulk and watching for sales.

If your child's school requires uniforms you may want to ask if there is any organized clothing swaps among parents, or start one.

If your child outgrows some shirts and pants, hand it down to a smaller child and find any parent contacts that may have a student a year or two ahead of your child to swap with.

Most schools also keep a clothing closet for families who are struggling to buy school uniforms, so parents may want to check that option.

Howard High Open House Set Sunday

2008-07-31T09:49:00.002-04:00

Sorry guys, I was in Chicago last week for a Journalism conference but with school starting next week, this blog is soon picking up to full speed.

Howard High School in North Bibb has an open house for the community from 2-5 p.m. Sunday.

People can get a peek inside before school starts next Thursday. The big question is how many students will show up at Howard High the first day.

The school can hold up to 1,200 students and won't open with a senior class this school year.

But No Child Left Behind transfers will allow students from four other high schools to transfer there and some private school students are expected to attend, the school's principal has said.

At least 650 are expected to come, do you guys think there could be a lot more?
Is the school system prepared for it?

Houston, Monroe 8th graders among top in math

2008-07-22T09:48:00.003-04:00

I don't know if you guys saw this from the Governor's Office of Student Achievement.

I stumbled across it this morning.

The GOSA broke down which 8th graders in which school systems scored the highest on this year's Criterion Referenced Competency Test in math.

About 40 percent of the state's eighth-graders failed this year's CRCT in math because it was aligned to new harder curriculum.

The GOSA points out, that some systems however still did well.

Among the top ranked 15:

Houston County schools ranked top 12, with 78 percent of its eighth-graders passing.

Monroe County schools ranked 15, with 77 percent of that grade-level passing.

Why do you guys think some systems are doing so well in math and others struggling?

Do you think it's a difference of teaching, curriculum or added focus in math?

Read more about this high stakes exam and how many systems coped with the new change here.

Ever Wonder Which School is the Cleanest?

2008-07-21T09:55:00.004-04:00

There is such an award!

Bibb County schools were inspected and judged recently to find out which school took the "School Cleanliness Awards." For 18 years, schools have taken plaques or trophies for running a clean school.

On a scale of 1-100, five schools earned an 80-89; 30 schools a 90-97 and eight schools scored a 98 or higher, Superintendent Sharon Patterson said at the July Bibb County school board meeting.

So who won top prize?

Union Elementary won for cleanest elementary school with a score of 99.

Ballard-Hudson won for cleanest middle school with a score of 98.

And Hutchings Career Center won cleanest high school with a score of 98.

And Union won the overall competition.

(Photo courtesy of Bibb schools.) Pictured from right to left is Assistant Principal Lynn Stephens, Principal Dr. Efrem Yarber, Superintendent Sharon Patterson, Head Custodian Adel Glover, Custodian Tim Scott and Custodian Trunella Fickling.

National Teacher's Union Endorses Obama

2008-07-14T09:52:00.003-04:00

The American Federation of Teachers voted Sunday at its convention to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president.

“Sen. Obama believes, as we do, that our leaders have a responsibility to build the economy, not on the backs of poor and middle-class Americans, but for the benefit and well-being of all. His plans—to replace NCLB with education law that truly helps schools, instead of hurts them; to ensure all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality healthcare; and to bring home American troops as soon as possible—will help usher in a new era of progress and opportunity,” said AFT President Edward J. McElroy.

The AFT represents more than 1.4 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel.

A quick google search for other education groups who support Republican presidential nominee John McCain may be out there, but I couldn't find any after four page searches.

High Performing Principals Named

2008-07-11T16:00:00.002-04:00

Gov. Sonny Perdue's office announced this week the names of 112 high performing principals across the state.

In the midstate these top leaders came from Bleckley, Houston, Laurens and Dodge County schools.

Here's how to get the honor:

Data must show that a principal led improvement at a low-performing school or brought a good school to a higher level

The principal must have been assigned to his or her school for at least three consecutive years

The principal must be recommended for the designation by his or her school system.

Read the complete list.
Herndon, G. S., Appling County, Appling County Elementary School
Johnson, Keith, Appling County, Appling County Middle School
Hamer, Rosemary, Atlanta Public Schools, Bethune Elementary School
Evans, Karen M., Atlanta Public Schools, Brandon Elementary School
Jessie, Alfonso L., Atlanta Public Schools, Cascade Elementary School
Barber, Marcus A., Atlanta Public Schools, Fickett Elementary School
Reich, Lorraine B., Atlanta Public Schools, Jackson Elementary School
Robinson, Mae B., Atlanta Public Schools, M. A. Jones Elementary School
Barlow Brown, Karen D., Atlanta Public Schools, Peyton Forest Elementary School
Baker, Sidney E, Atlanta Public Schools, Smith Elementary School
Rogers, Gwendolyn G., Atlanta Public Schools, Usher Elementary School
Davis, Clarietta M., Atlanta Public Schools, Venetian Hills Elementary School
May, Cynthia C., Atlanta Public Schools, West Manor Elementary School
Lavant, Patricia P., Atlanta Public Schools, Whitefoord Elementary School
Underdue, Donell, Atlanta Public Schools, Connally Elementary School
Bockman, Elizabeth B., Atlanta Public Schools, Inman Middle School
Goolsby, Flora W., Atlanta Public Schools, Walden Middle School
Smith, Tyronne M., Atlanta Public Schools, Mays High School
Carter, Shirlene B., Atlanta Public Schools, Southside High School
Proctor, Dennis Lewis, Berrien County, Berrien Middle School
Townsend, Annette W., Bleckley County, Bleckley County Elementary School
Taylor, Charles E., Carroll County, Bowdon High School
Newton, Julie E., Chatham County, Bartow Elementary School
Ball, Rebecca W., Chatham County, Jacob G. Smith Elementary School
Macmillan, Theodore Haff, Clarke County, Barrow Elementary School
Lattizori, Robin E., Cobb County, Mount Bethel Elementary School
Griffeth, Doreen R., Cobb County, Shallowford Falls Elementary School
Snell, James H., III, Cobb County, Dodgen Middle School
Stowers, Charlotte, Cobb County, Pope High School
Higgins, Thomas S., Cobb County, Walton High School
Evans, Bernadette G., Coffee County, Ambrose Elementary School
Davis, Bainard M., Coffee County, Eastside Elementary School
Harper, Sue S., Coffee County, Satilla Elementary School
Paschal, Michelle H., Columbia County, Stevens Creek Elementary School
Carney, Jeffrey L., Columbia County, Lakeside High School
Smith, Kay S., Crisp County, A. S. Clark Elementary School
Thomas, Marvin V., Decatur County, Hutto Middle School
Frazer, Linda Dianne, DeKalb County, Austin Elementary School
Heckman, Elizabeth W., DeKalb County, Brockett Elementary School
McCraw, Elizabeth Ann, DeKalb County, Idlewood Elementary School
Humble, Gail Ann, DeKalb County, Kittredge Magnet School
Dillard, Carmen Lucille, DeKalb County, Oak Grove Elementary School
Burger, Charlene Smith, DeKalb County, Vanderlyn Elementary School
McCauley, Susan Marie, DeKalb County, DeKalb School of the Arts
Williams, Carolyn D., DeKalb County, Stone Mountain High School
Hilliard, Thomas M., Dodge County, North Dodge Elementary School
Mallard, Wanda M., Dougherty County, International Studies Elementary Magnet
Thursby, Holly R., Dougherty County, Robert A. Cross Middle Magnet
Nail, Pamela A., Douglas County, Winston Elementary School
Holland, Diane Welch, Evans County, Claxton Middle School
Bell, Wenonah M., Fayette County, Braelinn Elementary School
Bullock, Karen F., Fayette County, Kedron Elementary School
Patton, Lenore T., Fayette County, Rising Starr Middle School
Fleming, Tracie G., Fayette County, McIntosh High School
Terry, Sonia B, Fulton County, Crabapple Crossing Elementary School
Curry, Steven E., Fulton County, Findley Oaks Elementary School
Dorenkamp, Susan J., Fulton County, Heards Ferry Elementary School
Martin, John E., Fulton County, State Bridge Crossing Elementary School
Melin, Dawn V., Fulton County, River Trail Middle School
Fogartie, Elizabeth V., Fulton County, Webb Bridge Middle School
Zervakos, Peter F., Fulton County, Northview High School
Spurka, Edward J., Fulton County, Roswell High School
Meadors, Sarah T., Gainesville City, Enota Elementary School
Morrison, Nancy M., Gwinnett County, Bethesda Elementary School
Jones, Kathryn M., Gwinnett County, Camp Creek Elementary School
Ray, Mary S., Gwinnett County, Craig Elementary School
Farmer, Michelle, Gwinnett County, Head Elementary School
Allison, Laurie A., Gwinnett County, J. A. Alford Elementary
Watlington, Terry A., Gwinnett County, Kanoheda Elementary School
Beasley, Jacqueline V., Gwinnett County, Lilburn Elementary School
Rutledge, Cynthia A., Gwinnett County, McKendree Elementary School
Ackerman, Margaret M, Gwinnett County, Meadowcreek Elementary School
Barlow, Richard C., Gwinnett County, Riverside Elementary School
Stranahan, Vivian R., Gwinnett County, Shiloh Elementary School
Schmit, Bron Gayna, Gwinnett County, Simpson Elementary School
Campbell, John P., Gwinnett County, Frank N. Osborne Middle School
Stegall, Martha J., Gwinnett County, Brookwood High School
Clark, Valerie M., Gwinnett County, Central Gwinnett High School
Blenke, Albert P., Gwinnett County, Duluth High School
Buchanan, Charles D, Gwinnett County, Parkview High School
Tompkins, Paulette, Houston County, Kings Chapel Elementary School
Lauristen, Preston K., Houston County, Russell Elementary School
Elrod, Kathy K., Jackson County, North Jackson Elementary School
Johns, Pam G., Jackson County, South Jackson Elementary School
Kitterman, Hulet E., Jefferson County ,Louisville Academy
Holton, Judy, Jenkins County, Jenkins County Elementary School
Warren, John M, Laurens County, Northwest Laurens Elementary
Johnson, James M., Liberty County, Jordye Bacon Elementary School
Carmichael, Pamela A., Lincoln County, Lincoln County Middle School
Rhodes, Steven, McDuffie County, Norris Elementary School
Powell, Claude, McDuffie County, Thomson Middle School
Collins,Vernonica Jennings, Muscogee County, Britt David Elem. Computer Magnet Academy
Talley, Pauline H., Muscogee County, Davis Elementary School
Cassell, Melana S., Muscogee County, Edgewood Elementary School
Robison, Ann Schwan, Muscogee County, Hannan Elementary
Wilson, Carlton, Pickens County, Hill City Elementary School
Smith, Harry Anthony, Pierce County, Pierce County High School
Dallas, Janina C., Richmond County, McBean Elementary School
Addison, Vicky D., Richmond County, Davidson Magnet School
Stubbs, Robert Larry, Schley County, Schley Middle High School
Stowe, Robert M., Stephens County, Eastanollee Elementary School
Whiten, Sherrie A., Stephens County, Toccoa Elementary School
Wilcox, James Garrett, Tattnall County, Reidsville Middle School
Deep, Timothy B., Telfair County, Telfair County High School
Stanley, Renee B., Toombs County, Toombs Central Elementary School
Cook, Anne H., Troup County, Ethel Kight Magnet Elementary School
Thompson, Mary Alane, Troup County, West Side Magnet School
Hale, Martha Burtz, Union County, Union County Elementary School
Warren, Gwen Y., Vidalia City, J. R. Trippe Middle School
Tanner, Darlene C., Ware County, Ware Magnet School
Otte, Larry J., Whitfield County, Dug Gap Elementary School
Jackson, Andrew, Wilkes County, Washington-Wilkes High School

Read about other Gov. Sonny Perdue initiatives here

Bibb School Board Gets Chamber Thanks

2008-07-10T20:23:00.002-04:00

Pat Topping, senior vice-president of the Macon Economic Development Commission and Billy Pitts with the chamber, thanked Bibb school officials Thursday.

The school system helped sell Bibb County to Kumho tire plant officials, who agreed to build a multi-million tire making plant here, Topping said.

The Korean-based company is building a plant in Bibb County that will bring a $250 million investment to Middle Georgia and provide 450 people with new jobs.

He gave Superintendent Sharon Patterson a rendering of the plant as appreciation.

Hutchings, Houston County Career Center Students Earn More Money?

2008-07-09T10:14:00.002-04:00

I found this story and report today, on career academies literally paying off for students, pretty interesting.

Education Week reports that students who attended a career academy earned $2,088 per year more than those students who went to a regular high school.

A career academy is a non-traditional high school, one that has no sports team, but still focuses on teaching core subjects while also training students for careers.

Around the midstate, Hutchings in Macon and Houston County Career Center in Warner Robins focus on career paths for students in the health, automotive, culinary, computers and construction fields, for example.

The report, "Career Academies Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood" studied the career academy approach for 15 years. (read it here)

The career academies in their study offered career path training in travel and tourism, finance, public service, and the media, according to Ed Week's story.

And study results showed this:

The Career Academies produced sustained earning gains that averaged 11 percent (or $2,088) more per year for Academy group members than for individuals in the non-Academy group — a $16,704 boost in total earnings over the eight years of follow-up (in 2006 dollars).

"These labor market impacts were concentrated among young men, a group that has experienced a severe decline in real earnings in recent years. Through a combination of increased wages, hours worked, and employment stability, real earnings for young men in the Academy group increased by $3,731 (17 percent) per year — or nearly $30,000 over eight years," the study found.

Do career academy students perhaps earn more than the regular high school student because he or she has learned career skills earlier on and had a specific career focus throughout high school?

The state has talked before about offering diplomas with concentration areas, such as in art, math, etc., to help regular high school students take classes their interested in and get an early boost.

That idea hasn't happened yet. Do you think students would do better if the state had something like this in place?

And are midstate career academies concentrating on the right career programs that are relevant today, such as construction and culinary arts or should they offer more training in travel and tourism, finance and public service, such as the ones studied in the report?

Team Stops in Macon to offer school board practice tips

2008-07-07T15:13:00.003-04:00

The Commission for School Board Excellence will stop in Macon at 2 p.m. tomorrow to talk about how school boards can and should keep good governing practices.

The commission started after the Clayton County school board had its Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation pulled for allegations of micro managing.

Peach County schools was also placed on probation last year by SACS. The team will meet at Macon State.

Here are the key players on the commission:

Helene Lollis, president of Pathbuilders, Inc.; and chair of the Commission for School Board Excellence Advisory Committee;

Joseph Villani, deputy executive director for the National School Boards Association

Donald R. McAdams, president for the Center for Reform of School Systems

Mark Elgart, president and CEO of AdvancED, the parent organization of the K-12 division of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)

Phil Jacobs, retired president of AT&T (formerly BellSouth) in Georgia; past chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce; and co-chair of the Commission for School Board Excellence

Gary Price, managing partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers; chair of the regional education policy committee for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; and co-chair of the Commission for School Board Excellence

Education Group to Release Ga Report on Education Performance

2008-06-26T14:58:00.003-04:00

Faithful blog readers,

I'll be in Arkansas and Oklahoma on vacation next week, so our trusty intern Eric Newcomer, a 2008 Central High Grad who is bound for Harvard this fall, will fill in on the Report Card next week.)

Be nice to him!

In other news,

On Tuesday, you can check this out on www.sreb.org:

The Southern Regional Education Board will release the state's 2008 Progress Report on the SREB's "Challenge to Lead Goals for Education."

The SREB is providing an in-depth report for each of its 16 member states, from Texas to Delaware.

In the report, you can find detailed information on the growth in Hispanic students (see Page 7), long-term student achievement trends in reading and math (Pages 9-20), trends in students taking Advanced Placement courses (Pages 28 and 29), and other good stuff.

Naval Academy midshipmen fight lunch Prayer

2008-06-25T18:09:00.003-04:00

Here's a topic from the American Civil Liberties Union I thought may be of interest.

The ACLU of Maryland is urging the U.S. Naval Academy to stop forcing midshipmen to participate in noon meal prayers.

In a May 2 letter to Vice Admiral Jeffrey L. Fowler on behalf of a group of midshipmen who object to the prayers, the ACLU asked that the Academy discontinue its requirement that all midshipmen stand in attendance at the daily noon prayer as a practice that violates their First Amendment Rights, according to an ACLU release.

“Members of the military have a right to pray or not pray as they personally see fit, and that right is protected by the First Amendment..." Jeon said. “But the government should not be in the business of compelling religious observance, particularly in military academies, where students can feel coerced by senior students and officials and risk the loss of leadership opportunities for following their conscience.”

One midshipman told the ACLU that a squad leader who objects to the prayers is put in an unacceptable position of either violating his or her conscience or standing apart and setting a discordant example for subordinates.

Sometimes governments and religion are open to debate, such as school board prayer, or public school students who were expelled for wearing hijabs, or muslim head scarfs, both of which are stories I've written about in the past.

Should religion in public government places be separate or do we need religion, as long as its not one forced religion?

How to Save a Buck when Fuel is high

2008-06-20T14:34:00.005-04:00

Did you guys read the business story from the Wall Street Journal that ran in our newspaper today.

The story said as "the 2007-08 school year has come to a close, but as superintendents across the country finalize their budgets for the fall, many are projecting major spikes in a number of areas - cafeteria food and heating oil, for example. Perhaps the greatest bump is for diesel, which fuels the yellow buses that bring kids to school in the first place."

Read it here

Ron Collier, Bibb's chief financial officer said today that the cost for fuel for school buses rises each year. Bibb County schools transportation operation costs are slated to run $2.95 million, compared to $2.37 million in 2007-08, according to the system's proposed budget.

"I do know we had a substantial increase (for fuel)," Collier said. "Our costs have gone up 45 percent year after year."

Soon the system will review its bus routes to see if any fuel could be spared that way. There is no talk of raising school lunch prices in Macon to offset higher costs for shipping food.

"We're trying to make sure we operate buildings as efficient as we can, turning off air conditioners with timers, set them at right levels, changing air filters and such," he said.

No Couch Potatoes in Twiggs this Summer

2008-06-19T14:21:00.005-04:00

More than 50 Twiggs County school students are learning about gang and drug resistance at summer camp.

According to Twiggs Campus Police Chief Levi Rozier, the school system got a more than $60,000 federal grant through the G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education and Training) program.

Rozier said the students have been to Georgia Tech, an Atlanta Braves Game, Barnes and Noble, Starcadia and the Movies.

They also learned some tennis, karate, character education and took an etiquette class.

The summer camp is a continuation of the 13-week component that is taught during the school year to enhance student’s social skills, better their behavior and involve them in different activities during the summer to keep them out of trouble and develop a good relationship with law enforcement.

The camp started June 2, and will end next Friday.

"We have applied for the grant for the next school year and prayerfully other kids will be able to experience the life change," Rozier said.

New Central High Construction Evolving

2008-06-16T15:17:00.002-04:00

If you haven't driven down Napier Avenue in a while, you should.

Steel beams are going up left and right at the new Central High construction site. (See Jenna Findlan's photo from today here.)

Sadly though, the old 1929-built Junior ROTC gym was torn down today. Some alums of Lanier High (the old Central) asked to save it, but a new gym is going to built over the site.

Bob Flowers, the school system's capital program administrator said about 25 percent of the new Central High construction is complete so far.

Read more about this in tomorrow's The Telegraph.

Fewer Bibb Students Participating in Sports

2008-06-13T09:43:00.004-04:00

There were 88 fewer females participating in Bibb County sports this past school year compared to a year earlier.

And 32 fewer males participated, according to the Bibb County schools Gender Equity in Sports 2007-08 Report.

It showed 1,892 males played sports in 2007-08, compared to 1,924 in 2006-07.
There were 890 females involved in sports this past school year, compared to 978 in 2006-07.

There was a decrease in participation in track, baseball and tennis, some sports were athletes who could play multiple sports, but chose to play softball, football, basketball and club soccer instead, school officials said.

"At the middle school level there are not enough girls getting into sports," said Raynette Evans, Bibb's athletic director.

Other notable findings: Bibb spent $1.4 million on sports this past school year. Seventy-two percent of athletes were black, 24 percent white, and 4 percent other.

Sixty-three athletes qualified for state meets or individual sports and 29 got athletic scholarships.

Goals for the year include increasing female participation in sports, and working to qualify at least two football teams for state playoff games, Evans said.

"If there is not success with some of these (programs this coming year) there will be recommendations brought to you," Evans told the school board Thursday at a meeting.

Why do you guys feel more girls aren't playing sports? And does Bibb have a solid athletic program to attract athletes and get college scholarships? Why or why not?

Official State CRCT results, no shocker

2008-06-10T16:45:00.002-04:00

The Georgia Department of Education released statewide Criterion-Referenced Competency Test scores today, which mirrored an earlier state prediction.

Thirty-eight percent of eighth-graders across the state "officially" failed the new math CRCT this year which was aligned with harder curriculum.

This is how the state led with their release today: "Student performance is rising and the achievement gap is closing in every area where the state's new curriculum has been implemented for more than one year."

Most of the eighth-graders are now in summer school with another chance to take the exam later this month. Failing it can mean being retained.

System-wide scores will not be released by the state until June 24, which is when I plan to write a story for the Telegraph.

In the meantime, see state scores at the GDOE Web site here

National summer school trend, visible in Macon

2008-06-09T17:02:00.003-04:00

I was reading the Miami Herald today, which has a story about how more school systems aren't offering summer school enrichment programs to students who excel anymore like they used to.

Most of the cuts are due to school systems having to tighten their ailing budgets.

Or perhaps its because they are spending more to remediate students who fail state exams in the summer.

Read the story here

It dawned on me that the Bibb County school system is among this trend.

In 2006, they offered "advanced" students math and science enrichment camps, but had to cut them from the budget this summer.

Education costs continue to rise here, and more than 2,000 students (a record high) are in summer school for tutoring to help pass the state Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.

Houston County Schools, escaped the trend.

They sent out a release today promoting an enrichment camp for two weeks for gifted and honor roll students in fourth- through sixth-grade at Mossy Creek Middle School.

Their summer enhancement program offers courses in physics, rocketry, childcare, archery, pottery and painting, as well as, jump rope, golf, tennis, photojournalism and TV Broadcasting.

Obviously, some school systems have more money in their budgets to offer these things, and some systems have more students who need remediation than others to pass state exams and spend more to do that.

At the same time is it fair to cut these type of programs for kids who achieve? What do you guys think?

Mellor, Kilcrease to leave Bibb System

2008-06-05T10:58:00.003-04:00

The Bibb County school system is losing some top administrators soon.

Philip Mellor, Asst. Superintendent for Student Support Services is leaving for Henry County Schools in a few days, he said.

Miller Middle School Principal Tanzy Kilcrease is also leaving at the end of the month to take a job as director of middle school improvement for Peach County schools.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to work in a different capacity," Kilcrease said.

She starts July 1.

Mellor, who came to Bibb in 2006 from Bleckley County, was the director of special education for Bibb County schools and led efforts to include special education students into regular classrooms as much as possible.

He then moved into the student support services job after Dr. Mike Van Wyck retired.

Hate to see you guys go! Good luck in your new education endeavors.

Mount de Sales Student wins Prayer Contest

2008-06-04T17:28:00.003-04:00

Family Rosary announced today it selected Clarissa Ashley Price of Mount de Sales Academy in Macon, as the first-place winner in the Grade 11
division of the 2008 U.S. “Try Prayer! It Works!” contest.

That's a national competition that encourages students to express their faith through art, poetry and prose. Clarissa was selected from more than 3,000 entries and
more than 50,000 participants in the 13th annual contest.

For her award-winning entry, Clarissa submitted a striking charcoal drawing
of herself contemplating what it means to follow in the footsteps of the saints.

“The contest enables children of all ages to express creatively the
importance of faith in their daily lives,” said Father John Phalen, CSC,
President of Holy Cross Family Ministries.

She will win $100.

Georgia's Grad Rate Below average in new study

2008-06-04T12:07:00.002-04:00

Most southern states saw improvements in estimated public high school graduation rates, but they still haven't done enough to address the critical problem, a national report released today shows.

The annual Diplomas Count report, published by the national newspaper Education Week, shows that 12 of the 16 Southern Regional Education Board states had higher estimated graduation rates than in last year's report, including three states that saw some of the largest gains in the nation.

(The report however uses the senior class of 2005 data, the latest available, so it is a little old.)

Those states were Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee which all had gains of 5 percentage points or more for the Class of 2005, according to an SREB news release.

Five SREB states had gains between 2.5 and 4.9 points. Four SREB states saw smaller gains.

While state leaders are taking more notice of traditionally low graduation rates, they still need to take more action to improve students' chances for graduation, said SREB President Dave Spence.

"No matter how you count the high school graduation rates, they are far too low in many states," Spence said. "This is one of our region's most devastating problems for our economy and society."

Progress is Apparent, But Not Enough

Six of the 16 SREB states had higher estimated graduation rates than the national average of 70.6 percent listed in the report, the same number and group of states in last year's report: Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia and West Virginia.

The highest-ranked SREB state was Maryland, tied for 23rd nationally at 73.6 percent, when allowing for ties. Ten SREB states remained below the national average (including Georgia.)

For the first time, Diplomas Count estimated the number of students in the current year's class that dropped out before graduating. An estimated 4.2 million students began high school four years ago, and just under 3 million were projected to graduate in 2008 - meaning more than 1.2 million were not.

In SREB states, about 1.5 million students started the ninth grade four years ago, the report shows. Slightly more than 1 million were projected to graduate in 2008. That means more than 482,000 did not graduate - and thousands of students across the region dropped out each day. Research shows that as a result, states will lose billions of dollars in lost income and tax revenue and will see the impact in incarcerations, health care and social services. Every day in America, about 6,800 high school students quit school, the report says.

Taking Action to Raise Graduation Rates

State leaders in the SREB region are addressing this issue. SREB Chair and Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue is leading a committee of state leaders developing state policy recommendations for helping all high schools raise both student achievement - as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) - and graduation rates at the same time.

A draft proposal that SREB Board members will consider in the coming weeks calls for states to hold schools equally accountable for both achievement gains and significant improvement in high school graduation rates - at a more ambitious pace than the federal government plans to require.

"Many state leaders now see the direct link between low graduation rates and economic and social ills," Spence said. "That's why state leaders are preparing to take action. We're proud that states are beginning to tackle these difficult issues, and we know there is much work to be done."

At Governor Perdue's urging, Georgia became the first state in the nation to install "graduation coaches" - full-time educators charged with helping more students finish high school and proceed into college or career study - in virtually all public high schools and middle grades schools in the state. Oklahoma has passed legislation to provide graduation coaches there. Mississippi leaders have held statewide summits in the past year on the graduation problem.

What Else Can States Do?

SREB recommends many other strategies for states to raise graduation rates. A landmark 2005 SREB report on the topic urged SREB states to set annual graduation rate goals (both statewide and for every school), and help schools to meet those goals. Few states have publicly set those goals, and many states' graduation rate goals as required by the NCLB law remain too low.

Also, a new SREB report urges states to improve career/technical education programs as a key to raising both achievement and high school graduation rates. The report, Crafting a New Vision for High School: How States Can Join Academic and Technical Studies to Promote More Powerful Learning, was released earlier this month in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers. The report calls for states to ensure that all students are able to connect their high school studies to career or educational goals, and it argues for higher standards for career/technical teachers, for the integration of higher-level academics in career courses, and for high school career courses to be more closely connected to industry certifications and two- and four-year college programs.

Different Ways to Calculate Graduation Rates

Diplomas Count graduation rates estimates differ from the rates SREB uses for its own comparisons. SREB uses the federal government's method of estimating graduation rates as defined by the National Center for Education Statistics. The most recent data available from the federal government show that 75 percent of high school freshmen graduated on time in 2005, compared with a 70 percent rate for the region. The federal data show somewhat higher graduation rates in many SREB states than does Diplomas Count, although some of the nation's lowest rates remain among SREB states under the federal measure.

Large School Systems in SREB States Rank High

Diplomas Count also shows estimates graduation rates for every school district in the nation. Among the 50 largest districts, SREB states had seven of the top 10 highest graduation rates, including second-ranked Cypress-Fairbanks in Texas at 89.6 percent; Montgomery, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties in Maryland; Fairfax County in Virginia; and Wake and Guilford counties in North Carolina. SREB states also had some of the lowest rates among the 50 largest districts, including Baltimore city, the Nashville metro schools, Dallas, and Duval County in Florida.

This year's report also examines state P-16 councils, which are groups of state leaders appointed to bring education systems together, from prekindergarten through graduate school. The SREB president remarks in an article in Diplomas Count that many state P-16 councils are not always effective. They should focus their work on helping students make smoother transitions between levels of education - and especially on preparing more students for college or career studies after high school graduation. (Most states do not have college- and career-readiness standards that require higher-level work from high school students and align with college placement standards.)

Blog changes

2008-06-04T11:04:00.004-04:00

Hello faithful bloggers,

You may have noticed that posting on higher education issues has been thin (OK, non-existent) over the last two weeks. I have not been trying to neglect you, but rather training to take on the Bibb County government beat, as the reporter who had been covering it left on Friday.

As a result, I will no longer be contributing to this blog. The direction of The Report Card is up to Julie from here, and I'm sure she'll update you on that at some point. As always, you can count on finding higher education, and other news, coverage at macon.com.

It's been a pleasure,

Jennifer

Mount de Sales Student wins Art Award

2008-06-02T11:59:00.003-04:00

Sarat Muraina, a student at Mount de Sales Academy in Macon, won a national art contest sponsored by Committee for Children.

Sarat, 13, a student in Patty Kallay’s class, won the middle school division in the Second Step Art Contest with a multimedia artwork entitled “State of Mind,” depicting some of the insights she learned from Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum.

The Second Step program is a violence prevention curriculum that helps students learn and practice vital social skills, such as empathy, emotion management, problem solving, and cooperation. These essential life skills help students in the classroom, on the playground, and at home.

Sarat’s artwork showed a girl thinking “hot thoughts and cool thoughts.” The “hot thoughts” are such things as gossip, labeling, and anger. The “cool thoughts” include considering another’s point of view and acts of kindness. The girl’s expression depicts how these thoughts might affect her.

Sarat will receive a check for $250 from Committee for Children, the Seattle-based nonprofit that produces the Second Step program. The winning artwork will also be posted later this spring on the organization’s Web site, www.cfchildren.org.

Houston School Board Member Recognized Nationally

2008-05-30T14:20:00.003-04:00

Skip Dawkins, a Houston County school board member and president of the Georgia School Boards Association, was recognized by the National School Boards Association recently.

Dawkins was praised for his commitment to excellence. He was nominated for the NSBA School Board Member National Recognition Program by GSBA Executive Director Sis Henry.

Dawkins was one of five from the state recognized by the NSBA, and one of 45 from across the nation, according to a Houston County schools news release.

To be selected, school board members must show a significant contribution to the advancement of education at their local level. They also must have regularly attended state, regional and national conferences, to include at least three NSBA-sponsored workshops or conferences over a four-year period.

Dawkins has served on the Houston County Board of Education since 1995. He held the position of vice chairman and chairman. He has been an active member in GSBA since 1998 and served as president in 2007 and now in 2008.

Math teachers MIA; Update one found

2008-05-29T12:50:00.005-04:00

Apparently it's hard to reach 8th grade math teachers this time of year.

I sent out e-mails or made calls to all Bibb middle school principals Tuesday asking for help to interview a math teacher about this year's CRCT scores and find out what they think happened.

Of course, two that I reached, Rutland Middle School Principal Jerri Hall and Howard Middle Principal Matt Adams, both referred me to the central office's community affairs department for clearance.

On Wednesday a central office staffer sent me the names and school e-mails of five potential math teachers or assistant principals to interview. And I have e-mailed every one of them.

But, teachers left the school building this past Friday and central office folks said they don't know if they'd be checking their e-mails or not in the next couple of days to get my message.

Just thought I'd share with you the dilemma I face today as a reporter.

And BTW, if you know any 8th grade math teachers who aren't missing in action, send them my way!

(2:45 p.m. update)-- One of the middle school math teachers found my e-mail and gave me her perspective on what happened with this year's CRCT math exams.

Read all about why and how 58 percent of Bibb students failed the exam and what it all means in the Telegraph on Sunday.

Wanted: 8th grade math teachers

2008-05-27T15:21:00.002-04:00

I'm looking to talk to any 8th grade math teachers about this year's CRCTs and why so many students around the state failed that portion of the exam this year.

I'd also love for any parents of an eighth-grader who didn't pass the math exam to call me. I want to talk about how this is affecting your family this summer.

Call me (Julie) at 744-4331 or e-mail me at jhubbard@macon.com.

Hutchings stellar in math; Rutland in social studies

2008-05-27T10:15:00.004-04:00

Looking at school by school Georgia High School Graduation Test results for Bibb high schools today makes me wonder how one school in the same system can have 80 percent of students pass the social studies section of the exam, while another school has just 66 percent of students pass that same section?

Are their more experienced teachers at one school versus the other? Is there more tutoring or focus in one school on social studies? Does a school's student population make a difference on testing?

And Hutchings Career Center, for example, had more students pass math compared to all other schools in Bibb on this test, but had lower science scores. Are their students just good at math?

The state released school by school Georgia High School Graduation Test results on Friday. See them below:

Here's how juniors from each Bibb County high school stacked up on this year's exam:

Central 89% pass English/LA; 89% pass math; 72% pass science;79% pass social s.

Westside 84% pass English/LA;83% pass math; 72% pass science;72% pass social s.

Rutland 87% pass English/LA; 88% pass math; 75% pass science;80% pass social s.

Northeast 80% pass English/LA; 81% pass math; 65% pass science;66% pass social s.

Hutchings 87% pass English/LA; 90% pass math; 69% pass science;74% pass social s.

Southwest 82% pass English/La; 81% pass math; 72% pass science; 75% pass social s.

Bibb CRCT Scores for 3-8th grades

2008-05-23T14:02:00.005-04:00

Last night at about 6:30 p.m. Bibb County school officials sent me their CRCT scores.

I was able to write a story (read it here) for today's paper (on the fly) mostly focused on the 8th grade math scores and sixth- and seventh-grade social studies scores.

The scores are a political hot potato right now, given that thousands of kids who normally do well failed them this year.

The state has thrown out the social studies scores for 6th and 7th grades, but are not waiving math scores for 8th graders with Superintendent Cox saying the state can't lower the bar or expectations in math for students who need the increased rigor.

But I didn't get to you guys how well other Bibb students did on their CRCTs, so here are those scores:

The results are preliminary, I should mention. I'm also putting a * by the revised tests which have new curriculum (Georgia Performance Standards this year and last year were Quality Core Curriculum.)

-- 56 percent of third-graders passed math*; 83 percent passed social studies.

-- 60 percent of fourth-graders passed math*; 88 percent passed social studies.

-- 56 percent of fifth-graders passed math*; 82 percent passed social studies.

-- 48 percent of sixth-graders passed math; 14 percent passed social studies*.

-- 64 percent of seventh-graders passed math; 16 percent passed social studies*.

-- 42 percent of eighth-graders passed math*; 39 percent passed social studies*.

Bibb school officials said more than 2,000 third-, fifth-, and eighth-graders will need to take a CRCT retest this summer.

Last year, 1,731 --- 29 percent --- failed. In 2006, nearly 2,000 failed.

CRCTs having an Effect, but not sure where Bibb stands?

2008-05-22T13:37:00.005-04:00

Whether more Bibb County students will be heading to summer school this year remains to be seen.

In case you've missed the news lately, thousands of Georgia middle school students failed the math and social studies sections of the state exam, the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests given earlier this spring.

"As student scores from the 2008 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test are returned, it is clear that something is not right with the results in Social Studies for grades 6 and 7. It appears about 20 to 30 percent of our students will pass these two exams," Cox said earlier this week.

Only about 62 percent of 8th graders passed the math section, she said.

Read the statement Kathy Cox put out here

Both exams were new this year since they were remade to reflect the state's new, harder curriculum.

It's one reason state officials said more students may have failed this year, but they also looked into whether there could have been a scoring error.

Cox in the end has tossed out the social studies scores for grades 6 and 7, but those who failed math are not being waived, which could mean record numbers in summer school.

State law says students in fifth- and eighth-grades must pass the CRCT's in reading and math for promotion. Usually when students in these grades fail, they attend summer school to retake the exam this summer.

Bibb's testing director hasn't called me back this week (or returned e-mails) to let me know how these tests are affecting students here, but as soon as I hear I'll get it out to you.

Stay tuned!

Boys Not in Education Crisis, study finds

2008-05-21T11:48:00.003-04:00

I found this Washington Post story from yesterday pretty interesting and wanted to share:

A new study released Tuesday on gender equity in education shows boys are not in worse shape academically.

The report by the nonprofit American Association of University Women, reviewed nearly 40 years of data on achievement from fourth grade to college and for the first time analyzed gender differences within economic and ethnic categories, the Post writes.

What they did find (which is what some people around here will argue) is that academic success is more closely associated with family income than with gender.

Low income schools get federal Title I money to help with more resources and I know several have had after school tutoring programs that bus students home, in some cases.

The Bibb County school board has had a conversation in the past about paying teachers who work in high poverty schools more, do you think that could also help?

How else do you bridge the gap?

2008-05-21T09:53:00.003-04:00

The Lt. Governor's office praised the state board of education today for approving the Warren County school system as the state's first "Charter system."

“Charter Systems offer the truest form of local control and Georgia will see a genuine paradigm shift as more charter schools advance flexibility, innovation and resourceful teaching," Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said.

"We plan to work closely with the State Board of Education to ensure that the additional pending petitions, Decatur, Marietta, Gainesville and Chattahoochee County school systems will be given a fair review and quickly approved as well,” he said.

When a school system signs a contract with the state board to charter, it basically gives the system freedom to teach kids in their preferred style versus a prescribed formula the state sets for them to teach according to.

But, the system must show test score evidence that their way of doing things works.

A charter status allows a community, parents and teachers to have a say in the curriculum focus and how the schools operate. Charter schools or systems can offer specialized programs chosen by the community.

The Lt. Governor presented the bill to legislators in 2007 to allow entire school systems to operate under a charter format.

The closest system in Middle Georgia to visit the charter switch was Twiggs County Board of Education last year, when they considered the idea of revamping one of their schools as a charter but eventually voted it down. Some state officials told the system it could help them create specialty schools to draw families into the county, but at the time the county didn't have the buy in from parents.

Read that story here

Spellings Spokeswoman says NCLB Flexibility In Store

2008-05-20T10:04:00.006-04:00

Sorry guys, I wanted to post this sooner, but a tornado and closed schools last week got in my way.

But hey, it's still relevant information given that graduation, at least in Bibb, is this weekend. And this information could be a sign of what's to come nationally at some point, even here in Macon.

S. Anne Hancock, (pictured with Southwest Law Academy students at a recent law day here in Macon in this photo) is the regional representative for U.S. Dept. of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

In 1989 President Bush Sr. appointed Hancock to serve on the National Advisory Committee for Student Financial Aid, but then she took a leave of absence to serve as a regional spokeswoman for then Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander and has been in this role since.

This means Hancock is fairly plugged in to the federal No Child Left Behind Law of 2001 and what could be in store for it.

And that's what she and I had a conversation about when she stopped here earlier this month, whether students are well tracked and counted.

The law requires that all students test on grade level in reading and math by 2014 and schools are held accountable if their high school graduation rates do not increase each year.

The problem is states currently calculate their rates differently (some count students who get a GED as a graduate, some don't. Some count students who fail their high school exit exams as drop-outs, some states don't even use exit exams) which critics and Hancock said have left grad rates "misleading."

Sec. Spellings proposed in April that all states should use the same way to calculate their seniors who graduate in four years using the same rate.

And have a better way to document students.

The way the law is designed now, Hancock said, is if a student leaves a high school in Macon and says they are moving to Alabama and transferring to another high school in Alabama, "we don't know if that student does it or not."

In the global marketplace U.S. students are "falling far behind" she said. Our students need to be well educated and as many as possible graduating to make a living.

"It's a problem," she added. "We know we've got to do something."

Hancock said Spellings can't rewrite the law, but she can require states to use this same calculation method.

"She can't make major changes, but she can make it more flexible," Hancock said. "My reaction is very positive. People are concerned. They want to know what's happening to these students."

What other flexibility do you think this law needs?

End of Year School Career Fairs

2008-05-19T11:58:00.002-04:00

Three Bibb County schools called our newsroom in the past month asking to be part of their end of year Career Fairs.

This time of year many elementary and middle schools ask police officers, barbers, Wal-mart managers and others to talk to their students about their jobs.

Here's a photo from Weaver Middle School's Career Fair on May 9, where I had a booth.

This is a photo of Bibb County coroner Lonnie Miley showing students toe tags and giving them insight into his work.

Seniors Headed Out of State

2008-05-16T13:02:00.003-04:00

Hey guys, wanted to give you a peek of what's to come Sunday in The Telegraph.

You can read about midstate seniors headed out-of-state to college this fall, to places such as Harvard, the Air Force Academy, Notre Dame and University of North Carolina.

Watch this video to see why Mary Persons High School senior Cameron Parker chose to leave the Peach State for his studies.

End of School is Thursday in Bibb

2008-05-16T11:17:00.002-04:00

Bibb County school officials said today the last day of school is Thursday for all students except Rutland (which will be out Wednesday).

It's two days later than originally planned, but what are you going to do when a tornado sweeps through town and leaves schools without power and some storm damage.

I hope this doesn't put a damper on students plans.

I'd love to hear how it's affecting you guys.

Stratford Ecology Club Helps Apartment Go Green

2008-05-15T14:44:00.003-04:00

From Stratford school officials:

Over dinner one night, Stratford Academy junior, Anna Hathaway, mentioned to her parents about her involvement with the school Ecology Club. Her father, David Hathaway, owns Hathaway Properties which builds and manages apartment complexes in Macon and Atlanta. He mentioned that if Anna’s club could come up with ways for his apartments to “go green” that he would implement those suggestions into the design of the complexes. In return, he would give the club a contribution for a group project.

With the help of club advisor, Brad Hutcheson, Ecology Club members developed a list of ten eco-friendly building suggestions. The six initiatives that Hathaway Properties incorporated were: free pick-up service for recyclables, green area for parking, installation of compact fluorescent bulbs, bicycle racks, recycled carpet, and salt water pools vs. fresh water pools with chlorine.

Hathaway Properties presented a check for $500 to the officers of the Stratford Ecology Club on Tuesday, May 6. The donation has already been designated for the club to purchase paper recycling bins for Stratford classrooms. Pictured left to right are: Amy Schwartz, Brad Hutcheson (advisor), Hannah Reynolds, Anna Hathaway and Elizabeth Street (Hathaway Properties).

Home schooled students now eligible for HOPE

2008-05-14T10:55:00.003-04:00

Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law Tuesday a bill that makes home schooled students and other students who have their GEDs eligible for the HOPE Scholarship.

Before, home schooled students only could apply for HOPE retroactively if they earned a B their first year in college. Now they may qualify for HOPE prior to their freshman year if they score in the 85th percentile or higher on the SAT or ACT.

The students must have graduated after 1993 to be eligible.

Do you think home schooled students and GED recipients should be allowed to qualify for HOPE?

State Schools Superintendent in Dublin today

2008-05-14T10:35:00.001-04:00

State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox is in Laurens County today to visit schools.

"These visits give me the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the people
on the front lines of education in Georgia," Superintendent Cox said. "I
enjoy seeing what is working in their schools and I also want to hear
about the unique challenges these schools face and how they are working to
overcome those challenges."

Since taking office about five years ago, Superintendent Cox has visited over 500 schools in all 181 school districts.

Here's her schedule today:

Southwest Laurens Elementary School
1799 Hwy 117
Rentz, GA 31075

8:00 Arrive Southwest Laurens Elementary
8:15 Meet with Administrators (CLOSED TO MEDIA)
8:35 Read to First Grade Class
8:50 Visit Classrooms

East Laurens Middle School
930 Highway 80 East
Dublin, GA 31027

9:55 Arrive at East Laurens Middle School
10:00 Meet in library with School Administration and Teachers (CLOSED TO
MEDIA)
10:20 Visit Classrooms

Dublin City
Susie Dasher Elementary School
911 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Dublin, GA 31021

11:30 Arrival
Meet & Greet - Fred Williams, Mayor Best, Rep. DuBose Porter,
Senator Tollison
Welcome Song - Susie Dasher Chorus
11:45 Presentation by Mr. Fred Williams, Principal in Data Room
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Round Table Discussion on Parent Engagement with: PTO Officers;
School Council members; staff; and parents
1:30 School Tour
2:00 Departure

Gov. Signs Charter School Commission Bill

2008-05-14T10:19:00.003-04:00

This is a release from The Center for Education Reform:

Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia today signed into law HB 881 allowing for the creation of the Georgia Charter Schools Commission.

"It's a good day for public education in Georgia. Eighty percent of the nation's nearly 4,200 charter schools exist in states with multiple authorizers. With Gov. Perdue's signature today, Georgia becomes the 18th state to create an independent alternative charter school authorizer. Now more children in the Peach State will have greater access to innovative and highly accountable public education opportunities," Education reform officials said.

"Our research in Georgia shows that nearly 75 percent of Georgians across all demographics support the idea of an independent authorizer because they recognize that school districts have little incentive to create charter schools."

It sounds like now, those who want to ask permission to start a charter school to go to this authorizer instead of their local school boards.

In Bibb County, a few years ago a Macon businessman asked the school board to use Hunt Elementary to start a charter school in the Fort Hill neighborhood, but the board voted it down, mostly because there was no clear education plan as far as testing and accountability for student success.

Do you think more folks now will ask to start charter schools?

Helping hands

2008-05-14T10:15:00.004-04:00

UPDATE: Mercer staff also step forward and donate $3,200 that would have been used for an annual picnic. The Mercer Engineering Research Center at Warner Robins also is expected to donate another $800.

It's nice to see everyone pull together in times like this.

As many as 14 Georgia College construction workers, grounds keepers and electrical mechanics spent Monday and Tuesday cleaning debris from Macon State grounds.

“We called and offered our services,” said Kevin Murner, Georgia College assistant director of plant operations who helped coordinate the support effort. “They were pretty much in desperate need. They had lost all communication ability and power. Our goal was to help the university continue to conduct business and help ensure the safety of the students, faculty and staff.”

The F-2 tornado that ripped through Macon snapped or uprooted every pine tree on the front campus, blocking entrances, roadways and parking lots, Murner said.

“We also ran across sheet metal and insulation the tornado picked up elsewhere and dropped on the campus,” Murner said. “Limbs and logs were meshed together and entwined.”

The Georgia College crew took a backhoe, chain saws, utility vehicles and a dump truck to help haul away debris and cleanup the university’s botanical gardens recently featured in Southern Living.

“It was great to see Georgia College arrive on our campus,” said David Simms, Macon State’s Director of Operations. “We appreciate the effort to help us. Your help in clearing debris and infrared inspections of our roofs were invaluable to us reopening the campus.”

Luckily the campus buildings sustained minimal damage, Murner said. Windows were broken, and water damaged some of the buildings.

“The facilities held up very well structurally,” Murner said. “The campus took a direct hit.”

Georgia Southern presents posthumous degree to Warner Robins student

2008-05-14T10:07:00.003-04:00

During Saturday's commencement ceremony at Georgia Southern, the university presented the parents of Shabria Lowe with a posthumous degree.

Shabria Lowe was a physics student at Georgia Southern until her death on Nov. 21, according to the university. I do not know how she died.

“Shabria was not only an outstanding student, but an outstanding
person,” Mark Edwards, chair of the physics department at
Georgia Southern said in a news release. “We are honored to present her diploma
to her family this Saturday and want them to know that we will never forget her."

Lowe graduated from Warner Robins High School in 2004. Before her death, she had planned to go to medical school.

Classes underway at Macon State

2008-05-13T10:39:00.004-04:00

Here's an update about what's going on at Macon State College in the wake of Sunday's storm.

From the college:

• MAYMESTER CLASSES AT THE MACON CAMPUS ARE NOW UNDERWAY IN THE STUDENT LIFE CENTER. Maymester students and their faculty should report to the Student Life Center at the regularly scheduled class times.

• The rest of the Macon campus is closed until Thursday, May 15. All College staff should report to work as normal on that day.

• The Warner Robins Campus is operating as usual.

• BannerWeb and the student portal, MyMSC, are now operational. Financial aid applicants are encouraged to use BannerWeb to check on the status of their applications.

• SUMMER SEMESTER CLASSES WILL BEGIN AS SCHEDULED ON TUESDAY, MAY 27. It’s not too late to apply for summer classes. To facilitate processing of applications, prospective students may hand deliver their transcripts to the Macon campus admissions office beginning Thursday, May 15.

• Phone service to the Macon campus will be fully restored as quickly as possible. In the meantime, prospective students for summer semester may contact the Warner Robins Campus admissions office at (478) 929-6700 if they have questions about admissions or financial aid. Due to high call volume, please leave your name and number and we will return your call as quickly as possible.

• Macon campus buildings sustained minimal damage during Sunday’s tornado. Cleanup of debris from downed trees is well underway.

• Check www.maconstate.edu for frequent updates.

On Monday, Macon State officials estimated the tornado caused more than $1 million in damages across the 167-acre campus, Julie reports. Among the buildings damaged were the gymnasium, Student Life Center and library.

Bibb County schools also are dealing with trying to get classes back on track, and Central Georgia Tech plans to open its Macon campus again Wednesday.

Do you think the schools and colleges have done a good job responding to the storm and tornado damages?

Macon State/Westside Damage Photos

2008-05-12T20:03:00.005-04:00

Here are some snapshots of Macon state College and Westside High School damage I captured today while out assessing storm damage at both schools.

The top photo is the front of Westside High on Heath Road. Second photo is a mobile classroom behind the school, which was destroyed. The bottom is a photo along Ivey Drive of Macon State College campus.

Westside High Damage

2008-05-12T19:44:00.002-04:00

Westside High School will not reopen for the remainder of the school year because of roof and flooding damage caused by Sunday's tornado and storm damage.

Deputy Superintendent Sylvia McGee said late today that Westside students may be relocated to Rutland High, but plans are being finalized. This video shows Westside Principal Laura Perkins talking about damage.

Southwest High which also had damage, will reopen when school resumes, which could be Wednesday if schools have power.

Rice and Barden Elementary also had some storm damage. And here are the list of schools that had no power as of today:

Ballard-Hudson Middle
Barden Elementary
Bernd Elementary
Bloomfield Middle
Bruce Elementary
Burghard Elementary
Burke Elementary
Butler Early Childhood Center
Heard Elementary
Ingram-Pye Elementary
Morgan Elementary
Neel Alternative School
Renaissance Academy
Rice Elementary
Riley Elementary
Southwest High
Taylor Elementary
Union Elementary
Weaver Middle
Westside Elementary

Storms and schools

2008-05-11T19:13:00.003-04:00

Briefly, because I've been at work all day and am tired:

*Bibb county schools will be closed Monday.

*Tattnall Square Academy will be closed.

*An official at Tattnall Square also said Mount De Sales Academy will be closed, although that has not been confirmed with Mount De Sales.

*Macon State College's Macon campus will be closed Monday. Here is a statement from the college:

The Macon Campus of Macon State College will be closed on Monday, May 12 as the result of extensive damage sustained at about 5 a.m. on Sunday when a tornado swept across portions of central Bibb County. At least four buildings on the Macon Campus sustained major structural damage and hundreds of trees were uprooted or snapped off across the campus. Electricity service to the campus was knocked out as well.

No one sustained any injuries from the storm.

The college’s Warner Robins Campus was not damaged and will operate as usual on Monday. A determination will be made later as to when normal operations can resume on the Macon campus.

The National Weather Service reported the tornado that hit the Macon campus was an F2 storm, which has winds of at least 110 mph. The most severe structural damage occurred to the gymnasium building, which lost a large portion of its roof. Severe damage also was reported to the roof of the Student Life Center. Large windows were blown out or damaged at the Humanities/Social Sciences Building and at the Library building. The new Professional Sciences Building, which is now under construction, also sustained damage.

The campus was littered with building debris and downed trees. The number of damaged trees was estimated to be in the hundreds. Virtually all of the trees that shaded a popular walking trail on the north side of the lake were snapped off about 30 feet from the ground.

President David A. Bell declared the campus was in a state of emergency. Campus leaders gathered on Sunday afternoon to assess the damage and plan how to continue with Maymester classes, currently in session. Also, damage assessments to property were being made.

With the loss of all electricity to the campus, the college’s website was knocked out as well. An emergency site was set up and will appear at the college’s main website, www.maconstate.edu , for additional notifications to the public, staff, faculty and students. That site is being operated temporarily by the University System of Georgia’s OIIT office.

Stay safe out there.

Congrats to the grads

2008-05-08T12:47:00.006-04:00

UPDATE: Here's a link to the story and photos.

In anticipation of college graduations, I've talked to eight graduates from eight Middle Georgia colleges. Profiles about the students will run in tomorrow's paper, but here's a sneak peek at the grads.

College isn't always the answer

2008-05-07T11:24:00.005-04:00

Marty Nemko, a former education consultant and current career counselor in Oakland, Calif., calls college degrees "overrated" on the opinions pages of today's AJC.

He argues that the traditional four-year college is not right for all students and presents this statistic for the basis of his argument:

Among high school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas 8 1/2 years later.

Plus, they often leave with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, he says.

So what's to be done?

Nemko calls for colleges to be required to publicly report data that would allow students and their parents to make more accurate decisions about whether college is the right route.

This data include:

• Results of a "value added" test.

• The average cash, loan and work-study financial aid for varying levels of family income and assets, broken out by race and gender.

• Retention data.

• The four-, five- and six-year graduation rates, broken out by SAT score, race and gender.

• Employment data.

• Results of recent student-satisfaction surveys.

In the meantime, he suggests:

If your child's high school grades and test scores are in the bottom half for his class, resist the attempts of four-year colleges to woo him. ... Consider an associate-degree program at a community college, or such nondegree options as apprenticeship programs ... shorter career-preparation programs at community colleges, the military or on-the-job training. ... If your student is in the top half of his high school class and motivated to attend college for reasons other than going to parties and being able to say he went to college, have him apply to perhaps a dozen colleges. It's often wise to choose the college that requires you to pay the least cash and take out the smallest loan.

What do you think of Nemko's argument? Do you think too many students are pushed into attending a four-year college? Is there a stigma if your child does not attend a four-year college?

Time to get a job (easier said than done)

2008-05-06T17:10:00.004-04:00

On Sunday, I had a story in the paper about the shaky job market this year's college graduates are facing. I knew going into the story that some students were having a rough time getting jobs. My own sister, who will graduate from Mercer on Saturday, had been applying to places for months with no job offers in sight. However, I was unsure exactly how to explain the issue.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that employers planned to hire 8 percent more new college graduates this year than in 2007. At first, that sounds good. They're hiring more than last year, so what's the problem? The problem is that in the fall employers had reported that they would hire 16 percent more new college grads, which means those numbers have dropped. Between fall and spring, employers have decided to hirer fewer graduates than they originally intended.

By comparison, last year's planned increase was 17 percent. Interestingly enough, the highest increase in planned hires was for the Class of 2001, which saw a 23 percent increase. The lowest increase was the very next year for the Class of 2002, which saw a planned decrease of 20 percent. (This was due to the economic shakeup following Sept. 11.)

So basically, the market isn't horrible, but it's not great either. Some students are getting jobs, and some students are having a tougher time. Lots of it depends on the field they're entering. And for those students who haven't found a job yet, I know they're stressing. I wish all of them good luck.

Does anyone have any tips out there to fresh grads without jobs? What were your experiences getting a job like after college?

Midstate Students Win Journalism Awards

2008-05-02T17:40:00.003-04:00

It was so inspiring to talk to high school journalists today at the Georgia Scholastic Press Association's 2007-08 awards ceremony.

There were 150 awards given to high school newspaper staffs for their writing and editing skills, as well as to yearbook and broadcast students.

The hard issue stories these teens are writing about is amazing given that it's an age when more schools are censoring what students write about and cut out school newspaper budgets.

Caitlyn VanOrden, a newspaper staffer at East Coweta High School in Newnan, Georgia had several of her articles, including one that was critical of beauty pageants, censored by school administration. Read about her here.

"Overall the state of high school journalism is not very good," GSPA Director Joe Dennis said today. "It's a shame in Georgia journalism is an elective."

Too many schools are putting their money and time into core academic courses, although writing develops students' critical thinking skills, he said.

He did make a comment that the schools in Macon have "very strong" school newspapers.

Central High School students for example, don't use money from their school budget to print their newspaper, The Central Post.

They go out and get advertising to pay for the monthly paper.

With guidance from their journalism teacher John Bodo, who has a degree in journalism, students have written about school vending machine price increases and teachers leaving without notice and not giving interviews.

Shreyas Vangala, a Central student won a superior award for her news story for "Undercover Vendor."

The Seminole Beat, Westside High's newspaper tackled school redistricting issues. The overall newspaper won an achievement award in the class AAAA category.

First Presbyterian Day School won this year's "Perseverance Award" after their newspaper staff dwindled from 14 to 4 students this year.

The Journalism business is struggling "requiring us to do more," Dennis said.

Dalton High School couldn't afford to print a newspaper at their school, so started an online newspaper, he said.

Students, even if its Facebook or MySpace will find a forum to communicate.

What's the moral here, you may ask? Well, journalism creates students with good writing and communication skills for one.

"It's their world," added Cecil Bentley, director of career services and corporate relations for the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Georgia.

It's important for students to know about the things that may affect them and things relevant to their life, he said.

Do you think more schools should adopt high school newspapers? Should it be an elective, it is a writing course after all?

Read all the GSPA awards here

Read leftover stuff that was cut from my Saturday story in the newspaper here About 2,400 journalists — of among about 55,000 nationwide — left newsrooms last year in a combination of layoffs and buyouts due to a decline in readership and advertising.
It was the largest decrease of newsroom staff in the past 30 years, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors's annual census report released last month.
The rocky industry has not dissuaded students from seeking journalism careers, said Stephanie Cox, co-editor of "The Southerner", the high school newspaper of Henry W. Grady High School in Atlanta, which wins several GSPA awards each year.
"Whatever job you have you want to be able to write," she said.
The lack of young people reading newspapers have just caused their newspaper staff to work harder. They've written stories on student drop-outs to pre-marital sex.
"Before we concentrated on state and national issues," she said. "Now we try to write more stories that students want to read."
Most High School newspapers have not yet dove into multi-media work, such as blogging or telling news stories through online video, which some newspaper industry experts say newspapers are heading.
High schools still refrain from too much online interaction at school, although some high schools do have newspaper Web sites, Dennis said.
It's easy for students to get their news online, said Kendall Dreyer, a senior who writes for the Seminole Beat at Westside High. But it may not be accurate, she said.
"There's a lot of integrity with newspapers you won't find anywhere else," she said.

What drives someone to succeed?

2008-05-01T12:54:00.003-04:00

Right now I'm in the middle of a bunch of interviews of soon-to-be college graduates for a feature that's coming out May 9. So far, I've found the students I've spoken with to be pretty amazing. Not all of these students were high school overachievers and all have different backgrounds, but I found some similarities amidst their vastly different stories. And it's their similarities that, I think, can teach us a little bit about why some people succeed in education and why others don't.

One common thread I see is that the students I've talked to had someone them that extra push toward college. Whether it was a friend, a family member or a teacher, someone in their lives believed in them -- and told them so. Once the student saw that someone believed in their abilities, they started to believe in their own abilities, too.

Another similarity I found was that success breeds more success. Once students realized that they could do well in a class, they were more motivated to try harder to keep the good grades. One student said she was a B student in high school and was fine with that. But when she realized she could make As in college, she wanted to continue making the As because she knew she could do it. Another student found himself going from barely able to add fractions to acing Calculus II, which is no easy feat, I'm sure.

Maybe if all children -- and adults -- had someone who believed in them, they would take an uncertain leap to success. And if they do well, they will eventually achieve it.

What do you think? What drives someone to succeed? What about you personally? What are some ways we can all be better at helping those around us succeed?

HCBOE Appoints Northside High Principal

2008-04-30T16:49:00.003-04:00

The Houston County Board of Education appointed today Mark Scott as the new principal of Northside High School to start this fall.

Scott replaces Robin Hines, who is transferring to the central office as Assistant Superintendent for School Operations.

Scott currently serves as the principal at Oak Hill Middle School in Milledgeville.

He joins the Houston County School System with 11 years of experience in education, according to a system news release.

Northside High School is located at 926 Green Street in Warner Robins, Ga.

Are NCLB Changes Long Overdue?

2008-04-30T09:42:00.003-04:00

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings last week launched her latest and most extensive effort to modify the No Child Left Behind law, according to a Tuesday article in Education Week.

Spellings proposed a package of new regulations that would require state and local school officials to provide more and better information about high school graduation rates, student test performance, and the availability of tutoring.

Read the Education Week story here

As many of you know, different states have used different methods for calculating graduation rates. Do you think it's fair for some schools to count those who get a GED while other high schools can't and claim lower graduation rates?

I wrote an article in December about the "misleading" rates. Read that story here

Some states compare the number of students enrolled in the ninth-grade to the number that graduate four years later. (Which Georgia uses.)

Other states look only at the number of students at the beginning of the 12th grade and compare that number to how many of those seniors get their diplomas at the end of the school year.

Some states count students who receive certificate-of-attendance diplomas or GEDs as graduates. Others don't.

"The rates are a little different," said Alan Richard, spokesman for the Southern Regional Education Board, an Atlanta-based education group. "How can we solve the (dropout) problem if we don't know how big it is? We need accurate information" that's consistent.

The proposed rules, which are now open for public comment, would standardize the definition states use in determining graduation rates, require schools to make extensive efforts to ensure eligible students know they can transfer to different schools or sign up for free tutoring, and force states to publish their scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress alongside their own test results, Ed Week reports.

For more reading on the subject go to this U.S. DOE site

Do you think this NCLB law change should happen, and if so happen quickly?

H.S. Uniform update

2008-04-29T10:47:00.003-04:00

A Bibb County public high school principal said yesterday that a planned conference call Monday between principals to discuss whether to proceed with a proposed school uniform policy didn't happen.

Other meetings came up and one principal was out sick, according to the note.

I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

You still have time to vote on our poll listed under the "In Favor of High School Uniforms? link.

IDK, my BFF Jill?

2008-04-28T13:57:00.002-04:00

There's good news, and there's bad news.

You want the bad news first?

Nearly two-thirds of surveyed teens say they have used some of their text messaging shorthand in school writing assignments, according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. :(

And the good news?

Sixty percent of the teens said they did not think of text messaging as writing, according to the study. :)

The intermingling of texting and writing may just be a sign of the technological times.

“I think this is not a worrying issue at all,” said Richard Sterling, emeritus executive director of the National Writing Project, which aims to improve the teaching of writing.

When e-mail shorthand — or for that matter, slang — appears in academic assignments, Professor Sterling said, it is an opportunity for teachers to explain that while such usages are acceptable in some contexts, they do not belong in schoolwork. And as the English language evolves, he said, some e-mail conventions, like starting sentences without a capital letter, may well become accepted practice.

Honestly, I was in college not long ago, and I sometimes caught myself wanting to write "LOL" (laugh out loud) or "j/k" (just kidding) in some of my more formal communications. Luckily I never turned in a paper like that because I don't think my professor would have been laughing.

Teachers/parents: Are you seeing more students incorporate text messaging slang into their school work? How do you deal with the issue?

Students: Do you find yourselves writing more informally for class because of text messaging? Do you consider texting or instant messaging "writing"?

In Favor of High School Uniforms?

2008-04-25T15:30:00.009-04:00

Should Bibb High School students wear uniforms? Vote in the poll below.

Howard High School Principal Karen Yarbrough said today that if principals decide to go before the school board to push mandating school uniforms to start this fall, principals will do it in May.

Five school principals said in February they were in favor of their students wearing similar uniforms to curb discipline problems and increase school safety.

Do you think they should push it? If the board were to pass a uniform policy for high school students soon, would it give parents enough time to shop and prepare?

Problem with funding source stalls some college construction

2008-04-24T11:17:00.006-04:00

New construction to the tune of $83 million at eight state colleges is being held up because of problems with the structure — or lack thereof — of the two-year old Georgia Higher Education Facilities Authority, which is meant to fund the projects.

Stalled projects include Fort Valley State's new $13 million football stadium and Georgia College & State University's $7 million investment in downtown Milledgeville's Campus Theatre. The theater is to be renovated and converted into a black box theater for the theater department and a bookstore.

When Georgia College purchased the theater for $817,996 back in February, it had to use money from its auxiliary services funds because of a hold up with the facilities authority, university spokesman Bryan Jackson said.

"The plan is to hopefully bring it on line in time for the fall 2009 academic year," Jackson said. But "obviously depending on when the money becomes available dictates when the work can begin."

Craziest Press Release of the Day Award

2008-04-24T10:45:00.002-04:00

Goes to......."Live in Happy Homes.com" for sending me this e-mail today:

"A CHILD’S BED, positioned over a disturbed area where dangerous and harmful energy is coming out of the earth, straight up to their bedroom, may affect children while they are sleeping."

A study of about 1,500 infants and toddlers as well as 3,000 students and teenagers identified strong correlations between those sleeping over "disturbed areas" and learning difficulties and illnesses.

Do any of you, Middle Georgia students, sleep over disturbed areas?

Adult education scholarship

2008-04-24T10:25:00.002-04:00

Most of the time when we think about education, we think about traditionally-aged high school and college students. However, there's a huge sector devoted to adult education.

I thought this was a pretty unique scholarship opportunity for an oftentimes overlooked sector of the population:

HGTC Foundation establishes Dale Thompson Scholarship

DUBLIN—H. Dale Thompson was a life-long advocate for adult education. Upon his passing July 2001, funds were donated to the Heart of Georgia Technical College Foundation to assist adult education in Thompson’s memory.

“Because of Mr. Thompson’s passion to help adults who had dropped out of high school and needed to complete their education, we wanted to use the funds in his memory for a specific area in adult education,” said Dahlia Allen, dean of adult education for Heart of Georgia Tech.

Thompson’s dream was to have a lasting effect on the progress of adult education. The HGTC Foundation established a GED Fee Scholarship in his honor. The cost to take all five parts of the GED test is $95, or $19 for each individual section. Students enrolled in the HGTC adult education program may apply for scholarship funding to cover two of the five parts.

Thompson was a life-long resident of Laurens County. He practiced law in Dublin for 52 years. His wife, Jane, and son, Scott, both live in Dublin. His daughter, Janet Greer, and her family live in LaGrange. His son, Henry, and his family live in Summerville, SC.

The HGTC Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations to the Dale Thompson GED Fee Scholarship may be sent to HGTC Foundation, 560 Pinehill Road, Dublin, GA 31021, or may be made on-line at www.heartofgatech.edu.

The new armory

2008-04-23T10:11:00.005-04:00

For space reasons, the rendering of what the old McKenna National Guard Armory will look like after its $4.5 million renovation, was left out of the newspaper this morning.

The armory sits on the corner of Felton Avenue and Anthony Road. It will have a Boys and Girls Club after-school program, Head Start, health clinic and other community agency services inside.

It's part of about $26 million in new construction coming to that street. A rebuilt Ingram-Pye Elementary is coming and a new Ballard-Hudson Middle opened in January.

Are you guys happy to see this construction? What other parts of Macon do you think need a makeover?

Like the International Flair?

2008-04-22T09:52:00.004-04:00

Several International teachers showed up for the Bibb County school system's reception Thursday evening to celebrate its 25 international teachers who are teaching in Macon this school year.

The school system pays a $3,700 recruiting fee to Visiting International Faculty (the North Carolina based teaching exchange program) for each teacher they hire.

Celia Liang from Taiwan is teaching beginning Chinese at Central High this school year and Amanda Wheeler, from Western Sydney, Australia is warding off questions about whether her country "has big spiders" in her third-grade classroom at Porter Elementary.

The Telegraph has written several stories on the Visiting International Faculty program.

Read the initial story here

VIF Chief Executive Officer David Young, who was at the reception, says "around the country we're seeing trends in education where superintendents and administrators are trying to prepare students for what the world will be like in 15 to 20 years."

As technology advances and shifts in demographics occur "it's clear students need a broad perspective of the world to thrive in the economy," Young says.

But on the VIF program teachers come on a three year visa. Wheeler is leaving after two years in the classroom.

Is this recruiting process and expense to bring diverse teachers here worth the short cultural exchange in the classroom? I'd love to here from parents, teachers and students who have taken a course from a VIF teacher to get your opinion.

HOPE scholars on learning support

2008-04-21T12:13:00.004-04:00

UPDATE (4/22): I got an e-mail this morning from Kathleen Mathers at the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. In it, Mathers informed me of another features of Georgia's Education Scoreboard that shows the percentage of students at each high school that are "College-ready HOPE scholars." That means those students have the HOPE scholarship and do not need learning support classes. For example, this shows 93 percent of Central High School's graduates are college-ready HOPE scholars. Click here for a list of Bibb County schools, or find your school system.

---

I have a story in the paper today about the number of students on the HOPE Scholarship who take learning support.

System-wide, 12 percent of freshman HOPE scholars need some type of remedial help when they get to college. That basically means that students who scored a B-average aren't prepared for college-level work in some subjects.

What do you think about that number? Too high, too low, seems about right? Should students be allowed to receive the HOPE Scholarship if they need extra support in college?

I had a graphic that broke down that information by colleges and universities, but it must have gotten lost in the process of getting it in the paper, so here is the info for Middle Georgia colleges:

(The percentage represents the percentage of freshman who have the HOPE Scholarship and take at least one learning support class)

Fort Valley State University 34.4 percent
Georgia College & State University 0.0 percent
Gordon College 36.2 percent
Macon State College 52.0 percent
Middle Georgia College 40.3 percent

Source.

Mercer's 10-year future

2008-04-18T18:08:00.006-04:00

I've been out of the office all day at a conference on covering health care (we all gotta chip in on other topics), so I missed the news from the Mercer trustee's meeting today.

But my colleague, Travis Fain, has picked up my slack, and you can read his story on the university's new strategic plan here. (Also, here's some shameless promotion of his Lucid Idiocy blogs here and here, because he's such a nice guy.)

Some highlights:

*Increase qualifications of new students
*Retain more students
*Improve faculty and staff compensation
*Reduce student/faculty ratio
*Increase annual externally funded research expenditures from $11.7 million to at least $40 million
*Enhance undergraduate research and study abroad opportunities
*Establish as many as five additional Ph.D. programs
*Redefine the meaning of a faith-based Baptist university
*Spend around $225 million in construction and renovating of facilities
*Develop a $1 billion endowment (President Underwood has said this since he got here in July 2006)
*Increase enrollment by 1,200 over 10 years

Read the full strategic plan here.

(An FYI -- since Mercer's private the media aren't allowed to attend its trustees meetings. Believe me, I tried once last year and got kicked out.)

What do you think of Mercer's new strategic plan? I'll follow up on more specific points next week. Ya'll have a great weekend!

From Cows to Washington

2008-04-18T16:16:00.006-04:00

Here are some press releases you may or may not want to read about:

Cook English, a Mount de Sales student participated in the National Young Leaders “Model Congress” conference the weekend of April 5 in Washington D.C.

English watched intense debate, negotiation, and lobbying, and was also able to vote up or down on several amendments in a mock Congressional session.

For fun, English enjoyed the Smithsonian museum and a night of fun at a farewell dinner dance, according to a news release from the private school in Macon.

In Houston County, some school leaders were busy kissing a cow (although these photos don't actually show the kiss, hum?)

David Perdue Elementary School Principal Ed Weeks kissed a cow this week for a Relay for Life fund-raiser.

Elizabeth Smith, a sixth-grade honor student at Miller Middle School in Macon, is among 250 middle school students from across the nation accepted to the Junior National Young Leaders Conference in Washington this June.

The “Voices of Leadership: Reflection on the Past to create the Future" conference will be a six-day program examining the impact of leadership throughout critical periods in American history including the Civil War and Reconstruction, World War II, the Great Depression and the Civil Fights Movement.

And the Woodruff Arts Center announced today it has nomination forms available for people to nominate teachers, school and arts administrators, community leaders, and volunteers throughout Georgia who have championed and demonstrated the ability to use arts to impact the lives of young people.

Click here for more info

Should Bibb School Board Appoint New Member?

2008-04-18T14:11:00.002-04:00

Bob Nickels sprang his resignation on fellow Bibb County school board members late Thursday during a monthly meeting that had gone into an executive session behind closed doors.

"We were shocked," President of the board Lynn Farmer said today. Nickels is leaving to pursue other job interests after he shut down his own computer software business this year.

He basically said he needed to pay his bills and being a board member may not allow him to work full-time in another job and also serve the board.

He also wants to write a grant to beef up the Children's Literacy Coalition, a project already in the school system that helps students in low-income schools improve their reading skills.

Nickels said if he were able to do more in that role, he would not be able to serve the board out of conflict of interest.

If he leaves at the end of May it will leave seven months until a new district 3 member is elected in November and takes office in January.

Farmer said today it takes up to four months to search, interview and appoint someone.

Should the board go through the entire process to have a temporary board member in place for maybe three months or leave the seat vacant and wait until Jan. 1 when the voters put someone in office?

What do you guys think?

There's tuition and then there's fees

2008-04-16T18:09:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I blogged about next year's increase in college tuition, but that's not the only part of the college costs equation.

While tuition makes up the largest chunk of college costs, student fees also play a role. And although tuition increases are covered by the HOPE Scholarship, fee increases are not. Typical fees include the activity fee, health fee, athletic fee and transportation fee.

This morning I was looking at the fee increases for the state's 35 public colleges and universities. Approved fees for fall 2008 range from a high of $630 at Valdosta State to a low of $77 at Waycross College. Granted, HOPE will pay for some of these costs, but not any of the increases since 2004 when the legislature capped the amount of money HOPE would contribute toward fees.

Fee increases this year were all over the board, from $0 at several colleges to more than $100 at others.

Here are the fall 2008 fees for midstate colleges:

Fort Valley State $460 (increase of $115 — most of it to fund a new student center)

Georgia College $465 (increase of $36)

Gordon College $184 (increase of $44)

Macon State College $94 (no increase)

Middle Georgia College $212 (no increase)

And because I know some of you are interested:

UGA $587 (increase of $24)

Georgia Tech $592 (increase of $19)

If you have any additional questions about specific schools or fees, let me know.

What do you think about the cost of student fees in addition to tuition?

News from regents' meeting

2008-04-16T13:35:00.002-04:00

If you're interested:

Regents take action on new campus mission, international education and enrollment growth

USG reports $840.6 million in extramural income from grants and contracts in FY2007

Is there a cure for high school drop-outs?

2008-04-16T11:05:00.004-04:00

If the more than 59,000 state dropouts from the Class of 2007 would have graduated, it would have translated into over $2.8 billion in additional tax revenue for the federal government, according to the national Alliance for Excellent Education.

Nationwide, if the more than 1.2 million U.S. high school dropouts from the Class of 2007 had earned diplomas along with their classmates, the federal government could have collected an additional $60.72 billion in tax revenue over these students’ lifetimes, the organization said in a press release today.

“Had all of the dropouts from the Class of 2007 received their high school diplomas, they could have contributed enough money in additional tax revenue over the course of their lifetimes to match the amount of discretionary funding that the U.S. Department of Education received for an entire year,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance and former governor of West Virginia.

In a single year the average high school dropout pays $1,302 in federal income taxes compared to $3,085 for a high school graduate, which translates into a drop-out will earn less money.

Statewide, there has been a push to increase the graduation rate with high school graduation coaches to help these at risk students stay in school.

Bibb County schools in Macon is also starting an Early College Initiative with Macon State College to take 60, at-risk seventh-graders and allow them to take high school and college courses at the same time to give them a better chance of finishing both high school and college. A new class of seventh-graders will be selected each year.

Why do you guys think so many students drop-out or don't graduate on time? What else can school systems do to retain at-risk students?

Share your thoughts, please.

Death, taxes and college tuition

2008-04-15T16:23:00.005-04:00

The Board of Regents, which oversees the state's public colleges and universities, set tuition today.

Tuition increases can be counted on about as much as death and taxes, and this year's increases range from 5 percent to 8 percent for incoming freshmen. Under the Board of Regents guaranteed tuition plan, tuition for those who entered college in fall 2006 and fall 2007 will remain the same.

Here's a sampling of colleges that might be of your interest. (Don't see your college? Click here for more information about tuition.)

• Incoming freshmen at the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech will pay $2,428 in fall 2008, an increase of $180, or 8 percent, over the previous fall.

• Incoming freshmen at Fort Valley State University will pay $1,549 per semester, an increase of $115, or 8 percent, over last year.

• Incoming Georgia College & State University freshmen will pay $2,273 per semester, an increase of $169, or 8 percent.

• Incoming freshmen at Gordon College, Macon State College and Middle Georgia College all will pay $997 per semester in fall 2008. That's an increase of $59, or 6 percent, over last year.

• Students who enrolled under the guaranteed tuition plan in 2006 and 2007 will see no change in tuition rates.

• Students who enrolled prior to 2006, will see an increase of 4 percent to 6 percent, depending on their college.

(Oh, and if you're wondering, Mercer University hasn't finalized its tuition rates for the fall yet, and Wesleyan College is getting back to me. Since both colleges are private, they set their own tuition rates.)

UPDATE (1:51 p.m. 4/16): I actually heard back from Wesleyan last night, but forgot to update until this moment. Students at Wesleyan will pay $17,000 for the fall 2008 academic year, which includes both fall and spring semesters. That's an increase of $500, or about 3 percent over last year.

What do you think about the ever-rising tuition rates? What do you think about the University System's guaranteed tuition plan? Questions? Comments? Just holler.

Nationwide more faith-based schools closing

2008-04-15T16:01:00.004-04:00

Gilead Baptist Church members gave little details this week about their decision to close their school, Gilead Christian Academy.

A dip in student enrollment and lack of finances was the only hint of what may've led to the May closure.

Surprisingly there was an AP story released Saturday about how more faith-based schools across the nation, particularly Catholic schools, are suffering.

Read the story here

At the crux of the AP story is that "about 1,267 Catholic schools have closed since 2000 and enrollment nationwide has dropped by 382,125 students, or 14 percent, according to the National Catholic Education Association."

They cite the problem to be most apparent in inner cities, and in private schools with large minority populations whose parents often struggle to pay tuition rather than send them to failing public schools.

A reader e-mailed me this earlier today in response to Gilead closing and it may share a similar point of view with that of the AP article.

"I have heard that families who attend the mother church receive breaks on tuition, as well as the staff," the reader said. "It's a shame that it's closing as it was the last option for those in the middle income bracket. We can't afford the other private schools and the public schools in Macon are not up to standard. We intend to homeschool our children, it's the only choice we feel we have left."

Gilead may not be high minority, but it is likely a school for mid to lower income families.

Do you guys think this trend could also happen to the Windsor Academies and Central Fellowships of the world?

And how important do you think these schools are to parents, especially those living paycheck to paycheck, who want to send their children to faith-based schools?

Are colleges safer today than a year ago?

2008-04-15T14:50:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech. Thirty-three people were killed, including the gunman, who shot himself.

Since then, colleges changed the way they deal with troubled students, and many have signed on to sophisticated emergency alert systems.

Do you think these changes have made today's college campuses safer than they were one year ago?

Who's the best graduation speaker?

2008-04-14T16:45:00.006-04:00

College graduations start rolling around in May. Middle Georgia graduation speakers include university administrators, corporate executives, an author and a television personality. (Click "Read more" for the full list of Middle Georgia commencement speakers.)

When I graduated from the University of Georgia, my graduation speaker was John Huey Jr., editor-in-chief of Time Inc., which was pretty cool for me since I was a journalism major. Of course, I don't really remember much about the actual speech.

Who spoke at your college graduation? Was it memorable? Who would you most like to see speak?

UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT

Fort Valley State University
When: 9:30 a.m., Saturday May 3
Where: Health and Physical Education Complex on Fort Valley campus
Speaker: James H. Ammons, Florida A&M University president

Macon State College
When:10 a.m., Friday May 9.
Where: Macon Coliseum
Speaker: Robert E. Watts, chief operating officer of the University System of Georgia

Middle Georgia College
When: 8 p.m., Friday May 9
Where: NeSmith Stadium in Cochran
Speaker: Robby Harless, general manager of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation — Brunswick Operations

Gordon College
When: 8:30 a.m., Saturday May 10
Where: Lambdin Green on Barnesville campus
Speaker: Robert E. Watts, chief operating officer of the University System of Georgia

Mercer University
When: 9 a.m., Saturday May 10
Where: University Center on Macon campus
Speaker: Nancy Grace, television personality

Georgia College & State University
When: 9 a.m., Saturday May 10
Where: Front lawn of Milledgeville campus
Speaker: Georgia College President Dorothy Leland

Wesleyan College
When: 10 a.m. Saturday May 10
Where: Porter Auditorium on Macon campus
Speaker: Cassandra King, author

Georgia Military College-Milledgeville
When: 10 a.m., Saturday May 31
Where: Grant Parade Ground on Milledgeville campus
Speaker: Attorney General Thurbert Baker

Middle Georgia Technical College
When: 7 p.m., Thursday June 12
Where: Miller-Murphy-Howard building at the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter in Perry
Speaker: Ronald Jackson, commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia

Georgia Military College-Warner Robins
When: 2 p.m., Saturday June 14
Where: Homer J. Walker Jr. Civic Center in Warner Robins
Speaker: TBA

Central Georgia Technical College
When: 7 p.m., Wednesday June 18
Where: Macon Coliseum
Speaker: Macon Mayor Robert Reichert

What, Telegraph Staffers went to prom?

2008-04-11T15:21:00.017-04:00

If you haven't noticed, area teens in tuxes and gowns are armed with cameras and all over town. Prom photos have taken over Macon.com.

It got us thinking about our own proms. So earlier this week we asked Telegraph staffers to help us reminisce by bringing in our prom photos.

By Friday we had four.

Executive Editor Sherrie Marshall wasn't too keen on posting her prom photo for Middle Georgia readers to see, something about big hair. Editorial page editor Charles Richardson said his Polaroid camera wasn't working that day.

Hmmm?

General assignment reporter Phillip Ramati had a better excuse however. He didn't go to his prom.

And ok, senior News Editor Oby Brown, who "would have to dig it out of a photo album in the dusty attic" somewhere, we'll let you slide too.

Brown and Chuck Thompson, who covers Jones and Monroe Counties, both said they had platform shoes on in their pics, darn!

Can you figure out these four Telegraph reporters?

a)Heather Duncan, environmental and senior projects reporter b)Jennifer Burk, higher education reporter c)Julie Hubbard, k-12 education reporter d) Liz Fabian multi-media and online reporter e) Rodney Manley, religion reporter

Do you think today's proms are way more upscale then ours were? Feel free to share your own prom stories.

A college graduate? Not quite.

2008-04-11T13:21:00.007-04:00

With college graduation quickly approaching, it got me thinking about a story that I seem to hear over and over again.

It goes something like this: A student finishes up his classes, walks in the commencement ceremony and parties like a graduate with his friends. A few months into summer, the student realizes he has not received his diploma in the mail like he should have. He calls up the college, only to find out that he has not actually graduated because he's missing some class that was required for his diploma.

The student doesn't know where he went wrong. He did everything right, he thought. He was advised. He passed his classes. But somehow he still fell short of graduation.

This very situation happened to at least two of my friends who attended different Georgia universities. The confusion caused worries about what to put on resumes and what to tell their employers.

Shania McGill, senior director for advising and retention at Georgia College & State University, acknowledged that this sometimes happens.

The problem usually occurs when students don't follow the advice of their adviser and instead follow the advice of parents and friends, McGill said.

"I think it comes by and large from sources who sound like they know what they're talking about," she said.

Typically, students meet with an adviser who goes over what classes they should take and unlocks their ability to register. Students then go home and register for classes a week — or more — later.

Sometimes, the class that the student and the adviser discussed is not available because it's full. So then they pick something they think will be a suitable substitute, but sometimes it isn't.

"It's tough because the information is so different. It's so specific toward different majors," McGill said.

Which means that a class that was OK for a friend to take, might not be OK for another student. Or a class that a student's parents were required to take when they were in college might not be required for their child.

McGill said one of the saddest stories she has dealt with involves a student who lost the HOPE Scholarship because the student took classes the parents — not adviser — recommended.

McGill recommended that students build a relationship of trust with their advisers. Advisers who see their students more than one time during a semester end up knowing them better and can better recommend classes that may fit their interests, she said. Students should feel like they can call their advisers and ask for advice on what classes to take if a certain class is not available.

Have any of you been in a similar situation where you or your child participated in graduation but did not graduate? Did you find out the cause of the mistake? What kind of problems arose? How did you deal with it?

Parents: Do you advise your kids about what classes to take?

Students: Do you feel comfortable talking to your advisers and taking their advice?

Do you know what your kids are doing online?

2008-04-10T10:53:00.003-04:00

Telegraph reporter Wayne Crenshaw had a story in yesterday's paper about keeping children safe in cyberspace.

In addition to protecting their kids from sexual predators, parents have to worry about cyberbullying. One of the most prominent and drastic examples of this is the story of Megan Meier, who killed herself, her parents say, as a result of being bullied on MySpace.

In Wayne's story, Internet safety expert James Westbrook said the number one rule in keeping kids safe online is keeping the computer out of the bedroom. Children should only have access in places in the house where they can be supervised, he said.

A few statistics Westbrook offered citing various surveys include:

• 87 percent of teens use the Internet.

• 32 percent of kindergartners use the Internet.

• 12 percent of children using the Internet have been solicited to meet someone.

• 70 percent of girls and 54 percent of boys use social networking sites such as MySpace.

• 64 percent of children say they have done things online that they would not want their parents to know about.

That last statistic was particularly interesting to Westbrook.

"And the other 36 percent is lying," he said.

Parents: At what age did your children start using the computer? Do they have a computer in their room? Are you concerned about your child's safety online? Do you monitor their computer access and what sites they visit? Have you had any experiences with cyberbulling?

Central High Senior Headed to the Ivy League

2008-04-09T14:39:00.002-04:00

Central High School senior Eric Newcomer applied to 13 colleges this school year and guess what?

He got accepted to 11 — including Harvard and Stanford — and was wait listed to both Brown and Yale.

Newcomer, 18, is in Central's International Baccalaureate program, senior editor of his school newspaper and the editor of The Telegraph's Teen Board.

His teacher Stan Brown says he's one of those students "we see only once every several years at Central."

Central High is a public, fine arts magnet school in Macon.

Newcomer is on the high school's mock trial team and founded a "Young Democrats" club his sophomore year.

And did I mention he took off to Las Vegas last summer to volunteer for the Barak Obama presidential campaign, making phone calls to educate voters about the caucus process.

"I was the only high schooler from the East Coast," Newcomer said, of mostly college kids from Western states working there as interns.

Do you guys think enough students like Eric filter through the public school system? Do you think people judge public schools unfairly, as though only private schools can produce Ivy League material?

To hear where he's headed and how he got there, check out this video.

New(ish) faces

2008-04-08T14:51:00.004-04:00

Craig Jackson has been named vice president for student affairs at Middle Georgia Technical College.

Jackson, the college's former director of admissions, takes the place of Jeff Scruggs, who is now vice president for technology and institutional support.

According to a news release:
Jackson received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Albany State University and an Executive Master of Business Administration from Wesleyan College. He currently serves on the board of After 5 Professional Networking Association and is a member of the Georgia Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. He is the immediate past president of Lambda Phi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and currently serves on the Georgia State Fraternity Council.

Prior to his service at MGTC, he worked with Macon State College as a senior admissions representative and as a counselor at River Edge Behavioral Health Center in Macon.

Also, Tonya McClure has been named executive director of the Central Georgia Technical College Foundation, the fund raising arm of the college.

According to a news release:
McClure was previously director of marketing and public relations for Spiers Land and Development Company. She served in a similar position at the Museum of Aviation Flight & Technology Center in Warner Robins, where she also led the museum’s fundraising efforts. She also was regional director of fundraising for the American Heart Association in Macon.

McClure holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism, with a concentration in public relations and advertising from Georgia College & State University.

Macon State gets new logo

2008-04-07T10:24:00.011-04:00

Macon State College has announced the creation of a new logo. The new logo represents the transformation of the college from a two-year school to a four-year school, officials say.

Here's the meaning behind it:
The logo shows rays of light over the College’s name, representing Macon State’s new era. The seven rays represent the seven counties that make up the core of Central Georgia, from which Macon State draws most of its students. Rays of light were selected to symbolize the bright future that many Macon State graduates expect to realize with one of the College’s bachelor’s degrees.

Here are the two logos for your consideration:

OLD LOGO

NEW LOGO

You may have to click "Read more" to see the poll results. I'm still figuring out how it works. Bear with me.

2008 General Assembly Recap

2008-04-07T09:38:00.001-04:00

Here's a 2008 legislative recap of what went down this session, via the Georgia School Board's Association:

"The 2008 session of the General Assembly was filled with some major battles, so the ending was quite a stunner," GSBA notes.

* No tax reform bill passed.
* No voucher legislation passed.
* No TABOR bill passed.
* The BRIDGE bill did not pass.
* Ethics legislation did not pass.
* The charter school bill (HB 881) did pass.
* The IE2 bill (HB 1209) passed.
* The austerity cut was reduced to $91 million, by far the smallest since these "temporary" cuts began in 2003.
* The equalization grant was fully funded.

State's 8th Grade Writing Scores Released

2008-04-04T16:57:00.000-04:00

Georgia law (O.C.G.A., Section 20-2-281) requires that writing assessments be given to students in grades three, five, eight, and eleven.

Student writing is rated on a scale in four areas: idea, organization, style and convention.

click here to see how your system's eighth-graders scored.

With Nintendo DS, Wii, and TV shows galore, do you think students write enough?

Bibb County schools improvement coordinator Suzanne Spaid says too often students use text-messaging in their writing, such as cuz, gonna and LOL.

Is it important for students to take a writing test every few years? And for the state's 23 percent of 8th graders who are below standards for writing, how do we teach them to write well?

Related read

Separating Fact from Fiction

2008-04-04T11:10:00.002-04:00

Just a little insight into the day in a life of---

Part of a reporter's job is to check out news tips — some turn out solid, others can be off to way off.

Today I got an anonymous tip that said three bus loads of Westside High students were dropped off at the Savannah Visitors Center with no adults and left in the city on their own for the day.

"We were wondering if their parents were aware that their children were being left by themselves in a strange town for two and a half hours," the tipster said.

So, I called the Visitor's Center to reach a man who said ,"Yeah, I saw them" and his supervisor who said nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

Then a call to Westside High Principal Laura Perkins confirmed students were on their senior trip — along with 16 teachers, a campus police officer and an assistant principal.

Perkins even went on to call a teacher on the trip to make sure everything was okay and students accounted for, after hearing from me. (It was reported to be fine!)

Some disgruntled students not allowed to attend the trip may be the tipsters, Perkins said.

So no, I'm not just drinking coffee and surfing the Web today(nor any day, that's a joke) !

Macon State in Southern Living

2008-04-04T10:22:00.003-04:00

Got a copy of Southern Living?

If so, you may have the April issue that features the Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens at Macon State College in the magazine's bonus section "Georgia Living: People & Places." The article and photos detail the development of Macon State's botanical gardens, I'm told.

Unfortunately, I can't find any links online, so it looks like you'll have to go out and find a copy for yourself. Here's some basic information to whet your appetite:

The Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens include more than 1,600 trees, 2,500 shrubs and 12,000 ground cover plants. They are divided into 16 distinct gardens: Southern Traditional, Fruit Trees, Shrubs and Vines, Medicinal, Natives, Showy Fruit, Showy Flowers, Fragrant, Wet Environment, Touch & Feel, Fall Colors, European, Asian, Urban Environment, Industry and Xeriscape (landscaping requiring the least amount of water).

In 2003, the gardens were named after Dr. Waddell Barnes, chair of the MSC Foundation’s Board of Trustees and the driving force behind the development of the gardens.

Photo source.

Globalizing the American university

2008-04-03T09:59:00.006-04:00

There's been lots of talk lately about putting a more international or global perspective into what colleges and universities teach.

Back in October, I attended a conference in Atlanta about international education. There, leaders from the state's 35 public colleges and universities met to discuss how to better prepare their students to live in an increasingly global society.

"International education is clearly something that is critical as we look into the future," University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll Davis said at the time. "We want every student to be prepared not only to lead locally but to lead globally."

Georgia College & State University President Dorothy Leland has been charged with overseeing the restructuring of the system's curriculum to include more international perspectives. This could be done through study abroad, technology and cross-cultural relations within Georgia, she said back in October.

Today, Georgia College announced that it has received a $60,000 grant to continue its efforts to bring more global perspectives to its majors.

What do you think about this effort to include more international perspectives in American education? Do you think this is necessary for the leaders of the future? How cross-culturally savvy does today's student need to be?

UPDATE: In related news, the University of Georgia has formed a partnership with the top university in China.

Rallying Around State Exams

2008-04-02T16:52:00.009-04:00

This makes the third pep rally in four years I've attended at an elementary school, trying to get students fired up right before taking state exams.

Bruce Elementary school in south Macon held its "spring fest" rally Wednesday afternoon, where they had Fort Valley State cheerleaders and step teams there to encourage kids to do their best.

Students have to get serious on Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests which will be given April 14 -24.

During their high school careers, students will take CRCTs, high school graduation exams, End of Course Tests and SATs or ACTs.

If a rally helps a little in between, all the power to em'.

Check out the video.

(Bruce Principal Ramon Johnson kicks off class chants. Teacher Audrey Quichocho introduces the school's dance team, "Stepping Dolls.")

Westside High in Macon to hold fundraiser

2008-04-02T12:00:00.003-04:00