Friday, March 29, 2013
A Cascade mom thanked officials for filing charges and says that inflated test scores kept her daughter from getting the tutoring she needed.
Eight Cascade-area educators were among 35 former school system employees indicted Friday for taking part in a systematic effort to rig the results of the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT). The charges include racketeering and making false statements. [The full text of the indictment is in the PDF to the right of this article.] The Cascade educators indicted include: Justina Collins, a Cascade area parent, spoke at a press conference after the indictments were announced, talking about her 15-year-old daughter's ongoing struggle to keep up academically. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that Collin's daughter had trouble with reading while she was a student at Cascade Elementary, but school officials told …
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
For the 2nd year in a row, an APS Teacher of the Year was selected as a finalist for Georgia Teacher of the Year. Tamika Nicole Ball hopes she becomes the big winner.
Tamika Nicole Ball has already received the award for APS Teacher of the Year for her work with 9th and 10th grade math students at Therrell High School in southwest Atlanta, but the big prize may come in May of 2013 when she might win the Teacher of the Year award for the entire state of Georgia. According to previous reporting by APS via their TalkUp APS blog, "Ms. Ball has already achieved the huge accomplishment of being named the 2012-2013 D. M. Therrell High School Teacher of the Year as well as the 2012-2013 Atlanta Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year." Come May 2013, we will find out if Tamika Ball will be awarded the coveted 2012-2013 Georgia Teacher of the Year award. Over the next few weeks, APS says that, "Tamika will prepare…
Friday, February 1, 2013
Atlanta Public Schools investigation shows they were inoperable.
An Atlanta Public Schools investigation of the metal detectors at Price Middle School following a Jan. 31 shooting of a student shows they weren't working. In fact, in a statement released late Friday night, the district said the detectors at the Historic South Atlanta school have not been used much this current school year. APS said that one of the two metal detectors is now functioning and that the other is expected to be operational next week. Students in attendance Friday passed through that metal detector and they were scanned with security wands, the district said in its statement. "It is our priority to immediately test and service all metal detectors at all of our schools," APS' statement read. "In addition, we are reviewing …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Stats on SAT performance in Atlanta metro high schools has recently been released.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle released a ranking of SAT scores from 14 metro Atlanta schools. This small amount of data was provided by the Chronicle and is part of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s annual Education Guide which hits newsstands on Friday, Jan. 25. Of the 14 schools listed, Mays High School was the top SAT scorer among all of the Atlanta Public High Schools in Southwest Atlanta with a average score of 1303. This score earned Mays High 7th place in the rankings. The number 1 SAT school scores were from Grady High School students who earned an average score of 1508 out of a possible 2400. The complete list is as follows:
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Vine City's Atlanta Preparatory Academy is one of Georgia’s worst performing schools on annual exams, with students in all grades scoring in the bottom 20% statewide.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Consensus was key to superintendent's contract extension, say board members Cecily Harsch-Kinnane and Courtney English.
Monday's marathon Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education meeting and the back and forth discussions among its members on how to extend Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr.'s contract seemed reminiscent of the old days when fighting seemed the norm. But two board members, Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, whose district includes East Lake, East Atlanta, Kirkwood and Candler Park among other communities, and Courtney D. English, who is a citywide representative, say that's not the case. What may have seemed like nitpicking was the board trying to reach consensus, and creating the framework for picking the next superintendent. "You saw us go through a process of give and take, the give and take of democracy, if you will, and ultimately arrive at a …
Monday, December 10, 2012
Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr.'s contract extension comes with two key provisions.
After some lengthy debate, the Atlanta Public Schools' Board of Education voted Monday to extend Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr.'s contract for up to 18 months. Davis' current one-year contract expires June 30, 2013 and the new contract would start July 1, 2013. The vote — 7 to 2 Brenda J. Muhammad and Nancy M. Meister were the lone dissenters — comes with two key provisions: if the board finds a permanent superintendent and hires him or her, Davis' contract expires after 90 days. (Muhammad, whose district includes the Jackson High School cluster, later said she changed her mind and was in favor of the plan and wanted the final record to reflect that.) The second provision is a clause that allows the board to nix his contract, with 90 …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Molly Read Woo started the online effort late Sunday night.
After the disastrous reign Beverly Hall over Atlanta's public school system, many parents saw the appointment of Erroll B. Davis Jr. to superintendent as a much-needed first step for a district beset with problems. But not everyone is a fan. One Atlanta resident has started an online campaign to remove Davis as APS' superintnendent. Late Sunday night, Molly Read Woo sent a petition to each member of the Atlanta Board of Education, asking them to find a new superintendent instead of renewing Davis' contract. The school board was set to have several meetings on Monday, Dec. 3, though the gas leak at Finch Elementary on Monday delayed some of the discussions. "I know this petition may be too late to have an impact, as the board is meeting …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Atlanta Families’ Awards for Excellence in Education (AFAEE) surprised 8 educators with a surprise party celebrating their success in education.
Atlanta Families’ Awards for Excellence in Education (AFAEE) surprised 8 educators with a surprise party celebrating their success in education on October 30th, 2012. Special guests included Superintendent Erroll Davis and Atlanta Public School (APS) leaders, Falcons players Lousaka Polite and Dominique Franks, and community partners. 3 of the 8 schools/educators who were given surprise parties, were from schools in Southwest Atlanta: -Kipp Strive -Young Middle School -West End Academy (now located at 1445 Maynard Rd, NW, Atlanta, GA 30331) Cascade Patch attended the impromptu award ceremony given to Dr. Mobley, who is the Principal at West End Academy. In attendance was Superintendent Erroll Davis and Falcons players Lousaka Polite and …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Parents also will get a chance to meet and greet with APS' senior leadership team.
Atlanta Public Schools' District 1 representative Brenda J. Muhammad and Karen Waldon, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction, are hosting a meet and greet with parents to welcome new and returning principals from these schools: The theme of the event, scheduled for Sept. 13 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Select, 450 Capitol Ave., is "Getting to the core of it. . .The Common Core Curriculum." The Common Core Standards are a series of guidelines adopted by a number of states that outline what students need to have in their K-12 schooling to be fully prepared in college. In addition to Muhammad and Waldon, these APS officials also will be on hand to meet parents and answer questions:
Thoughts
5:51 am on Friday, April 5, 2013
And I hope Dr Hall and the 34 others that all happen to be African American get the max sentence of 45 years. This is not a racist conspiracy to arrest 35 people just because they are African Americans as some of you think, it is because there is more than probable cause to take them to trial for very serious crimes so stop the race card garbage as we whites are the minority in APS and in metro … more ›