Tag Archive for ‘Georgia’ at The Core Knowledge Blog

Tag Archive for 'Georgia'

Are You Smarter Than a Sub Prime Lender?

Published by Robert Pondiscio on November 24, 2008 in Education News. 0 Comments

The housing and credit crunch has claimed a high-profile victim in the education world. Georgia’s State Schools Superintendant Kathy Cox and her husband have filed for personal bankruptcy. Cox’s husband is a homebuilder and the couple is more than $3 million in debt, mostly due to debts associated with the business.

It’s a case off no good deed goes unpunished: Just two months ago, Cox won $1 million on the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” She said she would donate her winnings to a pair of schools for the deaf and one for the blind, and still plans to make good on that pledge despite the bankruptcy filing.

A statement issue by the Georgia schools chief over the weekend says “this filing does not affect my ability to perform the duties of my job as state superintendent of schools.”

Georgia Parents Demand Math Basics

Published by Robert Pondiscio on August 10, 2008 in Curriculum and Parents. 0 Comments

A controversial math curriculum in Georgia is being expanded to the state’s high schools. That’s raising the eyebrows and the ire of parents, who notes test scores in the Peachtree State haven’t exactly been lights out in math. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports 38 percent of the state’s eighth-graders failed the state’s new, redesigned math exam, which was based on harder material.

“While parents and teachers expected some students to struggle with the new math, they were shocked by the high failure rates,” the paper notes.

After years of criticism that the state’s math curriculum was too weak, the Georgia Department of Education drastically changed the way students learn the subject. Officials adopted an “integrated” design, which weaves elements of algebra, geometry and statistics into a single math class, rather than teaching each separately. Elementary-school students use more hands-on activities to learn about numbers, geometry, multiplication and division. Middle school students learn some of the algebra previously taught in high school.

A parents group called Georgia Parents for Math wants more emphasis should be placed on math theory and basic concepts. “We have not come up with some foreign math,” Martha Reichrath, deputy superintendent for the state Education Department, tells the AJC. “It is an enriched math. Our students will do better with this math. I do believe we will be the national leader in math.”

Unacceptable is the New “Adequate”

Published by Robert Pondiscio on August 7, 2008 in Curriculum and Educational Policy. 3 Comments

Asked under oath in a deposition if science is ”part of an adequate education” in the state of Georgia, Joanne Leonard said “I think you can do without science.” What about social studies? Is that part of a child’s ”adequate” education? “I would want them exposed to social studies,” Leonard said, ”but I think they can succeed in the world without social studies, and that is my opinion, my personal opinion.”

Ms. Leonard’s deposition was taken in a lawsuit brought by rural Georgia schools, who say the state isn’t giving them enough money to provide the “adequate education” required under law. Much of the case involves defining “adequate” And who is Joanne Leonard? Only the state Department of Education’s Director of Accountability.

I’m trying to think of what the appropriate response to this should be from Georgians, but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t involve pitchforks and torches. But I can think of something else Georgia can do without.

(HT: Joanne Jacobs)