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After your kids take the Milestones, who grades them? You might be surprised.
Along with thousands of other Georgia high school students, my twins are taking the Georgia Milestones this week. I never thought much about who grades these state tests until several parents and...
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With Milestones scores arriving tomorrow, districts have to decide retain,...
Faced with reports of technology glitches in online testing, the state Board of Education last week waived the requirement that Georgia Milestones scores influence promotion and retention decisions in...
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State releases 2016 Georgia Milestones scores: ‘Increases in most subject...
The state Department of Education just released the 2016 Milestones scores. I plan to look at the results and add to this blog. I will also add links to an AJC-created database of scores shortly. I...
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Despite demographic shifts, Gwinnett outpaces state averages in Georgia...
Statewide, students performed a bit better on the second round of the Georgia Milestones compared to last year when the test made its debut. As usual, Gwinnett County posted a strong showing, which is...
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Are we using scare tactics to pressure kids to perform better on state tests?
DeKalb parent Patti Ghezzi addresses an issue many parents have experienced firsthand: Children fearful and nervous they’ll be held back because they don’t perform well on state reading and math exams....
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Gov. Deal spares no words in making case today for Opportunity School District
I’m not sure if Gov. Nathan Deal delivered a speech today on his education policies or a manifesto. I understand now why he ran over his allotted 30 minutes after receiving a copy of his remarks. Pour...
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Myths about getting into University of Georgia: What matters. What doesn’t.
In writing about education policy for the AJC for 19 years, one question from readers has become more common: Why is it so hard to get into the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech? Two reasons: The...
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Pass the Opportunity School District. Then, pass real school choice.
Atlanta attorney Glenn Delk has been urging greater school choice in Georgia for 25 years and has done legal work for charter schools, most of it pro bono. In this piece, he defends and endorses the...
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Are we forcing too many students to take high-level math they’ll never use?
I talked this weekend to a mother whose son is struggling in algebra II. Why, she asked, does he have to take it? He wants to be a sports promoter but is being forced to take the same rigorous math as...
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Georgia Tech draws record applicants, 31,400. Today, it admits first round in...
Georgia Tech released its early action decisions today, admitting 28 percent of its 15,715 applicants. The 4,380 admitted students boasted an average ACT score of 33 and SAT score of 1468 out of 1600....
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Heavens to Betsy: DeVos expected to win confirmation Tuesday. Will all hell...
Betsy DeVos, the most controversial and least experienced pick ever to lead the U.S. Department of Education, is expected to win easy confirmation Tuesday with the Republican Senate majority fully...
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Another new corporate and civic initiative to improve schools: Will this one...
The well-intentioned civic and corporate leaders behind the metro region’s new Learn4Life initiative are self-aware enough to know there’s going to skepticism about another master plan to improve...
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Girls and minorities need to see themselves in stories solving problems,...
Morgan Young of Atlanta is a former aerospace engineer and the author of “Lana & the Water Carrier,” a middle grade novel that features a smart, adventurous African-American girl with a magic...
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Top 10 metro middle schools in Georgia Milestones math. Cobb, Fulton lead.
The state Department of Education today released the results of the 2017 Milestones tests, given to public school students in elementary school through high school each spring. The AJC data folks are...
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First year DeKalb teacher: Valedictorian to financial analyst to what really...
The AJC first wrote about Genetta Reeves when she was the first black valedictorian at Jonesboro High School with a scholarship to Howard University in Washington. She lived up to that early promise,...
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First year Gwinnett teacher: He gave up accounting to teach special...
Many people fret over the future of teaching in the face of dwindling enrollment in teacher prep programs. Teachers themselves increasingly report reluctance to urge others to consider the profession...
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Georgia college students will now earn HOPE GPA boost in many science and...
Georgia Tech students long lamented they lost their HOPE Scholarships because their science and math classes were tougher than what many peers at other colleges were taking. Their contention: There...
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To get more girls in math, should we get more men in the classroom?
My husband attended his Harvard University reunion this weekend where he was one of the few grads who wasn’t a hedge fund manager or titan of industry. (He’s a journalist, too.) He told me about a...
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A professor equates math with white privilege and sets off viral backlash
A professor in mathematics education is getting pilloried for an essay in which she asserts: “On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing...
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Differentiated instruction: Snake oil or coconut oil?
I wrote a column a few years ago on differentiated instruction, calling it the coconut oil of education because of all its fabled curative powers: “It can reduce cholesterol, moisturize your skin and...
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