Fifth-graders make most improvement on CRCT

I thought Aiken, Mcduffie, Edgefield, and burke were apart of metro Augusta too.

Why do we need 3d grade arithmetic? Well a 50.9% of 3d graders reading scores passed last year from 79.5% this year equals (using new math) a jump of 20.5 percent? I wonder if the high paid spokesman provided that tid-bit? And shame of shames, we have one school (Blythe elementary) which had 25.014 students pass the test? Now how did they get .014 of a student taking a test pass it? It would appear either 24, 25 or 26 kids passed the test. All in all, as a taxpayer, I am not happy with the results. I don't want to hear any more about the failure of parents. It is the teachers who have these little darlings 8 hours a day and it is the teachers who have been certified as competent to teach children, and it is teachers who make a darn good wage to teach kids. These scores show a dismal failure of a lot of teachers to do the job they are paid to do.

Countyman, the only one obsessed with metro Augusta is you.

News flash- the AC is not obligated in any way to publish all of the counties' scores; and since it's the AUGUSTA Chronicle, not the Burke Chronicle, or McDuffie Chronicle, etc.- they only print RC and CC.

Use some common sense.

Disssman, by all means, go teach them.

You can try to teach a child who is so sleepy they can't focus- and then when you ask "Did you sleep ok last night?" they look at you and say "My mommy let me stay up to watch a movie."

Or you say, "Where's your homework?" and they shrug.

Or they say, "My stomach hurts." I say, "What did you have for breakfast?" and they say, "I didn't eat breakfast."

And then you have children with extremely poor behavior. And the parent says, "That's just the way he is."

And this is not unusual. This happens over and over and over again.

The lessons are presented. The lessons are taught. But you can't control another human being, and if they won't do the work, there's not a lot you can do.

Remember 3rd grade math, when your teacher told you to memorize the multiplication tables? And you did? Now, the kids just look at the teacher and blow them off. And, consequently, fail the math test.

....

i agree cori, you can't open the top of their heads and poor the knowledge in, you have to want to learn, you have to be encouraged to learn and it all starts in the home, and by the looks of the 8th grad scores there isn't enuff parental involvement

Are we sure this is right? "Euchee Creek's netted a 74.1 percentage points jump in math scores, from 20.8 percent to 94.9." I didn't think the scores were that low before.

dissman, I am curious as to your grudge against teachers. Your posts (which often contain incorrect information) seem to indicate an agenda against educators.

Why do you think the Columbia County scores (on average) are so much higher than the Richmond County scores? Did they just happen to get all of the best teachers, or could there be other factors at work? Outside of your education posts, you seem like a fairly level-headed poster. I'm sure you can figure it out.

Here is a link from AJC with detailed info on all counties in GA.
http://www.ajc.com/news/2010-georgia-crct-results-545310.html

So, once again, Harlem school ranked lowest of CC. When will the CCBOE do more that pay lip service to helping Harlem schools? When will Harlem politicians demand more? When will Scott Dean...oh, never mind.

Mr. Thackeray, what you see with Harlem is a microcosm of education across the country. Socio-economic status is directly correlated with education performance. And the schools in areas of lowest SES routinely lag behind those in areas of higher SES. That's not to say we can't or shouldn't continue to work to help improve those schools, but it's always going to be an uphill battle.

Corginmom and teacher02 nailed it. Dissman, I suggest you visit a classroom in Richmond County before you make any more posts about the teachers being responsible for a student's refusal to learn. Substitute for a day and see if your views don't change, I dare you.
Elementary teachers do have their students most of the day; however, middle school teachers, in many schools, do not. Nonetheless, it is simply impossible to force a child to learn, especially when negative influences from a neglectful or abusive home-life come into play. As a general rule, it is critical that parents and teachers cooperate for a child to succeed in school.
That being said, I believe that teachers could have a bigger impact, especially on problematic children, in a smaller classroom setting; however, there is a trend among political leaders toward increasing classroom size to save government funds.

Garrett Elementary reading from 96.4 to 78.6. The state will be questioning those 2009 scores.

"Students in the third grade must PAST the reading portion of the statewide test to advance to the next grade"- It is apparent this reporter never learned how to spell. I have never past a test in my life, but I have passed many. However, that can be construed that I have passed over,passed, or zoomed passed, or that I made a satisfactory score that that means I did well on the test. So it is safe to say, that in the PAST, I have passed many exams.

Let's face the fact that teachers can't always (or even sometimes) undo the terrible moral and ethical standards taught by parents to their children. Laziness, entitlement, something for nothing, selfishness, greed, lack of integrity, dishonesty, lack of personal responsibility, yelling, cursing, and fighting. This is the battlefield where teachers try to make AYP.

Teacher02, you are wrong, I am afraid to say. I taught for over 30 years. ALL KIDS CAN LEARN, they need quality teachers and a robust curriculum. What they don't need is a rejects of CCBOE like the elementary principal. Remember him? He is the guy who let confidential records blow in the breeze a few years back at the old Evans MS. What did CCBOE do, fire him? No, send him to CCBOE purgatory-Harlem elementary where he has continued his poor judgment. CCBOE ignores issues in Harlem, poor facilities (yeah I there is a plan and Harlem is LAST on the list for improvements).

I taught in the poorest of the poor school districts and we did FAR better than this!

corgi.
If teachers are having such a herd time, maybe their preparation for teachers certificates need some tuning up. I didn't notice you mentioning in your post what a teacher does to advise the parent by phone or in writing what their child is doing? As I understand it, teachers actually don't teach 8 hours a day, rather, they do some things while in the "teachers lounge". Are there any phones in the lounge or computers to compose a letter on? I think you made my case that teachers are supposed to be taught how to control a classroom and they are certified to make sure kids learn, but in many cases they aren't qualified or up to the job. I can not imagine a teacher being blown off by a student and not doing something about it.

Mr. Thackeray, thank you for your years of service in the schools, and I'm certainly not questioning your personal experiences. As I indicated in my post, we should always explore ways to help improve the struggling schools, and it sounds like you are aware of some specifics that might help in the regard at Harlem. My point was that it is important to consider all variables when looking at the performance of any school. Socio-economic status is directly linked to school performance. That's not to say there aren't exceptions one way or the other, but that trend is seen throughout the country. And with the ever-tightening and unrealistic standards of NCLB, it's important for people to keep this in mind before judging the merits of a particular school or teachers within that school.

Teacher02. All I am saying is the teacher is supposed to be the professional who is certified to teach or identify problems with a child that can't learn. Why should a parent be responsible for a teachers work? Is the parent in the classroom listening to instructions? Is the parent watching the kids to make sure they are keeping pace with instruction? I hear all the time from teachers that its the parents fault. But, I don't find any parents getting paid for instruction. I also see failure rates that are appaling.

dissman, the problem is that teachers often have pseudo-authority within the classroom. What actions would you take if a student acted in the manner described? If you send a student to the office, that student is often immediately returned to the classroom. If you write a disciplinary referral, the punishment is often so trivial that it reinforces the original behavior. If you have no power to enforce consequences, then there is no true authority.

You speak in a lot of incorrect hypotheticals that have no basis in reality.
I encourage you to substitute for one week in Richmond County and see if your position changes at all.

Teacher02. BTW your 8:10 post sounds like it was written for a politician. I don't think it requires a lot of anything but chalkboards, books and proper teaching, to improve grades in Harlem. Well we have the chalkboards and books (I hope) so what are we missing? I could care less if my school was a "microcosm of some Socio-economic status directly affecting education performance". What I would demand is performance for pay received.

Edreform. Just how many hours a day do teachers spend in a classroom teaching? Further, what is the policy for handling problematic children? I thought we had a school for problematic kids who refuse to learn? Why is the teacher letting the kid remain in the class if they are disruptive? If the Principal disagrees with a professional teachers opinion, where does a professional teacher turn to? No I don't dislike teachers, I just hate it when they blame all their problems on parents, when in fact they are the ones certified (I am not certified, nor did I choose teaching for my profession) by the state to teach children.

dissman, so a parent has no role in the education of their child? Come on. I have 5 classes of about 28 students each and see each class for 55 minutes a day.

If that child's household does not support the education process, then that student will have a tougher time in school. I can't follow that student home to make sure he or she studies the material or completes the assignment. I can't ground the student when he or she comes home with unacceptable grades or poor behavior reports. I can't make sure the student goes to bed at a reasonable time so as to not sleep through all of the classes. I can't keep the student from hanging out with the wrong crowd or making self-destructive decisions. I can't force that student to come to school on a regular basis. I could go on and on. All of these responsibilities fall on the parent, and they all have a drastic impact on education.

I don't expect the parents to teach my subject at home. I just expect them to put their child in the best position to learn when they are at school.

dissman, just because you don't believe that poverty affects education doesn't make it so. The first half of my teaching career was spent in such a school. The year I moved to a school with higher socio-economic status, my scores went up by nearly 50%! Did I suddenly just become a better teacher in that short of time? It doesn't take much to determine the other variables at work. I'm curious what experience you base your position on.

And I would probably benefit from merit based pay. But I'm adamantly opposed to it because it's not right. There are just too many variables at work. The only thing that will do is drive the best teachers away from the failing schools.

Disssman, you continue to express opinions about situations you have no knowledge of. Teacher’s lounges? Really? You believe teachers hide away in the teacher’s lounge, sipping tea all day? Wrong. At this time, teachers attempt to call parents and send other forms of correspondence. In order to hold a child responsible for attending detention, teachers are required to get into contact with a parent. The parents of the most problematic children rarely have a working telephone number or email address because they do not want to be contacted and do not care about the problems their children cause. Many times, social workers must be sent to the child’s address to be sure they are not living alone. School is not a “day care.” For a teacher, the discipline process should stop at issuing a detention or a write-up. Parents should take over from there.
Teachers receive training to control classrooms; however, no amount of training will enable a teacher to teach an uncontrollable student, especially when their hands are tied. Police officers are trained to deal with criminals. They have authority to arrest them when they break the law. Their authority is backed up by the criminal court system. These days, teachers have no authority. Principals destroy write-up slips and criticize teachers who hand out too many detentions. If you stepped into a classroom you could easily see a teacher “being blown off by a student” and trying to do something about it; however, when they receive no support from principals or parents, a write-up slip (one of the teacher’s most powerful forms of authority) has no teeth.
All you say is that teachers have a professional certificate, they need to get the job done. You are truly naïve. Can doctors save every sick patient? Can police officers catch every criminal? Can Generals win a war without soldier casualties? Can a single soldier, trained for battle, rush into a situation where he is clearly outnumbered, low on ammunition, with no backup, and succeed? The answer is no. It only takes simple logic to realize that even the best teacher, with years of training and experience has limits. In any profession, there are events called “no-win situations.” You demand improvement in school performance but are unwilling to hold problematic individuals responsible for their actions. The responsibility lies with parents to control their children’s behavior at home and in schools to allow the teacher a chance to teach rather than be a babysitter. Until you step in a classroom in one of these districts, you will continue to be ignorant of the factors that cause such failure. Making blanket statements such as “teachers have a professional certificate so they should be able to help everyone learn” only validates the fact that you are ignorant of the reality public school teachers, and well-behaved students, face on a daily basis.

Mr. Thackeray wrote:

. . . issues in Harlem, poor facilities (yeah I know there is a plan and Harlem is LAST on the list for improvements).

Since you used to be a teacher, surely you remember that if you make a list ranking anything, something has to be last! In this case, it is Harlem elementary school. Now if things improve there and they move up in the rankings, something else will be last and somebody else will complain.

Class1 wrote:

Garrett Elementary reading from 96.4 to 78.6. The state will be questioning those 2009 scores.

Yes, but the likely explanation is that they re-zoned Garrett and bussed in a bunch of former Laney students.

dissman, I am really offended by your comment. Elementary teachers barely have time to go to the bathroom and you are talking about the teacher's lounge. We deserve our summers off because we go all day with the children and barely a 20 minute lunch. PE is not given to all on a daily basis. There is NO break.

themaninthemirror: It is PASS not PAST.

Little Lamb, you miss my point. EVERYTHING about the Harlem schools is last and CCBOE does little but lip service to improve them. We are treated like the "other side of the tracks" by the entire county.