a message from Superintendent Dr. Curtis Jones, Jr.
On Wednesday, I represented you at a Race to the Top (RT3) reception hosted by Governor Perdue at the Governor's Mansion. Representatives from the 25 school districts awarded RT3 were invited along with representatives from the Georgia Department of Education.
While there, Gov. Perdue approached me while I was in a conversation with Henry County Superintendent Michael Surma. The Governor asked Dr. Surma, "Michael, I enjoyed visiting Eagles Landing High School this week. It really was great to see how much those students have learned and are improving. Their graduation rate is over 90%. What're their demographics? Who are they?"
Dr. Surma responded, "Eagles Landing High School is 75% African American, 20% white, with the remainder being a combination of Hispanic and Asian."
Later during the reception when the Governor addressed the whole group, he repeated the story.
As I was driving home I asked myself, "Why didn't the Governor talk about Griffin-Spalding?"
Why didn't he talk about Carver Road Middle School?
Earlier this week, I saw outstanding teaching in an Expert 21 lab where the students were fully engaged in learning and having a good time. As soon as I walked into that room I could not only see and feel the energy, but the students told me they were excited to share what they were doing with Expert 21.
Later, I went into Carver Road's media center and saw a language arts teacher engaging her students in a writing workshop. Students were in five different groups. In one station they were using technology. When a question appeared on the board they used their student response systems to show their answers. The teacher responded with immediate feedback. It was an excellent example of integrated technology - and the students were excited with what they were doing. They were really into it.
In the media center's back room were students writing about their visit to the fair. But, they were going above and beyond - they said, "We just can't say what others would say, we have to say what made it exciting!" They were challenging each other to come up with better paragraphs and word choices.
When I asked teachers how long it took them to prepare the writing workshop, they said, "Two weeks, but we will be in the workshop for about two days." And that's about right, two weeks of preparation for two days of class. But the students were so involved and so engaged it was well worth the time, and that's what the teachers told me.
Why didn't he talk about Cowan Road Elementary School?
This week, a Cowan Road Elementary teacher told me, "I have a group in the hallway doing a theater workshop working on their drama. Want to help?" And so I stayed and listened to their play. (It took me back to the days when I was in elementary school and we learned the way to speak and to act in front of a group.) The students were excited!
The Governor doesn't know about all of this because it's not what he and others see. What the public wants to see are high graduation rates, high SAT scores, and high percentage passing CRCTs. But something has to come before that. And what comes before that is what you do each and every day.
This week I received an information memorandum from Ashley Crawford, Director of Elementary Curriculum, of an analysis of Benchmark 1 for the subjects that were given in elementary schools. I got the same document for the middle schools from Dr. Cynthia Anderson (Director of Middle School Curriculum).
The results are excellent! We compared the results from this year with last year, and overall they are up. When we compare Benchmark 1 results with the diagnostics from the beginning of the school year, they are up. The board of education will hear a report on this during their November 2 meeting.
I know how well you're doing. You're doing a great job! Students are learning because you are teaching them, and we thank you! You're doing great things across the board.
Finally:
- Congratulations to Rehoboth Road Middle School Mustangs for winning the region championships 16 to 13. It was the first time since 2005 one of our middle schools has won the middle region.
- And lastly, on a sad note, some of you may know Lou Corsetti, a great individual who helped out at Griffin High School for years by writing a school newsletter. He worked hard out of love for students and journalism. He passed away this week. Lou was an outstanding individual, and he will be missed.
And with that, have a great week!
---Curtis
