Fa-Sol-La-Mi

Spivey Hall hosts shape-note singing school | Clayton News Daily

Just over a dozen “students,” some of whom are choir singers, and others, music teachers, spent Friday participating in a class on how to do Sacred Harp/shape-note singing, at Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall. Class instructor, Richard DeLong, the executive secretary of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, which produces a book of shape-note songs, said the singing style is one of the oldest in the United States.

“The Southern people have been preserving this way of singing since the early 1800’s,” said DeLong. “Families have passed it down to their children, who in turn, passed it down to their children, and it’s lived on through the generations that way.”

I'm not sure why the scare-quotes around "students", unless it's to emphasize that some of these students are significantly older than the average Clayton State freshman. Oreta is quoted late in the article.

what is the true cosmic origin of the universe?

We are God talking to himself.

Ask me anything

We'll sing in the sunshine or we'll be on our way

Renovated Georgia Dome could feature retractable roof, would bathe modern gladiators in glorious sunlight | Atlanta News & Opinion Blog | Fresh Loaf | Creative Loafing Atlanta

Georgia World Congress Center officials have a dilemma on their hands: How do they both host concerts and indoor events — which prefer to be protected from the elements — and satisfy the Atlanta Falcons, the cash cow football team that wants to stay downtown but play outdoors? Easy! You slap a retractable roof on the 18-year-old Georgia Dome, which by NFL standards is the same age as the Colosseum, and you watch the ameros roll in.

You know, they built the dome in the first place because the Falcons wanted a dome.

So where would the Falcons play while they're renovating the dome? Turner Field?

NOTE: It seems weird to me that the stodgy old Journal-Constitution has a "Share This" button on every story for easy blogging / tweeting / facebooking but the too-cool-to-care Creative Loafing does not.

In other news, Foxes Inc. wins the henhouse-guarding contract

Atlanta schools cheating probe faces scrutiny | ajc.com

The head of Atlanta Public Schools promised an impartial inquiry into reports of cheating on state achievement tests. Recusing herself, Superintendent Beverly Hall declared the investigation would be conducted by “a respected outside organization.”

Five months later, the investigation remains incomplete, and questions have emerged that challenge its independence.

The “blue-ribbon” commission appointed to oversee the investigation is populated with business executives and others who have done business with the school district or who have other civic or social ties to the district or to Hall.

One of the firms chosen to run the inquiry also is a school district vendor, having collected $1.7 million for other work performed as recently as 2008.

And, raising perhaps the most serious doubts, the district has been far more involved in investigating itself than originally suggested. Administrators from the district’s central office took part in questioning lower-level educators at all but a dozen of the 58 Atlanta schools under scrutiny. High-ranking district officials — described by a spokeswoman as “director-level” employees — took charge of conducting interviews at two dozen of the schools.

The district’s role in the investigation represents “a major conflict of interest,” said Barbara Payne, executive director of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation. “APS should not be involved in any of these reviews. APS should not be involved at all.”

I'm beginning to wonder if APS should be involved in education at all.

Deadline? What deadline?

Atlanta schools face sanctions if misses new report deadline | ajc.com

The state Board of Education turned impatient with Atlanta Public Schools, informing the district on Thursday it has an irrevocable Aug. 2 deadline to deliver its findings of possible cheating on last year's standardized testing or face sanctions.

If the Atlanta school system fails to comply, penalties could involve the loss of Adequate Yearly Progress status for 2009 and 2010, which tarnishes the district's academic reputation. Equally damaging if not more, federal funding could be withheld.

Ooooo-kay, now we're hitting them where they live. Surely now all this nonsense will finally be dealt with.

You don't know APS very well, do you?

"When we made the decision to go with an independent investigation, we lost that control because it's in the hands of a third party," said Keith Bromery, Atlanta school spokesman. "We didn't impose any deadlines, just that we wanted them to do it thoroughly and immediately -- and that's what they've been doing."

Oh, I know what you've been doing. We all know.

Suddenly education has become a hot beat

Having found itself deprived of any real means of punishing disruptive students, APS had adopted a procedure consisting of physical restraints and "seclusion" (call it solitary confinement). Not any more.

Georgia schools ban seclusion rooms -- AJC

The State Board of Education voted Thursday to ban the use of solitary confinement and limit the use of restraints against unruly students.

...The state board worked for about two years developing the policy, which was supported by the parents of Jonathan King, a 13-year-old Hall County boy who hanged himself in 2004.

Well, ok, I understand it wasn't working out. Educators aren't trained to be jailers, and it isn't fair to anyone to expect them to have to respond like jailers. I'm with you on that one. But what CAN they do? What SHOULD they do?

Running out the clock

CRCT scores analyzed after new cheating tips | ajc.com

Investigators reviewing 58 Atlanta schools for possible cheating on state tests said Tuesday they continue to pursue tips and information that are important to their inquiry. That work, coupled with ongoing analysis of students’ most recent test scores, is the reason a special investigative panel delayed completion of its probe.

Am I wrong to suggest, as I did last week, that now that they've had an opportunity to see how much graft there is in APS, they are waiting to see how large their check will be?

...That lack of specifics angered John Sherman, president of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, who said he has collected more than 1,200 signatures on a petition seeking Hall’s resignation if the investigation confirms teachers cheated.

As someone opined a day or so ago, these "investigators" are trained in statistical analysis, not chain of evidence. There will be no such unambiguous conclusion--even though "everyone" knows what happened.

It's bigger than you think

100 Atlanta school employees implicated in test cheating scandal | ajc.com

An investigation of suspected cheating at Atlanta Public Schools has concluded that as many as 100 employees at 12 schools violated testing protocols, the chairman of a special investigative committee told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday.

Gary Price, chairman of the independent panel that was formed to investigate irregularities on state standardized tests at city schools, did not detail the violations, which could range from inadvertently violating test security rules to outright cheating. Price’s committee will release the key findings and recommendations from its exhaustive three-month inquiry on Tuesday.

Atlanta test cheating report delayed again | ajc.com

The special panel investigating Atlanta Public Schools called off Tuesday's release of its much-anticipated findings -- the second such delay -- and the committee's chairman said Monday it could be several more weeks before the investigation is complete.

Gary Price, chairman of the independent panel formed to look into irregularities on state standardized tests at city schools, said last week the committee would release major findings and recommendations Tuesday, although he said then that the full report would not be complete by today. But on Monday, a statement from Price indicated that even the summary isn't ready.

He did not offer a specific timeline for release of the investigation's results but said the group's investigators need more time to complete their work.

"We do not wish to sacrifice accuracy for speed by adhering to an arbitrary, self-imposed release date," said Price.

You know, if Mr Price has learned (as so many reformers before him have done) that there's plenty of under-the-table money to be collected from Atlanta Public Schools, this is exactly what I would expect him to say.

The dog ate my investigation

Atlanta test cheating report delayed by a week | ajc.com

A panel overseeing an investigation of 58 Atlanta schools for possible cheating on state tests announced it will delay by a week the release of its report. The decision came as investigators requested more time to finish their analysis.

A final report, expected Wednesday, will now be released June 22.

However, the investigators may be able to write a second report for extra credit.

"Low-income youth"

Camp supplies needed to help low-income youth | ajc.com

The Community Action Center needs a variety of items for children in its summer camp program.

CAC, which serves the Sandy Springs and Dunwoody area, will send more than 100 youth from low-income families to summer camps and also provide supplies and transportation as needed. Funding is also needed to support the camp project, said Kristen Ristino, CAC spokeswoman.

I guess there must be some low-income families in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, but I have to say it isn't the first place I'd look.

Nonetheless, water is still wet

CRCT failures rise at schools suspected of cheating | ajc.com

State test scores at metro schools suspected of the most widespread cheating last year dropped markedly this year, falling further in Atlanta than in other districts, preliminary data shows.

Steep declines in the number of Atlanta students who passed key subject tests threatened to reverse the upward climb that has helped bring longtime Superintendent Beverly Hall national acclaim.

...School districts should view stark score drops at severe schools as potential evidence of tampering, said Kathleen Mathers, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.

“Generally, in schools where there proves to be a dramatic drop, we have concerns about what would cause that drop,” she said. “If it happens to be a school that had a high number of answers changed last year from wrong to right, that could be an indication that there had been intentional wrongdoing.”

...At Gideons Elementary, for instance, 92 percent of fifth-graders passed math in 2009. This year, just 39 percent did.

And at Dunbar Elementary, about 87 percent of fourth-graders passed math last year. But, this year, that number was 49 percent.

The article isn't quite clear on this point: They're comparing 2009's fourth-graders to 2010's fifth-graders. That is, this is the same group of kids that "improved" so dramatically last year, and can't seem to add 2+2 this year.

This could be the smoking gun.

On the other hand, black is white and we have always been at war with Eurasia

State CRCT results improved this year | ajc.com

Georgia students improved in almost all areas of the CRCT this year, with middle school students showing some of the biggest gains, according to statewide results released Wednesday by state schools Superintendent Kathy Cox.

For Cox, who soon heads to Washington to run a new national education nonprofit, the report offered a chance to leave on a high note.The scores represent the second consecutive year of solid gains for the state's elementary and middle-schoolers. Cox was quick to credit educators across the state, who beginning in 2004 faced a rolling implementation of a new, tougher state curriculum that in some cases caused scores to plummet.

"Just keep a lid on it until I'm out of town," Cox was heard to say as she ducked out of her office, ignoring all questions.

But there is still a chance water could be less wet than expected

Atlanta testing investigation in last stages | ajc.com

Investigators reviewing 58 Atlanta schools for possible cheating last year on state tests plan to incorporate this year's results into their analysis, potentially providing a blueprint about which students may need additional remediation because teachers changed their scores.

A final report will be released June 16, although work won't stop then.

The chairman of a community panel overseeing that work announced Monday that the ongoing investigation will likely result in the referral of employees from 12 Atlanta schools for possible testing violations. On Tuesday, chairman Gary Price said more than a dozen employees were involved, although he said "the numbers are changing as we speak."

Not unlike those on the test papers?

In other news, sky still blue, water still wet

Panel chairman: Atlanta school employees are likely to be referred for testing violations | ajc.com

Employees from 12 Atlanta schools will be referred for possible testing violations, according to the chairman of a community panel overseeing an investigation into possible cheating on state tests last year.

The announcement came as investigators wrap up their work, which included a review of 58 city schools. A final report will be issued next week, said Gary Price, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the panel's chairman, as he updated Atlanta school board members about the process.

Despite questions from board members seeking more details, Price declined -- because of the ongoing investigation -- to give an exact number of employees, the nature or severity of what they may have done or the schools where they worked. However, John Fremer, president of Caveon Test Security, one of two firms the panel hired to conduct the investigation, said there was a close correlation between the 12 schools where the employees worked and schools the state raised the most concerns about.

A close correlation. This is don't-blame-me-ese for "They're guilty as sin, it's obvious, and you should have seen it yourselves."

Getting down to bid-ness

Atlanta schools defy bid rules on wireless contracts | ajc.com

Atlanta’s public school district continues to violate federal rules aimed at preventing waste and abuse in technology projects, undeterred by a scandal that cost it millions of dollars and sent two former employees to prison.

Questions about favoritism surround two contracts for which the district is seeking reimbursement from the federal E-rate program, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows. The irregularities put Atlanta at risk of losing more than $30 million in E-rate requests and could invite other penalties from federal regulators.

A casual glance at APS' history with high-tech purchasing and operations implies the existence of dozens, if not hundreds, of laughing salesmen. They were more than happy to take the money and run, leaving APS with either the flat-out wrong stuff, or (best case) inadequate quantities of the right stuff. Penny wise and pound foolish, my dad used to call it.

Welcome to the planet Earth. We have much to teach you here.

Laid-off educators offered state help in finding new careers | ajc.com

Revonda McKnight will finish a degree in early childhood education next year and had looked forward to teaching.

She likes working with children, school hours and "having the summers off." But she's been thinking of going in a new direction since she was laid off from her job as a paraprofessional at Powder Springs Elementary School.

"I'm thinking I might want to do something else at this point," said McKnight, 42.

Well, yeah, being laid off from one job could be seen as a hint to look for something else.

So they're attending classes at Chattahoochee Tech. Well, that'll help keep THOSE teachers employed...

It takes a strong hit from the money machine

Georgia again files bid for feds' education cash | ajc.com

Georgia officials offered no dramatic changes Tuesday in their second attempt to qualify for the Obama administration's $4 billion Race to the Top schools fund.

It's an effort that could bring $400 million to Georgia.

In meeting a federal reapplication deadline for the fund, which rewards states that embrace education reform, state officials instead fleshed out ideas federal reviewers previously found vague.

[But control of local schools is in the hands of local authorities. Right.]

She failed the final

Atlanta honors student misses graduation as she awaits test waiver | ajc.com

Atlanta high school senior Brittany Hemphill worked 13 years for what turned out to be one of the lousiest days of her life.

With a waiver pending but still not approved Thursday evening that would have allowed her to participate, Hemphill could only watch as her classmates donned caps and gowns to collect their diplomas. It made her sad, she said. And angry.

News: Teachers say money good, budget cuts bad.

Q&A: Teachers discuss budget hardships | ajc.com

It’s been an especially challenging year for metro area teachers juggling the educational needs of their students with furlough days and other cuts. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked three teachers and the head of the Georgia Association of Educators to share their views on the changing landscape for teachers and other school personnel.

[APS / inner city schools are not represented. All of the teachers are from relatively prosperous suburban schools.]

We pay administrators how much?

AJC Special: School central offices costly | ajc.com

More than 1,000 public school administrators in metro Atlanta earn more than $100,000 a year, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of school salary data shows.
The review shows that Atlanta Public Schools, the smallest of the major school districts in the metro area, has the highest administrative costs. Cobb County, while having the second-largest student population in the state, has one of the smallest central-office staffs and some of the lowest costs. DeKalb schools have more people making $100,000-plus a year than any district.