Atlanta can't even pay for its failing schools... (Roswell, Dunwoody: fit in, insurance)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by CA_Vol

Will Atlanta taxpayers see higher school tax bills?

The City of Atlanta, a bastion of failing schools & corruption, having to find new ways to bilk its homeowners for more money to prop up their awful school system. It's criminal what these poor children must endure due to inept leadership & ineffective teachers supported by a out-of-touch union.

They deserve better.

I'm sure there's plenty of waste in a big bureaucracy like APS and no doubt there are some weak teachers who have been skating by.

However, APS also has many crackerjack elementary schools. They are extremely well funded and in most cases they have excellent physical facilities. Throwing more money at the schools is not the issue.

In my opinion, the problems with "failing schools" have more to do with the overall environment of the students. Schools alone can't get the job done. Kids need support at home and in their communities. They need strong role models and a culture that values learning and achievement.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I'm sure there's plenty of waste in a big bureaucracy like APS and no doubt there are some weak teachers who have been skating by.

However, APS also has many crackerjack elementary schools. They are extremely well funded and in most cases they have excellent physical facilities. Throwing more money at the schools is not the issue.

In my opinion, the problems with "failing schools" have more to do with the overall environment of the students. Schools alone can't get the job done. Kids need support at home and in their communities. They need strong role models and a culture that values learning and achievement.

And some of them simply need to be fed. A hungry child is going to severely struggle to learn.

Also, this: https://www.citylab.com/solutions/20...chines/496649/

The best teaching practices in the world will be unlikely to overcome these kinds of issues.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

And some of them simply need to be fed. A hungry child is going to severely struggle to learn.

Also, this: https://www.citylab.com/solutions/20...chines/496649/

The best teaching practices in the world will be unlikely to overcome these kinds of issues.

I've read that about 75% of APS students qualify for free or reduced lunch and it would be fine with me to extend that to all students, and to include breakfast if they need it.

[Larry X]

You cant fix the schools until you fix the homes.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I've read that about 75% of APS students qualify for free or reduced lunch and it would be fine with me to extend that to all students, and to include breakfast if they need it.

I was one of those 75%. Breakfast was offered, though I'd usually not take it since I don't eat that early in the morning. It certainly helped us.

[arjay57]

Give them afternoon snacks, too. It doesn't have to be something elaborate -- just an apple or something healthy like that.

That helps me make it through the day.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by Larry X

You cant fix the schools until you fix the homes.

We can certainly do good in the schools despite the homes, though.

That leaves us with early education, which, when done right—and for poor children, it rarely is—seems to largely overcome whatever cognitive and emotional deficits poverty and other environmental circumstances impart in the first years of life. As instantiated most famously by the Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in the 1960s; more recently by the Educare program in Chicago; and by dozens of experimental programs in between, early education done right means beginning at the age of 3 or earlier, with teachers who are well trained in the particular demands of early education. These high-quality programs have been closely studied, some for decades. And while the results haven’t proved that students get a lasting IQ boost in the absence of enriched education in the years after preschool, measures of virtually every desirable outcome typically correlated with high IQ remain elevated for years and even decades—including better school grades, higher achievement-test scores, higher income, crime avoidance, and better health. Unfortunately, Head Start and other public early-education programs rarely come close to this level of quality, and are nowhere near universal.

Source

[arjay57]

Back in my day the teachers basically just ignored you if you didn't do your work. It was your fault if you got a zero.

If you didn't sit quietly in class you'd get yelled at or much worse. The thought of sassing a teacher was an invitation to disaster.

I am glad we have moved beyond that.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I've read that about 75% of APS students qualify for free or reduced lunch and it would be fine with me to extend that to all students, and to include breakfast if they need it.

Free/reduced-price meals should definitely extend to breakfast. Too many poor kids come to school having eaten nutritionally-poor breakfast, if any breakfast at all.

Originally Posted by arjay57

Give them afternoon snacks, too. It doesn't have to be something elaborate -- just an apple or something healthy like that.

That helps me make it through the day.

Originally Posted by arjay57

Back in my day the teachers basically just ignored you if you didn't do your work. It was your fault if you got a zero.

If you didn't sit quietly in class you'd get yelled at or much worse. The thought of sassing a teacher was an invitation to disaster.

I am glad we have moved beyond that.

Be that as it may, I fear we've moved to the opposite extreme, where anything the child does is assumed to be the teacher's fault. Failure to do the assignments and petty misbehavior are real problems in many struggling schools, and these need to be addressed alongside any desire to improve student performance.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Free/reduced-price meals should definitely extend to breakfast. Too many poor kids come to school having eaten nutritionally-poor breakfast, if any breakfast at all.

Yep. That's gotta be a cheap fix. How much does it cost for a bowl of cereal and some OJ?