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I have a question about area High Schools. I'm an English/ESOL teacher and would like to know which of the high schools in the Atlanta Public Schools District has the higher rating in local public opinion? I've seen the data, but we know data is suspect. In my opinion, all kids can learn and excel, but several factors may impede progress, like discipline, teacher support from administration, lack of student incentives (yes, even in HS), extracurricular activities, cross curriculum/teacher collaboration between subjects (PE, Art, & other electives can support all core subjects.... I use Art frequently in my English class), and good rapport between faculty (builds overall morale).
Also, do any of the schools offer/emphasize vocational curriculum? Even though great careers, Biologists, Physicians, Pharmacists, and Accountants CANNOT replace Plumbers, Mechanics, Carpenters, and
Electricians, etc. Vocational careers are just as important today as they were two generations ago. Any information will be appreciated. Thanks so much.
P.S. High school preferred, but will consider Middle school.
I believe it is Grady that has the highest rating of APS high schools in public opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranae319
Hello
I have a question about area High Schools. I'm an English/ESOL teacher and would like to know which of the high schools in the Atlanta Public Schools District has the higher rating in local public opinion? I've seen the data, but we know data is suspect. In my opinion, all kids can learn and excel, but several factors may impede progress, like discipline, teacher support from administration, lack of student incentives (yes, even in HS), extracurricular activities, cross curriculum/teacher collaboration between subjects (PE, Art, & other electives can support all core subjects.... I use Art frequently in my English class), and good rapport between faculty (builds overall morale).
Also, do any of the schools offer/emphasize vocational curriculum? Even though great careers, Biologists, Physicians, Pharmacists, and Accountants CANNOT replace Plumbers, Mechanics, Carpenters, and
Electricians, etc. Vocational careers are just as important today as they were two generations ago. Any information will be appreciated. Thanks so much.
P.S. High school preferred, but will consider Middle school.
Quite frankly, I am not sure you will get to be choosy. If you are here for the long term, you may have to take a job in whichever high school you can and then work the required years before being able to transfer.
I have a question about area High Schools. I'm an English/ESOL teacher and would like to know which of the high schools in the Atlanta Public Schools District has the higher rating in local public opinion? I've seen the data, but we know data is suspect. In my opinion, all kids can learn and excel, but several factors may impede progress, like discipline, teacher support from administration, lack of student incentives (yes, even in HS), extracurricular activities, cross curriculum/teacher collaboration between subjects (PE, Art, & other electives can support all core subjects.... I use Art frequently in my English class), and good rapport between faculty (builds overall morale).
Also, do any of the schools offer/emphasize vocational curriculum? Even though great careers, Biologists, Physicians, Pharmacists, and Accountants CANNOT replace Plumbers, Mechanics, Carpenters, and
Electricians, etc. Vocational careers are just as important today as they were two generations ago. Any information will be appreciated. Thanks so much.
P.S. High school preferred, but will consider Middle school.
Are you only interested in teaching within the City of Atlanta (in the Atlanta Public Schools system), or are you interested in teaching anywhere in greater metro Atlanta as a whole which has about at-least two-dozen school systems or so?
The actual Atlanta Public Schools system covers only a relatively very-small area of greater metro Atlanta (APS only serves about a 132 square miles of a 10,000 square-mile metropolitan region).
I ask this because with you being an ESOL teacher (English as a Second Language), the demand (and need) for ESOL teachers is likely infinitely much-greater in other parts of the Atlanta metro region than in the City of Atlanta.
If you are looking for work as an ESOL teacher, the first place that you should most likely check is Gwinnett County Public Schools, which is a big, ultra-diverse school system of about 170,000 students with an extremely high population of non English-speaking children and adults that does much hiring each year, particularly in the fall, winter and spring for the upcoming school year in the fall.
With its extreme and increasing diversity (native-born whites now make up only about 40% of Gwinnett County's population after making up over 90% of the county's population over 2 decades ago), Gwinnett County is a very key and indispensable part of metro Atlanta and its school district is the largest in the state of Georgia and about the 13th-largest in the entire U.S.
Check with Gwinnett County first, and then check with other fast-growing school districts like Fulton County, Forsyth County, Hall County, Cherokee County, Henry County, Walton County, Paulding County, Coweta County, Fayette County.
You could also check with very well-managed smaller independent city school systems like the City of Decatur, the City of Marietta and the City of Buford.
Cobb County is a very-large school system that has a very-large and fast-growing population of English-challenged children and adults and lots of excellent individual high school feeder zones inside of it, but the leadership in Cobb County can sometimes be kind of loopy with their management of the school system as a whole and with their treatment of employees.
With their huge recent issues, the urban school systems of Atlanta Public Schools (huge cheating scandal in the City of Atlanta), Clayton County (recent loss of its accreditation) and DeKalb County (almost lost its accreditation and most of its school board was replaced by the governor) are three school systems that unfortunately should probably be last on your list of places to look for employment in the greater metro Atlanta region.
Why would you say APS, which is comprised of hundreds, if not thousands of teachers, should be last in his/her list bc some ppl wanted to cheat? I do not think that is indicative of the district in general and is a far cry from losing accreditation (Clayton) and losing money to the extent of having to pile more than 20 kindergarteners in a room (Dekalb). The latter two are indicative of the educational environmt, the former indicative of some classless individuals who buckled under pressure to do a good job and is not necessarily indicative of the classroom environmt in the rest of the hundreds/thousands of classes in APS.
There are a number of native Spanish-speaking students in APS, but also as you said Cobb and Gwinnett. OP should know it has been tough on teachers in Atlanta metro with school closings and layoffs. I do not know if ESOL teachers are more in demand, however. Maybe so as it seems fairly specialized.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll
Are you only interested in teaching within the City of Atlanta (in the Atlanta Public Schools system), or are you interested in teaching anywhere in greater metro Atlanta as a whole which has about at-least two-dozen school systems or so?
The actual Atlanta Public Schools system covers only a relatively very-small area of greater metro Atlanta (APS only serves about a 132 square miles of a 10,000 square-mile metropolitan region).
I ask this because with you being an ESOL teacher (English as a Second Language), the demand (and need) for ESOL teachers is likely infinitely much-greater in other parts of the Atlanta metro region than in the City of Atlanta.
If you are looking for work as an ESOL teacher, the first place that you should most likely check is Gwinnett County Public Schools, which is a big, ultra-diverse school system of about 170,000 students with an extremely high population of non English-speaking children and adults that does much hiring each year, particularly in the fall, winter and spring for the upcoming school year in the fall.
With its extreme and increasing diversity (native-born whites now make up only about 40% of Gwinnett County's population after making up over 90% of the county's population over 2 decades ago), Gwinnett County is a very key and indispensable part of metro Atlanta and its school district is the largest in the state of Georgia and about the 13th-largest in the entire U.S.
Check with Gwinnett County first, and then check with other fast-growing school districts like Fulton County, Forsyth County, Hall County, Cherokee County, Henry County, Walton County, Paulding County, Coweta County, Fayette County.
You could also check with very well-managed smaller independent city school systems like the City of Decatur, the City of Marietta and the City of Buford.
Cobb County is a very-large school system that has a very-large and fast-growing population of English-challenged children and adults and lots of excellent individual high school feeder zones inside of it, but the leadership in Cobb County can sometimes be kind of loopy with their management of the school system as a whole and with their treatment of employees.
With their huge recent issues, the urban school systems of Atlanta Public Schools (huge cheating scandal in the City of Atlanta), Clayton County (recent loss of its accreditation) and DeKalb County (almost lost its accreditation and most of its school board was replaced by the governor) are three school systems that unfortunately should probably be last on your list of places to look for employment in the greater metro Atlanta region.
Why would you say APS, which is comprised of hundreds, if not thousands of teachers, should be last in his/her list bc some ppl wanted to cheat? I do not think that is indicative of the district in general and is a far cry from losing accreditation (Clayton) and losing money to the extent of having to pile more than 20 kindergarteners in a room (Dekalb). The latter two are indicative of the educational environmt, the former indicative of some classless individuals who buckled under pressure to do a good job and is not necessarily indicative of the classroom environmt in the rest of the hundreds/thousands of classes in APS.
I didn't say that APS should absolutely be last, I said that APS (along with Clayton and DeKalb) should probably be last on the OP's list of places to look for employment (...despite the excellence of many of its individual school clusters, I didn't particularly give suburban Cobb County high marks either for the way that the Cobb system has been known to treat/mistreat its employees at times).
And the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal may not necessarily be indicative of the district in general, but with the cheating scandal being largest in U.S. history and with a culture of cheating being encouraged (and often required) from the top down in many instances as a way to falsely pump-up low test scores, the huge impact that the scandal had on the entire APS system is undeniable and should be glossed over for convenience (..."Oh there was a tiny little inconsequential incident with a few teachers cheating and the schools are great!").
With the OP not being familiar with the educational environment in metro Atlanta, the OP deserves to know the entirety of what they will be walking into, both good and bad.
Making no mention of the huge cheating scandal at APS would be like making no mention of the huge economic crisis caused by Wall Street or not mentioning the massive federal government debt issues in Washington D.C....it would be like attempting to ignore and/or hide a huge 800-pound elephant in a small room.
You make some good points as there are definitely some bright points in Atlanta Public Schools, but in a large metro region of 20-plus counties, APS is far from being the only employment option.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LovelySummer
There are a number of native Spanish-speaking students in APS, but also as you said Cobb and Gwinnett. OP should know it has been tough on teachers in Atlanta metro with school closings and layoffs.
I do not know if ESOL teachers are more in demand, however. Maybe so as it seems fairly specialized.
That's a good point that there are a number of native Spanish-speaking students in APS.
Though, native Spanish-speaking students (while they likely may make up the definitive, if not overwhelming majority of ESOL students) are not the only non-English speakers in need of ESOL instruction as ESOL classes are also utilized by Asians, Africans and Eastern Europeans.
That's also a good point that the OP should absolutely know that it has been tough on teachers in metro Atlanta with school closings and layoffs.
Though while most metro Atlanta and Georgia systems continue to struggle, not all metro Atlanta systems are necessarily contracting as Gwinnett County is one system that continues to grow and make plans to open up new schools.
Gwinnett County is also home to the state's largest Hispanic and Asian communities (and one of the largest Hispanic and Asian communities on the Eastern Seaboard between New York and Florida) and has the largest immigrant community as a whole in the state of Georgia (and one of the largest immigrant communities as a whole on the Eastern Seaboard between NY and Florida).
North Fulton County is also home to a very-large and fast-growing Asian community which is beginning to spill over into South Forsyth County, while Cobb County has a very-large Hispanic community in and around Marietta, and while the Hispanic population continues to grow in very-noticeable numbers throughout the Atlanta suburbs.
I do not think I was glossing over the cheating scandal. Rather, I think I was saying that the number of teachers that cheated PALES in comparison to the number of hard-working upstanding teachers in APS. It really was a small minority. Why is this important? How would YOU feel if some idiots at your job cheated and then your company (which includes you) was then painted with a broad brush as not offering quality service? I do not think you would like that at all.
My husband has been getting up faithfully going to teach every single day for almost 20 years in Atlanta Public Schools. In that time, he has missed less than 5 days...in almost 20 years. He is there at 7:15 and does not walk out of the door until 5 or later EVERY DAY. He is doing that for his students. He has been voted a Teacher of the Year and, guess what, most of his colleagues are just like him. Most of the teachers are NOT involved in the cheating scandal - that is a very small minority. It is not the vast majority of what has been going on in APS and what continues to go on everyday.
And do you know what? HE of ALL teachers would be one that would WANT to cheat. Why? He does not have a cushy job in Buckhead APS schools where the schools have foundations. Nope. He would NEVER take one of these jobs. He has ALWAYS worked in the true inner city. You know, the places where no one else wants to go because the kid's parents are prostitutes, yes, prostitutes. Where he has to go a'knocking on doors at lunch time because parents don't seem to care if little Johnny is doing homework or showing up for school or not. Where he gets children EVERY SINGLE YEAR who cannot READ. Do you know how hard it is to help a student pass the CRCT when the student cannot even read? This is what he does. He is going gray trying to figure out how to help these children while everyone else is going off to North Fulton and the beautiful Gwinnett. Maybe, just maybe the OP wants to work with the children in the inner city. Maybe that is why she asked about Atlanta Public Schools. Maybe she wants to work with the children who NOBODY else wants to work with...because that is the reality. And for all of that my husband gets very little thanks and the pay is horrible...and he has advanced degrees. He does it for the love of the children and to try to make a difference because it d*mn sure is NOT for the money. I can vouch for that.
So please be careful before you dismiss APS district based on the relative few teachers/administrators that felt inclined to cheat because the cheaters are such a small drop in the bucket compared to those that work 11 hour days with the children that cannot even read in 5th and 6th grade, who have parents who are prostitutes and when APATHY and HUNGER are the biggest barrier to learning. This is the reality of the teachers that teach in the most inner of the inner city, and that district is Atlanta Public Schools. They do not have the luxury of North Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth or Cobb. They take the worst-positioned students and go from there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll
I didn't say that APS should absolutely be last, I said that APS (along with Clayton and DeKalb) should probably be last on the OP's list of places to look for employment (...despite the excellence of many of its individual school clusters, I didn't particularly give suburban Cobb County high marks either for the way that the Cobb system has been known to treat/mistreat its employees at times).
And the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal may not necessarily be indicative of the district in general, but with the cheating scandal being largest in U.S. history and with a culture of cheating being encouraged (and often required) from the top down in many instances as a way to falsely pump-up low test scores, the huge impact that the scandal had on the entire APS system is undeniable and should be glossed over for convenience (..."Oh there was a tiny little inconsequential incident with a few teachers cheating and the schools are great!").
With the OP not being familiar with the educational environment in metro Atlanta, the OP deserves to know the entirety of what they will be walking into, both good and bad.
Making no mention of the huge cheating scandal at APS would be like making no mention of the huge economic crisis caused by Wall Street or not mentioning the massive federal government debt issues in Washington D.C....it would be like attempting to ignore and/or hide a huge 800-pound elephant in a small room.
You make some good points as there are definitely some bright points in Atlanta Public Schools, but in a large metro region of 20-plus counties, APS is far from being the only employment option.
That's a good point that there are a number of native Spanish-speaking students in APS.
Though, native Spanish-speaking students (while they likely may make up the definitive, if not overwhelming majority of ESOL students) are not the only non-English speakers in need of ESOL instruction as ESOL classes are also utilized by Asians, Africans and Eastern Europeans.
That's also a good point that the OP should absolutely know that it has been tough on teachers in metro Atlanta with school closings and layoffs.
Though while most metro Atlanta and Georgia systems continue to struggle, not all metro Atlanta systems are necessarily contracting as Gwinnett County is one system that continues to grow and make plans to open up new schools.
Gwinnett County is also home to the state's largest Hispanic and Asian communities (and one of the largest Hispanic and Asian communities on the Eastern Seaboard between New York and Florida) and has the largest immigrant community as a whole in the state of Georgia (and one of the largest immigrant communities as a whole on the Eastern Seaboard between NY and Florida).
North Fulton County is also home to a very-large and fast-growing Asian community which is beginning to spill over into South Forsyth County, while Cobb County has a very-large Hispanic community in and around Marietta, and while the Hispanic population continues to grow in very-noticeable numbers throughout the Atlanta suburbs.
Thank you all for the info....very informative and in some ways, similar to a few districts in FL. I do have a preference for working with ESOL and/or at-risk kids. Many of them come to the classroom with far more to worry about than passing the ACT or SAT, like..... Where will I sleep tonight? Will I be able to have dinner at my friend's house again?
I selected APS because I thought they would have the greatest Title I population... I appreciate knowing about the other districts I can check into. Also, the salary scale is different in each district, and some appear to be up to $7,000 difference? Is APS salary higher due to scandal (incentive for teachers to work there?). While I love my students, I would like to be able to take care of my own college-bound child. LOL!
I really appreciate the info....now I will check other districts. Also, I just received my Virginia certification in the mail, so that state is another option. The cost of living is a major factor there, so salary is higher on that list than it is on the GA list. Primarily, I want to teach students who may not have many advantages and show them they can achieve their education and good careers with hard work and determination to succeed. They need to know that they can secure good careers without the traditional 4-year degree. Let's face it, not every one does well with the rigors of college curriculum, but may do very well in a 2-year, hands-on learning vocational program.
Last edited by Ranae319; 03-02-2014 at 07:03 AM..
Reason: Misspelling
It is nice to hear that there are others who want to teach at-risk children. This is why he will not leave. He could teach anywhere but it is something about working with children that have very essential concerns (food, stability) and who are literally at-risk of being sucked in by their environment. He feels that this is where he is most needed. APS has been highest since my husband started teaching almost 20 years ago. It has nothing to do with the recent scandal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranae319
Thank you all for the info....very informative and in some ways, similar to a few districts in FL. I do have a preference for working with ESOL and/or at-risk kids. Many of them come to the classroom with far more to worry about than passing the ACT or SAT, like..... Where will I sleep tonight? Will I be able to have dinner at my friend's house again?
I selected APS because I thought they would have the greatest Title I population... I appreciate knowing about the other districts I can check into. Also, the salary scale is different in each district, and some appear to be up to $7,000 difference? Is APS salary higher due to scandal (incentive for teachers to work there?). While I love my students, I would like to be able to take care of my own college-bound child. LOL!
I really appreciate the info....now I will check other districts. Also, I just received my Virginia certification in the mail, so that state is another option. The cost of living is a major factor there, so salary is higher on that list than it is on the GA list. Primarily, I want to teach students who may not have many advantages and show them they can achieve their education and good careers with hard work and determination to succeed. They need to know that they can secure good careers without the traditional 4-year degree. Let's face it, not every one does well with the rigors of college curriculum, but may do very well in a 2-year, hands-on learning vocational program.
Also, the salary scale is different in each district, and some appear to be up to $7,000 difference? Is APS salary higher due to scandal (incentive for teachers to work there?). While I love my students, I would like to be able to take care of my own college-bound child. LOL!
Much of the City of Atlanta has more expensive housing than the suburbs, so it can get expensive to have a reasonable commute to the school you teach at in the city. Even the "up-and-coming neighborhoods" are not cheap. At 200K you can buy a "move-in- ready" 4Br/2.5 bath home a safe neighborhood in Gwinnett County--you can't even find "tear-downs" at that price in most of the Grady school zone in Atlanta. And, as previous posts have mentioned, Gwinnett schools tend to be some of the most diverse, and effective in the metro area.
Last edited by jeoff; 03-02-2014 at 12:24 PM..
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