remaking georgia’s high schools jan feb 07 final3.pdf · 2007. 2. 8. · school students making...

Understanding TenurePAGE Founders

CelebrationBuilding Academic

Vocabulary

RemakingGeorGia’s

HiGH scHools

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January/February 2007 PAGE ONE �

OfficersPresident

Dr. Anna BrownPresident-Elect

Judy TeasleySecretary

Vickie HammondTreasurer

Lamar ScottPast-President

Ken Russell

DirectOrs District 1 District 7 TBD Vickie Reed District 2 District 8 Vickie Joiner Leslie Mills District 3 District 9 Mary Carzoli Catherine Strickland District 4 District 10 Tim Mullen Susan McFadyen District 5 District 11 David Brown Richard Thomas District 6 District 12 Mike Smith Raymechia Smith

eDitOrial staffEditor

Tim CallahanAssociate Editor

Erica DriverContributing Editor

Lynn Varner

New sOuth PublishiNgPresident

Larry LebovitzPublisher

John HannaEditor-in-Chief Laura Newsome

Graphic Designer Jack Simonetta

Production Coordinator Mike Johnson

Advertising/Sales (770) 650-1102, ext.125

Official Publication of the Professional association of georgia educatorswww.pageinc.org

PAGE ONE magazine (ISSN 1523-6188) is mailed to all PAGE members, selected higher educa-tion units and other school-related professionals. An annual subscription is included in PAGE membership dues. A subscription for others is $10.00 annually. Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, Georgia, and additional mailing offic-es. (USPS 017-347) Postmaster: send address changes to Page ONe, P.O. box 942270, atlanta, ga 31141-2270.

PAGE ONE magazine is published five times a year (January, March, May, September and November) by New South Publishing, Inc.; 1303 Hightower Trail, Suite 101; Atlanta, GA 30350; 770-650-1102. Copyright ©2007

The articles published in each issue of PAGE ONE magazine represent the views of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of PAGE, except where clearly stated.

You are invited to submit articles dealing with current educa-tion issues. The editor reserves the right to determine the appro-priateness of articles for publication. Articles may be edited to meet space requirements. Georgia educators are encouraged to submit photographs for use as the cover for PAGE ONE maga-zine and other photographs to illustrate story subjects. Send manuscripts and photographs to: Tim Callahan, Editor, PAGE ONE magazine; PAGE; P.O. Box 942270; Atlanta, GA 31141-2270.

Notice to MembersContributions or gifts to the PAGE Foundation are tax deductible as chari-table contributions for federal income tax purposes. However, under other provi-sions of the IRS code, costs for PAGE lob-bying activities on behalf of members are not deductible. PAGE estimates the non-deductible portion of your 2006-2007 dues allocated to lobbying is .07 percent. Please call the PAGE office at 1-800-334-6861 (outside Atlanta) or 770-216-8555 (Metro Atlanta) if you have questions.

Vol. 29 No. 1January/february 2007

contents

6

26

12

FeAtURes 06 Remaking Georgia’s High Schools

DepARtments02 from the President: There’s a Lot to be Proud Of

03 from the executive Director: Let’s Move Forward with a Positive Education Agenda

12 foundation News: A Thank You to Our Donors

Gifts to the PAGE Foundation in 2006

Scientific-Atlanta Foundation Awards $5,000 to PAGE Foundation

PAGE Foundation’s Future Educators Association Fall Conference a Success

Honor Your Favorite Teacher

Gwinnett County Student Wins USAD National Logo Design Contest

PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon Advisory Board Holds Annual Meeting

20 legal: What is Tenure?

22 Professional learning:

Professional Insights – Building Academic Vocabulary

Teacher Academy

2006 PAGE Fall Conference Highlights

news AnD InFoRmAtIon 4 2007 PAGE Legislative Priorities

5 Call for Nomination of PAGE Officers

28 PAGE Founders Celebrated

32 New Employees

32 PAGE Planner

On the cover: Joy Baker, curriculum director for Oglethorpe Co., and system faculty members from Oglethorpe H.S. identify issues impeding change. Photo by Rod Reilly.

� PAGE ONE January/February 2007

From The President | Dr. anna brown

Dr. anna brown

Despite what we may be reading in the newspaper and hearing on television reports, I know that excellent teach-

ers exist in Georgia’s schools. We always learn about the inappropriate actions of an educator or a school’s failure to make achievement gains in the news media. What about all of the other teachers and educators who are going to work every day, focusing on the core business of school—teaching and learning? I would like to use this column as an opportunity to celebrate the positive things that are happening in our classrooms around the state of Georgia. As an administrator in a middle school and from my role as PAGE president, I am in the favorable position of being able to visit many schools and classrooms. From my observations, I have seen devoted teachers trying to enrich the learning process for their students.

There is so much pressure for teachers to focus on standards and preparing students for tests. Yet, I see teachers every day working to make learning fun and interesting. Unfortunately, most of their efforts might go unnoticed, so I’d like to share them with readers. This summer, I was at a meeting at Jekyll Island with a PAGE member. Outside of the meetings, this science teacher worked tirelessly to acquire ocean artifacts to use in her saltwater aquarium at school. The art teacher at my school has been busy this fall trying to organize our first student art show in December. The Beta Club and Technology Club sponsors at my school have spent hours beyond the school day helping students prepare for competitions at state conventions. A high school social studies teacher has spent two days with his students at a Model United Nations confer-ence. Why are these teachers putting forth extra efforts beyond their regular classroom duties? They make this extra effort because they have a passion for their subject and want to share this enthusiasm with their students. I encourage each of you to take time to acknowledge teachers who are going the extra mile every day.

We may not realize some of the efforts of these teachers, however, we are beginning to recog-

nize the successes accomplished by schools and districts in regard to student achievement. In late November, the Georgia Department of Education announced that almost 100 schools have made strides for closing the achieve-ment gap with minority students. Teachers and administrators in these schools have made a conscious effort to focus on the specific needs of their students. We should commend these schools and their teachers, who’ve been recog-nized for their hard work in focusing on differ-entiation and other strategies that have helped to narrow this achievement gap.

Schools around the state are recognized every year in the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education bus tours. About twelve schools are selected each year, and over fifty business and educational leaders visit the schools to learn what makes these schools outstanding. As the PAGE President, I had the opportunity to participate in the bus tour this year. The quality of teaching that I observed was outstanding! I saw elementary special education students working on projects about Georgia, middle school students making African masks, and high school English students in an engaging discussion about literature. However, the most poignant thing I witnessed on this bus tour was the excitement and support that these schools had from their community and parents. It was evident that these individuals recognized and valued their teachers! This support certainly was evidenced in the teachers’ and students’ school pride.

At this point in the school year, educators are thinking about testing and the sanctions that the results may bring. Beyond this, we should be looking at how we can engage students and spark their interest in the learning process. From my own experiences, I have seen many examples of how teachers not only focus on the standards, but work on engaging their students and inspir-ing their interest in the subject. Recognizing excellent educators and valuing their commit-ment is a worthwhile step toward improving the quality of teaching and learning. u

There’s a Lot to be Proud Of


Dr. allene Magill

From The Executive Director | Dr. allene Magill

As we move into the New Year, I know that all PAGE members join me in expressing the desire that policymakers at both state

and national levels promote a positive agenda for public education. The time for campaign slogans is over. Now is the time to move beyond simply stating the oft-heard “Education is my highest pri-ority” and move past the rhetoric by actions taken. It’s time to “walk the talk.”

PAGE has been at the forefront in communicat-ing the views of our members to policymakers in both Atlanta and Washington, D.C. What we have been saying is that now is the time to move for-ward with substantial improvements to No Child Left Behind at the national level, as well as moving ahead with several key items that are also impor-tant at the state level, including addressing school funding comprehensively and moving forward with class size reduction.

Now is not the time to back down on reducing class size, nor in providing the salaries and benefits that will attract good teachers to our classrooms

and keep them there. It has been difficult for many districts to accommodate the class size reductions, but we know it is the right thing to do. Let’s look for creative ways to do it and not simply seek blanket waivers to delay this critical change once again.

We know as educators that we can reach and teach all students, but that for some students, significant additional resources will be required. Resources of time, staff, materials and approaches will cost us more in the short term, but they will yield positive results in the long term. Educators, too, need additional resources to help them grow professionally to meet the challenges of bringing all students forward.

Policy decisions made over the past decade have, for the most part, shown promise in closing the achievement gap. The question before us now is will we have the diligence to stay on course when these decisions begin to cost real dollars, or create inconveniences for those who lead our schools and school districts? The education of more than 1.4 million Georgia children is at stake.

•As this issue of PAGE One magazine is being

mailed, the legislature is beginning its third week of activity, and your PAGE lobbying team is work-ing full time under the Gold Dome. I hope you will stay in touch during the critical 40-day session by checking the legislative news on our website and through the listserv. Please review our list of leg-islative priorities to see what our members have asked us to pursue this session.

You can sign up for the listserv by visiting the website at pageinc.org, and you will find it is the single best way to stay informed on the issues and what your organization is saying and doing with regard to legislation. Increasingly, we are finding that e-mail is the fastest and most accurate way to respond to questions and get the facts out to every school building across the state. I hope that your building contact is able to share items that we send regularly, but you can also sign up for the listserv and get information sent directly to your e-mail. u

the time for campaign Rhetoric is past

You can sign up for the listserv by visiting the website at pageinc.org, and you will find it is the single best way to stay informed on the issues and what your organization is saying and doing with regard to legislation.

Let’s Move Forward with a Positive Education Agenda


i. student learning & achievement through the state funding formula, Provide the following:

• Fully implement the lower pupil-teach-er ratio in grades K-12 as mandated by Georgia law.

• Provide students with art, music and P.E. teachers in grades K-8 at the rate of at least one of each for every 345 stu-dents.

• Preserve the middle school program by allowing for a curriculum that includes the core subjects but also provides for music, the arts, P.E. and connections.

• Enable districts to employ paraprofes-sionals in grades 1-8.

• Fully implement and fund the Early Intervention Program to include all instructional models.

ii. attendance & student servicesThrough the State Funding Formula,Provide the Following:• One full-time school nurse at every

school.• At least one school counselor for every

400 students in grades K-8, mandating that 100 percent of these funds be spent on school counselors.

• At least one school psychologist for every 1,200 students, mandating that 100 percent of these funds be spent on school psychologists.

• At least one school social worker for every 1,200 students, mandating that 100 percent of these funds be spent on school social workers.

• Expand alternative education programs to include grades K-5.

• Include student support services in the definition of direct classroom expen-ditures under the 65 percent spending mandate.

iii. attracting & retaining Quality educators• Ensure that Georgia teacher salaries reach

and remain above the national average and lead the Southeast by increasing the state base scale by six percent.

• Improve state support of the State Health Benefit Plan to reduce the rate of pre-mium increase and enhance benefits.

• Increase the TRS multiplier from two percent to 2.5 percent.

• Provide for optional retirement with full benefits after completing 25 years of creditable service in the Georgia Teachers Retirement System.

• Add steps to the state teacher salary scale to extend salary steps through 30 years.

• Allow educator input in the develop-ment and operation of the State Health Benefit Plan.

• Continue enhancement of salaries and retirement benefits of educational-sup-port personnel.

iV. Professional learning• Provide additional support for profes-

sional learning and leadership opportu-nities for educators.

• Provide state support for the Teacher Support Specialist Endorsement Program.

• Make the National Board salary incen-tive program available to certified counselors, audiologists, social workers, school psychologists and speech-lan-guage pathologists.

Page Positionssupport…• National Board Teacher Certification

Program, including funding supple-ments for educators in all Georgia schools (regardless of Needs Improvement status).

• Utilizing alternative sources of funding for public education.

• Maintaining a state salary scale for certi-fied personnel.

• Applying the Fair Dismissal Act to all educators.

• Using retired teachers to alleviate Georgia’s teacher shortage.

• Transferring full experience from one school system to another for all personnel.

• Increasing funding for technology, including integration and professional learning.

Oppose…• Using Georgia lottery proceeds to sup-

plant existing resources for educational purposes and programs.

• Collective bargaining, legalized meet and confer, legalized permissive profes-sional negotiations, binding arbitration, strikes, sickouts and school closings.

• Diverting K-12 public-school tax dollars to private schools.

• Merging the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia with the Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia.

• Investing Teachers’ Retirement System and Employees’ Retirement System funds into venture capital. u

2007 PAGE Legislative Priorities


• District 1 Director Open

• District 2 DirectorVickie Joiner (Incumbent)Lee CountyTerm expires 6/30/2007

• District 3 DirectorMary Carzoli (Incumbent)Fulton CountyTerm expires 6/30/2007

• District 4 DirectorTim Mullen (Incumbent)Gwinnett CountyTerm expires 6/30/2007

PAGE is a democratically run association, and members are urged to participate in the election process. Officers and directors are elected by majority vote at the annual delegate assembly in June. The offices of the president-elect, secretary and treasurer are elected for one-year terms. Directors serve for a three-year term (on a staggered basis). Nominees are sought for the following positions. (The incumbent secretary, treasurer and director are eligible for re-election.)

The PAGE Nominating Committee requests that nominations for 2006-07 officers and directors be submitted no later than April 6, 2007. Nominations should be submitted in writing, signed by the PAGE member, with a brief outline of the nominee’s qualifications, and sent to Dr. Allene Magill, Executive Director, PAGE, P.O. Box 942270, Atlanta, GA 31141-2270. The Nominating Committee will meet in Macon in April.

Call for Nomination of PAGE Officers

PAGE Officer Nominating DistrictsThesearethefourPAGEdistrictsthatseeknomineesfordirectortoserveathreeyearterm.

1st

3rd

2nd

4th1st

3rd

2nd

4th

1st

3rd

2nd

4th

By Lee RaudonisPhotos by Rod Reilly


Virtually everyone agrees that the key to a good edu-cation is to make sure that a child receives a solid foundation in reading and other basics at an early age. It is for this reason that the state of Georgia has devoted significant resources and attention to pre-kindergarten, class size reductions, reading pro-

grams and other efforts to help Georgia’s youngest students get off to a good start. And according to various statistics provided by the state Department of Education, these efforts seem to be paying off in improved performance.

While concentrating on the early years of a child’s education is important, it is equally important, however, that the needs of older students not be overlooked or shortchanged, and unfortunately,

there are numerous statistics indicating the state has serious prob-lems in addressing the needs of high school students. For example, based on comparisons of the number of students entering grade nine with the number who graduate four years later, the National Center for Education Statistics estimates that approximately 39 percent of Georgia’s students fail to graduate from high school (the state Department of Education claims that the dropout rate has recently declined to 30 percent). According to statistics accepted by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), the state’s graduation rate is 14 percentage points lower than the graduation rate in the nation and 10 points lower than the average of the 16 states belonging to the SREB.

Among those students entering the ninth grade who do not

RemakingGeorgia’s High Schools


graduate are 60 percent of black males (Throughout the South, there are more African-American males of college age in prison than in college), 63 percent of Hispanic males, 63 percent of Hispanic females, 46 percent of black females and 44 percent of white females. Clearly—in spite of No Child Left Behind and numerous other state and federal legislative mandates—Georgia’s high schools are leaving far too many students behind.

“There is no doubt that Georgia has made a lot of progress in educa-tion in the last generation,” says PAGE Executive Director Allene Magill. “High school graduation rates have increased and far more students are going on to college. However, the improvements we have made in our public schools have not kept up with changes in society that require more students to be more highly educated than ever before. While edu-cating most people to a minimal or moderate level and a few people to a very high level was sufficient 20 to 30 years ago, today’s economy demands that all students receive a good or excellent education. The demands on our schools have increased exponentially.”

Why are Georgia’s high schools (and those in many other states, for that matter) failing to meet the needs of such a large number of students, and what can be done to change schools so that they begin to have greater relevance for more of their students? These are the questions that led PAGE, through its Department of Professional Learning, to launch its High School Redesign Initiative.

Dr. Edie Belden, PAGE director of Professional Learning, explains that the initiative is an effort to help Georgia’s high schools become more relevant to the students of the 21st century, and more com-petitive in the education arena. Belden states, “Given the impact of technology on today’s society, it is more important than ever that students graduate from high school. Public education has a real challenge to keep students, because there are many other options today such as online schools, home schools, church schools and other non-public schools.”

Belden is quick to point out, however, that the PAGE initiative is

not just another education “program.” “We felt, and research bears it out, that there are no silver bullets; no magic ‘programs’ that will solve the problems in today’s high schools,” she explains. “Every high school must look at its own situation and the needs of its own stu-dents. The ‘goal’ is to find ‘processes’ that will help schools become more relevant to their students and their communities.”

With these goals in mind, Dr. Belden and her staff developed the initiative and then made a presentation to the Georgia Association of Secondary School Principals. Among the things she stressed was the fact that PAGE intended to underwrite all of the costs associated with the initiative, including hotel rooms, meals and transportation for the participants.

“We know part of the problem in high schools is that there is little time, energy or resources to devote to thinking about redesigning our schools,” Belden explained. “ In current school culture, everyone is busy from very early to very late. What PAGE hopes to do is pro-

vide resources to schools participating in the initiative so that faculty members can take time to examine what they are doing and determine how they can become better at meeting the needs of students.”

After the presentation to the principals’ association, 15 schools contacted PAGE to express their interest in participating in the initiative, and four of these schools signed up for the initial session scheduled for December 3rd and 4th at the Gwinnett Place Marriott. The four schools—Sonoraville High School in Gordon County, Shaw High School in Muscogee County, Oglethorpe (County) High School and Washington (County) High School—have challenges that are similar as well as ones that are unique to each school. When asked why they decided to participate in the PAGE initiative, their leaders gave vari-ous explanations.

“Shaw is one of eight public high schools in the Muscogee County School District,”

RemakingGeorgia’s High Schools

AssistantPrincipalMichaelForte,W.H.Shaw

HighSchool

HeatherRogers(left),LanguageArtsteacher,andCathrynBrooks(right),Mathteacher,

bothfromOglethorpeCountyHighSchool


said the principal, Dr. James A. Arnold. “We have an enrollment of 1150, including approximately 58 percent minority students. Shaw was named a ‘School of Excellence’ in 1983, and we received the Platinum award for increases in achievement this year. We are a comprehensive high school and offer a wide variety of Career, Technical and Adult Education (CTAE) programs that are an inte-gral part of our curriculum. Our teachers are constantly searching for ways to improve student success and achievement. Our Raider Prep summer camp, online summer school, Georgia Virtual and Georgia High School Graduation Test Saturday review pro-grams have been recent additions to our efforts to improve achievement, and they have shown great promise. Team teaching

has also been important at our school since it opened in 1978, and we continue to use this approach in many of our classes. Our curriculum council, management team and administrative team work hard to include the opinions of students, teachers, parents and stakeholders in the decision making process, and we are committed to the belief that we can always find new and better ways to engineer opportunities for success. The PAGE High School initiative seemed to offer us the opportunity to discover new ways of looking at achieving our goals.”

Sonoraville High School in Gordon County is only two years old. The princi-pal, Bruce Potts, hopes that the PAGE High School Initiative will help to get his school off to a good start. “We are looking to the High School Redesign Initiative as a partner in helping us grow as a school. We have a dynamic faculty who are willing to step out of the norm. We have brought our middle school principal with us, because we want to make sure that our curriculum and process-es are aligned from grades six through 12.”

Phillip Todd, principal of Oglethorpe High School outside of Athens, said that his school is participating in the initiative to help focus their school improvement goals. “Dr. Belden has done a great job helping us focus on school improvement. This is part of our school improvement effort.”

Dr. Jeffery Welch, superintendent of the Oglethorpe County School System, was also an active participant in the initiative. When asked why he chose to participate, he responded quickly and clearly: “I have to do a lot of things as superintendent, such as balance the budget and guide our board of education through important policy ques-tions, but the most important task I face is to help teachers help students learn. The end of everything I do must be to improve student learning, and in order to do that, I believe we must change the nature of schools and give

teachers the resources and training neces-sary to do that.”

Welch continued, “Teachers teach the way they were taught, but today’s students are vastly different than previous generations of students, and yet, there are probably more similarities than differences between most classrooms in 2006 and classrooms of 1900.

“Just think that many major companies spend up to 25 percent of their profits on research and development, whereas the state’s contribution for professional development is less than one percent of our school system’s budget. Teachers need to make the shift from teaching as they were taught to teaching in a way that will engage today’s students.”

Dewey Carey is principal of Washington High School. As to why his school chose to participate, he said, “We are excited about coming together as a team to see how we possibly need to look at things from a dif-ferent perspective as we continue to work on our school action plan. In our school improvement process, we continue to look five years out to plan for the needs of stu-dents, staff and community.”

Assistant Principal Henry Quinn stressed the importance of making the school rel-evant to the students. “We look forward to bringing this experience back to our fac-ulty—a new perspective as to how better to teach our students for the world of the 21st century,” he said.

Audra Gilbert, instructional facilitator, called for changes that would meet the needs of Washington’s diverse population. “We have a diverse student population, and we want to meet their needs. What can we do to help all students meet standards?”

Before coming to the workshop, partici-pants were asked to read Phillip Schlechty’s book, “Shaking Up the School House—How to Support and Sustain Educational Innovation.” In his book, Schlechty shares many insights and observations that should cause all high school teachers and admin-istrators to think about what they are doing and what actions might be necessary to shake up their schools.

“The pace of change in American society is far outstripping the capacity of schools to keep up,” he observes, “and when the rate of change outside an organization is greater than the rate of change inside, the continuing existence of that organization is threatened.”

Schlechty also observes, “the reason America’s schoolchildren are not learning what we want them to learn is that in too many instances they are being asked to do

MathDept.ChairPamAnders,W.H.ShawHighSchool

Picturedleftandalsop.6GeorgeThompson,presidentofSchlechtyCenterforLeadershipinSchoolReform.

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�0 PAGE ONE January/February 2007

things they do not see as worth doing in order to learn things adults want them to learn. If educators want students to work hard and be persistent, they must find ways of designing work that students believe to be worth doing.”

However, designing such work is compli-cated by forces competing with schools for students’ attention. “Schools, parents and religious organizations must now compete with the entertainment industry, the elec-tronic gaming industry and others for the attention and commitments of children and youths,” Schlechty explains. “Unless educa-tors learn to compete in this new environ-ment, schools, both public and private, are likely to forfeit more and more of students’ attention and their interest in learning to the educative (and ‘miseducative’) forces and sources that are emerging outside the context of schools, families and religious institutions.”

The veteran educator and author goes on to explain that in our competitive world, where traditional adult authority is suspect and options abound, students can be com-pelled to attend school, but they cannot be compelled to be attentive while they are there. Students can be compelled to comply and do enough to get by, but they cannot be compelled to be committed, self-directed and self-controlled. What is needed, he says, is systemic reform that has to do with chang-ing social structures and the culture in which these structures are embedded. The bottom line, he suggests, should be the quality of work assigned to students.

“The proper focus of schools is on the

quality of the work provided students and the capacity of that work to engage them, to cause them to persist when they have dif-ficulty, and to produce a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.”

Thus, the core business of schools is “the invention of tasks, activities and assign-ments that students find to be engaging, bringing them into profound interactions with content and processes they will need to master to be judged well educated.”

To discuss and reinforce Schlechty’s ideas, George Thompson, president of the Schlechty Institute and a former Gwinnett County Schools superintendent, was the first present-er at the PAGE Redesign Initiative workshop.

Thompson’s overall mission was to help create a common understanding of the resis-tance to change in schools and of the need for change. He first addressed some of the

common excuses for not making changes: 1) Staff (and other stakeholders) who

believe that the answer to the problems in schools today is to “go back to the good ole days and the way things used to be done.”

2) Educators who believe that things would be fine if the outsiders (governments, parents, etc.) would just leave them alone.

3) Those who believe that the problem is with the kids the schools are being asked to educate today (as if parents are keeping all of the good kids locked away in closets).

4) Those who believe that “government schools” will never be any good. (If you can’t trust government to help victims of a hur-ricane, how can you trust government to educate your children?)

Thompson asked the participants to dis-cuss among their teams how many of their faculty members and stakeholders might use one of these excuses for not making changes at the school and how many would accept the need to make changes in order to keep up with the exponential societal shifts taking place.

Participants at all of the four schools agreed that there were many members of their own faculties and other community stakeholders who would agree with one or more of the reasons for opposing significant change in the structure of their schools. They acknowledged that there was prob-ably not a common understanding that sig-nificant change was necessary, possible or desirable.

The balance of the workshop was designed to help the participants gain a common under-

Assistant Director for High School Redesign InitiativeProfessional Association of Georgia Educators, Atlanta, Ga.

The Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), Georgia’s largest organization for professional educators, is seeking an experienced educator, holding at a minimum a master’s degree, for a full-time professional position to develop, direct and coordinate a high school redesign initiative for selected schools based on processes, standards and use of student data. The scope of the work includes, but is not limited to, defining collaboratively with participating schools their most critical redesign needs, obtaining resources for implementing change and facilitating school teams through the change process. Formal writing skills, research and computer skills, and strong communication and interpersonal skills are a requirement for this position. High school administrative experience is preferred. Intra-state travel and occasional weekend work assignments are required. Person must reside in the Atlanta metro area. Salary range is commensurate with responsibilities plus an excellent benefits package. Interested persons may access a full job description at pageinc.org, click on Professional Services.

Send letter of interest and resume, including three work-related references, to Gayle Wooten, director of human resources, Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), P.O. Box 942270, Atlanta, Georgia 31141-2270. Deadline for receipt of letter and resume is at close of business on April 30, 2007.

Arts Education Impacts Academic Performance

• Research shows the impact of the arts on students’ academic performance. Arts-rich schools create more engaged, confident learners who not only become better students, but become better people.

• The Woodruff recognizes the power and potential of opening young minds through the arts. Our divisions – Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art and Young Audiences – share a commitment to make arts education based on performances, exhibitions and school curriculums accessible to all teachers and students in Georgia.

• The Woodruff and its divisions offer arts educational programs all over Georgia – reachingstudents almost 1,000,000 times each year.

• The Woodruff provides certification and support resources for teachers – more than 12,000 hours of professional development last year, 27% of these accredited by the state of Georgia.

“Our goal is to see children respond—to become more alive and excited by the arts

around them—and to create a lasting impact on their lives.”

– Joseph R. Bankoff, President & CEO, Woodruff Arts Center

To see what resources are available for student and teachers, visit www.woodruffcenter.org

(click on the Arts Education link).

continued on page 28

Job oppoRtunIty

SouthernRegionalEducationBoardDirectorSteveBroome.

Arts Education Impacts Academic Performance

• Research shows the impact of the arts on students’ academic performance. Arts-rich schools create more engaged, confident learners who not only become better students, but become better people.

• The Woodruff recognizes the power and potential of opening young minds through the arts. Our divisions – Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art and Young Audiences – share a commitment to make arts education based on performances, exhibitions and school curriculums accessible to all teachers and students in Georgia.

• The Woodruff and its divisions offer arts educational programs all over Georgia – reachingstudents almost 1,000,000 times each year.

• The Woodruff provides certification and support resources for teachers – more than 12,000 hours of professional development last year, 27% of these accredited by the state of Georgia.

“Our goal is to see children respond—to become more alive and excited by the arts

around them—and to create a lasting impact on their lives.”

– Joseph R. Bankoff, President & CEO, Woodruff Arts Center

To see what resources are available for student and teachers, visit www.woodruffcenter.org

(click on the Arts Education link).

�� PAGE ONE January/February 2007

Foundation news

This time of year is often given to reflection. The hectic pace of the holidays has slowed, offer-

ing us time to take stock of where we are…and where we’ve been. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, the PAGE Foundation has enjoyed continued success in its efforts to recruit, develop, retain and recognize capable and caring teachers for all Georgia students.

Nationally we face a growing teach-er shortage as numbers of educators leave the profession through attri-tion and retirement. Georgia faces increased pressure as the demand for teaching positions rises due to stu-dent enrollment growth and resump-tion of state efforts to decrease the number of students per classroom. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission projects our state will need 190,000 to 200,000 new teach-ers during the next 10 years. Despite efforts to double the number of new teachers it graduates each year, the University System of Georgia cannot be expected to meet the demand for new teachers. Where will our new teach-ers come from and how will we ensure

that they are qualified to meet the needs of all our students?

Thanks to your generosity; there is good news to share. Our Future Educators Association of Georgia (FEA of GA) pro-gram, an extracurricular program that offers young people practical insight into the field of teaching, now has more than 60 active middle and high school chap-ters statewide, a 36 percent increase from 2005 to 2006. The program allows stu-dents, working with experienced faculty advisors, to better determine if a career in education is the right choice for them.

At the college level, our Student Professional Association of Georgia Educators (SPAGE) program has grown in the past two years from 7,199 to 9,797 members. We hope to increase this num-ber even more as we take steps to better meet the needs of the non-tradition-al student, a growing segment within Colleges of Education as adults make career moves to teaching.

We continue to award more than 15

academic scholarships annually on a competitive basis to PAGE and SPAGE members. We are working in partner-ship with PAGE and have contribut-ed to the PAGE Teaching Academy, Georgia’s first academy for beginning teachers. The Academy has graduated its first class of participants, sever-al of whom credit the program with saving their teaching careers. The Foundation also provides financial support for the PAGE Professional Learning Department, which deliv-ers valuable, progressive training for educators ensuring that participating Georgia teachers remain at the top of their profession.

Now in its 49th year, STAR remains the state’s premier student/teacher recognition program, having hon-ored more than 20,000 outstand-ing teachers and students since its inception. The PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades and the PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon con-tinue to offer middle and high school students the opportunity to hone their team and competitive skills

through vigorous and rigorous academic competition.

Corporate, education, foundation, government and community leaders joined us for the second annual PAGE Turning Event in September as we hon-ored BellSouth and BellSouth President of Community Technologies Phil Jacobs for their corporate and personal leader-ship and commitment to improving pub-lic education in the state. Funds raised at the gala will benefit our professional learning programs.

Again, we are profoundly grateful for the support of each of our donors. Before closing, I would like to take this oppor-tunity to give special recognition to the more than 69,000 members of PAGE, who constitute our largest group of donors. Their sustained support of the work of the Foundation has allowed us to make great strides in fulfilling our mission to ensure that each Georgia student is taught by a capable, caring teacher. u

A Thank You to Our DonorsFromPAGEFoundationPresidentTomWommack

Volunteers Needed for the PAGE Georgia

Academic Decathlon

February 23-24 at Berkmar High School

Register online at www.page

foundation.org.

TomWommack

January/February 2007 PAGE ONE ��

Foundation newsCorporations and FoundationsAGL ResourcesAIG-VALICAT&T FoundationAdams, Hemingway & Wilson LLPArnall Golden Gregory LLPThe Atlanta Housing AuthorityThe Bainbridge-Post SearchlightBellSouth CorporationBellSouth FoundationChevronThe Coca-Cola CompanyCopeland Insurance Services, Inc.Coxe Curry & AssociatesCreative Financial GroupThe Dewberry Foundation, Inc.Equifax FoundationFord Motor CompanyFrances Wood Wilson Foundation, Inc.Georgia-Pacific FoundationGeorgia Power CompanyLangdale & Vallotton LLPMyron F. Steves and Co.Orr & Orr, LLPPallets IncorporatedPrior & Daniel, LLCR. L. Brown and Associates, Inc.Scientific-Atlanta Foundation, Inc.Stemberger, Cummins & Arnall, PCTurknett Leadership GroupUnited Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc.UnitedHealth CareWachovia Bank, N.A.Wachovia Foundation Matching Gifts ProgramOrganizationsCatoosa PAGE ChapterCommunities in Schools of GeorgiaDecatur PAGEEmory UniversityGeorgia Chamber of CommerceGeorgia Department of Economic DevelopmentGeorgia Partnership for Excellence in EducationJunior Achievement of GeorgiaKennesaw State University FoundationMedical College of GeorgiaMetro Atlanta Chamber of CommerceMonroe County Board of EducationMorehouse CollegeProfessional Association of Georgia Educators, Inc.Project GRAD AtlantaSmart Start Georgia

Spelman CollegeTech High SchoolIndividualsMr. Anurag AgnihotriDr. J. David AllenMr. Joseph R. BankoffDr. Edith R. BeldenMs. Nancy BennettMrs. Betty J. BensonMr. & Mrs. Robert Bonstein, Jr.Mr. Ben Boswell, Jr.Ms. Barbara I. BoydMrs. Rose M. BransonMr. & Mrs. John C. BrattenDr. Anna R. BrownMr. Robert G. BybeeMs. Angela R. CarmonMrs. Debbie CarstarphenDr. Barbara ChristmasMs. Gail P. ChurchillMs. Anne E. ClineMrs. Joan E. CollinsMs. Susan A. CostaMrs. Joanne CulbrethMrs. Susan DietrichMr. James David DunhamMrs. Lynn A. EarlyMrs. Margaret C. ElliottMr. Jonathan D. EllisMrs. Sandra W. FeilMrs. Haley S. FennellMr. Warren C. FortsonMrs. Kathy A. GiddensMs. Ruth GreenwayMr. Al HodgeMs. Barbara GunnMs. Nancy G. HallMrs. Leslie E. HamiltonMr. Edward J. HardinMr. William B. Hare, Jr.Governor and Mrs. Joe Frank HarrisMrs. Winona W. HartungMrs. Jill B. HayMrs. Deena M. HochMr. Preston D. HowardMrs. Ann S. HowellMrs. Judy W. JohnstonMr. Jimmy JordanMrs. Melissa KelleyMs. Susan LanierMrs. Iva L. KingMr. William H. KitchensMs. Cynthia J. KuhlmanMrs. Kathleen C. LindsayMs. Carolyn LovettMr. Alan S. Lowe

Dr. Karl E. LugusMr. Steve LuskDr. Allene MagillMr. & Mrs. Bill MangumMr. Frazier ManningMrs. Joanne F. MartinMr. Alonzo L. McDonald, Jr.Mrs. Lucy MolinaroMr. & Mrs. Joe MongtomeryMs. Valerie K. MunerlynMs. Juliana NalewayMs. Kathleen B. PattilloMs. Margaret PriceMrs. Carol F. PruettDr. Diane RayMr. Larry RawlinsMr. Donald E. RhodesMr & Mrs. Kenneth W. Russell, IIMrs. Dorothy SandersMr. Lamar ScottMrs. Shirley P. SheatsMrs. Nancy B. ShugartMrs. Lavella D. SienbenalerMrs. Mildred E. SimpsonMrs. Sean SmithDr. Michael SnavelyMr. Myron F. Steves, Sr.Mr. & Mrs. John TeasleyMrs. Karen N. ThomasMs. Lynda W. TodaroDr. Philip TodaroMrs. Tina W. ToddMrs. Sue B. VansantMr. & Mrs. John VarnerMiss Betty Lou WareMr. Hosie WatersMrs. Angela Robin WattsMrs. Joanna P. WheelusMr. J. Alvin WilbanksMiss. Beverly Lynn WilkesMr. Tom WommackMs. Gayle U. WootenMrs. Nancy F. WootenMs. Starr K. ZalankaIn KindAtlanta Daily WorldGeorgia Trend MagazineGraphics Worldwide

If your name does not appear on this list of donors for 2006 and you made a contribution, please notify us immediately, and we will correct our records. Send your corrections to John Varner at [email protected]

GiftstothePAGEFoundationin2006

Foundation news

The Scientific Atlanta Foundation has donated $5,000 to the PAGE Foundation in support of the

Future Educators Association of Georgia (FEA of GA) program, according to PAGE Foundation President Tom Wommack, who noted that this is the second time that Scientific Atlanta has donated funds to help expand FEA. Scientific Atlanta, a Cisco company, is one of the world’s lead-ing manufacturers and suppliers of prod-ucts, systems and services that help broad-band providers connect consumers with a world of integrated, interactive video, data and voice services.

In receiving the Scientific Atlanta Foundation donation, Wommack noted that the grant funds are needed and will be very helpful in PAGE Foundation efforts to attract capable students to the teach-ing profession. “Through our work with FEA we are helping local school systems develop the next generation of teachers,” commented Wommack. “This is really important work because teacher shortages are growing in Georgia, threatening our ability to provide a quality education in the future for all children. We welcome the opportunity to work with Scientific Atlanta and thank them for their sustained and generous support.” u

Scientific-AtlantaFoundationAwards$5,000toPAGEFoundation Soggy weather didn’t dampen the

enthusiasm of the more than four hundred-fifty Future Educators

Association of Georgia (FEA of Georgia) chapter participants and their advisors who attended this year’s FEA Fall Conference, hosted by the PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) Foundation, held in October at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center in Covington. This year marked the first time that breakout sessions were offered at the FEA Fall Conference, to an overwhelmingly positive response.

During the one-day event, chapter members had the opportunity to explore the conference’s theme, “Invest in a Child’s Mind…Teach!,” beginning with a message from Keynote Speaker Bryan Fiese, author, motivational speaker and teacher trainer from Austin, Texas, and throughout the day with breakout ses-sions presented by outstand-ing educators from across the state. In addition, conference participants were treated to a meaningful and light-heart-ed dramatic presentation on “What Teachers Are Like” by three National Board Certified Teachers: Patricia Alexander and Sandy Owens, both from Newton County Schools; and PAGE President Dr. Anna Brown, from Hart County Schools. Students were wel-comed by PAGE Foundation President, Tom Wommack.

The slate of presenters includ-ed National Board Certified Teachers, STAR Teachers, Teachers of the Year, college of education faculty, and staff from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. Some of the topics explored were: “Teaching in the 21st Century Classroom,” “Strategies for Teaching Students from Poverty,” “Capture a Child’s Mind by Capturing a Child’s Heart” and “Destination Teaching: SERIOUS BUSINESS.”

In addition to learning from the out-standing educators present, students

were given the opportunity to visit with recruiters from several colleges that offer education majors and discuss study and career opportunities with them. For the second consecutive year, Valdosta State University’s Dewar College of Education provided a free t-shirt to each conference attendee.

The next FEA of GA statewide event will be FEA Spring Training (“FEAST”) to be held March 22-24, 2007, at Epworth by the Sea on St. Simon’s Island, where students will continue to explore the year-long theme, “Invest in a Child’s Mind…Teach!” PAGE members are invited to submit workshop session proposals for the breakout sessions to be held on Friday, March 23. If you are interested in submitting a proposal or learn-ing more, contact FEA State Director Mary Ruth Ray at 1-888-413-1078 or [email protected]. u

PAGE Foundation’s Future Educators Association Fall Conference a Success

Scientific-AtlantaVicePresidentofCommunityRelationsBillMcCargo(left)presentsWachoviaSeniorVicePresidentofCommunityAffairsandPAGEFoundationChairBenBoswellwithadonationinsupportoftheFEAofGAprogram.

KeynoteSpeakerBryanFiesedeliversamotivatingmessageregardingthepowerofteaching.

Foundation news


tConferenceparticipantsbravedtherainastheywalkedtovarioussessionsatthisyear’sFEAofGAFallConference,heldforthefirsttimeattheGeorgiaFFA-FCCLACenterinCovington,Ga.

Foundation newsFoundation news


t CodyClay,asenioratGraysonHighSchool,isinterestedinbecomingahighschoolmathteacherandcoach.He’sbeeninvolvedinFEAfortwoyears.

t WendyG.Pierce,CamdemCountyHighSchool2006STARTeacher,leadasessiondesignedtohelpwould-beteacherscreatestrategiestoengagestudents.

t Priortotheconference,FEAchapterswereinvitedtosubmitentriesforat-shirtdesigncontest.ScrevenCountyHighSchoolFEAmembersVictoriaHerrington(picturedleft)andBritnyJordan(right)acceptedtheawardfortheirwinningdesign.

t t CarrollCounty’sTempleHighSchoolFEAparticipantsshowofftheircrowdpleasing,winningt-shirtdesign,followinganimpromptucontestbasedonapplauseheldduringtheconference.

RebeccaRice,asenioratPolkCounty’sCedartownHighSchool,saysshe’salwayswantedtoteach,“Infifthgrade…myteacherallowedmetoteachamathlesson.Ibecameveryexcitedaboutteachingthen.”

t

LuellaHighSchoolFEAChapterAdvisorAnnMillerproudlydisplaystheplaque

honoringtheirchapterasthewinnerofthe“WhyWeTeach”brochuredesigncontest.

JoiningMillerareFEAchaptermembers(frontrow,lefttoright)ShannonMcBride,

SarahBrown,MercedesKinchen,NatieSalgvero,KristianGribbsandLansingh

Dillard;(secondrow,lefttoright)KeraNash,TammyDecker,KrystalBulter,Christina

Adams,AllsionKrinke,KatieHolcomb;and(backrow,lefttoright)CrystalStirgus,Kirby

Smith,SamanthaCurns,KaciKornrumpf,KelseySlack,RochelleBennettand

SamanthaHubbard.


Honor Your Favorite Teacherby Dr. anna brown, assistant Principal Hart Co. Middle School and Page President

W hen the PAGE Foundation started this feature in PAGE

ONE, I felt that there couldn’t have been a more appropriate forum from which to promote quality teachers who impact all of our lives. Research has shown us that teacher quality has the greatest impact on student achievement. Luckily, I’ve had many teachers who possessed not only the knowledge of their content but also a passion for what they were teaching.

In previous issues, I’ve enjoyed reading how different individuals recalled incidents from their childhood years about influential teachers. Most of us think about academic teachers who teach us those skills necessary to be successful. To that end, I can remember many that probably effected my decision to teach middle grades language arts. Several teachers from my junior high years come to mind. Mrs. Ruby Nell Bannister, who is now retired, was my seventh grade reading teacher and instilled in me a desire to read. I remember fine-tuning my grammar skills with my eighth grade teacher, Dr. Roy Morgan, who is now an assistant superintendent in Barrow County. Another retired high school teacher, Mrs. Betty Edwards, provided excellent feedback as I developed better writing skills. All of these teachers had qualities that inspired and encouraged me along the way.

However, there is one teacher that influenced me in ways other than academics. Mr. Ron Jonson was my band director from ninth to twelfth grade. I was a flute player during concert season and a flag corps member in marching band. It was dur-ing those years that I was able to make a personal connection with him. When thinking about Mr. Jonson and his ability to connect with other students, I thought about three things—his ability to get to know students on a personal level, his commit-ment to the profession and his high standards for excellence.

Mr. Jonson taught in the Hart County school system for over thirty years and after retirement, went on to South Carolina to teach in Anderson County for ten years. He came to Hart County in the ’60s as a young band director. Over those years, he touched countless lives of those who chose to participate in band. Hart County became well known in the area and state for having an exemplary band program with large participation. Why were there always so many

students involved in his pro-gram? Most would agree that it was his charismatic presence and ability to relate to students. The band students in my high school had a nickname for Mr. Jonson—“Peanut.” I don’t recall why we called him that, but he took it all in stride and would laugh along with us. There is one occasion that I won’t for-get. I had experienced a family tragedy, and Mr. Jonson came to my house to see me. His interest was very meaningful to me, and these are clear exam-ples of how he connects to his students.

Two years ago, Mr. Jonson became a volunteer for our middle school band program. He works with individuals and small groups during eighth grade band class. I can’t say that I was surprised at all to learn that he was back in the classroom. As I look back over my years in high school, I don’t know how he endured the long practices that extended past the regular school day, not to mention the Friday night football games. And also there was Jazz band that played at basketball games. Whenever there was a community event involving band or music, you would find Mr. Jonson there. The dedication Mr. Jonson had for his music program and his love of music was obvious.

As a band student of Mr. Jonson’s, I remember his level of expectation for us. We always participated in festivals and marching band competitions, which were activities beyond the usual performances. Nothing bothered him more than when we weren’t doing our best. Marching drills had to be repeated and measures replayed. He didn’t hesitate to point out our mistakes over a megaphone during practice. We ended practice only when we had it right. Even though we didn’t like it at the moment, we realized that it was all intend-ed to make us the best we could be.

After we become adults, we can look back on our lives and see the ways that our teachers have influenced us. All teach-ers are important to our success, but some have a lasting impact on what kind of adults we become. As a band direc-tor, Mr. Jonson was passionate about excellence in music and performance. Like him, I too have high levels of expectations for my students and myself. I believe Mr. Jonson’s standards for excellence have influenced me in some way to have those same high expectations. u

Foundation news

PAGEPresidentDr.AnnaBrown(right)isshownwithherfavoriteteacher,Mr.RonJonson.


Foundation news

Katie Harazin, a senior at Gwinnett County’s Berkmar High School and member of the 2006 PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon State Championship team, is

the winner of the nationally-held logo design contest spon-sored for the first time by the United States Academic Decathlon. The logo will be used during the 2007 United States Academic Decathlon Nationals, which will be held in April 2007 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Harazin, a self-starter who discovered information regard-ing the logo-design contest while searching the USAD web-site, entered the contest without telling her GAD Coach IV Bray. Bray, whose team has won the PAGE Georgia Academic Championship for the past four years, was excited to learn she had won. Harazin’s design will be used on collateral pieces for the Nationals competition, including t-shirts for the participants.

It’s not the first time that Harazin has been inspired by USAD curriculum-related themes. She used the 2004-2005 decathlon theme, “Exploring the Ancient World,” as her inspiration for a mural that now graces the hallway of Berkmar High School. u

GwinnettCountyStudentWinsUSADNationalsLogoDesignContest

030641 • DeVry U - Page One magazine Ad • 7.25”w x 4.875”h • BW • ET • gew • 11/30/06

Harazin’swinningdesign.

BerkmarHighSchoolPAGEGeorgiaAcademicDecathlonCoachIVBray(left)andlogocontestwinnerKatieHarazin(right)posebeforethemuralthatHarazincreatedthatreflectsthethemeofthe2004-2005UnitedStatesAcademicDecathlon,“ExploringtheAncientWorld.”


On Friday, Nov. 17th, 2006, the PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon Advisory Board met at

the Atlanta Marriott in Gwinnett County.

The meeting, chaired by GAD State Director Cary Sell, offered the opportu-nity to discuss the positive effects of the decathlon program and ways to increase

participation and visibility. Jennifer Garner, the GAD coach at

Central Forsyth High School, spoke to the board regarding the positive things that come from having the Decathlon curriculum as an academic elective class. Ms. Garner cited academic growth in stu-dents, increases in self-esteem, as well as positive relationship-building both stu-dent to student and teacher to student. The class and Academic Decathlon helps prepare students for college because decathletes become used to learning vast amounts of information in a short time.

Margie Holloman, the GAD coach at Marion County High School, addressed the board regarding the USAD small school online national competition. This competition was introduced last year, and Marion County High School was the first Georgia school to participate. Ms. Holloman was accompanied by a special guest, Ashley Shipp, a senior at Marion County High School, who gave the stu-dent perspective of the experience. This small school online competition gives yet another opportunity for students to participate, learn a rigorous curriculum and receive recognition.

Following the guest speakers’ presen-tations, the Board held a brainstorm-ing session aimed at developing ways to increase support of the program by state education leaders. u

PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon Advisory Board Holds Annual Meeting

PAGEGADboardmembersandguestslearnmoreaboutthebenefitsofprogramparticipation.Seatedatthetableinthebackgroundare(lefttoright)GADalumniandCoachatAmericusSumterCountyHighSchoolSaritaDenny;MargieandOlinHollomon,GADcoachesatMarionCountyHighSchool;AshleyWelshandAshleyShipp,bothstudentsatMarionCountyHighSchool;PAGEFoundationPresidentTomWommack;PAGEGADAssistantDirectorMichelleCrawford;andPAGEPast-PresidentandTeacheratSonoravilleHighSchoolKenRussell;andseatedattableintheforegroundare(lefttoright),USADBoardofDirectorsCoachRepresentativeMercedesPaxtonandForsythCountyCurriculumandSpecialProgramsCoordinatorBrendaSchulz.

OUR SUPPORT, YOUR SUCCESS.

770-538-4390 or 800-252-5119 Atlanta � Gainesville � Waleska

[email protected]

At Brenau University, we domore than train our students.

We nurture them. Our programsin education have a reputation foroutstanding individual attention. Ifyou want small classes, supportiveclassmates, and professors whocheer you on — then you belongin a Brenau classroom.

Programs include:� M.Ed. in Early Childhood, Middle Grades

or Special Education (Learning Disabilities,Behavioral Disorders or Interrelated).

� Ed.S. in Early Childhood or Middle GradesEducation

Foundation news

Taking the Next Step…Enroll in KSU Graduate Studies in Education. Now accepting applications in our Master of Arts in Teaching Programs, Master of Education Programs

and our Doctor of Education in Leadership for Learning (Ed.D.).

Nefertiti M. Singleton2005 Master of Education in Interrelated Special Education

“The KSU Master of Education Program empowered me to have a voice in education. Professionally and personally, it gave me many years growth in only two years.”

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Visit our website at www.kennesaw.edu/education/grad

for more information.

�0 PAGE ONE January/February 2007

Legal | by Jill Hay, general CounSel

Jill Hay

When educators in Georgia use the term “tenure,” they are referring to rights under the Fair Dismissal Law as set

forth in O.C.G.A. sections 20-2-940 et. seq. It is here where Georgia law creates a property interest in continued employment for tenured teachers that may not be denied without granting certain sub-stantive and procedural due process rights.

In other words, a “tenured” teacher is entitled to have his or her contract renewed each year unless the school system can show grounds for non-renewal and offers the teacher a hearing during which the burden of proof is on the school system.

A tenured teacher’s contract may be non-renewed only for the eight reasons or grounds set forth in the Code.

1) Incompetency;2) Insubordination;3) Willful neglect of duties;4) Immorality;5) Inciting, encouraging or counseling students

to violate any valid state law, municipal ordi-nance, or policy or rule of the local board of education;

6) To reduce staff due to loss of students or can-cellation of programs;

7) Failure to secure and maintain necessary educational training; or

8) Any other good and sufficient cause. O.C.G.A. section 20-2-940(a)

WHo Has Tenure?Pursuant to Georgia’s Fair Dismissal Law, a

teacher who accepts a school year contract for the fourth consecutive school year from the same local board of education has “tenure” or rights to continued employment under this law. A tenured teacher who subsequently leaves that county and goes to work in another Georgia school system, may regain his/her “tenure” status after accepting a second consecutive full year contract from the new local board. Teacher tenure in Georgia was briefly eliminated for those who first became a teacher on or after July 1, 2000, under the “A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000.” However, the law was again changed and tenure was brought back for all teachers on July 1, 2004. It is also important to note that administrators can no longer acquire “tenure” under this law. A person who first became a school administrator on or after April 7, 1995, does not acquire any tenure rights or rights to con-tinued employment under this law. An adminis-

trator who was tenured prior to April 7, 1995, may retain those rights or be grandfathered-in under certain circumstances.

april 15 DeaDline:If there is a recommendation for non-renewal

of a contract, the local board of education shall by no later than April 15 of the current school year, notify in writing each certificated profes-sional employee (tenured or not tenured) of their intention to non-renew his/her contract for the ensuing school year. When such notice of intended non-renewal has not been given by April 15, the employment of such teacher or other certificated professional employee shall be continued for the ensuing school year.

non-reneWal oF a TenureD TeacHer:In order to non-renew a tenured teacher, the

teacher must be given written notice by certi-fied mail or statutory overnight delivery and such notice shall contain a statement explaining the teacher’s right to certain procedural safeguards. Within 20 days of receiving the notice, the tenured teacher must send to the school superintendent by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery a statement that he/she wishes to have a hearing. Within 14 days of the teacher’s request for a hear-ing, the local board must furnish the teacher with notice stating the cause or causes for non-renewal, the names of the known witnesses, a concise sum-mary of the evidence to be used against him/her, the time and place of the hearing, and that the charged teacher shall be furnished with compul-sory process or a subpoena legally requiring the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents.

The teacher shall be entitled to be represented by counsel and the hearing shall be conducted before the local board or a tribunal consisting of not less than three nor more than five impartial persons possessing academic expertise to conduct the hearing and submit its findings and recom-mendations to the local board for its decision thereon. The local board shall render its decision at the hearing or within five days thereafter. Appeals may be taken to the State Board of Education.

This article is intended to be a brief overview of the rights of tenured educators. PAGE mem-bers facing a non-renewal situation should always contact the PAGE Legal Department for individual legal analysis and advice. u

What is Tenure?

a “tenured” teacher is entitled to have his or her contract renewed each year unless the school system can show grounds for non-renewal and offers the teacher a hearing during which the burden of proof is on the school system.

Knowledge isearning a master’s or PhDin education and havinga life at the same time.Capella University is unique in offering online, state-approved administration graduatespecializations that can lead to licensure endorsement, plus:

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1. Capella University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), 30 N. LaSalle Street,Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60602-2504, (312) 263-0456, www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org.2. PhD requires in-person attendance at colloquia.Capella University, 225 South 6th Street, 9th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55402. ©2007 Capella University

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• Over 2,500 K-12 professionals nationwide have chosen Capella for online graduate education

• Scholarships, grants, and fi nancial aid available

• Accredited1 and fully online2 at capella.edu/K-12education

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professional insights

Dr. eDie belDen

clearly the expectation of teachers is that students will move from learning to read to reading to learn.

Reading is essential to success in school. There is no disagreement on that maxim, but there is robust discussion on how to

best teach students to read and how to continue to develop their skills in comprehension, analysis, and to develop the need and desire to read. Regardless of the reading strategy used to teach students to read, vocabulary building is an essential compo-nent. Vocabulary building is even more important in schools serving minority and economically dis-advantaged students. Between grades 1 and 3, it is estimated that economically disadvantaged students increase their vocabulary about 3,000 words a year, and middle class students increase their vocabulary by 5000 words per year. (Games and Activities that Build Academic Vocabulary, Presentation by D. Paisley and H. Martindill at 21st CCLC Summer Institute, July 10-12, 2006.www.sedl.org/afterschool/downloads/vocab_games_pp.pdf). However, not even the middle class students develop the vocabulary words that are needed for success in school because many of these words are associated with specific content areas. In addition to building a student’s overall vocabulary, a teacher must take the time to build the vocabulary of the content area being taught. This is building academic vocabulary.

acaDemic VocabularY is essenTialClearly the expectation of teachers is that stu-

dents will move from learning to read to reading to learn. Many students do not meet that expec-tation because there are a large number of techni-cal words and concepts in each content area. For most average and below average readers, reading becomes a chore and the unfamiliarity with the content-specific words prevents students from comprehending what is read. Marzano says, “If you don’t have the vocabulary for a content area, you don’t know the content area.” (An excerpt from Building Academic Background Knowledge, ASCD video-based professional

development program, Questions and Answers from the Experts, 2006 www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.5023a36b4016a775d775fe10e3108a0c/ retreived on November 16, 2006.)

According to Mora, students must comprehend 75 percent of the ideas and 90 percent of a content area reading text to read it on an instructional level. (J.K. Mora, Reading in the Content Areas: Study Guides and Vocabulary Activities. coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/Pages/ContentStudyGDS.htm retrieved on November 4, 2006.)

recenT researcH A recent study, which used Marzano’s six step

approach for teaching academic vocabulary to an experimental group, found that students were able to read better and were able to better under-stand the content specific information, which translated into higher performance on the post-test. The tests administered were not standard-ized test, but were tests specifically designed for the study. On all eight dependent measures, stu-dents who had been taught academic vocabular-ies had a significantly better passing rate than those students who had not received the instruc-tion. (R. Marzano, Preliminary Report on the 2004-2005 Evaluation Study of the ASCD Program for Building Academic Vocabulary, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, March 2006, www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.5023a36b4016a775d775fe10e3108a0c/ retrieved on November 11, 2006.)

DeFininG a WorD Versus KnoWinG a WorD

Building academic vocabulary is not giving stu-dents a list of words from the textbook chapter and asking them to define each word. Students must be engaged in activities that will teach them the word in its forms, its shades and its subtleties. Janet Allen says that there are things she knows for sure about vocabulary learning. They are: “It

Building Academic Vocabulary Building Academic Success

Professional learning


is almost impossible to know words without deeply reading from a variety of texts,” and that “language is beautiful and not meant to be diminished by shallow definitions of words.”

(J. Allen, “Knowing a Word and Defining a Word—It’s a World of Difference,” Voices from the Middle Ground, 13 (1), 54-55).

Marzano’s process for building and knowing academic vocabu-lary has six steps with three being teacher directed instruction, and the other three providing practice and reinforcement for the student.

The teacher will: The learner will:

Give a description, explanation or example of the new word.

Participate in activities that provide more knowledge of the words in the their vocabulary books

Ask the learner to give a descrip-tion, explanation or example of the new term in his/her own words

Discuss the term with other learners

Ask the learner to draw a picture, symbol, or locate a graphic to represent the new term.

Participate in games that provide more reinforcement of the new term.

R. Marzano, Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2004.

In 2002 the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburg introduced the disciplinary literacy framework. Disciplinary literacy is defined as inquiry-based instruction that integrates academic con-tent and discipline appropriate habits of thinking.

In disciplinary literacy classrooms, stu-dents act as historians, mathematicians, scientists, readers and writers. Knowing the vocabulary of the discipline they are study-ing is essential for young learners as they assume these roles. Advocates of this prac-tice maintain that building academic vocab-ulary in this manner promotes higher order thinking skills. S. McConachie et. al . “Task, Text and Talk—Literacy for all Subjects,” Educational Leadership, 84 (2), 6-14).

subjecT area acaDemic VocabularY WorDs

The Tennessee Department of Education released in July 2006, Tennessee Academic Vocabulary: A Guide for Tennessee Educators. The manual is designed to help schools, school districts and individual schools enhance the academic vocabulary of their students. The guide was developed to address the disparity of vocabulary development among teachers, schools, school districts and students’ home situations. The guide provides for systematic instruction of 30 discipline-specific concepts, terms and phrases across each grade level for each of the four content areas: mathemat-ics, science, language arts and social studies. The following examples are taken randomly by grade level from the guide. The guide can be accessed at www.state.tn.us/education/ci/standards/doc/WordList_Final%208206.doc.

Mathematics

First Grade addition digit even/odd grouping

Fifth Grade diameter improper fraction

parallel lines

proper fraction

Algebra I absolute value factoring inequalities line of

best fit

Social Studies

First Grade city map president

Fifth Grade amendments border states levels of government

Economics aggregate demand boycott federal deficit

sources For builDinG acaDemic VocabularYMost teachers in today’s classrooms are not trained to teach

the vocabulary of their discipline. Beginning in the late Sixties and throughout the Seventies, reading was taught by a reading teacher—even at the high school level. Content teachers gradually moved away from teaching specific terms and words associated with their disci-pline. Since the mid-eighties, when reading teachers were no longer a funded position in the schools and the demands upon teachers accel-erated, there has been no emphasis on teaching academic vocabulary to students. The following resources are available to help teachers return again to teaching their discipline’s academic vocabulary.

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• Researched–Based Content Area Reading Instruction 2002 Online Revised Edition, Texas Reading Initiative at www.tea.state.tx.us/reading/practices/redbk4.pdf.

• Using Subject Area Reading Materials This site offers a description of strategies for before, during and after reading. www.how-ard.k12.md.us/langarts/Curriculum/strate-gies.htm#SUBJECT%20AREA

• Reading Comprehension StrategiesFor grades 3-5 or for struggling read-

ers, this site provides reading comprehen-sion strategies, online tutorials and prac-

tice sheets. www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/ elementary/palmasola/readcompex.htm

• Reading Across the CurriculumThis site describes reading strategies for

content teachers and provides student read-ing checklists for different purposes: read-ing to be informed, reading to perform a task and reading for literary experience. w w w. p g c p s. p g . k 1 2 . m d . u s / % 7 Ee l c / readingacross.html

• A Road Map for Content-Area ReadingMiddleweb offers a downloadable

map for reading nonfiction and ques-

tions for students to ask before, during and after reading a social studies example. www.middleweb.com/ReadWrkshp/ JK34.html

iF noT me, THen WHo?If students cannot read, then they are hin-

dered in developing content knowledge—academic knowledge. In the No Child Left Behind context of today, content teachers have the responsibility for teaching their students the language of the discipline so that every student can productively and successfully access, read and understand the material in the textbooks and in their lab manuals. Every teacher must answer the question succinctly posed in the book by Rachel Billmeyer and Mary Lee Barton, “Teaching Reading in the Content Areas: If Not Me Then Who?” How will you answer? u

Professional learningRESOURCES

• D’Arcangelo, M. “The Challenge of Content Area-Reading,” Educational Leadership, (60) 3, 12-15.• DiGisi, L.L. and Fleming, D. “ Literacy Specialists in Math Class! Closing the Achievement Gap on State Math Assessments, Voices from the Middle, (13) 1, pp.48-52. • eMints National Center has various websites for different reading strategies. The websites are for students and teach-ers and explain how students can improve their reading skills. Some websites have tips for teachers on teaching different

reading strategies. There are links to eThemes on Reading Comprehension Strategies and Reading Strategies for Elementary Students.www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/s00001533.shtml • Massey, D.D. and Hefner, T. L., “Promoting Reading Comprehension in Social Studies,” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, September 2004, pp. 26-43.• ReadingQuest is a website that has reading strategies for all content areas. www.readingquest.org

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other resources used in preparation of this article.



The PAGE Teacher Academy entered its third year this fall and welcomed to the Academy the 2006-2008 class, the ATEAM (Actively Training, Educating and Mentoring). Participants represent districts across the state of Georgia and participate in a rigorous selection process to be included in the two-year program. The Academy is held in Macon, Ga. four weekends per year, with participants also attending the PAGE Summer and Fall Conferences. Information about the Academy and the application process can be found on the PAGE website, pageinc.org, under “Professional Learning.” Upon completion of the program, participants will be eligible to join the newly formed Graduate Teacher Academy.

Congratulations to the Teacher Academy Class of 2006-2008.

Teacher Academy

MelissaBarlowGriffinMiddleCobbCounty

AlanBowersHoustonCountyHighHoustonCounty

DallasCowneMadisonCountyHighMadisonCounty

LindseyDavisNewtonHighNewtonCounty

TonyaEdwardsPineRidgeElementaryDeKalbCounty

KatieGreeneMiltonHighFultonCounty

AdamFloydLowndesCountyHighLowndesCounty

AngelaFosterMariettaMiddleMariettaCitySchools

AndrewFowlerFranklinCountyMiddleFranklinCounty

MeganKelleyVeteransMemorialMiddleNewtonCounty

VictorHolmesLenaMMosesMiddlePauldingCounty

HopeKinardRockyPlainsElementaryNewtonCounty

CharlotteLibbyBleckleyCountyPrimaryBleckleyCounty

StaceyMcNuttMountainViewElementaryCobbCounty

AmandaNixCummingElementaryForsythCounty

ShelbyeReeseHartCountyHighHartCounty

StephanieSheltonWashingtonCountyHighWashingtonCounty

ElisabethTatumUnityElementaryMeriwetherCounty

AngelaThrivikramanBrockettElementaryDeKalbCounty

JillThurmanSandersElementaryCobbCounty

PamelaWalkerGeorgeWashingtonCarverElementaryBryanCounty

KatieWatersHickoryHillsElementaryMariettaCitySchools

ElizabethWattersonSouthForsythMiddleForsythCounty

LaurenWilliamsLangstonChapelMiddleBullochCounty

AshleyMcKennaBarksdaleElementaryRockdaleCounty


Over 200 teachers left the 2007 PAGE Fall Conference knowing how to create a Learning Zone Classroom. The conference focused on three instructional techniques

that can be used in any classroom at any grade level. Dr. Jackie Walsh’s presentation on Quality Questioning

focused on how to ask questions that stimulate thinking and prompt discussion in the classroom. When framed prop-erly, a question serves as a valuable assessment tool for the teacher because it provides an instant assessment of what gaps exist in the student’s knowledge base and what needs to be addressed in closing the knowledge gap. Dr. Raymond Jones reminded teachers that summarization is a forgotten learning technique that yields big benefits for teachers and

students. By asking students to summarize either orally or in writing, the student is forced to synthesize his/her new learn-ing. Summarizing allows the teacher to determine if misinfor-mation or incomplete information is hindering the student’s learning. Marilee Sprenger provided teachers with seven steps to help students remember what is taught. This valuable tool helps teachers reduce review time and spend more time on the lesson of the day.

The Fall Conference was attended by many first time Fall Conference goers. PAGE welcomed the new class of

Teacher Academy members, who have selected E.L.I.T.E as their class name, and the largest group ever of Student Professional Association of Georgia Educators (SPAGE) attended. SPAGE mem-bers are still in college and will soon be entering the teaching ranks as novice teachers.

The conference always includes a variety of activities. There is the very special address at the Friday Night Banquet by the Teacher of the Year. Pam Walker is the 2007 Georgia Teacher of the Year, a veteran sci-ence teacher and a PAGE member. She provided teachers with many insights into her teaching experience and her philosophy of teaching. The concurrent sessions provided teach-ers with the opportunity to attend Learning Curves: A New Day on Education Street or the Legislative Session, where legislative priorities

2006 PAGE Fall Conference Highlights


TeambuildingintheTeacherAcademy

Dr.RaymondJonesexplainstheartandscienceofquestioningtechniques.

Keynotespeakerand2007GeorgiaTeacheroftheYearPamWalkerencouragesteachers

toexpressapassionforteaching.

PAGEDirectorofLegislativeServicesTomWommackleadsalegislativesession.


are set for the upcoming session. SPAGE members were able to have a one-on-one session with the Teacher Academy members, and the representatives from the Georgia Teacher Retirement System held consultations with teachers who are considering retirement.

Savannah will host the PAGE Fall Conference in 2007 and 2008.

This year’s conference was held at the Savannah Marriott Riverfront Hotel. The 2007 conference will be at the Hyatt Hotel and the 2008 conference will be at the Westin Hotel. In the interim, the 2007 PAGE Summer Conference will be held at the Atlanta Marriott-Gwinnett Place on June 22 and 23. u


TamaraHammock,HallCo.(left),andAngelaMassingill,DaltonCitySchools(right),enjoyoneoftheFallConferencesessions.

GwinnettCo.teacherPamelaCrosslistensintently

toDr.Walsh’ssessiononQuestioning.

TeacherAcademyparticipantAngieFosterofCobbCo.followsalonginherhandout.

ProfessionalLearningCommitteememberSusanHittfromMcDuffieCo.showsherenthusiasmfortheLearningCurvesactivity.

The resource kit of lesson plans, ac-tivity cards and videos are free and• Meets curriculum standards for all

grades• Is downloadable from Special

Olympics Georgia’s Web site at www.SpecialOlympicsGA.org.

Ask your school’s curriculum director or visit www.SpecialOlympicsGA.org today!

All teachers: So Get Into It is a tool you can use to help bridge the gap between people with and without disabilities.

®

For more information e-mail Christina McLeod at [email protected]


An organization that values its future also treasures its past. Paul Copeland and Lillian Cantrell, two of PAGE’s founders, were celebrated along with charter members and past-presi-

dents recently at the PAGE offices. The luncheon, hosted by Executive Director Dr. Allene Magill and members of the PAGE staff, included dedication of a “Memory Wall,” which includes photos of Copeland and Cantrell, who were instrumental in creating the organization in the mid-1970’s. Also included are PAGE’s first two executive directors, Jack Acree and Dr. Barbara Christmas.

Across the hall from the founders and leaders photographs are the photos of PAGE presidents from 1975 to the present.

During the luncheon, Copeland addressed the group, telling the story of the national and state events that led to the found-ing of PAGE, primarily so that Georgia educators would have an option and the freedom of choice to select their own profes-sional association.

In his remarks, Copeland honored the first board of directors for PAGE, which included some of the guests in attendance, Allene McCreary, Dave Nichols and Lillian Cantrell, who also served as PAGE’s first elected president. After the luncheon and the dedica-tion of the Memory Wall, the invited honorees had the opportu-nity to tour the PAGE building and meet the staff. u

PAGE Founders Celebrated

PaulCopeland LillianCantrell

standing of the need for change. First, on Sunday evening, Thompson described some of the seismic shifts in society that are driving the need and urgency for change in American schools. Here are just a few he mentioned:

* America has moved from an educa-tionally naive constituency to an education-ally sophisticated constituency, meaning that many Americans in the “creative class” are now home-schooling their children or sending them to private schools, because they do not believe that the public schools can provide them as good an education. (Thompson noted that the highest percent-age of home schools are found in high-performing public school systems.) In past generations, educationally naive parents trusted the public schools and teachers as the education experts.

* We have changed from a society where the majority were parents to a society where the majority are either non-parents or grand-parents, which has a profound implication on the funding of public schools.

* The percentage of households with chil-dren has declined from half of all households in 1960 to less than one-third today.

* We have moved from a society that con-sidered academic education as being for the

elite to one that sees high-quality academic education as being for nearly everyone.

* Our society has changed from one in which adolescents were integrated into the adult community to one in which ado-lescents are “a tribe apart.” (We are now practicing intergenerational segregation, with adolescents having their own language, clothes and culture.)

* Whereas standardization was once con-sidered a value, customization (in cars, hous-ing, consumer products, etc.) is now a value.

* We have moved from a society in which public schools were viewed as a common good to one in which education is viewed as a personal entitlement. (Is the role of public education to improve society or to help each individual become successful?)

* Whereas schools of yesterday had few competitors for the hearts and minds of chil-dren, there is today a vigorous competition for the hearts and minds of children (such as the Internet, video games, cell phones, etc.)

*We have changed from a society of sta-ble two-parent families to families of serial monogamy and alternative family structures.

After discussing these and other seismic shifts, Thompson then asked the school teams to participate in an exercise in which they assessed how they and various other

stakeholders in their school and community viewed the core business of their schools and the roles of students, parents, teachers, principals, the superintendent and school board. According to Thompson, the assess-ments made by each of the teams were fairly typical of what he has encountered around the country.

Most of the teams viewed the present core business of their school as “testing, remediation and reporting” and to a lesser extent, as “diagnosis, prescription and treat-ment.” All agreed, however, that they would like to reach the point some day when the core business of their school becomes, as Schlechty describes it, “the invention of tasks, activities and assignments that the students find to be engaging and that bring them into profound interactions with con-tent and processes they will need to master to be judged well educated.”

The majority of teams also shared the view of students as “raw material and prod-uct,” although they ideally would like to see them as “volunteers and customers for quality schoolwork.” Parents were gener-ally viewed as “a supply source of product” or as “guarantors and questionable allies,” and teachers tended to be viewed as “pro-fessional performers, presenters, clinicians

Continued from page 10

January/February 2007 PAGE ONE �9

LillianCantrell

and diagnosticians,” with the hope that they could someday become “instructional lead-ers and curriculum designers.” The teams generally viewed their principal as a “chief of staff,” although all of the principals par-ticipating were clear that they hope they will eventually be seen as “the leader of instruc-tional leaders.”

Thompson ended his presentation on Sunday evening by encouraging the partici-pants from each school to involve their entire faculty and other stakeholders in the evalua-tion process, with the goal of helping their schools become what Schlechty describes as learning organizations in which students are viewed as volunteers and customers for quality schoolwork, parents as members of the school community; teachers as instruc-tional leaders and curriculum designers, principals as leaders of instructional leaders, superintendents as moral and intellectual leaders and capacity builders, and school boards as community leaders and advocates for schools. In these school communities, kids are engaged in work around important academic content at the highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy.

On Monday morning, Steven Broome, SREB director of State Development for High School and Middle Grades, provided the participants with additional factual infor-mation about the need for change in the way high schools are structured. In addition to the disappointing statistics on drop-outs presented at the beginning of this article, Broome also pointed out that more than 60 percent of Georgia students must take remedial courses at two-year colleges and as many as 40 percent at four-year schools.

Using various statistics from SREB research, Broome drove home these impor-tant points:

* In most schools, the top one-third of students currently receive a good education.

* The better the experiences we give children, the better achieve-ment they will exhibit.

* Trying to fix our schools is like trying to repair an airplane in flight. We can’t stop teach-ing current students in order to reform schools to meet the needs of tomorrow’s students.

Summarizing his presenta-tion, Bloome said, “The courses in which students enroll in high school are the strongest indicators of future academic success, and schools should enroll all children

in rigorous college-preparato-ry and/or workforce readiness courses in all four years. The senior year is a very important transitional year. It should not be allowed to become a wasted year. Rigorous courses and meaningful work (that is, work students feel is mean-ingful) is what it’s all about.”

The final session of the first High School Redesign Initiative workshop was an activity entitled “Learning Curves—A New Day on Education Street.” This is an activity available only through PAGE, which has purchased exclusive rights to the Learning Curves materials in Georgia. The purpose of the activity is to help participants see how society has changed over the past 50 years and how the changes shape and influence education today. The format of six to eight people working together interactively with a facilitator promotes participation, interaction and discussion.

After participating in the exercise, each school team discussed their experiences and attempted to develop a list of the factors in their individual communities that were forc-ing change in their schools.

What impact did this exercise and the presentations of Thompson and Broome have on the expectations of those partici-pating in this first session of PAGE’s High School Redesign Initiative? For Bruce Potts of Sonoraville High School, the two days had clearly changed his expectations. “On the front end, I thought this would be a program to implement,” he explains, “but now I see it as a partnership with competent, capable people sharing ideas about school improvement. Whereas I had thought of it

as a prescription, I now see it as a process. The four schools are all different and all of us had different targets and issues, but this process that PAGE has initiated can help all of us become better schools.”

James Arnold, principal at Shaw High School, found the sessions to be quite bene-ficial. “It was good to hear that other schools are struggling with similar things as we are. This offers an opportunity for all schools to communicate and discover new and better ways of achieving our goals. For example, we have had AP courses for quite awhile, but after hearing the information from George Thompson and Steve Broome, we will likely require a fourth year of math and science for our career technical students.”

Dewey Carey of Washington High School says that the session was “more than we antic-ipated.” “The conversations have brought renewed spirit to our improvement process, and by causing us to focus on the question of why we need change, the conference has added much value to that process.” All of the principals intend to bring Thompson and/or Broome to their schools to share information

with their entire faculties.How important is the PAGE ini-

tiative? According to Jeffery Welch, superintendent of Oglethorpe County Schools, it is critical. “Our republic is in serious danger. We must educate ALL students, and our teachers in many cases are not equipped to do that. This is not meant as an indictment of teachers; rather, it is an indict-ment of the structure of our edu-cation system and the fact that we are not providing teachers with the tools and training to get stu-dents where they need to be in the 21st century.” u

WashingtonCo.H.S.InstructionalFacilitatorAudraGilbert,givesherinputonchangesforherschool.

WashingtonCo.H.S.PrincipalDeweyCarey(left)andAssistantPrincipalforCurriculumandInstructionHenryQuinn(right)discusstheneedforchangewiththeirfaculty.

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Looking for some great places to take your students for fun and educational field trips this year? Here’s a list of exciting and inter-esting field trip destinations in the Georgia and Atlanta area:

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New Employees

Karen Stafford began working for PAGE as a temp in 2005 to assist in the Membership Department, and was hired full time in early 2006. She currently fields questions and processes applications from student mem-bers. Prior to PAGE, Karen’s experience includes clerical and customer service work in the building supply industry for compa-nies such as West Building Supplies, W.R. Grace and as a materials buyer for Plymart, Inc. for more than three years. She has an Associate of Arts in Journalism from Georgia Perimeter College and a Bachelors of Arts in Biblical Studies from American University of Biblical Studies, all located in the Atlanta area.

Nadeen Pagano was hired at PAGE in October of 2006 to support the Professional Learning Department as an administrative assistant. Nadeen moved from Mississippi, where she worked in a variety of positions, from teacher to administrative assistant at Tupelo Children’s Mansion Ministries for more than 12 years. During that time she served as an administrative assistant to the president and vice president. Since moving to Georgia two years ago, she has worked as a substitute teacher, Cub Scout leader, Boy Scout committee member, Children’s Ministry director and soloist. u

KarenStafford

NadeenPagano

PAGE Planner

january 6 Page academic bowl regionals

16 T eacher of the year leadership institute, university of georgia

17 Teacher of the year leadership institute, Kennesaw State university

18 Teacher of the year leadership institute, Valdosta State university

19 Teacher of the year leadership institute, georgia State university

20 Page academic bowl Semi- inals

20 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, Kennesaw State university

23 STar Teacher leadership institute, georgia State university

24 STar Teacher leadership institute, Valdosta State university

30 STar Teacher leadership institute, Kennesaw State university

31 STar Teacher leadership institute, university of georgia

27 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, brewton-Parker College/Mt. Vernon Campus

February 2-3 Teacher academy, Macon

3 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, atlanta Christian College

5 The Knowledgeable Teacher Course enrollment begins**

10 Page academic bowl Finals

15 gaCe workshop*, Kennesaw State university

16-18 Fea national Conference

17 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, Chatham Co./whitney Complex

22 gaCe workshop*, brewton-Parker College/Mt. Vernon Campus

22-23 Counselors’ institute, Valdosta State

23-24 Page georgia academic Decathlon

26-27 Counselors’ institute, uga

march 2-3 Teacher academy, Macon

3 gaCe workshop*, ga. Southwestern university

3 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, ga. South-western university

8 gaCe workshop*, Chatham Co./whitney Complex

10 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, Columbus State university

22-24 Fea Spring Training (FeaST)

april 7 gaCe basic Skills workshop*,

Valdosta State university

14 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, Macon State university

19 gaCe workshop*, atlanta Christian College

TBA State Page STar banquet

25-28 uSaD nationals, Honolulu, Hi

26 gaCe workshop*, Columbus State university

28 gaCe basic Skills workshop*, armstrong atlantic State university

28 gaCe workshop*, Valdosta State university

30 Page Foundation Scholarship Postmark Deadline

may 31 gaCe workshop*, Kennesaw State

university

june 19-21 Page Pre-Conference Professional learning

institute – grant writing for educators

22-23 Page Summer Conference, atlanta Marriott-gwinnett Place

july17-19 Professional learning institute on Math,

Kennesaw State university

19 gaCe workshop*, armstrong atlantic State university

23-26 Professional learning institute on reading Strategies, ga. Southern university

* Please check our website pageinc.org for times and locations.

** This is an online course. Please go to our website pageinc.org for a link to registration information and other enrollment dates.

2007

f

Over 800 of Georgia’s finest educators have enrolled in our graduate programs in Education since May, 2003.

We offer Master’s, Specialist, and Doctoral degree programs in Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Leadership. These programs are designed to help you raise your level of professional education to the highest degree.

Leading practitioners teach small classes, with an emphasis on contemporary issues of critical importance to educators in Georgia.

Day, evening, weekend, and online classes are available year round at our Atlanta Campus.

New programs in all disciplines are currently enrolling. Call the Admissions Office for details.

real life.

When you take time away from it,invest wisely.

Get the best educational experience possible for the time you invest at the University of West Georgia’s College of Education. Our seasoned faculty have extensive experience in schools throughout the country. Their expertise in best practices in instructional methodology helps education graduates achieve high passage rates on PRAXIS.

The College of Education’s six departments offer 30 graduatemajors and 37 certificate programs in such areas as:

Counseling and Educational Psychology, one of only four counseling programs in Georgia and only about 20 in the Southeast accredited by theNational Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. The program was named a pioneer and national leader in school counseling reform by the Education Trust in 2002. An M.Ed. and an Ed.S. can be earned in either school counseling or community counseling. Most classes are scheduled at 5:30 p.m. during fall and spring semesters.

School Improvement, one of only a few programs in the nation focused on developing transformational leaders for schools. An Ed.D. is offered through an interdepartmental, skill-based cohort program for teachers, administrators and school support personnel in K-12 settings. Classes are scheduled in the late afternoons to accommodate students’ schedules.

I made the right decision in choosing to pursue my doctoral degree in school improvement at the University of West Georgia. I truly benefited from working with a superior doctoral faculty that challenged me to think beyond the scope of my own leadership experiences.Because the doctoral program is cohort based, I was also privileged to cultivate a professional network with other educational leaders that I continue to enjoy today. Evening and weekend classes afforded me the opportunity to pursue my degree without interrupting my work schedule.”

Dr. Christie W. Johnson

Ed.D., school improvement,2006; School leadershipcertification, 1994; Ed.S.,middle grades education,1992; M.Ed., middle gradeseducation, 1985

Assistant Superintendent,Administrative & StudentSupport Services,Carroll County Public Schools

College of eduCationcoe.westga.edu • 678-839-6570

Your success is our story

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