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Georgia Ranks Low In Male Teachers, High in Enrollment Increases Despite the value of education to Americans, the National Education Association published figures showing that investments in America’s public schools remain stagnant, as the average increase in teacher salary continues to trail behind the rate of inflation for 2005–06. According to NEA’s publication, Rankings and Estimates: Rankings of the States 2006 and Estimates of School Statistics 2007, the average one-year increase in public schoolteacher salaries was 2.9 percent, while inflation escalated 3.9 percent. Over the past 10 years, the average salary for public schoolteachers increased only 1.3 percent after adjusting for inflation. According to the report, the national average public schoolteacher salary for 2005–06 was $49,026. State average public schoolteacher salaries ranged from those in California ($59,825), Connecticut ($59,304) and the District of Columbia ($59,000) at the high end to South Dakota ($34,709), North Dakota ($37,764) and West Virginia ($38,284) at the low end. Rankings & Estimates provides statistics to raise public understanding of key issues affecting teaching and learning conditions in the nation’s public schools. Other public education indicators, including school population and student-teacher ratio, can be found in the state-by-state report. Among the other highlights:
School Breakfast Program Grows to Serve 8.1 Million Low-Income Children: Georgia Ranks Near The Top More than 8.1 million children per day participated in the National School Breakfast Program during the 2006-2007 school year, which is an increase of five percent from the previous school year, according to the Food Research and Action Center’s (FRAC) School Breakfast Scorecard 2007. While more children are starting the day with breakfast, the program continues to reach less than half of eligible low-income children; 45 low-income children participated in the School Breakfast Program for every 100 who participated in the National School Lunch Program. Illinois had the lowest participation rate, reaching only 32 low-income children with breakfast for every 100 who ate lunch. Numerous studies have demonstrated the links between breakfast and health and learning: Breakfast improves nutrition, prevents obesity, improves students’ achievement, and reduces discipline problems in school. But, with persistent poverty, stagnating wages, and skyrocketing food, energy, health, and housing costs, many families struggle to provide a healthy and filling morning meal for their children. These problems are compounded by long commutes and nontraditional hours for low-wage workers. As a result, many children miss out on breakfast, which can compromise their health and education. “We need to further increase participation and reach more children with breakfast. It's a fast and long-lasting way to improve children's learning and behavior, foster healthy eating habits, and end hunger," said Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center. “The recent increase in participation we saw in 2006-2007 shows that many states and schools recognize the benefits of making sure that all children have a healthy breakfast to start their day, but we need to go further.” In a separate recent report, FRAC examined school breakfast programs in 23 urban school districts and found that School Breakfast Program participation rates are higher when innovative programs are used, including universal breakfast, where all children can eat regardless of income, "grab and go" breakfast from carts in the hallway, and in-classroom breakfast. According to a FRAC survey of states included in this year’s Scorecard, many states are looking at ways to encourage these efforts in their school districts. To measure the reach of the School Breakfast Program, FRAC compared the number of schools and the number of low-income children who participate in breakfast to those who participate in the National School Lunch Program. FRAC also sets an attainable participation goal for states as a way to gauge state progress and the costs of underparticipation in the program. Nationally, if the number of low-income children who participated in the School Breakfast Program increased from 45 to 60 for every 100 who participated in the lunch program, almost 2.6 million more children would eat a healthy school breakfast every day, and states would received an additional $555 million in child nutrition funding. The School Breakfast Scorecard 2007 gives data for all states and highlights successful strategies. Other findings from the report include:
After spending the past four school years as the lowest performing state, Wisconsin leapt in the rankings with an impressive 25 percent increase in the number of children receiving school breakfasts. Students Participating in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) per 100 in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Top 10 States: New Mexico 61.1 South Carolina 59.2 West Virginia 57.0 Oklahoma 56.9 Kentucky 56.3 Oregon 55.9 Vermont 55.5 Mississippi 55.5 Georgia 54.2 Idaho 53.7 Bottom 10 States: Iowa 37.2 Nebraska 36.7 New Jersey 36.1 Colorado 35.7 Wisconsin 35.7 Connecticut 34.6 Alaska 34.0 Utah 33.8 New Hampshire 33.8 Illinois 32.9 Full report: http://www.frac.org/pdf/SBP_2007.pdf Dalton Public School District in northwest Georgia became the 50th district in the state to implement Classworks. The width and breadth of Georgia school districts using Classworks – computer-based student instruction in K-12 for English/Language Arts, Reading and Mathematics – spans the spectrum, from single-school implementations, such as Buford Middle School in Buford, Ga., to district-wide use, like with Houston County School District, which utilizes Classworks in all 35 of its schools, from Tucker Elementary to Northside Middle to Perry High School. Whatever the particular challenge at an individual school or district, administrators, principals and teachers use Classworks to help reach their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals, improve Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores, raise at-risk students back up to grade-level and improve special education students results. Aligned with Georgia’s state standards, Classworks is perfectly suited to meet all these objectives, as well as fitting within the Pyramid of Intervention and Response to Intervention models. Commerce Primary School, in Commerce City, brought in Classworks after the school failed to meet AYP in 2005-06. District administrators decided that Classworks was going to be an integral part of the curriculum in the coming year, hiring a curriculum director to facilitate the implementation plan. Students began spending a minimum of 20 minutes a day on Classworks, in before- and after-school tutoring, as well as in their classrooms and in the school’s computer lab. Of special concern were special education students at Commerce Primary. After one year of Classworks instruction, Commerce Primary met AYP for 2006-07, and its special education first-graders recorded impressive gains on the CRCT, posting a 36 percent improvement in Mathematics (from 44 to 80 percent) and a 28 percent boost in Language Arts (57 to 85 percent). “Our school board is very happy with our results,” said Dr. Pam Summey, the director of Special Education and Student Assessment for Commerce City Schools. “Classworks far exceeded our expectations. We not only raised our CRCT scores for special education students, but for all students as well.” “We are extremely proud that Classworks is helping students all across Georgia,” said Daniel Dooley, Senior Vice President of Curriculum Advantage. “And, personally, I find it very rewarding that Classworks is being used in the school district I attended (Clarke County), as well as in my children’s schools in Oconee County.” In Dublin City, in the center of the state, Saxon Heights Elementary has a 70 percent poverty rate. Last year students there used Classworks in 45-minute sessions twice a week and overwhelmingly met or exceeded CRCT proficiency rates in both Reading (91.3 percent) and Mathematics (97.1 percent). “Classworks is a good investment,” said Patricia Edwards, Dublin City School District director of curriculum. “You can spend a good deal of time developing avenues to do target teaching on your own, but with Classworks, targeting data and identifying deficiencies and prescriptions are done immediately.” |
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