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Thoughts on waiting for
coffee, Condoleeza Rice
SIMON SAYS:
The longer you are will
ing to wait for a cup of cof
fee. the more you need to re
examine your life.
Next time Condoleezza
Rice testifies in front of a
commission, they ought to
install a shot clock. She real
ly knows how to run out the
time.
* I don't understand the
TiVo craze. I can barely find
anything to watch on TV. let
alone anything to record.
We all know that
Rutherford B. Hayes was the
first president to hold an
Easter egg roll on the White
House lawn in 1878. But did
you know that Lucy Webb
Hayes was the first wife of a
president to be called "first
lady”? I wonder what they
called them before that. Hey.
you?
Raisins covered with dark
: chocolate may be the best
food ever invented.
Civilizations go into
| decline when they stop mak
ing their libraries grand.
It seems pretty clear that
I if any organization is going
to take it on the chin in the
final Sept. 11 Commission
report, it is going to be the
FBI.
Thank goodness cigar
. snobbery is over. Can wine
ft snobbery be far behind?
i According to MSNBC,
f.some of our troops in Iraq
j report they are “chronically
! short of amm”" during fire
*?.fights. We have been occupy
ing the country for more than
a year and we can't get our
i troops enough ammo? And is
i there any relationship
& between that and the fact that
J 48 Americans were killed
4 there last week?
Yet another thing I have
!• in common with Tony
Soprano: We both watch the
Channel.
»* At an open-press speech
' made in public last week by
Roger
Simon
Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia, federal mar
shals seized two reporters’
tape recorders because Scalia
forbids anybody to record his
remarks. This is America?
And it seems to me that if
somebody forbids you to
record his remarks, which is
done to ensure accuracy, he
cannot complain if you mis
quote him. So I would like to
quote Scalia's final comment:
“I am a fat head." Though I
cannot be sure that is accu
rate.
Unlike all other witnesses
before the Sept. 1 I
Commission, George W.
Bush and Dick Cheney will
be allowed at their insis
tence to testify together.
So have they established a
set of secret signals? If
Cheney gives Bush one kick
under the table, it might
mean Bush should say,
"Nobody briefed me.” If
Cheney gives him two kicks,
it might mean he should say,
“Nobody briefed Cheney.”
And if he gives him three
kicks, it might mean he
should say. “It's all Dick
Clarke's fault.”
Is John Kerry still run
ning for president?
And contrary to what
some think, I think Bob
Kerrey improved his chances
of making John Kerry's vice
presidential short-list
through his questioning of
witnesses before the Sept. 11
Commission.
Quick, which costs more:
A gallon of gas or a gallon of
milk? (Answer: Just be
happy your car doesn't run
on skim or 2 percent.)
As we all know, dealing
with human beings is just not
Teacher certification beneficial
By Dr. Holly Robln»on
and EricWeame
For the Forsyth County News
Georgia has proposed sub
stantive, reform-minded
changes to the rules for certify
ing educators. The goals are to
simplify certification; provide
more flexibility in hiring; align
Georgia’s requirements with
the federal No Child Left
Behind law and attract the best
educators to our workforce.
One rule change proposed
by the state Professional
Standards Commission (PSC)
would drop the certification
requirement of a 2.5 grade
point average (GPA) for indi
viduals holding a bachelor's
degree.
The proposed system
replaces the inconsistent GPA
with a more consistent measure
including; a degree from an
accredited institution, the
Praxis I Academic Skills
Assessment, the Praxis II con
tent assessment and the inter
view process by an employing
school system. The local hiring
authority makes the decision
whether or not to hire someone
with less than a 2.5 GPA.
This gives local school sys
tems more flexibility in hiring
decisions. For example, under
the previous system, a
University of Georgia graduate
with a 2.4 GPA would not even
be eligible for an initial teach
ing certificate without accept
ance into a master's program,
regardless of his or her content
knowledge or background
experience.
The ability to leverage tech
nology, implement perform
ance-based evaluations and uti
lize data-driven results are
skills that dynamic leaders
from all fields must possess. In
order to meet these demands,
the proposed rules would elimi
nate the requirement of three
year teaching experience for
school principals. This would
give local boards of education
and superintendents a broader
field from which to select
worth it. That is why we pre
fer ATMs to dealing with
bank tellers. So when I
learned I had to fill out an
IRS form that I never heard
of. 1 tried to follow the IRS
phone instructions for get
ting the form by fax. But that
didn't work, because I was
not calling from my fax line.
OK, so how about download
ing the form from the
Internet? Forget it. The form
you can download is only a
sample and cannot be used
for actual filing.
In desperation, I pressed
the phone button to talk to a
human being. And an IRS
human being answered
instantly! He took my name
and address, and said he
would mail the form. Could
human beings be staging a
comeback?
Jon Stewart is right: In
China, they call "Chinese
food" food.
The New York Times
headline that caused sweaty
palms at the White House
Sunday was not the page one
headline that read: "Pre-9/11
Secret Briefing Said That
Qaeda Was Active in U.S." It
was the page 14 headline that
read: “Among Military
Families, Questions About
Bush.”
How unlikely can you
get? Janet Jackson was actu
ally funny on "Saturday
Night Live" last week.
Bumper sticker of the
month: “How Come We
Choose From Only 2 People
for President, but 50 for Miss
America?”
This column is certified
to be free of carbohydrates
and was not outsourced. It
was produced entirely in the
United States by an
American worker grateful to
still have a job.
Roger Simon is a nation
ally syndicated columnist. He
can he e-mailed at Write-
Roger@aol.com.
school leaders.
Os course, these new lead
ers must still satisfy a series of
education requirements such as
passing the state School
Leadership examination, meet
ing the Georgia special educa
tion and technology require
ment, and serving a year intern
ship.
Despite the sentiment that
principals need to be instruc
tional leaders and therefore
need classroom experience, “in
1999-2000, 34 percent of the
nation's principals had been
coaches or athletic directors,"
according to Frederick Hess.
Thomas Lasley, dean of the
University of Dayton's Schoo]
of Education, points out anoth
er concern: “University-based
programs in educational admin
istration have been far too unse
lective in whom they admit and
'train' for leadership roles.”
Hess, meanwhile, cites an
absence of evidence that tradi
tional courses in educational
administration teach useful or
necessary skills.
The commission also pro
poses some new "test out" cer
tification options. Some of the
new rules have “alarmed" the
Georgia Association of
Educators and caused them to
"express extreme concern,"
including new routes to initial
certification and the ability to
add teaching fields to existing
certificates. However, both are
good ways to maximize the tal
ents of current and prospective
teachers for the benefit of stu
dents.
The new route to initial cer
tification allows applicants with
at least a bachelor’s degree to
pass several competency and
content knowledge exams, and
be hired by a school. The
school system may apply for a
non-renewable five-year teach
ing certificate for the applicant.
During this period, the appli
cant must complete the Special
Georgia Requirements for
teachers; a year-long super
vised internship, and must be
recommended for a Clear
events seminars
Unless otherwise noted,
all seminars are
Jree.
colorectal cancer | Who’s at Risk?
Early detection and treatments may make a difference in the eventual
outcome of colorectal cancer. The five-year survival rate is about 90% for
people treated in an early stage, before it has spread, but only about a
third of colorectal cancers are found that soon. Join colorectal surgeon
Dolford S. Payne, MD for a discussion of detection, diagnosis and treatment.
When: Tuesday, April 20 and Tuesday, April 27 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: North Fulton Regional Hospital, Second Floor, Classroom D
Call: (770)751-2660 for registration and information
arthritis | Hip and Knee Pain
Kim Yourick, PT, MBA discusses hip and knee pain, joint pain, arthritis
treatment options, surgery, rehabilitation and nutrition.
When: April 29, May 27, June 24
Where: NFRH Medical Office Building, 2500 Hospital Boulevard, Suite 400
Call: (770)751-2660 for registration and information
weight loss | Bariatric Surgery Weight Loss
Program Coordinator Belencia White, RN discusses surgical weight loss
options for those 100 pounds or more overweight.
When: Seminars are offered each month.
Where: 11685 Alpharetta Highway, Suite 165, Medical Arts Center Building
Call: (770)751-2660 for registration, dates, time and information
North Fulton Regional Hospital
seheT
' 7
www.northfultonraflonal.com G 6 0 Fg i 8
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Wadnwctay, April 14,2004 -1
Renewable certificate.
Opponents worry that with
out a degree from a college of
education, teachers will be
unprepared for the social and
developmental issues they will
have to deal with in the class
room. Content knowledge and
workforce experience, they say,
are not enough, even though
one veteran Georgia educator
noted, “You can’t teach what
you do not know."
Teachers at the end of their
first year freely admit that
they learn more about teach
ing in that one year in the
classroom than in their college
coursework. Classes in peda
gogy and theory are useful
additions to a teacher’s knowl
edge, but on-the-job experi
ence, in the classroom, is how
one really learns to teach.
Additionally, certification is
not the same as employment.
Just because a prospective
teacher passes a test does not
mean he or she will ever be
charged with a group of stu
dents; a principal, department
chair or school system still
must interview and hire them.
The other “test out” option
allows already-certified teach
ers to add a field to their certifi
cate by passing a second con
tent knowledge test. This will
allow teachers with multiple
interests and abilities to teach
multiple subjects, provided they
prove their content knowledge.
This is meant to be a solution
for the many teachers who
teach classes out-of-field or
possess the content knowledge
in a second, often related field.
Currently, teachers can work
the minor part of a day in an
uncertified field if they have
had at least four college courses
in the subject. Under the pro
posed rule, teachers must prove
they know their new subject.
Louis V. Gerstner, the for
mer CEO of IBM, formed the
19-member blue-ribbon Teach
ing Commission in 2003, with
the goal of raising student per
formance by transforming the
way in which teachers are
recruited and retained. There
are three Georgians on the
Commission: Roy Barnes, for
mer governor; Dr. Beverly Hall,
the superintendent of Atlanta
Public Schools; and Scott E.
Painter, a Chemistry and
Physics teacher at South
Atlanta High School.
The Teaching Comm
ission’s 2004 recommendations
are far-reaching and commend
able. They call for more money,
but also for linking pay to
effectiveness (based on value
added measures of student
achievement), to subject spe
cialty and to working condi
tions.
It urges new forms of
accountability for teacher-edu
cation programs, making new
teachers pass demanding tests
o| content knowledge, and
removing needless certification
obstacles. And it would
empower school principals as
“CEOs” with control over per
sonnel decisions.
Georgia’s proposed changes
would not dilute standards.
They simply provide college
educated people who would
like to teach or are already cer
tified in one area with a path
into the classroom without hav
ing to leave the labor force for
several years to meet burden
some requirements and provide
local school systems more flex
ibility in hiring decisions. High
teacher quality is always criti
cal for students’ success, but
especially with the adoption of
a rigorous new curriculum and
the demands of No Child Left
Behind.
Dr. Holly Robinson is sen
ior vice president of the
Georgia Public Policy
Foundation. Eric Wearne, a
research assistant at the
Foundation, is a Ph.D. student
in educational studies at
Emory University and a for
mer high school teacher of
English and debate. The
Foundation is an independent
think tank that proposes prac
tical, market-oriented app
roaches to public policy.
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