Vision for Georgia Education

The vision for Georgia education I am presenting has been born out of my 22+ years of service to Georgia's public education system.  It is a vision that contains the very same passion that I had for education upon first day I entered the classroom.  It is a vision that brings into practice common sense and experience that counts. 

Over the past 22 years, I have had the privilege of serving as a high school social studies teacher, elementary school assistant principal, elementary school principal and a K-5 curriculum director.  Today, I am currently the acting administrator over Pre-K, the Alternative school, Hospital Homebound, and Home School in Irwin County.  I am the only candidate running for this position who has had experience as both a teacher and administrator from Pre-K through 12th grade.  It is this experience that has prepared me for this position.  It is this experience that has given me a vision for educational success for Georgia.  It is this experience that allows me to make the following promise: 

If we keep doing what we have been doing in Georgia education, we will keep getting what we have been getting in Georgia education.

Thus the question is, "What have we been getting in Georgia education?"

• Flat-line to mediocre test performance
• Sub-par national ranking
• A revised curriculum that is still too broad with little depth
• Several educational experts whom I have talked with estimate that it would take a student an estimated 17 years to complete our newly revised curriculum.  However,  students are only expected to attend school for 13 years
• A system that does not allow enough time for mastery level retention and review of critical information
• The creation of a jack-of-all-trades and master of none student population
• A one size fits all educational diploma experience for our students
• Excessive testing that has reduced our children to being mere numbers on a spreadsheet
• An educational system that  is test driven rather than knowledge driven
• A primary and middle school testing window that cuts 4 to 8 weeks out of the learning cycle prior to testing.  The curriculum is designed to be covered over an entire school year.  The testing window begins during the first week in April.  Thus, several weeks of content must be moved forward and force fed to our students to accommodate the "test."
• The surrendering of our U.S. Constitutional right as a state to govern education to the federal government
• A rigid funding and management system that offers our schools little flexibility
• An over worked, over stressed, unhappy, hamstrung teacher workforce 

 "Where do we go?"

• We must develop a curriculum that is obtainable and appropriate for all level of learners
• We must ensure that the essential content is covered and that it can be taught and learned for mastery during the allotted school year
• The mastery of the basic reading, writing, and arithmetic during the primary school years.  The height of our success will be limited to the strength of our foundation.
• Middle school, high school, technical school, the military, and college are not the places for remediation.
• A diverse diploma path. We must teach critical content across the curriculum to better reinforce essential concepts.
• A strong personal finance educational component.
• Our testing system needs to be driven by our content and be more relevant to addressing the learning needs and progress of our students.
• Our testing system needs to work with our students and educators, not against them.
• Remove unnecessary testing.
• More financial and management flexibility from Washington D.C. and Atlanta in order to allow local systems to better address their educational issues.  What is a problem for one system is not necessarily the same problem for another system.
• A unified program of training that adequately prepares our teachers to be classroom ready when they leave college.
• Work to reclaim our U. S. Constitutional right to govern education.
• Apply practicality and common sense.
• Communicate and not dictate.
• Be the verbal guard dog for education, regardless of political party.
• Allow our teachers to do what they do best, close their doors and teach.  It is the classroom, not the boardroom, where the biggest impact on education will take place.

I leave you with this final thought.  If we keep doing what we have been doing in education, we will keep getting what we have been getting.

Contact the Campaign:   Email   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it      Phone: 229-392-2112