HENRY W. GRADY HIGH SCHOOL, ATLANTA
VOLUME LXVI, NUMBER 8
May 15, 2013
SLC STRUGGLES TO CREATE NEW LAW PATHWAYS O
By Isabelle Taft n the first day of the 2010-2011 school year, four new small learning communities opened their doors to Grady freshmen. On its first day, however, the Public Policy & Justice Academy had a problem: it was required to offer students a choice of two “pathway” courses, sequences designed to give students skills they can apply to particular careers or fields of study. APS, however, had not hired a teacher with a background in law or public policy to teach those classes. Instead, Mary Carter Van Atta, a world geography and civics teacher, was forced to teach introductory courses for the law-based pathway. “It was very demanding because I’m not a lawyer, so I had to rely on a lot of outside sources,” Van Atta said. “It was an intro class so it wasn’t a big deal, but it would have been a big deal had I had to do anything with the more advanced classes.” The following school year, APS hired a trained lawyer to teach the law pathway courses. But academy leader Russell Plasczyk said hiring pathways teachers has continued to be a problem, with significant turnover in the law-pathways teacher position. Since the public policy pathway has not materialized, the academy was renamed Law and Leadership this year. Instead of a complete second pathway, Law and see PATHWAYS, page 7
GRADY COMMUNITY MOURNS LOSS OF OUTDOOR-LOVING, ALWAYS-SMILING ALEC BRUNO Students, teachers and members of the community were shocked to learn of the sudden passing of junior Alec Bruno. Immediately following his death, students and community members planned to hold ceremonies and gatherings in Bruno’s memory. Haygood United Methodist Church held a candelight vigil on April 24. Grady students, faculty and staff attended. His funeral was held on April 25 at the Catholic Shrine of Immaculate Conception. See related story, page 12
Fallout from cheating scandal evident in 2013 tests By Quinn Mulholland nyone who observed an APS school in late April and early May might have noticed something unusual: empty hallways, patrolling administrators and focused students filling in small bubbles on mass-produced answering documents. Across APS, April 23 to May 13 is the three-week period designated for students to stop learning, for teachers to stop teaching, and for standardized tests to be administered. Although APS has administered the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests to third- through eighth-graders and the End of Course Tests to high schoolers since 2000, this year’s testing period was different. A month removed from the indictment of former Superintendent Beverly Hall, as well as 34 other APS educators, and two years removed from the investigation that found that 44 out of the 56 APS schools in the district had cheated on the CRCT, the implementation of the tests
faced heightened scrutiny.
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Over 1,400 people volunteered for a Starbucks-sponsored service day, called You + 2 = Project Together, at Grady on Saturday, April 27.
Campbell has been at Grady for six years, and has observed the transition from of Hall to FROM HALL TO DAVIS current superintendent Erroll Davis. “The test proceOne of Beverly dures have become a Hall’s defining charlot more formalized,” 1. How much did APS spend on remediation acteristics during her Campbell said. “In programs for those affected by the scandal? tenure as APS superterms of standardizedintendent was her de- A $4 million B $500,000 test pressure, I have mand for improved 2. How many educators accused of cheating never felt that here.” were removed following the scandal? test scores, with the Russell Plasczyk, threat of unemploy- A 35 B Over 180 C 3,000 Law and Leadership ment looming for 3. How many APS principals were replaced Academy leader, said those principals and the emphasis on testing after the cheating scandal? administrators who is the biggest A 1% B 40% C 60% D 50% security failed to meet perprocedural change. 4. How much do standardized test scores formance targets. In “Everything now count for in the new teacher evaluations? fact, according to has to be locked up,” The New York Times, A 5% B 10% C 40% D 50% Plasczyk said. According to The during her tenure, 90 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, APS has crepercent of APS principals were replaced. AP World History and AP Compara- ated double-locked “safe rooms,” accessible tive Government and Politics teacher James only by principals and testing coordinators,
BY THE NUMBERS
11 lifestyle
Get the scoop just in time for summer vacation on all the best ice cream, frozen yogurt and other sweet treats around Atlanta.
and monitored by video surveillance, to store test materials in every school. Furthermore, according to an editorial by Superintendent Erroll Davis in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, APS has “set trigger points that will result in automatic investigations of schools where test scores show larger-than-normal year-over-year changes.” Another measure APS has taken since the cheating scandal is remediation programs for those directly affected by the scandal, which have cost $4 million so far, according to the Associated Press, as well as mandatory ethics training for all APS employees. Furthermore, according to the Associated Press, every APS school now has an “ethics advocate” to help employees resolve ethical issues. In a letter released to APS students, parents, employees and partners the day of the indictment of 35 APS educators, Davis said see TESTING, page 6
13 thesoutherneronline.com
This year’s senior class has chosen English teacher of 18 years Larry McCurdy as the recipient of The Southerner’s Marion P. Kelly Award.
Senior Patrick Scollard is one step closer to his dream of being a sea captain with his recent admission to the Merchant Marines Academy and Coast Guard.