Thoughts for Thursday - Gwinnett education

I attended the District V meeting for the Gwinnett Board of Education this past Tuesday.   For the most part it seemed to be testimonies to how good Gwinnett is for public education.  I'll admit that I appreciated the boys that spoke, especially the young man from GIVE West and his mom.  I was not, though, expecting that.  I'm not sure what I *did* expect, it just wasn't that.

At any rate, I did come away with a little bit of use.  Mr. Wilbanks spoke with a presentation about the initiatives that Gwinnett has in place.  IE: Core Curriculum (put into terms I could understand), eClass (which my son won't benefit from while he's in HS), and the teacher evaluations.  Most of the audience were faculty/staff from the area, so I'm certain they're primary interest was in the last item.

Mixed in there, though, was information about changes coming to CRCT testing.   Similar to Gateway, instead of straight out multiple choice, the kids will have essays and short answer.  This will allow the kids to show that they know the material even if they get the answers incorrect.  As much as I don't care for over testing students, I do prefer this type of testing to the other.

I was also able to view the preliminary budget that was approved by the board.  Not a lot of big changes there, as a parent I don't see anything that I will complain about.  They're dropping the furlough days, though teachers won't get a cost of living increase.  I'm sure that there will be a lot of words about that.

That was effectively my take away from the meeting.  Not a lot for 2 hours of time, but I won't call it a waste of time either.  I'd rather have gone and come away with what I did, then to have not gone.