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In the spring of 2001, Georgia's State Board of Education approved a contract to implement a major school reform model in some of the state's most challenging elementary and middle schools. Entitled America's Choice/Georgia's Choice, that model has been adopted in approximately 160 schools scattered across the state for the 2001-2002 school year. Current plans call for the state to invest in excess of 60 million dollars over the next three years in an effort to radically improve student achievement.
The program in Georgia represents a local adaptation of America's Choice, a school reform model devised by the National Center for Education and the Economy. More information about NCEE can be found at: http://www.ncee.org/. America's Choice has been evaluated by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Their report contains an excellent summary of the model and a wealth of information on its impacts on students and is entitled: |
| Moving Mountains: Successes and Challenges of the America¹s Choice Comprehensive School Reform Design by Jonathan A. Supovitz Susan M. Poglinco Brooke A. Snyder |
It can be accessed in Adobe pdf format at: During the evening of November 1, 2001 a presentation/question and answer session on the implementation of America's Choice in Georgia was held at the University of Georgia. Sponsored by the UGA chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, the session was organized by Joe Wisenbaker of the College of Education and featured presentations by Robert Lumsden, Georgia Coordinator for the National Center for Education and the Economy, Nettie Holt, Georgia Department of Education coordinator, staff and teachers at Fowler Drive Elementary School including Sandy Mitchell, Principal, Dale Rogers, Assistant Principal, Claudia Taxel and Amy Dover, Literacy Coaches, and Susan Young, Model Classroom Teacher. |
Video footage and a Powerpoint Presentation presented by Nettie Holt (slides 2-5) and
Robert Lumsden (slides 6-76) from this event have been made available below.
We have broken down the video of this presentation into smaller portions to enable people on slower connections to access this information.
It is necessary to have Real Player to view these video clips. If you do not have it, you may download it free from: www.realplayer.com
| Presenter | Video |
| Nettie Holt |
Holt Part 1 Holt Part 2 |
| Robert Lumsden |
Lumsden Part 1 Lumsden Part 2 Lumsden Part 3 Lumsden Part 4 |
| Powerpoint Presentation for Nettie Holt and Robert Lumsden. The presentation has been saved as a PDF. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF. If you do not have it, you can download it free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. | Holt-Lumsden Powerpoint Presentation |
| Sandy Mitchell | Mitchell Part 1 |
| Q & A Questions | Video |
| Given the level of attention to assessment in the model, is there any concern that this might be too stressful for the children? | Response Question 1 |
| Is kindergarten part of the model program at Fowler Drive and, if so, how do they work in the 2.5 hour literacy block? | Response Question 2 |
| Under the America's Choice Model, how should one address the needs of both gifted and disadvantaged students? | Response Question 3 |
| Follow up - How does the mandated EIP program for students at the lower end of the spectrum relate to what is being done with America's Choice? |
Response Question 4 (Part 1) Response Question 4 (Part 2) |
| While portfolio assessment is extremely useful in helping teachers understand where kids are, larger class sizes make doing this very difficult. Does America's Choice speak to the issue of class size? | Response Question 5 |
| How are the resources to be found to pay for all things that are part of America's Choice that are likely to exceed the resources that schools have had available through Title I or other sources? | Response Question 6 |
| There is the feeling in the schools that there are multiple standards for which they may be held accountable. Two in particular are the Georgia QCC objectives as assessed by the CRCT and the testing program that goes along with the Georgia's Choice model. What is expected fo schools? | Response Question 7 |
| How does the National Center for Education and the Economy monitor the process toward implementation? | Response Question 8 |
| How will the Educational Coordinating Council oversee this? | Response Question 9 |
| How do classroom teachers respond to America's Choice? | Response Question 10 |
| How does Dr. Wisenbaker see the work that he has recently reported dealing with flexible small group instruction models as it relates to America's Choice? | Response Question 11 |
Materials provided by Dr. Joe Wisenbaker.
