Article from Kingsport (education related)

[imported_elp6n]

Article from the Kingsport Times.
Note the highlighted section. Wise County is certainly no exception to this.
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Bolling finds no shortage of ideas in SW Va. tour
Published 04/13/2007 By STEPHEN IGO


WISE - Education, transportation, technology, economic development and fiscal matters provided fertile ground for Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's "100 Ideas for the Future of Virginia" tour of Southwest Virginia, including a stop at the University of Virginia's College at Wise on Thursday.

Bolling has launched his initiative to get a discourse going with citizens for their ideas for a brighter future for Virginia. One of his visits Thursday was at Cedar Bluff Elementary in Tazewell County, which he attended through third grade.

"They had a lot of great ideas," he said of the students. "You know. Longer recess. No homework. That sort of thing."

The kids of Cedar Bluff are likely to be disappointed. Discussion between citizens and Bolling at UVa-Wise indicated more recess is not a priority and more, not less, homework would probably be a good thing.

Bolling said a German exchange student told him last year that high school in America was much better than in Germany. Bolling said he then made the mistake of asking what made American schools better, and the youth said, "Baseball, football, basketball" and not much of an academic workload.

Bolling said Virginians need to enter "not a critical, but an honest discussion about public education" because most other industrialized nations do a much better job preparing their youth for the global marketplace than America.

He said society must "start thinking outside the box" and mentioned an idea he did not endorse but used as an example, "the 65 percent solution."

Most school divisions have roughly 60 percent of finances devoted to classrooms and 40 percent to the central office, Bolling said, and increasing the academic balance to just 65 percent would free $450 million in Virginia for classrooms.

"It's interesting to see, sometimes, how much of your tax dollars go to the central office rather than classrooms," he said.

There are school divisions in Virginia where more than 50 percent of their budgets are devoted to administrative central office needs, he said.

Those taking the lieutenant governor up on his offer of an ideas chit-chat included Wise County Circuit Court Clerk J. Jack Kennedy and UVa-Wise chemistry professor Walter Crouse. Kennedy said the state needed to promote commercial space flight business opportunities and provide more broadband access to Southwest Virginia.

Crouse said huge investments in more roads create more problems than get solved, and the money - particularly in urban areas like Northern Virginia - would be better invested in mass transit.

Wise County Commonwealth's Attorney Ron Elkins suggested one way to crack down on illicit drug use is for the state to consider laws to crack down on "Internet pharmacies." The biggest drug problem in Southwest Virginia, Elkins said, involves people ordering drugs off the Internet and distributing them. Bolling said Internet drug sales laws as Elkins suggested seemed to have merit and needed a thorough going over by the Virginia attorney general.

Back on education, Kennedy said Wise County may get penalized by the composite index - the formula that decides state funding for school divisions based on a locality's ability to pay - because of a new power plant to be operational in 2012 expected to infuse tax dollars into the county. Bolling said those who wish to tinker with the composite index are playing with fire.

"I am always pretty leery of discussions to change those formulas," Bolling said. "My hunch is it would work to the detriment of rural Virginia."

Issues like what to do with Medicaid will be vital to Virginia's future, Bolling said. It keeps costing more to do less, he said."If we don't get a grip on Medicaid," Bolling said, "it will bankrupt the commonwealth."

For more information on Bolling's initiative or to share ideas visit www.100IdeasVA.com.

[imported_mega]

Just a question for the people in the know, how does education around here stack up to the rest of the state? I mean for the most part, I had [censored] poor teachers and a pretty weak ciriculum in school though I was in what is considered advanced clases.

[imported_elp6n]

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pretty weak ciriculum in school though I was in what is considered advanced clases.


[/ QUOTE ]
This was the same scenario for me. I did have some quality teachers, but they were restricted by the school system as to offerings and curriculum.

[retiredteach]

For many years, Wise County was considered among the elite in Southwest Va. Now, I believe that has been somewhat diminshed. Scott County, for one, has surpassed Wise. Not sure about some of the others. Norton seems to have an efficient system with many course offerings. Wise County is getting further behind because folks refuse to progress and think of the future. The more decisions that are based on public opinion, the less progress there is. That last statement, before you attack me, means that sometimes a few very vocal folks are allowed to influence the decisions.

[The_Sage]

If i'm not mistaken, there use to be several small elementary schools in the area, one room schools with several grades. I'm sure parents at that time couldn't wait to get their kids to the "modern" high schools,, or were at the time. I think it is the same thing all over again. History repeats itself.

[imported_mega]

no teach, I wasnt going to attack ya. I am not really thinking about this situation from one viewpoint. Im just trying to understand our situation and compare it to the rest of the state. I believe there is a major need for educational reform in this country and I wouild like to see a few things including teachers getting more extensive schooling and be treated as professionals as doctors and lawyers are as well as a return in pay that would bring in the best group of profesionals that we can get. It saddens me that most of the brighter minds dont want to be teachers because its not economically feasible for them while at the same time, alot of people you wouldnt want teaching your children are actually teachers. I feel that the ciriculum as well as the standard teaching methods are out of date and I would also like to see a shorter summer. On the flip side of things, I think that we dont want to burn a childs mind out too soon and thats one reason why I feel that we need to put more emphasis on every area and not just the standard classic courses i.e. english and math. P.E. is just as important as those classes. The lack of exercise by children in this country is a scary trend that effects their education just as much as any other issue. Im highly concerned.

And if I offended some of you guys that are teachers I apologize. When I was refering to my teachers, I wasnt refering to all teachers, simply many of the teachers that I had that were more interested in collecting their check and getting off work by 330 every day than helping a child. After all, our #1 duty as educators has to be to help children.

[retiredteach]

I didn't take it that way. I agree. I am afraid, however, that Wise County is going to fall further behind. I tried to teach to my best. Of course, I had my days. One of the ways to improve teaching is to establish a rapor with the students. I found a long time ago, that if I could do that, there were less discipline problems and better academic performance. I agree that a teacher must possess a level of knowledge about the subject matter, because I cannot teach Science. I can not even pronounce all the words, but sometimes the performance of a teacher goes beyond knowledge of the subject matter. A teacher must care about teaching and about the student. Granted, some students are harder to establish a rapor with and to even like, but at least treat them with a little respect. Going to quit preaching now. Hope this makes sense.

[imported_mega]

It makes alot of sense. If you establish that repor, it sets you up for years of success in terms of what you expect in your classroom. Naturally kids talk to other kids so the kids that have you are going to pass the word along in terms of liking you, being a good teacher, a stern teacher, etc. Many teachers lose control in the beginning and once theyve lost that respect, it gets around and the next class comes in and acts the same. Kids arent stupid either, they know alot more than most adults give them credit for. I think it would be naive to think otherwise. Sadly enough, a teacher can do his very best but extrinsic factors like home life, mobility, health, etc can offset all effort that a teacher puts forward.

[burton2019]

Does anyone know the dropout percentage versus the graduation percentage for SWVA?

[imported_elp6n]

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Does anyone know the dropout percentage versus the graduation percentage for SWVA?

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I would like to know that percentage also.
Additionally I'd like to know the percentage of students that go on to complete a higher education degree.
(I know in my graduating class, approximately 7% completed a 4 year degree.)