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Cox Touts Performance of State's Education System Students Showing Progress, but State Needs to "Stay the Course," She Says.

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

ATLANTA -- Student performance is on the rise and the state needs to "stay the course" to continue to improve education, Superintendent Kathy Cox said Thursday in her first State of Public Education Address.

Speaking at a Georgia Public Broadcasting studio, Cox declared that the state of Georgia's schools is "good and improving."

"We are on the right track," Cox said. "But we have a long way to go. We owe it to our children to stay the course."

While there was little in the way of new policies in the speech, Cox used the address to tout the progress of the state's education system and call for an emphasis on making sure students graduate high school.

"When a child does not complete the 12th grade, we should all be concerned," she said. "Because, in the end, every citizen pays for a dropout's lack of education."

Cox said she was particularly concerned about the trouble Georgia students seem to be having in math and science.

"If we do not change what we are doing, we are going to lose our state's competitive edge," the superintendent said.

At a news conference following the speech, Cox said the state's new science curriculum would help. But she acknowledged that the new standards "can't be the only thing we do," and she said educators should use the new standards to bring more hands-on work to the state's science classrooms.

In the biggest concrete announcement to come from the speech, Cox said the state would begin work on a new, one-track diploma for all Georgia high school students. Currently, high schools have a track for students wanting to join the workforce after graduation and another for students who want to attend college.

"Our future is actually dependent on every single one of our high school graduates being prepared for the 21st century world they will enter," she said.

As for rising student test scores, Cox highlighted increases for students who are still learning English, black students and other groups. She said the door for those better scores were opened by the educators' determination to dig into test results and see how different students were performing.

"For far too long, special labels have been used to camouflage what were really low expectations for certain groups of students," Cox said.

The superintendent also noted increases in the number of students passing Advanced Placement tests, which high-schoolers can take for college credit. And she said the state would continue efforts to recruit the most qualified teachers.

She also said the school report cards, sent to parents to indicate how well a school is doing at educating its children, would be changed this year to make them more "parent-friendly."

After the address, Cox said she anticipated working with the governor's office to try to help schools recoup the costs of serving refugee children fleeing from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and along the Gulf of Mexico.brandon.larrabee@morris.com, (404) 681-1701

Source: Florida Times Union

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