by design | Jun 30, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher When Dr. McIntyre presented his 2020 Strategic Plan to the Board of Education in May, teachers were especially concerned by one of the details listed under Goal 2, Objective 4 – “Centralize recruitment and selection,” because it appears that Central...
by design | Jun 29, 2014 | Absher, Archived Editions, Archives
Click here to view this week’s Focus. Race to the top Part 2: Assessments By Sally Absher sallyabsher@gmail.com When most people think of Race to the Top (RTTT), they think of Common Core. But national, common assessments are perhaps a larger and more insidious...
by design | Jun 23, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher sallyabsher@gmail.com Until this year, most people had never heard of “Common Core.” Touted as uniform, higher academic standards in English/Language Arts (ELA) and math across all the states, who could be opposed? Yet Common Core State Standards have...
by design | Jun 16, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher Last week The Focus reported on the Emerald Academy Charter application. At present there are 101 active public charter schools in Tennessee (k-12.state.tn.us/SDE). Many people think Charter Schools are the magic bullet that will transform our...
by design | Jun 9, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher sallyabsher@gmail.com By Sally Absher sallyabsher@gmail.com The School Board met for their June Work Session and Regular Session meetings last week. It’s too bad that Knox County Schools didn’t get $10 for every time Dr. McIntyre of one of his...
by design | Jun 9, 2014 | Absher, Columnist
By Sally Absher sallyabsher@gmail.com Board of Education members and the public in attendance at last Monday’s Work Session meeting expected to breeze through the first eight items of the Board Agenda, with the majority of the meeting devoted to the Emerald Charter...
