Podcasts about Atlanta Public Schools

This Political Breakfast, the gang dives into a recent New York Times article about Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff -- the state's first Jewish Senator -- losing Jewish support. The Times wrote some Democratic donors and Jewish leaders are unhappy with Ossoff's position and criticism of the Israel-Hamas war. A bipartisan group of Jewish leaders even urged Georgia GOP Governor Brian Kemp to run against Ossoff in next year's Senate race. Republican Strategist Brian Robinson and Democratic Strategist Tharon Johnson tell host Lisa Rayam that Ossoff may be in a pretty tight spot. Plus, Atlanta Public Schools literacy rates hit a successful milestone post-COVID. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Journey of My Mother's Son podcast, I talk with Kelli Stewart. Kelli Stewart was born in Atlanta and raised most of her life in Oglethorpe County, a rural community just outside of Athens, Georgia. Although both parents were not a consistent fixture in her life, Kelli's Grandmother, Ms. Amy Lou Faust, provided a stable and nurturing home environment where she raised Kelli to have an old soul that has served her well in life. Kelli is a graduate from Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, GA and credits her participation in ROTC as keeping her on the mostly straight and mostly narrow. Through the watchful care and guidance of her ROTC Instructor, Sgt. Fincher along with Ms. Sue Lee (English Teacher) and Shirley Daniel (Guidance Counselor) Kelli graduated from Cedar Shoals in 1996 and went on to study at Georgia State University. She completed her undergraduate studies at Kennesaw State University in 2011 where she earned a bachelor's degree from the Coles College of Business with honors. In addition to her degree, Kelli holds a wealth of knowledge regarding sports-based youth development as a resource for racial, social and economic justice and the impact sports have on the social-emotional development of youth. Today, Kelli, and her husband, C.J. Stewart, oversee two business ventures that they started together. Through Diamond Directors, they train and develop some of the country's top amateur and professional baseball athletes; Jason Heyward (Los Angeles Dodgers), Dexter Fowler (Chicago Cubs, World Series Champion), Andruw Jones (former Atlanta Brave), Peter Alonso (NY Mets), Kyle Lewis (Arizona Diamondbacks), and Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates) are a few notable professional clients. Through L.E.A.D., they train and develop some of Atlanta's hidden treasures in Atlanta Public Schools. L.E.A.D. provides inner city boys with the same opportunities to excel in life through baseball as the Stewarts' Diamond Directors clients with the focus being accessing higher education and community leadership. To date, L.E.A.D. Ambassadors have achieved a 100% high school graduation rate and a 91% college enrollment and scholarship rate (academic and athletic). Kelli and CJ have two beautiful daughters, Mackenzi (Southern University) and Mackenna (The Lovett School). To find out more about Kelli and the work that is being done at the L.E.A.D. Center for Youth, you can check out their website at https://leadcenterforyouth.org/.

This year marks 70 years since the Supreme Court issued its historic decision in the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit. The landmark ruling outlawed racial segregation in public schools. Rights4Children recently hosted an event in commemoration at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Rose Scott moderated the panel discussion. On Wednesday’s edition of “Closer Look,” Harold Scott, Rev. Henry Mathis, and Phyllis Jackson-Scott share their experiences during integration after the historic ruling. Cathy Loving, a former Atlanta Public Schools archivist and assistant to Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, also participated in the discussion. During the conversation, the panelists reflected on the positive outcomes related to Brown, but also the challenges that occurred after the groundbreaking ruling.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

GDP Script/ Top Stories for December 3rd Publish Date:  December 3rd   From The BG AD Group Studio, Welcome to the Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. Today is Tuesday, December 3rd and Happy Birthday to Andy Williams ***12.03.24 - BIRTHDAY – ANDY WILLIAMS*** I'm Keith Ippolito and here are your top stories presented by KIA Mall of Georgia 1.      Gwinnett County closes on purchases of Gwinnett Place Macy's stores 2.      GCPS' Shanna Ricketts Named To Board of Directors For Education Analytics 3.      Gwinnett Considering Utility Relocation For State Route 316 Project All of this and more is coming up on the Gwinnett Daily Post podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen daily and subscribe! Break 1: Kia MOG (07.14.22 KIA MOG)   STORY 1:     Gwinnett County closes on purchases of Gwinnett Place Macy's stores Gwinnett County finalized the $16.5 million purchase of the Macy's department and furniture store properties at the former Gwinnett Place Mall, adding to the county's existing ownership of much of the mall's property. This acquisition supports plans to redevelop the site into a mixed-use "global villages" concept featuring residential, retail, green space, and a cultural center. Macy's will continue operating through the 2024 holiday season under a leaseback agreement. The county is now focused on finding development partners, with plans to issue a request for proposals in early 2025, aiming to create a revitalized urban hub and boost economic opportunities in the area. STORY 2: GCPS' Shanna Ricketts Named To Board of Directors For Education Analytics Dr. Shanna Ricketts, executive director of research, evaluation, and analytics for Gwinnett County Public Schools, has been appointed to the board of directors for Education Analytics, a nonprofit focused on education research and technology solutions. Ricketts supports data-driven decision-making in Gwinnett Schools and has extensive experience in education policy and research, including roles with Atlanta Public Schools, the Delaware Department of Education, and Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research. She holds an economics degree from Harvard and a PhD in education studies from Emory University. Ricketts expressed excitement about contributing to Education Analytics' mission of improving student outcomes through data and analytics.   STORY 3: Gwinnett Considering Utility Relocation For State Route 316 Project Gwinnett County commissioners are set to vote on agreements with GDOT to relocate utilities at the Hi Hope Road and State Route 316 intersection in Lawrenceville, a necessary step for converting it into an interchange. The project involves moving water, gravity sewer, and force main infrastructure, costing $11.6 million in total. GDOT will cover most expenses, including $5.11 million for a sewer force main, $1.33 million of $1.36 million for gravity sewer relocation, and $2.9 million of $5 million for other facilities. Gwinnett County will contribute $2.13 million, covering work outside GDOT's project limits. GDOT plans to bid the project in early 2025, with construction expected to begin mid-year. We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.874.3200 for more info. We'll be right back Break 2: Tom Wages (08.05.24 OBITS_FINAL)   STORY 4: Collins Hill grad finds community through service at Georgia Gwinnett College Nia Mallory's time at Georgia Gwinnett College transformed her practical decision to attend into a deep appreciation for its community and opportunities. Initially drawn by affordability and proximity, Mallory grew through her involvement on campus, shifting her focus from nursing to GGC's unique patient navigator program within the health science degree. Serving as a resident assistant, and later senior RA, she fostered a sense of belonging in student housing, supporting peers through struggles like mental health challenges and homesickness. Her leadership extended to serving as president of the Greenlight Activities Board, where she worked to create meaningful campus events and strengthen student connections. Mallory credits GGC's community, mentors, family, and faith for helping her overcome personal doubts, teaching her resilience, and shaping her collegiate experience. She plans to gain professional experience and pursue graduate studies after graduation. STORY 5: KimLinh Ngo to become first GGC student to graduate with 3 bachelor's degrees KimLinh Ngo will make history at Georgia Gwinnett College on Dec. 14 as the first student to earn three bachelor's degrees in a single day. Starting as a pre-nursing student, Ngo shifted her focus multiple times, eventually completing degrees in health science (patient navigation), business administration, and management information systems. Her advisor, Janice Alves, played a key role in guiding her through these transitions, encouraging her to explore programming, which became a passion. Ngo balanced her demanding studies with work at two restaurants, using careful planning and time management. Inspired by her parents' hard work as Vietnamese immigrants, she paid her way through college, avoided debt, and helped with family expenses. On graduation day, she'll wear a traditional Vietnamese áo dài to honor her heritage. After graduation, she aims to pursue a career in data analysis or software engineering, driven by persistence and determination for success. Break: ***Guide Weekly Health Minute*** 10.22.24 GUIDE HEALTH MINUTE_FINAL *** Break 4: Ingles Markets 7 Signoff – Thanks again for hanging out with us on today's Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Marietta Daily Journal, or the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at www.gwinnettdailypost.com Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the BG Podcast Network   Show Sponsors: www.ingles-markets.com  www.wagesfuneralhome.com www.kiamallofga.com     #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversationsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a textWhen the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation in 2023 focused on improving literacy among students kindergarten to third grade, they called for the appointment of a Statewide Literacy Coach to serve the Georgia Council on Literacy. They found this person in a longtime educator who has served as teacher, administrator, and Literacy Master Teacher with the Atlanta Public Schools.  Sarah Richards started in this role last July and is part of the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. Support the show

Hefty pay raises are being proposed for all city council members come 2026, including for the Mayoral position.  The Mayor could see a salary increase from $202K to $271K, and city council members would go from roughly $72K to $127K.  Republican strategist Brian Robinson, the Atlanta Civic Circle's Saba Long and host Lisa Rayam share their thoughts on those raises, and reforms that should come with them.  Plus, early voting starts this Saturday for a December 3rd runoff election, to fill a vacant Atlanta city council seat. It's between former Atlanta Public Schools principal Nicole Evans Jones, and attorney and former APS teacher, Eshé Collins.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Dr. Amy Grosso interviews Chief Ronald Applin, Chief of Police at Atlanta Public Schools. The conversation centers around the department's unique approach to law enforcement, focusing on student well-being, mental health, and reducing the school-to-prison pipeline. Chief Applin explains how the department addresses the gap in law enforcement services, with an emphasis on restorative practices and positive behavior interventions, aiming to ensure that students are not criminalized for issues that can be addressed through support and guidance. KEY POINTS: How they use restorative practices to help address issues while holding students accountable for their actions. Providing specialized training in mental health first aid, social-emotional learning, and crisis intervention to enable officers to be guardians alongside being a warrior. Using an Intervention Specialist to change the trajectory of students' lives. Building strong officer relationships with students, often acting as mentors and engaging in non-custodial conversations that help foster trust to increase school safety. Our guest, Chief Ronald Applin, Chief of Police, Atlanta Public Schools, has over 32 years of law enforcement experience. After completing boot camp for the United States Marine Corps, he served in the Marine Corps Reserves for 6 years. He simultaneously began his career with the Fulton County Sheriff's Office in 1989 and retired in 2010 at the rank Captain. During his tenure at the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, he commanded the day-to-day operations of the Law Enforcement Division, SWAT Team, oversaw the implementation of 911 services for the City of Chattahoochee Hills and served as the Venue Commander for the 2008 Brian Nichols Trial. In 2011, he became a faculty member with Reinhardt University Public Safety Institute, where he continues to serve, teaching undergraduate and graduate level criminal justice courses. He also taught in the Law and Justice Program at Creekside High School. His love for public safety led him to accept an offer to serve as the Director of Security at Landmark Christian School in 2013. The experiences gained in this position prepared him for the highlight of his law enforcement career—being selected as the Chief of Police for the newly created Atlanta Public Schools Police Department. As a product of the Atlanta Public School System, Charles Lincoln Harper High School 1986 graduating class, this was a full circle moment for him. Chief Applin earned a Bachelor of Science Social Science in Criminal Justice from Mercer University, Master of Public Administration from Troy University, and has completed all coursework, with the exception of a dissertation, for his PhD in Criminal Justice from Capella University. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy 220th Session and a graduate of the inaugural class of Mercer University's Public Safety Leadership Institute. Chief Applin's leadership and professionalism extend beyond the halls of the schools he serves. He is an active member of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police (GACP), International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Georgia Alliance of School Resource Officers and Educators (GASROE) Board of Directors, National Center for School Safety Advisory Board, Landmark Christian School Board of Directors and Atlanta Technical College Criminal Justice Program Advisory Committee, Graduate of the United Way VIP 2021.

When it comes to student learning, we need to assess the full picture. School social workers are an integral part of this whole child approach. Join us in conversation with Dr. Abifee Thomas and Caitlin Tripp of Atlanta Public Schools to learn more!

Amanda Jones is an award-winning librarian and an anti-censorship advocate. She's expected to speak at the Decatur Book Festival on Saturday. Ahead of her visit, we revisit Rose's conversation with Jones. During the conversation, Jones talks about her new book, "That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America." The part memoir, part manifesto maps the book-banning crisis happening across the U.S. and chronicles Jones' efforts to combat it.Plus, through the Atlanta Community School Parks Initiative, several Atlanta Public Schools are expected to receive a new nature play installation or have their old playgrounds renovated. Rose talks with Dr. Robin Christian, the principal at Barack and Michelle Obama Academy, Sarah Millgan-Toffler, the president and CEO of Children & Nature Network, and Lysa Ratliff, the CEO, KABOOM! The guests discuss the initiative and how having a safe and fun place for children to explore supports healthy development and success. Lastly, it was recently announced that legendary actor John Amos passed away at the age of 84. Amos was best known for his roles in “Good Times,” “Roots” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” NPR's TV critic Eric Deggans returns to “Closer Look to talk about the actor's life and legacy and his latest article “ What John Amos taught me about having — and being — a father.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the show: increased police presence at Atlanta Public Schools today. CBS News Radio reporter Dave Malkoff live in Louisiana updating #Francine. CDC fetal deaths report, Correspondent Alex Tin breaks it down for us. Tom Rivers from ABC News joins us from London updating the Russia/Ukraine War. Plus, citizen spacewalk! 9am-noon on 95.5 WSB.

Thursday marked the first day of school for many school districts across metro Atlanta. The “Closer Look team” stopped by Atlanta Public Schools' Hope-Hill Elementary School in the Old Fourth Ward Neighborhood as staff welcomed students on their first day. Plus, we revisit our one-on-one conversation with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens about housing affordability and its challenges. In his discussion with Rose, Mayor Dickens makes some significant announcements about redevelopment for Atlanta, including The Mall West End. He also discusses his support for light rail on the Atlanta Beltline. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two former Georgia governors, a previous Atlanta mayor and retired U.S. Senator--two Dems and two from the GOP--come together to fight misinformation; more groups join the call for MARTA to pump the brakes on its Five Points renovation; and a conversation with Dr. Bryan Johnson, the next superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Learn from Shaleece Long (Assistant Principal) about: - Strategies to improve teacher buy-in - Combining school-wide and classroom incentives - Tips for planning a successful rollout - And more! Tune in to learn from Shaleece

PROPEL and Southern Company are launching the PROPEL HBCU Cybersecurity Consortium. Dr. Lisa Herring, the new president of PROPEL, who formerly served as the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, discusses the new initiative that aims to diversify the nation's cybersecurity pipeline and workforce by equipping HBCU students with cybersecurity skills, tools and resources.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ready to enhance your role in educational leadership? "The Leadership Journey: Insights for Instructional Coaches" offers a practical and insightful look into the world of instructional coaching. This episode is perfect for instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, and educators looking to deepen their impact and leadership skills within the educational landscape.We are talking with Natasha Rachell, Director of Instructional Technology for Atlanta Public Schools about personal anecdotes, expert advice, and practical strategies to transform the often solitary journey of an instructional coach into a collaborative expedition towards excellence! With discussions centered around personal and professional growth, this episode serves as a guide for those eager to inspire and lead with confidence.Tune in to discover actionable insights and advice on transforming your approach to leadership. "The Leadership Journey" is your invitation to become a more effective leader in education. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn, grow, and influence the future of teaching and learning.Find Natasha on her Socials!Twitter: @apsitnatashaInstagram: @natashabrachellPodcast TeamHosts- Katie Ritter & Matthäus HuelseEditing Team- Matthäus Huelse, Jeremy McConnell, Justin ThomasSocial Media/ Promo Team- Alyssa FaubionProducer- Matthäus HuelseEdge•U BadgesEdge•U is an anytime, anywhere professional learning platform made for teachers by teachers!Coaching MentorshipsWhere Coaches Go to Grow! - We empower coaches with a holistic approach to implement practical skills and strategies that creates a wave of lasting change with the educators in their schools. We work to improve learning by being right there with you, on the ground, and in schools every day.

Be sure to connect with Andrew! Twitter/X - @docdrewlovett Must watch this video about Andrew from Atlanta Public Schools! Book Adam for your next event! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mradamwelcome.com/speaking⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Adam's Books: Kids Deserve It - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠amzn.to/3JzaoZv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Run Like a Pirate - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠amzn.to/3KH9fjT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Teachers Deserve It - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠amzn.to/3jzATDg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Empower Our Girls - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠amzn.to/3JyR4vm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Social Media: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@mradawelcome

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Oh; Atlanta Public Schools' doled out $1000 bonuses before Gov. Brian Kemp announced he was going to do so for teachers, and now APS says "yeah, we already gave y'all that, so we're keeping what he sends us to send y'all." Teachers feel let down. The state superintendent ain't happy, either. Yikes. Rudy Giuliani's filed for bankruptcy, so is there any juice in that berry for Ruby & Shaye? Polls show Americans approve of what a Colorado Supreme Court ruling says about Trump's candidacy. Speaking of polls, Politico's Jack Schafer penned an op/ed yesterday that surmises why President Biden's poll numbers are so low and why he may be able to do nothing to improve them no matter how good his presidency looks on paper - save for one move he could make. Lastly, who among us is surprised MAGA's from Georgia to Colorado (and likely in between) are using veiled and overtly threatening language towards elected officials and judges?

Alright; who's up for some uncomfortable political conversations with loved ones at Christmastime? Anyone? Anyone? Fine; I'll do it. The story of Jesus' birth - his parents refugees fleeing hostility - doesn't quite "hit" with the "reason for the season" crowd, but let's spell it out for ourselves if for no one else. Or, let me introduce you to Rev. Mitri Raheb, who'll put the current Palestinian crisis in perspective. Kudos to Atlanta Public Schools for making an "about face" and stating those state bonuses will be going to their educators, after all. Kudos, as well, to Dr. Michelle Au for framing a statement not dissimilar to the one that tripped up Stacey Abrams in 2022, on a video press conference earlier this week. She and three other panelists were bemoaning Georgia dropping nearly 150,000 kids off state Medicaid rolls, many of them by mistake. We're STILL learning how Donald Trump tried to pressure people in positions to alter the outcome of the 2020 elections, with new audio of him trying to change the result now in Michigan. Sounds like more indictments in his stocking. Lastly, Joe Rogan got fact-checked on his own show/podcast and it's both hilarious and infuriating to hear how he goes from bashing Joe Biden for being old and feeble to shrugging it off when he realizes the gaffe wasn't a Biden gaffe but a Donald Trump flub.

Slogans and exhortations don't work to motivate people. Targets usually encourage manipulation or cheating. John Dues and Andrew Stotz discuss how these three strategies can hinder improvement, frustrate teachers and students, and even cause nationwide scandals. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.4 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz. I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W Edwards Deming. Today I'm continuing my discussion with John Dues, who is part of the new generation of educators striving to apply Dr. Deming's principles to unleash student joy in learning. This is episode 16, and we're continuing our discussion about the shift from management myths to principles for the transformation of school systems. And today we're gonna be talking about principle 10 "eliminates slogans, exhortations, and targets." John, take it away.   0:00:37.1 John Dues: Good to be back, Andrew. Yeah, we've been talking about these 14 principles for educational systems transformation for a number of episodes now. I think one, one important thing to point out, and I think we've mentioned this multiple times now, but really the aim in terms of what we're hoping the listeners get out of hearing about all these principles is really about how they all work together, as a system themselves. So, we started with create constancy of purpose. We've talked about a number of other things, like work continually on the system, adopt and institute leadership, drive out fear. Last time we talked about break down barriers. We're gonna talk about eliminating slogans and targets this time, which is principle 10. But really, as you start to listen to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and now 10, what should start to become clear is how all of these things work together.   0:01:34.5 JD: If you are operating as a leader, for example, within sort of the Deming philosophy, one of the things you are gonna do is eliminate these slogans. So all these principles shouldn't be studied in isolation. We study them together, see how they all work together. But let me just start by just reading principle 10 so you have the full picture. So principle 10 is "eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for educators and students that ask for perfect performance and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system, and thus lie beyond the power of teachers and students." So really what we're talking about is, what's wrong with slogans, exhortations and targets for educators and students, because these things are, pervasive, I think.   0:02:29.5 JD: We've seen them, we've seen the posters on the walls with the various slogans. And, of course targets are everywhere in our educational systems. In my mind the main problem is that they're directed at the wrong people. The basic premise is that teachers and students could sort of simply put in more effort, and in doing so, they could improve quality productivity, anything else that's desirable in our education systems. But the main thing is that, that doesn't take into account that most of the trouble we see within our schools are actually coming from the system. And I think we've talked about this quote is probably one of Deming's most well-known quotes, but he said, "Most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to proportion, something like this, 94% belong to the system, which is the responsibility of management, 6% is special." And that's more like, can be sort of tagged or pinned to individual students or individual educators working within the system. So I think that's a really important thing to revisit 'cause it sort of is at the heart of all of these, all of these principles.   0:03:47.7 AS: It's interesting, like, maybe you could give some examples of what type of, slogans or targets or exhortations that you've seen, in your career and what's going on in education these days.   0:04:06.5 JD: Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna give an example here, kind of walk through an example in a second. But there, they're really everywhere, I mean, to varying degrees probably in different places. But, one, that one that sticks out in terms of, a target is when I first started my career in 2001, I was a teacher in Atlanta Public Schools. And No Child Left Behind had just come out. And, basically as they, as the leadership at the school sort of presented what was in this legislation, you know, they would always put up a just chart that basically said, a certain percentage of students are expected to be proficient across the country on state tests. And that, that percentage would increase over time starting in 2001 when the legislation was rolled out. And by the 2013, '14 school year, the way the tables were laid out is that 100% of students would be proficient in reading and math across the country in third through eighth grade. And of course, that didn't come to fruition. There's no chance that that ever would be the case. And it was also the case that there was really no methods attached to that target. So that's a really good example of a target that was sort of pulled out of the sky. And, basically, over the course of a dozen years, it was supposed to sort of, so somehow magically come to be.   0:05:38.2 AS: That's great. The idea of 100%. I mean, like what fool would say that, you would have 100% of anything. I mean, you just can't get anything to that point. But one question I have about that, I suspect that in those types of cases, it just gets swept under the rug and nobody's looking at that number the way that they looked at it back then, but maybe, maybe they do look at it. But my question would be that No Child Left Behind if we were able to objectively measure the improvement that was caused by that, or a devolution, like did, if it was, what was the starting point, for No Child Left Behind?   0:06:26.0 JD: Well, so, it, that would vary by district. If I remember right, I think the, the target early in the 20000s was something like in the 50 or 60%, something like that, right? And then it would...   0:06:40.3 AS: Right, so let's say 50 to 60%. And I wonder at the end of that period of 2013, if we could objectively compare and calculate that number, what would be your estimate of where it would be if it was 50 to 60 originally, where do you think it was at the end of 2013?   0:07:00.0 JD: 50% to 60%.   0:07:02.4 AS: So no improvement?   0:07:02.5 JD: No. I mean...   0:07:02.5 AS: Incredible.   0:07:04.2 JD: That could vary a little bit by time and place, but it's a little bit even hard to pin down because, the way that the test was constructed in 2001 in Georgia, for example, would be different than the way the test was constructed by 2013-14. So even, even the test itself had changed, the standards had changed, a number of things had changed over time. Also, for folks that know much, about what was going on in Atlanta by, by 2013-14, the superintendent, who would've been the superintendent from about 2001 until, I don't know, 2010 or something, she was actually charged under the RICO statute for sort of, yeah, I don't know if that was warranted or not. I think it was unprecedented, that's for sure. But there was a cheating scandal that was systematic from superintendent to principals down to even teachers. That was pretty pervasive because there was a lot of, in Atlanta at least, there was a lot of monetary incentives tied to the test score improvements. And so I know that it did result in a number of people being charged with various crimes, including the superintendent and number of principals.   0:08:18.3 AS: That's incredible.   0:08:20.6 JD: Incredible. Yeah. Yeah.   0:08:22.8 AS: Yeah. And there was a trial, there was a trial, I'm looking here on the internet. The trial began on September, in September of 2014 in Fulton County Superior Court.   0:08:32.3 JD: Yeah. Right around that time.   0:08:33.7 AS: Incredible.   0:08:33.8 JD: And so I was gone from Atlanta by that time. So I don't know all the details, but I have read a little bit about it, and I think, again, because there's these targets, that's certainly not an excuse for systematically cheating on these tests for sure. But, a byproduct of some of these testing regimens and some of the monetary incentive systems that were put in place was, cheating did happen in, in a number of places in the United States. Especially at the height of when the scrutiny was highest on these test results. So again, it's not, that shouldn't be the expectation even in a system where there's a lot of focus, certainly, but it was a byproduct. So you, you would wanna ask the question, why did that, why did that happen?   0:09:20.5 AS: Yeah.   0:09:21.9 JD: I mean, I think, yeah, go ahead.   0:09:25.2 AS: I was just gonna say that I also wanted to talk about, we were talking before we went on about the word "exhortation," which is kind of an, an old word, kind of a, and so I was looking it up on the dictionary. It says, "an address or communication emphatically urging someone to do something," and they use an example of "no amount of exhortation had any effect." And then I thought about, one of the questions I always ask students when I start my class, is "who's responsible?" And I want the listeners and the viewers to think about this answer to this question. Who's responsible for students being on time to class, the student or the teacher? And of course, the majority of students are gonna say the student. And if I ask the teachers, of course they're gonna say, student, it's personal responsibility. And most of the listeners and viewers would probably say the same. And then I want to explain a situation that I do every time I start my class. My class starts at 01:00 PM in this particular semester. And as soon as the door, as soon as 01:00 PM came, I just locked the door and I started teaching.   0:10:39.8 JD: And this is university setting?   0:10:40.7 AS: This is at university.   0:10:44.0 JD: Yeah.   0:10:44.6 AS: And when I did that, the university students, some of them had the, they were outside and kind of knocking on the door or no, wondering if they can come in. And I didn't let them in until after five or 10 minutes of teaching. And then I let, I went out and talked to them a little bit about, being on time and, please, be on time to my class or else I'm gonna lock the door and you're not gonna be able to come back in. And so I did that a couple times until all the students, I have 80 students in that class, and they all were in. And the next time that I, had my class, 100% of the students were on time. They were in there and ready to go. In fact, I had a funny case, John, I was, I was visiting a client of mine, which is north of the city of Bangkok. And I told my client, I gotta get outta here now because if I'm late to my class, my students are gonna lock me out.   0:11:32.7 JD: They're gonna lock you out. Yeah.   [laughter]   0:11:33.0 AS: But the point of the story is for the listeners and the viewers out there, if you said that the students are responsible for being on time, but I've just presented a case where the teacher changed something about the way that the, the class was done. That changed the outcome of the students. Can you still say that it is the students, and in fact, if you were to, to listen, if you went, we went to a, a high school or university and we sat down with all the teachers that would they be saying no amount of exhortation had any effect on the students being on time. These guys are just irresponsible.   0:12:17.4 JD: Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting 'cause I think, David Langford, on one of the episodes he did, talked about the problem of kids being, or students being late to class. And in that particular scenario as a high school, and, when you ask the kids, why were you late? They said, "well, the teacher doesn't start until five or seven minutes into the period anyway, so why, why do I need to come on time?" So, there is some truth to thinking about who, who is creating the system, what is that system? What types of behaviors does that system encourage? That's certainly a good way to sort of analyze each, each situation.   0:12:53.7 AS: Yeah. I mean, it makes you think, and I think what David highlights too is like, what's the priority here? And, where do we want, is it so important that someone's gonna be there at exactly this moment or does it matter if it's five minutes before, five minutes after? And I think that there's, there's an interesting discussion on that.   0:13:13.1 JD: Yeah.   0:13:13.8 AS: And for the listeners and the viewers out there, you're gonna make up your own mind. But I think that the key thing is that what you're saying when you talk about 94% of, the output or the result of something is the result of the system. And that helps us to focus beyond just, putting the pressure on students or administrators or educators or employees.   0:13:36.1 JD: Yeah. Yeah. And I think, one of the tools that I've talked about repeatedly and I'm a very big fan of is, is the process behavior chart or what some people call a control chart. And the reason for that is because when you use that chart, you can then tell what problems are coming from the system itself, and that's the responsibility of management and what problems are coming from other causes and may take some other types of sort of approaches. I think just knowing that is a really important sort of upfront step when you're considering that 94%, 6% problem. You can actually tell what's coming from the system, and then there's one approach and what's coming from special, special causes. And then there's another approach to, to improvement. And I suspect that, you know, when you chart data in this way over time, the vast majority of systems are stable, but unsatisfactory.   0:14:38.5 JD: And I think that's probably where things like, targets, exhortations, these slogans when you have a stable but defective system, that's the point where, these exhortations, et cetera are particularly pernicious, you know? I think, goal setting seems like a good idea, but it's really useless in that type of situation. It's really often an active desperation actually, when you set a goal in a stable but defective system. So I was gonna sort of talk you through a, through an example of how this, perhaps, could show up.   0:15:23.6 AS: Yep.   0:15:26.2 JD: We... This is going back a couple years, but as the pandemic rolled out, and I think we've talked about this data before, but we were really closely charting and paying attention to: are kids engaged in remote learning? And again, this example's from the pandemic, but this can come from any data that that's important to you. And almost all of this data unfolds over time. But we were looking at, how, how engaged are kids in remote learning? And it was really important for us to first define engagement. And so for us, this question always comes up, what do you mean by engagement? For us, this meant, kids did a remote lesson with the teacher and then they had a practice set in math. So what percent of the kids completed that full practice set?   0:16:17.6 JD: And basically when we, when we charted this, what we see, we did this for, about five weeks. We charted the data. So we had about 24 days worth of data. This was eighth grade math. And the first day 62% of the kids were engaged the second day, 67, the third day, 75%, fourth day, 84%, and then down to 77%. And then the next day, 71%, the next day, 58%, the next day 74%. So you can kind of get the picture here that this data was sort of bouncing around. And when we took that out to 24 days, that first day was 67%, the 24 day was 68%. And then sort of, we looked at the average over those 24 days, it was about 67%, a high of, 84%, a low of 49%. But when you put this on a process behavior chart, what you see is it's a stable system.   0:17:17.3 JD: Meaning there are these ups and downs, some are above that 67% average, some are below it. When we look at sort of the natural process limits. So those are sort of the boundaries of the system based on the magnitude of the variability over time, it was sort of suggesting with this system, we could expect a low of 42% engagement, a high of 91% engagement, but mostly it's bouncing around this average. Now if imagine, that you're this eighth grade math teacher and the principal comes and says, this engagement data is not high enough, we're gonna create these posters across the school, we're gonna start this campaign. You can almost picture this in different places, right? And it says these posters say 100%...   0:18:06.3 AS: Graphic design.   0:18:07.0 JD: Yeah, that design, you have this poster and it says "100% engaged. We can achieve it if you believe it." Right? And you can almost imagine these posters going up in a school, and it's just this sort of proclamation. But when you look at the data, it's just a stable system. And what we can expect is this, these data points bouncing around the 67% average. School, the school leadership wants higher engagement rates. They want fewer days with the low rates. But the problem with a poster or a target or exportation is that you're, you're basically asking the teacher to do what they're unable to do. And we do this in all types of settings, all types of, work settings, not just, not just in education. If you look at this particular system, the upper limit's at 91%. So basically the...   0:19:10.0 JD: The system's not capable of achieving 100% remote learning engagement, and so basically the effect is then fear and mistrust towards leadership, and I think, you know, when you look at this remote learning engagement data, that's probably what happened to a lot of people, but if we go back to that No Child Left Behind example, the Federal Government, 'cause that's who is setting the proficiency targets, for No Child Left Behind, its federal legislation, teachers knew, principles knew that in many places, the system that was in place for education was not capable of hitting those targets, it just...   0:19:50.1 JD: It wasn't in the capability of the system, and then so if you are an individual operating within that system, you're trying to navigate that, you're gonna try to hit that target no matter what, and then in some places, they chose to do things that went as far as cheating, because they were trying to hit that target. Now, I'm not absolving those individual educators of responsibility, but it was that system that they were operating in that sort of caused that behavior to then happen. You know the worst case scenario is people did, the adults did cheat. And I'm sure there were other things that were happening in other places that didn't rise to the level of cheating, but I think we've talked about it before, there's really only three options in response to data that's not satisfactory. You can improve the system. That's the ideal. That's what we're talking about here. That's what we're going for here. You can sort of... What do you wanna call it? It's not as far as cheating, but you can sort of...   0:21:02.6 AS: Manipulate or...   0:21:04.4 JD: Manipulate the data in some way, or you can manipulate the system in some way, and that's I think what we were seeing. So the worst case scenario in Atlanta, they manipulated the data. But I think in many places, this idea of manipulating the system is less clear, but what happened in many places, and I think we've actually talked about this, that there was this over-emphasis on reading and math at the expense of other types of academics, and that's a manipulation of the system. That's not cheating necessarily, but it is sort of in my mind, sort of cheating kids out of a well-rounded education, and that was a product of so much emphasis on just reading and math test scores, and again, a lot of this was well-intentioned because people were...   0:21:53.5 AS: It's all well-intentioned. What are you talking about a lot of it?   0:21:56.9 JD: It's all well-intentioned but what actually happens as a result of putting these systems and these testing systems in place, and especially the sanctions or even the incentives on the positive side, the money. What actually happened...   [overlapping conversation]   0:22:10.6 AS: Holding back funding or providing additional funding, if you can hit these targets or that type of thing.   0:22:15.4 JD: Right, right, yep. And so you get all these unintended consequences that are produced as a result of the system, and we talk about these things as side effects, just like with drugs, there's these side-effects, but they're not really side effects, they're things that commonly happen, they're things that you would expect to happen as a result of doing these things, but we sort of put them in this... We've given this language as if they're these small things that happen over here, but really they're the sort of the typical unintended consequences that you could expect when you design a system in that way, whether the side effects of a drug or the side effects of cheating in a very strict, sort of, and regimented testing system, an accountability system in a school district.   0:23:03.6 AS: I couldn't help but laugh 'cause I thought about Robin Williams, and he had this skit he used to do when he was alive, and he talked about the drugs, drugs that people that the companies are marketing. And he said I was going through the side effects and I was like reading these horrific things that they had a list and he's like, I'd call that an effect.   0:23:21.4 JD: [chuckle] Right, right, yeah. Yeah.   0:23:24.0 AS: Let me ask you about this slogan, "We can achieve it if you believe it." Now, some students may respond to that, John, what do you say about the fact that... You know, because every time that you talk about getting rid of targets and getting rid of slogans and stuff, that people say, sometimes it works and it works for some people, and some people are driven that way, and when they hear that, they respond to it. What do you say to that?   0:23:57.5 JD: Well, I would say prove it, I wanna see if you're telling me that was actually successful, sometimes people will sort of dress up an anecdote. So, one, I'd wanna see the evidence that that did have the intended...   0:24:13.2 AS: Okay great answer and that's a lesson for everybody listening and viewing is always go back and say, prove it, 'cause I'm making an assertion.   0:24:21.3 JD: Yep. Yeah.   0:24:22.1 AS: And my assertion is that it helps certain people, actually, the burden of proof, of course, is on me as I make that assertion and you're asking me to prove that, which is a very, very logical and sensible thing to do. What else would you say?   0:24:38.0 JD: Well, well, I would say that, you know, Dr. Deming often talked about this idea, I think he got it from Taiichi Ohno, this idea of the loss function, which is basically like...   0:24:51.9 AS: Taguchi.   0:24:52.0 JD: Taguchi loss function, sorry.   0:24:54.4 AS: Yeah.   0:24:54.9 JD: And basically, think of an inverted parabola inverted U basically... And here is an optimum.   0:25:03.3 AS: Or think of a U. Think of a U.   0:25:03.4 JD: Now either side of it... An inverted U, yep, and the optimum is at the bottom of the U, but there's loss as soon as you start to move away from the U, but that loss comes on both sides. So, you know, the people that are anti-testing versus the people that wanna put strict sanctions and rewards in place, probably the answer is somewhere in between there, because we have to know how our students are doing, so we do need some data, so I would be probably a proponent of kids being given some type of standardized tests and can we sort of know the scores at the aggregate level, perhaps at the school level, by subject and grade level, but there's not sanctions and rewards tied to that in any way, it's just information. So that's one thing that'd be a big difference between, you know, between what we could be doing with this data and what's actually being done.   0:26:06.1 JD: So like taking the eighth grade math engagement data, for example. In terms of what would you do? I mean, I think if I was gonna put a poster up with sort of an explanation of how we're gonna approach the remote learning, maybe the first poster that I'd want staff to see is a list of what we're gonna be doing month by month to sort of deal with the reality of remote learning, maybe that first month, it's just making sure... The strategy is to make sure every kid has a device and access to reliable internet connectivity, right? That's very different than this proclamation, that 100% of kids is gonna be engaged, because as soon as I see that, as a teacher, I know that's not gonna happen. Especially if there's no other sort of methods tied to that. Maybe in month two, after I get all the kids devices and connectivity, that's reliable, we can do some training on, well, how do you even teach? What are the methods that a teacher can employ in a remote learning environment, and maybe all along, I am tracking the data, there's nothing wrong with tracking the data, but I'm putting it on that chart, I'm tracking it over time, and as we implement these various approaches to remote learning, I can see how that's impacting, but I'm doing that with students and teachers, and I'm not just plotting the data and then not giving a set of methods that sort of accompany the sort of march towards continual improvement.   0:27:47.2 JD: And the same thing, the same approach could be used with that test data from Atlanta, you know if the idea was, I'm gonna sort of start charting this data and seeing how we're doing over time, and I'm working with teachers and students to come up with ideas to how to improve this, to march closer to that 100% proficiency goal, I mean that's a noble goal, assuming that the test is well-constructed and that we want obviously more and more kids to be marching towards proficiency for sure, but we don't want all these other side games going on that come about when you sort of just simply have targets without methods, and I think that's the point. And if you take that approach, I think then teachers sort of understand that the leaders, the school leaders or the district leaders, they're taking some of that responsibility for a lack of engagement or low test scores or whatever it is, and they're trying to remove those obstacles systematically, that's a very different, different approach, 'cause I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't have goals. That's not what I'm suggesting. I set goals for myself all the time, I think they're actually helpful and necessary tools for individuals, but I think when you set numerical goals for other people without a set of methods to accomplish those goals, then you get the opposite effect of what was intended and you know, that's what I see happen over and over and over again in the education sector.   0:29:28.2 AS: And what I like to say is that two things about that, which is one is that if, if you're setting a goal, just don't tie compensation or other benefits to the goal or other punishment. Set the goal and then use it as a tool and track the information and discuss it. It's the same thing with compensation, once you start to tie compensation to specific goals, then you start to mess around with the incentive structure. And that's the first thing I also think the other thing I'd like to say is that if the object that you are measuring through your goal or target or whatever knows that it is being measured, look out. Now, I have a ruler right here, and if I measure the height of this glass, the glass doesn't know I'm measuring it, and so there's no change in anything in the glass, but when a human being knows that they're being measured, it causes a change. Just the knowing of that.   0:30:46.9 JD: Okay.   0:30:49.6 AS: So. Okay. So that helps us to understand about slogans, and what you're talking about is the idea of maybe replacing slogans with "How are we improving the system?" And, you know, I've started doing that in my Valuation Masterclass Boot Camp, where I was at the end of each session... At the end of each six week period, I have a survey that I give to students and I asked them for feedback, and how can we improve this? And then what I do is I take all those and I give them to my team and then we have a discussion and we kind of rank them, and then we go back on the final day and we say, by the way, these are the improvements we're making. And these are the improvements we did the last, this current time that you guys didn't realize, and then that way, the students also are kind of involved and interested in what we're doing, that we're asking for their feedback on how to improve the system, and we're telling them.   0:31:44.9 AS: I don't generally announce it beforehand, like put up something about, "Here's all the changes that we're making in this boot camp," 'cause I just want them to have a natural experience, I don't necessarily need them to be thinking like, "Okay, so this is new", and also some of the things that we're trying, we're testing and we're observing how they work and if they work, and so we may abandon that thing, so it may not make sense to just necessarily advertise it, but when we have some big things like this time, we got some excellent feedback in our last one, and now, I decided that when we do the boot camp, we're gonna have, let's say, 30 or 40 people, and we're gonna cover it one industry, we're gonna value companies in one industry, so we're gonna do the automotive industry, and then that allows everybody to work together in the first week, say, "Let's analyze this industry before I tell you which companies each of you are valuing." And so that's a new innovation that we're trying to do this time, and so there's a lot of work on our side to get that prepared.   0:32:46.7 JD: Yeah. And it sounds like there's methods, there's methods attached to the goal of improvement. That's the most important thing, I think.   0:32:58.1 AS: Yeah, I mean I feel like... One of the things I feel like, and I think maybe some of the listeners or viewers may feel like this, sometimes I don't measure it the way I maybe should. What I do is I get feedback from the customer, from the student in this case. And then I bring that feedback to my team and I ask my team to kind of rank what they think about those, and then we identify, let's say three of those recommendations that we think, Okay, this is good. Let's implement it. And then we test it. We don't have an exact measurement that say, "Okay, well, you wanna say, "Did that work at the end of a six-week period?" We just kind of know whether it worked or not, how much trouble it was, how much benefit we thought it got, and then we get some feedback at the end, and maybe the feedback from students at the end is part of the data. But I'm just curious, what are your thoughts about people who are doing things necessarily, they may be doing the right things, but they may not necessarily be measuring it in the way that they could or should, including myself. What are your thoughts on that?   0:34:08.7 JD: Yeah. I mean... Well, I mean, I think there's quantitative data and qualitative data, and it sounds like what you're doing is relying more on qualitative data, including this experience of the students. I mean, I think generally, probably some things lend themselves to more quantitative data, some things lend themselves to more qualitative data. I mean, I think the key here is to set up a system for improvement, identify what's most important to you in terms of... 'Cause you can't focus on everything at once, what are you gonna focus on? Get, you know, get other people involved. So it's not just coming from you, and it sounds like there's a team here working together, you're also doing it repeatedly over time. I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong answer on this. I think the most important thing is to, for me, I think about looking at this stuff, putting the data on a chart over time, again, that can be quantitative or qualitative data, determine what the sort of capability of the system is, get some baseline data. I think that's really, really important. And then understand, is what you're seeing sort of typical, is it bouncing around an average within some limits, or do you see special causes in your data? I think those are the most important things.   0:35:57.2 JD: And then the other thing, I think if we're talking about a school and if we really wanna make breakthrough improvements, then I do think at the end of the day, that continual improvement sort of approach has to involve students and teachers, I think it has to. And so I think there's different ways to go about doing that, but I think if you do those things, then you're well on your way to improved outcomes.   0:36:25.1 AS: I do have one question I ask them at the end, and that is, I give them a range of value, and I say, now that you've experienced the Valuation Masterclass Boot Camp, how, what would you say is the value that you received? And definitely in the beginning that kept going up because we kept improving and they could feel that value, and I didn't give them any guidance, the rating did never change, but it was moving up. Now it's kind of flattened off, and so I think we've, we've got a challenge if we wanna bring that to another level, but that's one of them. Well, John, without, without any exhortations to the listeners, I would love it if you could just wrap up the main takeaways that you want us to get from this discussion.   0:37:15.7 JD: Yeah, I think you know, maybe putting a fine point on those things, I think what I've come to appreciate is continual improvement is really the combination of plotting data over time and combining it with that Plan Do Study Act cycle, which we've talked about multiple times. So the first recommendation is whatever metrics are most important to you, plot them on a chart in time order, and then... It can be intimidating at first. But the calculations on the process behavior chart, to add in the upper and natural process limits or control limits is really, really valuable, because then you can start to understand the capability of the system And then you start to understand what would it really take, what would we really have to do to actually shift those limits and indicate a pattern of the data that actually indicates that we've brought about improvement. The other reason those limits are really important is because it does help you understand, do you just have this common cause system where there's lots of different cause and effect relationships, but there's not really a single one you can hone in on, and so then you know you're not trying to improve one component, but the entire system systematically. So I think for those reasons, it gets a little technical with the process behavior chart, or the control chart but they are...   0:38:46.7 JD: I think it's the most powerful tool that we have in the continual improvement tool box. So I would highly suggest at least a couple of people on, on your school district team have that sort of skill set, because then you don't waste your time on improvement efforts, and you can also tell when something you tried has actually resulted in improved outcomes for kids or for teachers or for schools.   0:39:13.1 AS: John, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute and the listeners and viewers, I wanna thank you again for this discussion. For listeners remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. You can find John's book, "Win-Win: Dr. W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge, and the Science of Improving Schools" on amazon.com. This is your host Andrew Stotz, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, "People are entitled to joy in work."

Next Week is the Atlanta there are FIVE Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education seats up for a vote. And Where the Party At podcast has the chance to interview ALL five! Click the link to see the interviews (or hit the podcast link to Listen) We'll be back with a fresh pod!! WE WORKIN!!

Who Runs Atlanta: Atlanta Public School Board Edition Pt. 2 -Nkoyo Effiong Lewis At-Large Seat 9 *Nkoyo Effiong Lewis is an innovative problem-solver who advocates unapologetically for excellence and equity in our schools. A dedicated champion of education, Nkoyo has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of students in Atlanta and beyond. With nearly two decades of experience in the education sector, she has a proven track record of getting results as a classroom teacher, a coach for K-12 teachers, an education attorney, and a parent supporting her own child matriculating through Atlanta Public Schools. She brings a deep understanding of both the challenges faced by students, families, and educators and the opportunities that exist to design a school system that works for everyone. Nkoyo is running for Atlanta School Board City-Wide Seat 9 to drive positive change, promote educational equity, and equip students to live successful and choice-filled lives. Nkoyo is a wife, mother, and proud graduate of Brown University and New York University School of Law.WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! LEAVE A VOICE NOTE - Click HereTo keep up with Where The Party At?, connect with us on Instagram or Twitter. Stay tuned and get informed! We are laying the foundation down to be able to have competent political conversations and discourse, all for the greater good.Subscribe and tune in for our “Who Runs Atlanta,” series of interviews with political candidates.Watch or listen to Where The Party At?: https://linktr.ee/wherethepartyatpodVisit Justeldredge.media for more shows and content!Watch or listen to Where The Party At?: https://linktr.ee/wherethepartyatpodVisit Justeldredge.media for our other shows and content.

Looking for tips to foster engagement in your classroom? Join us in conversation with Delise May of Atlanta Public Schools to hear how she creates a positive classroom climate with the power of peer encouragement.

Rushion interviews Thomas Barnes. Thomas is a product of the Atlanta Public Schools; he attended Morehouse College and has a degree in Management from GSU(Ga State) with an emphasis in CIS(Information Systems). He is an example of seeing an opportunity and pursuing it to its fullest. He did not let Covid or stereotyping stop him from pursuing his dreams. Thomas owns Experimax, a complete retail computer store specializing in sales, service, and support of all things Apple.Support the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rushion interviews Thomas Barnes. Thomas is a product of the Atlanta Public Schools; he attended Morehouse College and has a degree in Management from GSU(Ga State) with an emphasis in CIS(Information Systems). He is an example of seeing an opportunity and pursuing it to its fullest. He did not let Covid or stereotyping stop him from pursuing his dreams. Thomas owns Experimax, a complete retail computer store specializing in sales, service, and support of all things Apple.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So about that 'Hooch; Practicing picketing; and if you know of anyone, Atlanta Public Schools needs a new superintendent. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Deming railed against performance appraisals, listing them 3rd in his Seven Deadly Diseases of Management and calling them "Destroyer of People." In this discussion, John Dues explains our cultural attachment to appraising workers and why it is a myth to assume that appraisals have any impact on performance at all. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.3 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz, and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today, I'm continuing my discussion with John Dues, who is part of the new generation of educators striving to apply Dr. Deming's principles to unleash student joy in learning. The topic for today is a continuation of our discussion about management myths that keep fooling us, and we are gonna be talking about performance appraisals. John, take it away.   0:00:32.1 John Dues: It's good to be back Andrew. I thought it'd be helpful first to connect back to what we've done, because it'll help listeners connect the dots between the various episodes that we've done together. I think this is the eighth episode, so episode one and two were all about the System of Profound Knowledge as a theory, and then episode three, we started working on understanding the concept of variation, special causes, common causes, that type of thing, and then four and five, we switched gears and talked about how to then apply the System of Profound Knowledge in our organizations. And so we talked about two powerful tools, process behavior charts, and then the PDSA cycles.   0:01:21.9 JD: Episode six, we started talking about A Nation at Risk and the Sandia report and how calls for education reform haven't always been built on a solid philosophical foundation. And then last time I introduced this idea of living in an age of mythology, and we talked about two myths. The myth about best practices and the myth of the hero educator. And so today, like you said, I thought we continue that discussion of the myths with a focus on performance appraisals, which is something that is a little bit hard to understand, I think it was hard for me to understand initially, but it's something that I thought was important because it's something when I listen to Dr. Deming's recorded seminars, it's something that he railed upon often.   0:02:14.9 JD: And I think tying all of the myths to a couple of key ideas is helpful. So I think that first idea is that when we see outcomes in a system, they're more than the skills and efforts of the individuals that work within the system. So those results come from more than just how the individuals within that system are working. The outcomes, that second idea is that the outcomes are mostly attributable to the system itself, and workers are only one part of that system. I think that's really important. That underlies all these myths and certainly underlies this idea of the myth of the performance appraisal.   0:03:00.8 JD: And I think that when we're talking about these myths, so we've covered the theory, we've talked about some ways to apply that theory, that System of Profound Knowledge in actual organizations. When we're thinking about the myths, what I'm thinking about is, dos and don'ts. And so the myths are the don'ts. There are specific prescriptions following the Deming philosophy that leaders should learn to stay away from and why to do so. And then of course, the do's would be a set of guiding principles to follow, and I thought, right now, we're focused on the myths and as we get through this episode and maybe one more on the myths, then we would then focus on the "what do you do?" That's where the guiding principles would come in, and so Deming outlined all of this for us. The theory, the application, the Do's and the Don'ts, and so that's where I thought we would start today.   0:03:55.6 AS: That's great. And we were talking before we turned on the recorder about how performance appraisals are such a fascinating area, and I know for a lot of people, there's nothing else. That that is the key of how you manage people. Like, you're talking about the core. Without performance appraisals, people are gonna be lazy. Without performance appraisals, people are gonna get distracted. Without performance appraisals people aren't gonna work hard because they're not gonna get compensated. Without performance appraisals, we can't get this organization to work and everybody to work together and this is the ultimate incentive that we need to motivate humans. So boy, you're taking on quite a tough topic here, John. Tell us a little bit more.   0:04:45.6 JD: We'll see how we do. And one thing to clarify when I say performance appraisal, in my world, in schools, this is typically called the Teacher Evaluation. So it has different names, but, an evaluation, an appraisal, some type of rating and ranking of employees basically. So I think one thing that, and you kinda just brought this up, is "if I don't do a performance appraisal, how am I gonna give feedback to team members?" And I think that's a good place to start is that, of course, I think that leaders and managers should, as a part of their job, provide direction and give feedback to team members.   0:05:33.9 JD: But I think it's a far cry to make the leap that giving direction and feedback is synonymous with administering performance appraisals. And I actually think that performance appraisals can actually work against giving good feedback. But like as a starting point, what makes up the typical performance appraisal? Thinking about four parts, just so we are all starting from the same place.   0:06:06.7 JD: First there's standards that are set. "Here's the standards that are gonna be outlined in this performance appraisal." Then there's a time limit set to meet those standards, then the manager makes observations and judgments, and then finally, the evaluation is given to the individuals by the person sort of in the organizational hierarchy. I think a key thing that I've learned in studying the Deming philosophy when it comes to performance appraisals is that they fail to consider the role of the system on individual performance. So that's one problem.   0:06:50.2 JD: They also fail to appreciate the variation in performance attributable to common causes. So that's why I was connecting our earlier episodes on theory and the applications to performance appraisal, 'cause you have to understand that to understand why Dr. Deming was railing against performance appraisals in the way that he did, and those are two of the key reasons.   0:07:20.2 AS: Right. So a person being evaluated or being talked to with a performance appraisal, a common thing is, they could say, "wait a minute, you're saying I didn't do this, but I couldn't do this because the system has this whatever." Or you get a boss that's focused on common cause variation going, well, "you did this, and then that, and this guy did that, and this is and then all..." What they're really doing is chasing their tail on all of these common cause variation, which is not going to improve the system and it's just rewarding and punishing what is just a natural outcome of the system.   0:08:01.1 JD: Yeah, that's a big part of it. So if I'm a teacher and part of my evaluation is something like outcomes of students and how well I deliver the curriculum, the effectiveness of the curriculum, those types of things. Well, the vast majority of teachers didn't select the curriculum. So that's a good example of something that's a part of the system that a teacher has no control over typically, but that it could play a role in an evaluation, and there's all kinds of examples like that. That second idea in terms of the appreciation of where the person is falling performance-wise within that common cause system, what that means is that, sure, people could be performing at different levels, and there could be slight variations in that, but it's very possible that those ups and downs, just like any other ups and downs that we study are just common cause. And so it's not one person different from another within the rating system?   0:09:06.6 JD: Are they far enough outside that they show up as a special cause. That their performance shows up as a special cause. Because if it does in the case of a teacher or maybe a student that is outside of the system in terms of performance, then there may be special help or special support that's needed. But I think many, many times that's not the case, and that the ups and downs don't represent anything meaningful. And I think one of the things that helps bring this into view for people is to say, "well, how did you experience teacher evaluations or performance appraisal or whatever you call it in your system, how did you experience as...   0:09:50.6 JD: How did you experience that practice as a receiver of those things?" Because that puts you in a different mindset. For me, performance appraisals, when I've been evaluated, have largely been positive in terms of the overall rating, but they've also, a lot of times not made a lot of sense on any number of fronts. And so I think of, as a teacher in Atlanta, and Atlanta Public Schools had a teacher evaluation system, the principal would come in for one hour across the school year and observe me and write it up and formally evaluate me, sit down with me and go over that evaluation. Well, if you think about that, one hour of observation, the typical 180-day school year, seven hours a day, that's about 0.08% of the school year that the principal observed. So that's a big problem.   0:10:52.1 JD: So we're saying that that represents the entire...my entire time teaching across the school year. That one hour observation. So that's a major problem. Another issue is, what is it that I'm being evaluated on? One that stands out for me, and granted we were in a different time, 23 years ago, 22 years ago when I first was evaluated, but they're still a technology category in the evaluation. And so part of the evaluation was to "use technology effectively in a lesson." And so one of my first questions would be, well, "do you have to use technology in a lesson for it to be effective?"   0:11:40.4 JD: I think that would be questionable at best. But what if I use technology in some lessons and not in others, and the one you happened to observe, I didn't use it, right? You didn't see the ones where I did. I was working in a large urban school system, I had seven computers in my room and five of them didn't work on a regular basis. So that's another obstacle, right? And so I get this rating, I take it, I don't really say anything about the computers not working, or what about my other lessons where I did use computers, I just listen to this, but...   0:12:13.3 AS: Otherwise you're gonna be labeled as argumentative.   0:12:15.4 JD: I'm gonna be labelled as argumentative and the rating was fine as it was, although I lost some points for those things. It's probably not worth...it's not.... You kind of pick your battles. But the point is, what does that leave me with in terms of the taste in my mouth about my school, about this evaluation system, granted it's one part of the system and maybe I didn't care about it too much as long as the rating without a satisfactory level, but the point is, it didn't seem fair, it didn't seem to make sense, it didn't seem to line up with what you would need to look at in terms of what you need to make an effective lesson.   0:12:55.0 JD: And how many people are experiencing evaluations in those same ways, whether it's ridiculous and being evaluated for something that doesn't work in your room, like the computer's not working, or a smaller like, do you need computers to be a part of the lesson in the first place. And so there's all kinds of things like that that I think are part of a typical evaluation system.   0:13:22.0 AS: So to summarize what you're saying is one way to think about performance and appraisal is to think about your personal feeling when you're receiving your evaluation, and I would argue that most people don't feel great, it's not something they're really looking forward to.   0:13:36.2 AS: And the second way you can look at this is look at the person who's delivering it. If you're having to deliver performance appraisals, is that like your favorite day of the year that you're working with that person? Yeah, so that's a good way to look at it so that you kind of understand that there's just something that doesn't feel right here, but continue on.   0:13:56.6 JD: Yeah, it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. No one actually likes the process, generally speaking, and I think the thing that I wanted people would hold on to was that they don't get magically better when you're on the other side and being the evaluator. So my feeling wouldn't change whether I'm on the receiving or the giving side of the evaluation system now, I think for some leaders, unfortunately, I think that changes as long as they're on the other side, it's fine, but I think that's why I think putting yourself back in the shoes of the person receiving the evaluation is a good thing to hold on to. "I'm not special, there's not something about my personal characteristics that make evaluation unnecessary for me, but everybody else needs those things."   0:14:43.6 JD: So I think holding on to that as you move, especially if you move into a leadership role is a really important mental model. I think another key thing is after the evaluation, all of these people for the most part, are gonna still be working together, and so another key question that I learned from a Deming student named Peter Scholtes in a book called, The Leader's Handbook, a great book.   0:15:15.8 JD: He said, "what are the factors that differentiate highly effective versus lower rated people?" He outlined these five factors, so there's A, would be native ability and your early education, the second factor would be, B, your individual effort, how much work am I putting in as a teacher, as an employee. C, would be training, an orientation that I get as a part of the onboarding process or the ongoing professional development that I get as a part of the job. D would be variability of the processes and systems that are going on within my job, and E would be the system evaluation itself to some of those things that we just talked about, is it fair? Is it well constructed? Is it representative of my total work, that little sample that's seen by the manager.   0:16:17.0 JD: And if you look closely at those five items, really only one of them, that being, I think I call it D, that individual effort is under the control of the individual person working in the system. The other four factors really don't have anything do with individual performance, but what the performance appraisal system attempts to do is solve that equation, A plus B plus C plus D plus E equals my rating, let's call it 100.   0:16:54.5 JD: But if you can't solve that equation, if you don't know already what the variables A, C, D and E account for in terms of its contributions to the rating, the only thing you know as an individual effort, right?   0:17:11.2 AS: And you don't really know that either.   0:17:17.0 JD: Yeah, fair enough, fair enough.   0:17:20.1 AS: So it's a shifting sand that you're working on, which is what probably one of the counter-arguments to performance appraisals is that there's just... It's so subjective and difficult, particularly, okay, if you're a narrow-minded person and you've never thought about the fact that there is variable B, C, D and E as an example, then...but once you start to think about those things, you realize that not only is it difficult to quantify and all that what a person's doing, and how do you factor in the fact that that person just went through the loss of a parent over the period of time that you appraise them. How does that impact performance?   0:18:02.5 JD: Any number of things. Any number of things. Yeah, I can think of a lot of examples when you start to unpack those various factors, like when you're talking to the manager, "oh, well, we didn't quite onboard them like we typically do now, no one acclimated them to our curriculum system" or whatever it is.   0:18:27.3 AS: But they're still responsible for delivery.   0:18:29.8 JD: Yeah, they still move forward with that response. And again, it's not that there's not gonna be variation in performance amongst employees, it's just, are we getting what we think we are from this rating and ranking system. I think what we're doing basically is disregarding the contributions of the system on the performance of individuals that are working within that system.   0:18:57.0 AS: And I guess if you talk about that to people, they're gonna be like, "Now you're unleashing something that's just unmanageable." Okay, yeah, fine. We're gonna start talking about the system and the impact and that everybody's just gonna blame the system! John, don't you know people are just gonna blame the system, then if we start talking about why it's not your responsibility.   0:19:23.2 JD: Yeah, I think, yeah, we'll kinda get into what's the prescription in terms of...what would of the prescription be from the System of Profound Knowledge in terms of what to do instead, but one thing to do, if you did have some type of evaluation system, you could just remove the numbers and have a narrative feedback on characteristics or competencies or capacities that are important for your particular organization. I think that that would be one way to handle it.   0:20:00.4 JD: Another great tool that I learned from David Langford is a tool called the capacity matrix, where you outline what are the capacities that are important for a given role that you want to see develop. You define a series of dimensions of growing from more basic to more proficient in a particular capacity, and then you ask the person to track their own learning in those areas, and as they self-evaluate, they have to provide evidence, be it - maybe they give a presentation or incorporated a technique into their lessons on a regular basis, or maybe they presented at a staff meeting, something like that, but they have to link the capacity development to some evidence that it's been put into place.   0:20:51.0 JD: That's another way to handle... The point is to develop the person and build capacity, that's a much more powerful way to do it, and I think the goal of starting to use the Deming philosophy is transformation, and I think what Deming was talking about when he talked about transformation is this process from going from - starting to understand these assumptions and these myths and then working to move away from them. So one of the things...one of the lenses I have just in studying the Deming philosophy is to ask questions because so many of the practices like the performance appraisal, prior to studying Deming, I never even stopped and said, "well, what is the theory behind the performance appraisal? Where did it come from? Why do people think it isn't an effective practice? Are there practices that would be more effective?"   0:21:52.3 JD: So just as a starting place, you can start to ask questions about some of these things that you probably never even stopped to think about. I think that was true for me, whether we're talking about these myths or any other number of things that are common in organizations, work settings, and we have this...   0:22:14.0 AS: And for performance appraisals: what is the theory behind them?   0:22:20.0 JD: That's a good question. That is a good question. Where did they come from? Well, I don't know for sure, but I know that...a lot of corporate practices can be traced back to things like the military and early railroads, which were some of the first organizations to have a larger staff that had to be organized in a way, and I know that in terms of the rail companies that you know, when there was a crash, there did need to be somebody blamed. And so you had to nail down who in the hierarchy... Where did things break down? It had to be an individual to blame when two trains ran into each other or the train ran off the tracks. And I think what Deming is saying it is what was actually the system that led to that crash, that's what we needed to study in a lot of cases, and almost in all cases, whether it's the train running off the tracks or the Challenger space shuttle disaster, almost all of them were of system problems and it wasn't one single individual that you could pin those problems on.   0:23:37.2 AS: And you could argue that performance appraisals are not really there in that case, like what you're talking about let's say is a train crash, it's not really there to some extent to blame... To improve the system, it's there to blame someone and then, "okay, we got our scapegoat, now let's move on."   0:23:54.4 JD: That's right, yep. Yeah, so with performance appraisal, it's not quite as dramatic as the train crash, but what's happening is that it leads to this rating and ranking of teachers, we do the same things with students, students have their own form of performance appraisals, even schools within state accountability systems have their own rating and ranking systems. So they reward at the top and punishment at the bottom, that's the typical present practice. And I think the better practice, what we're trying to move towards when you're managing through the Deming philosophy is: abolish the ranking in favor of managing the whole organization as a system, and what you wanna do is study and understand how every part of that system, every component whether it's grade levels or departments, whatever, how do they contribute to the optimization of the system.   0:24:57.8 JD: And so that's... What's the aim of your system, how do you optimize that? And I think a big part of this performance appraisal thing is that that practice is running in the other direction from optimization. You are incentivizing individuals to look out for themselves versus contributing to the aim of the organization.   0:25:26.7 AS: One of the things that people say is like, "What do I replace it with?" Well, in a lot of cases in education, you may not even have that choice, but in private business, you do, and I always say that...I always say "imagine that you're lost deep in the woods, and after hours of walking in one direction, you realized that you're walking in the wrong direction. However, you're unsure of the right direction, but you've received enough information to know that you're walking in the wrong direction. What would you do?"   0:26:05.7 JD: Perhaps stop going in the wrong direction as a starting point.   0:26:12.3 AS: And the point is, is that you don't have to know the right direction if you've identified the wrong direction. And so that's one of the challenges that we often get with performance appraisal is, "what are we supposed to do if we don't do that?"   0:26:28.8 JD: Yep, yep. And I think... And that's - when you start to understand the System of Profound Knowledge, you start thinking about ways that it can offer you guidance on a practice like the performance appraisal. And so what I tried to think through is, in terms of performance appraisal, what do each of the components of the System of Profound Knowledge contribute in terms of learning about the way...in terms of your analogy: the way to move...start to move in the right direction.   0:27:08.5 JD: And so there's the four components of the System of Profound Knowledge, we have Appreciation for a System, Knowledge of Variation, Theory of Knowledge and Psychology. And so each of those components has contributions to make in terms of rethinking the performance appraisal. So I was gonna break those down as a way to round down out our talk today. Some of this is a recap, but when I think about Appreciation for a System, we've talked about this, but that system is responsible for most of the observed variation between the performance of the individuals. It's most...Deming said up to 94%, depending on the situation, even up to 97% of the results that come out of the system can be traced back to the system itself, and only 3% to 6% were attributable to the individuals.   0:28:08.0 JD: So the system is the overwhelming contributor to that ranking within that, doesn't help anyone, nor the system improve. Giving somebody a rank, sorting people into good and better and best does not point the way towards improvement for the organization. So that's the Appreciation for a System contribution.   0:28:34.1 AS: Yep. We could say changing seats on the Titanic.   0:28:37.2 JD: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Then we have understanding variation or Knowledge about Variation. So we've talked about this a little bit, but ranking people, especially when we're ranking within a common cause system, is misleading. 'Cause remember, even if there's ups and downs in terms of the data, the question isn't: is it different? It's: is it meaningfully different? And in a common cause system, even though there are some ups and downs, there's no difference. It's not of a magnitude that you can say, "yep, that's significantly different from one point to the next." And another thing to consider is there will always be variation. [chuckle] There's always gonna be variation between students, between teachers, between schools, between school systems, between states, whatever that thing is, there is variation in a natural state of affairs. So we have to come to grips with that.   0:29:40.9 JD: In terms of Theory of Knowledge, when we rate and rank people, it's a snapshot. Kind of like what I alluded to my observation in Atlanta being less than 1% of the total time that I was with my students. So that ranking doesn't take into account and any performance appraisal system I've ever been aware of that temporal spread. So in other words, I'm really more interested in what's the performance over an extended time period. And so when people would ask Deming, okay, you're saying, the performance appraisal is something we should abolish. Well, how much data would you need on an individual worker before you could rate them? And what he would say is 15 or 16 years. [chuckle]   0:30:32.1 JD: And basically what he's saying is, I think, is that, that's the amount of performance data you would need to plot. If you're doing it once a year, once you have 15 or 16 years, you can kind of get a sense of how that data is performing over time. That last component, maybe the most important is Psychology. I think one big problem is that those performance appraisals at their worst are debilitating to people, at their best, they're perceived to be arbitrary, like what I talked about. Certainly wasn't debilitating to get my rating, my rank and my rating in Atlanta, but it did...I did see the rating and the points I lost as arbitrary and meaningless, to be candid.   0:31:23.1 JD: And then another big part of that psychological component, especially when it becomes to rating and ranking students, is that this thing called the Pygmalion effect begins and it can really start to destroy cooperation. Whether that's students or teachers, but you this is basically this idea that once, let's say a teacher has a set of expectations about students, they start to take on those characteristics, whether it's in a positive or negative direction.   0:31:57.2 JD: And they've done some pretty fascinating studies on this Pygmalion effect in classrooms. There's one where it's like in the late sixties, basically a teacher was told that a set of students had performed really well on a standardized test. In reality, there was no difference between this group of students and the rest of the students. But because the teachers thought that, over time what the researchers found is that they started treating the students differently and it actually resulted in those students scoring higher on the standardized tests at the end of the year just based on those teacher expectations. And so, talk about a powerful, powerful set of effects within a rating and ranking system. And I think that's something we really need to consider in any type of institution, but especially a school system. So, yeah.   0:32:55.0 AS: I was just reminded of a quote that Dr. Deming said, which is, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna read it for for a minute here. I'm gonna read it in my Dr. Deming voice. "So evaluation of performance, merit review, or annual review. The idea of merit rating is alluring the sound of the words, captivate the imagination, pay for what you get, get what you pay for, motivate people to do their best for their own good. The effect is exactly the opposite of what the words promise." [chuckle]   0:33:32.1 JD: Yeah. I think that's what I found in practice, before I discovered the stuff I tried to improve our teacher evaluation system. And in reality that's just an effort that's not worth my time.   0:33:47.9 AS: He also said, "Annihilates teamwork, and it's purely a lottery."   0:33:53.3 JD: Yep.   0:33:57.7 AS: I wrote a blog post on this many years ago entitled, Why We Stopped Performance Appraisals at Coffee Works, my company. And this was... I published in 2016, and I just would... Maybe I'll just read a little excerpt here. What I said is, "The system was an annual review during which bosses in our companies met employees and scored them as A, B or C. I read Jack Welch's book and I thought, yeah, kick out the C players, this has made sense in the days when I was buying into that. We would use this to allocate bonus mainly to pay, A's and B's. A's a lot, B's a little bit, and C's nothing. And for years we've been seeing the weaknesses of this system, but didn't have the guts to abandon it, because we didn't have something to replace it.   0:34:50.5 AS: And so before you ask what we did to replace it, let's consider what we didn't like about it. Number one, it was unfair. Number two, it was subjective. Number three, it fostered favoritism. We saw that certain employees were continually getting positive ratings from their bosses. Number four, it failed to recognize what quality godfather Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught was that the majority of the output of any one employee is attributable to the system. And number five, it was time consuming and costly. Number six, it did not enhance employee performance. Number seven, it increased fear and caused suspicion. Number eight, it caused employees and departments to compete against each other rather than compete against our competitors or just take care of the customer.   0:35:34.2 AS: Number nine, it was completely inward focusing, encouraging employees to shift their focus from the customer during the time of performance appraisals. It's like you can't take care of the customer 'cause you gotta get all these performance appraisals done." Is there anything that you would add to that list of what you see in the education environment?   0:35:51.3 JD: No, I mean that's spot on. I mean, I think the key summary or takeaway is for any of these practices, be it performance appraisal or otherwise, is that thing optimizing the system? Is it making your organization better at achieving its aim? And you just named a whole lineup of things that said, "no, this is why in this particular practice performance appraisals, this is why Dr. Deming railed against them." So I think that, yeah, I think that was a great synopsis of many of the things that Dr. Deming talked about in his seminars when he railed on performance appraisals.   0:36:33.4 AS: So, as we wrap up, the purpose of today's discussion is to open up people's minds to understand what are performance appraisals, what are the myths behind it? What are the weaknesses of it? We also kind of said, even if you don't have a substitute, you could argue that you don't have to keep doing something that's damaging if you know that it's damaging. But we also know in an education environment, you may not have the power to make that decision. Like we had in our coffee business, it was like, "this isn't working, we're stopping. No more resources to this." We have that flexibility. So, we haven't spent any time talking about ways to do things and the positive aspect. But let's just wrap up this whole conversation. How would you kind of wrap up the message that you want the listeners and the viewers to get from this specific discussion?   0:37:29.4 JD: Yeah, I think because a lot of this, a lot of Deming's ideas were targeted at leaders and leaders at all different levels. And I think, what constantly happened to me was someone would say "what's your leadership style?" And I would typically cobble together some type of jargon in response to that question. But what Dr. Deming offers is a management philosophy: the groundwork, the framework, the foundation, the philosophical foundation, the myths to stay away from, a set of guiding principles that actually, when you dig deep and you study these things, they offer a way forward, a lens through which to make better decisions for your organization. And that's really what I take from this.   0:38:22.3 JD: There are many better ways to run our organizations. Performance appraisals are just one component of this, but hopefully what people are taking is that, hey, at the very least, the next time I have a leadership team meeting, I'm gonna bring this up and say, Hey, why do we do this? Is it leading to the type of results - like what you're alluding to with your business - that we think it is. And if it's not, what else could we do? How can we replace this, make it better? How can we at least begin to ask these questions instead of just carrying on? Because it's the way that we've always done things. So, yep.   0:39:00.6 AS: John, on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I want to thank you again for this discussion. For listeners, remember, go to deming.org to continue your journey. This is your host, Andrew Stotz. I'm gonna leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming. "People are entitled to joy in work."  

 An Atlanta News First investigation has uncovered flaws in a weapons detection system currently being used in Atlanta Public Schools (APS) that has also been approved in the DeKalb County School District (DCSD).The weapons detection system is called Evolv, and is manufactured by Massachusetts-based Evolv Technologies. According to a private report Evolv commissioned and Atlanta News First Investigates obtained, Evolv failed to detect four out of every 10 knives during a 2021 field test at an Ohio sports venue.https://bit.ly/3N5vfaA

On Today's Show “If you write about the world as it is, there's too much of a danger of it just feeding into our assumption that everything that we live with is right and normal. Whereas if you start to say, well wait, let's project this into the future, or let's see where this comes from in the past, suddenly it opens up a whole new vista about what the present is doing." - M.T. Anderson M.T. Anderson's home in small-town Vermont is rumored to be haunted and he relishes the ghost stories told about it. Despite his analog lifestyle and lack of belief in the paranormal, he spends a lot of his time dreaming up sci-fi and fantasy adventures. Aside from just being fun, he considers the genre to hold a unique power in removing our own preconceived ideas and giving us fresh eyes to rethink our values and society.  M.T. has demonstrated that ability in books like Feed, Landscape with Invisible Hand, and even his historical fiction duology Octavian Nothing. But to realize the power of the genres, he had to overcome the stigma that sci-fi and fantasy were inferior to traditional realism, or as he calls it, “New York realism.”In this episode, M.T. takes us on his own journey to embracing these genres as a writer, he talks about the growing relevance of their ability to offer societal critiques and representation in the increasingly hostile censorship movements, and he tells us about his new story where he uses a new perspective to learn about the world (his dog's).For his reading challenge, Hometown Lore, M.T. challenges readers to find the magic and weird stories hidden in their hometowns. Reading challenges from other author guests are always available at thereadingculturepod.com.This episode's Beanstack featured librarian is Iuyana Miller, the media specialist at Young Middle School in Atlanta. Along with being the 2022 Media Specialist of the Year for Atlanta Public Schools, she is also referred to as the “book fairy” by her elementary students. Iyuana shares a story of how she ventured beyond her comfort zone to meet her middle school kids where they are and engage them more than she ever imagined.ContentsChapter 1 - The Ghost and the Corgi (2:07)Chapter 2 - The Forest of Massachusetts (4:44)Chapter 3 - Moominland Midwinter (in winter) (9:46)Chapter 4 - Building on ruins (16:08)Chapter 5 - Aliens Make Everything Better (20:18)Chapter 6 - The truth behind the fantasy (26:37)Chapter 7 - The magical dog (31:22)Chapter 8 - Hometown Lore (34:17)Chapter 9 - Beanstack Featured Librarian (36:05)Links thereadingculturepod.com thereadingculturepod.com/mt-anderson M.T. Anderson https://www.beanstack.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-childrens-book-podcast/https://www.atlantapublicschools.us/young

In this episode of Community Possibilities, you will meet Amy Ard, Executive Director of Motherhood Beyond Bars. Being a nonprofit leader was not Amy's career plan, but sometimes, life takes you in unexpected places. One profound experience in her life that led her back to her home, Atlanta. We talk about how Amy first become aware of  incarcerated women who are pregnant and how this forever changed her life. The fact that shackling pregnant and laboring women was legal in many states, including Georgia. How common is it for women who are incarcerated to be pregnant or have children already. (Hint: We don't know).I ask the question some people may be thinking, Why should I care? The kind of services does Motherhood Beyond Bars provide? How MBB shifted in response to systemic barriers. How does MBB make a difference? (any outcomes you can share).Why I dubbed Amy "the Equalizer."What is challenging for her as a nonprofit leader.How they are measuring the outcomes of MBB for the families they serve.What is next for Motherhood Beyond Bars.Learn More about Motherhood Beyond Bars and follow them on social.Amy's BioAmy Ard is the founding Executive Director of Motherhood Beyond Bars (MBB), a nonprofit serving incarcerated pregnant women and their infants. MBB provides holistic family support with the goal of ending cycles of incarceration in families and is the only organization in Georgia supporting pregnant women in custody and conducting vital research on the impacts of maternal incarceration on infants and families.  Amy is a graduate of Atlanta Public Schools, Denison University, and Vanderbilt Divinity School.  Amy and her husband, Michael Waller, live in her childhood home with Amy's mother, three children, and a handful of quail in the backyard.Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation SolutionsHow Ann  can help:Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.Help you create a strategic plan that doesn't stress you and your group out, doesn't take all year to design, and is actionable.Engage your group in equitable, difficult conversations.Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.Speak at your conference or event.Ann's book with Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts! Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help: · Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization. · Help you create a strategic plan that doesn't stress you and your group out, doesn't take all year to design, and is actionable. · Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations. · Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving. · Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action. · Speak at your conference or event. Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful. Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com

Wondering how you can use your skills to realize the mission of a nonprofit? A role on the programmatic side of a nonprofit may be right for you. In this episode, Tenicia tells us the importance of planning and valuing stakeholders to achieve the mission in a project manager role. Nick shares how he uses the lessons learned from the programmatic side of his role as local diversity, equity and inclusion director to a national context. Listen in to hear: how critical it is to be of influence, to have mastered the content and context of programmatic work and what's most rewarding about working on the programmatic side of a nonprofit. **Nick Sailor*** (he/him/his), of Bloomfield, CT, presently serves as National Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. As National Director, Sailor strives to improve upon and build scalable best practices for organizations across the nation to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion as central to their operations. Prior to joining the BGCA Team, Sailor served as the inaugural Senior Director of DEI at Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB). Prior to his tenure BGCB, Sailor served as the inaugural Director of Training and Education for Institutional Diversity at Providence College. Before his stint in higher education, Sailor spent two years as a middle school special education math teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools. Education: BA Sociology and Women & Gender Studies, Providence College **Tenicia Winston** is a Project Manager at a nonprofit that focuses on improving educational outcomes in metro Atlanta through collective impact. Prior to this role she was in a rotational project, strategy, and operations management program. Tenicia also served as a Teach for America Corp Member in Atlanta Public Schools. Tenicia was a dual-sport athlete in college, graduating from Clark Atlanta University with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. She earned her master's in Nonprofit Management at Columbia University. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/askingforgood/support

The Children's Haven hosted a 50s-themed charity Adult Prom and raised over $42,000 on Feb. 4 at Timbers on Etowah, the nonprofit announced. The event saw 140 people gather to raise funds to support programs at The Children's Haven.  Raising $10,000 together, the Prom Queen and King were Meredith and Andy Slaninas. Yvonne and Garrett Wilson were the first runner ups, followed by Jodi and James Drinkard, then Nathan and Erica Castleberry. The Prom Court raised more than $21,000 together from over 230 donors.  Next year's Adult Prom is set for Feb. 10, 2024. For more information on The Children's Haven, visit https://cherokeechildrenshaven.org/.  Over 40 Cherokee County School District students placed first in the Piedmont Regional Technology Competition and are advancing to the state contest, the district announced. The event hosted 14 categories for students between third and twelfth grade, and had 200 total CCSD students. First place winners will compete in the state round on March 11 at the Academies of Creative Education, located on 1160 Dahlonega Highway in Cumming. Students who earned a top three placing in their category at the regional event will receive a medal or ribbon for their achievement. Frank Graham and Lori Stuart, both CCSD instructional technology specialists, organized the event according to a CCSD press release. The regional event was held virtually this year with students submitting a video presentation of their projects. CCSD students competed alongside Pickens, Gilmer, Murray and Fannin County students in the Piedmont region. For a full list of CCSD region winners, visit https://www.cherokeek12.net/News/techfair23. Cherokee County accounted for 29 of 36 possible selections on the all-Region 6AAAAAA basketball teams this week, with two players of the year in Brandon Rechsteiner and Mataya Gayle. Etowah's Rechsteiner and River Ridge's Gayle led their respective squads to No. 1 seeds heading into next week's region tournament. The Eagles are 11-1 in Region 6AAAAAA play, while the Knights went undefeated in the region for the second straight year. Eight honorees came from River Ridge, including five from the girls team alone — Gayle, first-teamer Sophia Pearl, second-teamer Kayla Cleaveland and honorable mentions Allie Sweet and Makayla Roberson. Through 25 games, Gayle leads River Ridge with 17.1 points per game, adding 5.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds on average. Pearl is averaging 13.4 points, behind only Gayle and Cleaveland (14.7 points, 5.8 rebounds). Etowah had the second-most players named to the all-region teams, with five boys and one girl. Mason Etter joined Rechsteiner as first-teamers, while Chase Clemmons and Dimitri Angelakos were named to the second team. Rechsteiner and the Eagles had an especially strong January. The Virginia Tech-bound guard averaged 19.3 points, 5.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds while leading Etowah to a 9-1 record in the month. Sequoyah and Woodstock each had five players earn all-region recognition, with Creekview at four. Following its rejuvenation during region play, Woodstock's girls were represented by Karson Martin and Casey Miller on the first team, alongside Pearl and Sequoyah's Elle Blatchford. Four nonprofit organizations in metro Atlanta have received donations from Delta Community Credit Union toward their respective mission to support local youth education. The credit union invested $35,000 in the educational services organizations Wednesday, kicking off the 10th year of its “Philanthropic Fund” awards. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta was awarded $10,000 to support its “Big Futures” curriculum, which emphasizes college and career exploration for students in grades 8 through 12. The organization, which offers one-to-one mentoring relationships for area youth, serves families in 12 metro Atlanta counties including Cherokee County. Another $10,000 was awarded to Communities in Schools of Atlanta, a dropout prevention organization that partners with 63 schools in economically challenged areas across Atlanta Public Schools, as well as Clayton County, DeKalb County, and Fulton County Public Schools. The grant will help provide wraparound services and intensive case management to nearly 2,800 students and support the organization's College and Career Readiness Program. Breakthrough Atlanta also received $10,000 to support its Vox Teen Voices program, which offers free afterschool and summer workshops for Atlanta teens. Mental Fitness 21st Century Learning received $5,000 to support its STEAM Academy, which allows many students who lack access to quality, affordable afterschool programs to participate in a STEAM curriculum that includes drones and robotics. Cherokee County and four of its cities have received a federal grant for the creation of a transportation safety plan to improve pedestrian safety. Cherokee County, Canton, Holly Springs, Woodstock and Ball Ground were awarded a $450,000 action plan grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All program on Feb. 1. The grant was part of $800 million in awards for 510 projects through the first round of funding for the program, which provides funding for regional and local jurisdictions to develop a transportation safety action plan aimed at improving road designs to better sidewalks and crosswalks to prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation's roadways. Day told the Tribune Friday that the public can expect to see the plan in 2024. The next steps are to complete grant award agreements and procure a consultant to complete the study. The study will likely begin later this year, he said. The plan will determine what projects and countermeasures are needed to improve the safety of the county's transportation system, Day said. With this plan and list of projects, the county and the cities can then set forth a strategy and timeline to complete the projects. Day added that the plan will likely make recommendations on intersection, signalization and pedestrian facilities improvements, among other possibilities. Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services promoted two firefighters Thursday night at the Cherokee County Fire Training Complex. Fire Apparatus Operator Justin Martin was promoted to the rank of sergeant and Sgt. Nicholas Spain was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. The newly promoted firefighters began serving in their new roles Feb. 5. The two were surrounded by family, friends, and fellow firefighters at the event as they were recognized and celebrated for this accomplishment. Fire Chief Eddie Robinson pinned the promoted firefighters with their new-collar insignia. Badges were pinned on the firefighters by family members. #CherokeeCounty #Georgia #LocalNews           -          -          -          -          -          -          The Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast is local news for Woodstock, Canton, and all of Cherokee County. Register Here for your essential digital news.             This podcast was produced and published for the Cherokee Tribune-Ledger and TribuneLedgerNews.com by BG Ad Group     For more information be sure to visit https://www.bgpodcastnetwork.com/    https://cuofga.org/   https://www.drakerealty.com/   https://www.esogrepair.com/       See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I discuss Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) with therapist, Bria Campbell. A Chicago native, Bria Campbell is an alumna of the illustrious North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University receiving her BA in Psychology in 2016. After receiving her MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Columbia College Chicago, Bria has worked in school-based mental health, private practice, and crisis work with adults in Atlanta, GA where she later became a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Register Dance/Movement Therapist. In 2019, Bria published an article in the American Dance Therapy Journal (ADJT) entitled “Past, Present, Future: A Program Development Exploring Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) Using Experiential Education and Dance/Movement Therapy Approaches,” which integrated dance/movement therapy concepts and Dr. Joy DeGruy's Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome theory in her work with adolescents in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood. This article received the 2020 Marian Chace Foundation's Journalism Prize. Bria has facilitated several workshops and trainings on PTSS, attunement through movement, and the ARC Model, an approach to increase awareness of trauma-informed care in a school-based setting. In 2020, Bria co-founded and co-leads the African American/black affinity group in the American Dance/Movement Therapy Association's (ADTA), Black MAGIC. Her leadership was recognized by the ADTA where she was awarded the 2021 Leader of Tomorrow Award. Bria also was recently elected as the first African American Central Member at Large (MAL) on the ADTA Board of Directors. She also served as the 2020-2021 Eastern Nominating Committee and Vice President of the Southern Chapter of the ADTA. Bria continues to provide school-based services in Atlanta Public Schools over the past four years. Currently, Bria is creating a holistic mental health brand entitled S.P.E.A.K: Supporting People Emotionally and Kinesthetically LLC. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/imperfectlybeautiful1/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/imperfectlybeautiful1/support

APS will offer free telehealth services for students and families; a Lovett student is going to the Under Armour All-American Bowl; And a Buckhead couple was honored for their support of the Marist School. #Buckhead #Atlanta #NorthFulton #Georgia #LocalNews  - - - - - - The Northside Neighbor Podcast is local news for Roswell, Alpharetta, Sandy Springs, and the entire Northside.  Northside Neighbor Register Here for your essential digital news.  This podcast was produced and published for the Northside Neighbor by BG Ad Group  For advertising inquiries, please email j.southerland@bgadgroup.com   For more information be sure to visit https://www.bgpodcastnetwork.com/   https://www.drakerealty.com/   https://www.esogrepair.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are on location at Scott Elementary School, one of the Atlanta Public Schools, as we celebrate Georgia's Pre-K Week, with a very special guest who just happened to write the new book we are giving to all Georgia Pre-K students and their classrooms called “Hey Georgia.”  We're talking about former New England Patriots and University of Georgia football wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell.  Support the show

On this edition of Closer Look: The ACLU of Georgia is calling on the city to reverse its decision to lease detention center space to Fulton County. Atlanta is waiting on a review before the lease takes effect.Achieve Atlanta received an $8 million donation from philanthropist, MacKenzie Scott for its work with Atlanta Public Schools students. And the Atlanta Citizen Review Board launches a new online portal for police accountability.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amid the newest wave of attacks on public education and inclusive learning, there are stories of hope and resistance. In this episode we talk with a high school social studies teacher at the front of the fight for antiracist, liberatory K-12 classrooms. Anthony Downer teaches Africana Studies, social studies, and civics at Frederick Douglass High School in the Atlanta Public School system. We talk to Anthony about how he and his students are working together to create a trauma-informed, healing-centric classroom. More about our guest: Anthony attended public schools in Gwinett County, Georgia, attained an undergraduate degree in Political Science at the University of Chicago, followed by a masters in teaching social studies education at Georgia State University, and then he returned to teach in Gwinett before moving to Fredrick Douglass High School. On this journey Anthony came to connect with his students and teacher colleagues and parents, and to organize for a more liberating, teacher and student controlled educational model. Anthony is a co-founder and vice president of Georgia Educators for Equity and Justice, the founder and lead learner in his Liberation Learning Lab, and the host of his podcast “Wat Dat Wednesday: Conversations on Education and Liberation” on Educational Entities (on Youtube and Instagram Live: @thenawfstar). On this podcast Anthony shares his abolitionist toolkit, his political organizing work, what and who inspires him, where he and his scholars find joy, and his freedom dreams.

The second episode of “The Trump Grand Jury,” the ninth season of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Breakdown podcast, focuses on the woman who is overseeing the investigation of former President Donald Trump and his allies. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis grew up in courtrooms, tagging along with her father, an attorney. When Willis became a prosecutor, she rose through the ranks at the Fulton DA's Office prosecuting homicide and sexual assault cases. In 2014, Willis oversaw one of the most high-profile cases in state history: the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating scandal. Thirty-five educators were indicted under the state's racketeering laws. Many pleaded guilty and of the 12 who went to trial, 11 were convicted. “I'm still not totally sure how she did it, but she did it,” said Atlanta lawyer John Floyd, a racketeering law expert who assisted Willis in the test-cheating trial. “She was a bit of a force of nature in the sense that she was completely committed to the case.” Episode 2 will also explain exactly how a special purpose grand jury operates and what it can and cannot do. It will also tell listeners how they will know if, after it adjourns, it is recommending criminal charges be brought. You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it on your computer in the player above. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's Reframed Brain episode was live and a continuation of our education conversation on navigating learning loss over the summer guest co-host, Kim Jones, Educator, Founder + CEO, Intentional Intervention. If you would like to receive a summary of the tips provided in this podcast episode, join the community and subscribe:  www.TheReframedBrain.com Please subscribe and like The Reframed Brain Podcast YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8x7DWSronwIUnYBNKZPVsQ   Kimberly Jones is celebrating her 21st year in the world of early childhood Education.  She led classroom instruction for 12 years and works currently on the administrative instructional leadership team as the lead instruction and curriculum specialist for Rock Spring Elementary School in Henry County School District.   Mrs. Jones has worked closely with administrative teams and classroom teachers to deliver timely professional development, provide research-based interventions/progress monitoring tools for teachers and students, modeling effective instructional practices, and provide feedback on instructional programming.  She is currently a member of Henry County's Leadership and Development Cohort and additional Leadership Development programs. Kimberly Jones is a proud alumni and graduate of Albany State University's 2001 Early Childhood Education program, received her Master's degree from Grand Canyon University in Reading Curriculum and Instruction and her Educational Specialist from Walden University in Early Childhood Education.  Kimberly Jones was employed by Atlanta Public Schools for 15 years and Dekalb County for 4 years, and Dougherty County Schools for one year.   She is the founder and CEO of Intention Intervention, an educational consulting company that serves as a platform to bridge students' current performance with specific and individual interventions that produce positive student outcomes.  Mrs. Jones advocates and champions for not only students, but parents and caregivers to present tools needed to see growth and progress for present and future success.  Her personalized attention to each student and family has proven to be the bridge strategically build a solid foundation needed for achievement. You can connect with Kim Jones here: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kim-jones-90ab22126 Send business inquiries to: intentionalintervention7@gmail.com July 30 Nationwide Virtual Event - How Parents Can Prepare for Upcoming School Year! More information forthcoming on Kim's LinkedIn page   If you or someone you know may be considering death by suicide, please, please call or text one of the numbers. You are loved and not alone. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 1–800–273–8255 National Institute of Mental Health Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor 24/7 National Institute of Mental Health WhatsApp: https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=... Disclaimer: Erica Savage Wilson is not a medical practitioner, therapist, or counselor. This podcast is not a substitute for medical or mental health services. Erica's brain health champion expertise is centered in having sustained a traumatic brain injury in March 2021 and having to adapt to a new life of active healing and ongoing recovery.

Today's Reframed Brain episode walks us through the three tiered approach to education with an educator who's mantra can be found in her passion - equity over everything -welcome our guest Kim Jones, Educator, Founder + CEO, Intentional Intervention. If you would like to receive a summary of the tips provided in this podcast episode, join the community and subscribe:  www.TheReframedBrain.com  Please subscribe and like The Reframed Brain Podcast YouTube channel! Kimberly Jones is celebrating her 21st year in the world of early childhood Education.  She led classroom instruction for 12 years and works currently on the administrative instructional leadership team as the lead instruction and curriculum specialist for Rock Spring Elementary School in Henry County School District.   Mrs. Jones has worked closely with administrative teams and classroom teachers to deliver timely professional development, provide research-based interventions/progress monitoring tools for teachers and students, modeling effective instructional practices, and provide feedback on instructional programming.  She is currently a member of Henry County's Leadership and Development Cohort and additional Leadership Development programs. Kimberly Jones is a proud alumni and graduate of Albany State University's 2001 Early Childhood Education program, received her Master's degree from Grand Canyon University in Reading Curriculum and Instruction and her Educational Specialist from Walden University in Early Childhood Education.  Kimberly Jones was employed by Atlanta Public Schools for 15 years and Dekalb County for 4 years, and Dougherty County Schools for one year.   She is the founder and CEO of Intention Intervention, an educational consulting company that serves as a platform to bridge students' current performance with specific and individual interventions that produce positive student outcomes.  Mrs. Jones advocates and champions for not only students, but parents and caregivers to present tools needed to see growth and progress for present and future success.  Her personalized attention to each student and family has proven to be the bridge strategically build a solid foundation needed for achievement. You can connect with Kim Jones here: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kim-jones-90ab22126 Send business inquiries to: intentionalintervention7@gmail.com June 20 (Juneteenth) - Official Intentional Intervention Website Launch - site address to be announced on launch day! July 30 Nationwide Virtual Event - How Parents Can Prepare for Upcoming School Year! More information forthcoming on Kim's LinkedIn page   If you or someone you know may be considering death by suicide, please, please call or text one of the numbers. You are loved and not alone. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 1–800–273–8255 National Institute of Mental Health Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor 24/7 National Institute of Mental Health WhatsApp: https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=... Disclaimer: Erica Savage Wilson is not a medical practitioner, therapist, or counselor. This podcast is not a substitute for medical or mental health services. Erica's brain health champion expertise is centered in having sustained a traumatic brain injury in March 2021 and having to adapt to a new life of active healing and ongoing recovery.

In this series we talk with pastors who are going against the grain by consciously taking action to incorporate health into their messaging and leadership of the church. In this episode Sersie and Gigi sit down with Reverend Aaron Robinson to talk about the intersection of health and the role of the church. Rev. Aaron Robinson, a son of Mount Welcome Missionary Baptist Church, grew up in Metro Atlanta and is a product of Atlanta Public Schools.  He joined Mount Welcome in his preteen years and was baptized by the late Rev. Charles W. Grant.   Later in life, Aaron accepted his call into the ministry and enrolled in Candler School of Theology of Emory University, where he earned his Master of Divinity with a focus on Black Church Studies.  Shortly after receiving his Masters of Divinity, Aaron was Ordained into the Ministry of PAOCC. Aaron has faithfully served in numerous positions at different churches.  In December of 2016, Aaron was called to serve as Interim Senior Pastor at Mount Welcome, his childhood spiritual home.  In September 2017, Aaron was elected to serve Mount Welcome as the 10th Senior Pastor in the church's history.  Aaron actively volunteers with non-profits such as Open Hand Atlanta, Male Action Coalition and Georgia Ovarian Cancer Alliance. He lives by Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Web: www.mtwelcome.org Instagram: @mwmbc Facebook: @MountWelcomeMBC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MountWelcomeMissionaryBaptistChurch To learn more about Sersie and Gigi, check out https://healthyformypurpose.com

Giwayen Mata brings their rich African celebration to 7 Stages with “I Am ATL Woman.” Plus, Lois learns about Blue Heron Nature Preserve's artistic collaboration with Atlanta Public Schools and 3D digital artist Cait Lamas shares her inspiration in “Speaking of the Arts.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

PPI's Reinventing America's Schools (RAS) project has partnered with The74Million to tape a new podcast series on the “Future of Teaching” recorded at the SXSW Education conference in Austin, Texas. In the third episode of our four-part series, RAS co-founder Curtis Valentine continues the conversation from the previous episode about reshaping school leadership for the future as he sits down with Atlanta Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring. In this intriguing conversation, Dr. Herring discusses her path to becoming Superintendent of Atlanta's Public School system and details why empowering teachers is critical toward ensuring the success of students both in the classroom and in their future careers. Finally, Curtis and Dr. Herring look ahead to next year's conference and discuss what changes to the educational landscape can be expected over the next year. Learn more about The 74 Million here. Learn more about the Reinventing America's Schools Project here. Learn more about the Progressive Policy Institute here. Connect with Dr. Herring (@DrLisaHerring) on Twitter here. Connect with Atlanta Public Schools (@apsupdate) on Twitter here.

The Atlanta Story podcast features meaningful stories of Atlanta's builders, creators, and entrepreneurs. In this episode Jon Birdsong sits down with Dr. Meria Carstarphen, Former Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools.   Born in Selma, educated at Tulane, Auburn, and Harvard, Meria took the helm of APS starting in 2014 to 2020. During her tenure, she saw graduation rates improve to 80%, transformed a damaged culture infected by the infamous cheating scandal, and made a generational impact for students of Atlanta. On the show, Meria shares leadership tactics used to change culture, her ideas to improve education today, what's next for her educational journey, and much more.    The Atlanta Story is put together by the folks at Atlanta Ventures -- and we can't wait to share some of the personalities behind the brand. Atlanta Ventures invests in entrepreneurs through community, content, and capital -- most notably through our Studio with companies like Greenzie and Intown Golf Club. We believe the best entrepreneurs learn from other great artists in different fields.   In this episode, we discuss: Born and raised in Selma, what experiences led Meria to be a public servant? (1:17) What were the things Meria took from DC, St. Paul, and Austin that she brought to Atlanta? (8:04) What was Meria's reaction when she got the call in 2014 saying there was a job opening in Atlanta? (14:06) What was the public sentiment of Atlanta when Meria became superintendent? (20:32) When Meria got to Atlanta, which areas of the schooling system did she prioritize? (21:28) At what point did Meria first see progress? (27:01) What would 2020 Meria tell 2014 Meria? (34:29) How did Meria plan, and how did that help set them up for success? (40:18) What is the documentary that Meria's been working on about? (51:53) When will Meria's documentary, Defining Us, be available to listeners? (1:00:42) What is Meria's next chapter? (1:01:56) Why Atlanta, and what has Atlanta done for Meria? (1:04:49)   Resources discussed in this episode:   Atlanta Volunteer Legal Fund Selma Times Journal – Meria Carstarphen Defining Us – Documentary coming out definingus.org How you can get involved:  Visit atlantaventures.com/studio if you're interested in learning more about Atlanta Ventures and the Studio.    Where you can find us: Website: www.atlstory.com Twitter: @theatlantastory Instagram: @theatlantastory YouTube: Here Subscribe to the newsletter here.

In this episode, Dr. Michael Patterson, the founder of Be A Peace Maker, a nonprofit organization committed to developing peace makers in society, hosts with Nick Stonestreet, CEO of Ronald Blue Trust. They have an in-depth conversation with the principal of B.E.S.T. Academy, Dr. Timothy D. Jones, and assistant principal, Shannon Williams, whose work in one of the most impoverished areas of Atlanta gives young men the chance to find life-changing mentors and educational opportunities. During the interview, they discuss the importance of mentorship in their own lives, and why having organizations like Ronald Blue Trust helping to provide mentoring relationships to low-income children is so essential in today's world.Dr. Michael Patterson is the Founder of Be A Peace Maker, Inc. He is a pastor, author, motivational speaker, and adjunct professor at Morehouse College.  He recently completed his Doctoral degree in Education and Organizational Leadership from Abilene Christian University.  Dr. Timothy Jones is serving Atlanta Public Schools as the principal of B.E.S.T. Academy Prep School. Throughout the course of his career, Dr. Jones has been instrumental in furthering school and system improvement efforts as well as driving and sustaining strategic change resulting in marked gains in student achievement. Shannon Williams manages two companies and works as an assistant principal for an urban school district in Atlanta. To learn more visit RonBlue.comSUBSCRIBE today!Join us on our YouTube Channel or wherever you listen to podcasts.YouTubeFacebookLinkedInAppleSpotifyAmazoniHeartRadioThe information in these podcasts is provided for general educational purposes only.  It is not intended as specific individual advice. The clients' experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients and they are also not indicative of future performance or success. Opinions expressed may not be those of Ronald Blue Trust.Trust and investment management accounts and services offered by Ronald Blue Trust, Inc. are not insured by the FDIC or any other federal government agency, are not deposits or other obligations of, nor guaranteed by any bank or bank affiliate, and are subject to investment risk, including possible loss of the principal amount invested.

What does 25 years in procurement teach you? Maybe the better question is, what doesn't it? Just ask Carrie Roberts, Director of Procurement at Atlanta Public Schools. With more than two decades in purchasing-related roles, she's guided agencies through major transformation, earned multiple procurement certifications, and achieved national recognition from her peers. While it may be true, as Carrie says, that “little children don't dress up as purchasing agents for Halloween,” it's safe to say she's carved out an impressive career. Through it all, she's seen the profession evolve, processes change, and public purchasing come into its own. In this episode, she sits down with Bonfire CEO Omar Salaymeh to discuss the past, present and future of procurement, including: Learning the ropes with some of the country's strictest procurement laws The trouble with being “the department of no” and how to get a seat at the table Generational shifts and the evolution of procurement as a profession Navigating the eProcurement learning curve and why she'll never go back You can find this interview, and many more, by subscribing to Inside Public Procurement on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or gobonfire.com/podcast. Listening on a desktop and can't see the links? Just search for Inside Public Procurement in your favorite podcast player.

What does 25 years in procurement teach you? Maybe the better question is, what doesn't it?Just ask Carrie Roberts, Director of Procurement at Atlanta Public Schools. With more than two decades in purchasing-related roles, she's guided agencies through major transformation, earned multiple procurement certifications, and achieved national recognition from her peers. While it may be true, as Carrie says, that “little children don't dress up as purchasing agents for Halloween,” it's safe to say she's carved out an impressive career.Through it all, she's seen the profession evolve, processes change, and public purchasing come into its own. In this episode, she sits down with Bonfire CEO Omar Salaymeh to discuss the past, present and future of procurement, including:Learning the ropes with some of the country's strictest procurement lawsThe trouble with being “the department of no” and how to get a seat at the tableGenerational shifts and the evolution of procurement as a professionNavigating the eProcurement learning curve and why she'll never go backYou can find this interview, and many more, by subscribing to Inside Public Procurement on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or gobonfire.com/podcast.Listening on a desktop and can't see the links? Just search for Inside Public Procurement in your favorite podcast player.

Atlanta Public Schools to begin the year with online-only classes; Georgia's rematch against Alabama has political consequences; Atlanta records 158th homicide of 2021, passing 2020's total; Former Falcons coach Dan Reeves dies at 77

Atlanta Public Schools reports soaring COVID cases before break; Alleged ‘dead' Georgia voters found alive and well after 2020 election; Driver's license, tag offices closing statewide before New Year's; After 15-year legal dispute, James Brown's estate is finally sold for an estimated $90 million

As students, educators, and leaders across the country work together to reshape education, standard district practices like hiring, promotion, and growth continue. Today, I talk with Dr. Natasha Rachell of Atlanta Public Schools about being a new instructional technology director at such a pivotal time. We address what folks are focusing on, the stigma around learning loss, and much more! Thanks for joining us today on Focus on K-12, EdTech and The Education Experience. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe. If you have any ideas for future guests or you'd like to contact us about the show, please reach out to me on Twitter @dkonopelko. Thanks for tuning in and we will see you next time, as we Focus on K-12. Links to Resources from the Show: Video Podcast