I’m a couple of days late in pointing this out, but it’s still worth acknowledging even if many of you have already seen it.

Back on Tuesday, the AJC’s Maureen Downey wrote a beautiful report/reflection/eulogy about Renfroe teacher Stacey Daniel on her blog.  Ms. Downey and her son’s personal experiences with Ms. Daniel and very reflective of the reactions of many who knew and work with Ms. Daniel.  Here’s a small excerpt from the beginning of the post…

My 13-year-old twins differ on many things. My son’s favorite meal is a burger. My daughter prefers sushi. When my son rushes to the computer, he’s checking on the Falcons. When my daughter goes online, she’s checking Facebook He’s a math guy. She’s a language arts kid.

But there is one thing on which they agree: Stacey Daniel was their favorite teacher of all time at Renfroe Middle School in Decatur. And they were not alone in that. Hundreds of students in Decatur considered Ms. Daniel their most beloved teacher.

All the very best to Ms. Daniel’s family, friends and students during this extremely difficult time.

This is pretty interesting.

The AJC’s Maureen Downey – a Decatur resident – recently posted an extensive analysis by a reader that showed white students ITP actually posted better SAT scores than their white counterparts in the ‘burbs the last two years.  Both Maureen and the reader states that the analysis was done in reaction to numerous comments on the “Get Schooled” blog that…

“Many suburbanites on this blog contend that they would never send their children to city of Atlanta or DeKalb schools and that’s why they now live in Forsyth or Cobb.”

The reader admits that the SAT analysis is not exhaustive. They didn’t check the scores of every school district in the state.  However, they did go through all the urban and suburban districts around Atlanta.  (Also note that Downey states later on in a comment, that the AJC did vet the info before posting)

Here’s what “the reader” found:

In 2008-09 (the most recent data included at the state website), the Georgia system with the highest average SAT scores (math and verbal) for its white students appears to be Decatur City (1203); second is Atlanta City (1165); third is Marietta City (1150); and fourth is DeKalb County (1145).

For 2007-08, the top four appear to have been (1) Atlanta (1174); (2) Decatur (1166); (3) DeKalb (1136); and (4) Fulton County (1108). The statewide SAT average for all white students was 1042 in 2008-09 and 1040 in 2007-08

I know from prior discussions with many white parents (especially those whose children do not attend APS schools) that these results will strike some as unbelievable — that white students in Atlanta, Decatur and DeKalb public schools perform better on SATs than white students in Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Cherokee, Fayette, Forsyth and possibly (probably?) every other system in the state of Georgia!