Here’s an inspiring story about an elementary school teacher who almost single-handedly turned a school’s math scores from dismal to great.
Denise Maimone applied logic when she stealthily went into Georgetown Elementary School, located in a remote region of El Dorado County, and rejected the notion that every single 8th grader is somehow magically prepared for algebra, when in fact most aren’t. Instead, she parsed out those kids who were ill-prepared for the rigors of higher math and those who had the skills and brought the school’s math test scores up by 88 percentage points – the highest, by far, in the state.
As a founder of a private Christian school, I have always supported and protected funding for education. It’s really a no-brainer to support the education of our future generation of kids. That being said, I don’t think California leaders achieve academic greatness simply by dumping lots of money into the system and hoping for the best. I have always said the quality of our education investment dollar outweighs the quantity – Ms. Maimone is a shining example of my belief.
She is a model for the rest of the 1,000+ California school districts to follow.