Betty Peters

Know Your Consultants

September 4, 2009 – 12:06 pm
September 2, 2009 Flashpoint Blog The University of Alabama in Huntsville has put up its credibility as an institution of higher learning as collateral to develop and market the invention of a twice convicted con man — and no one seems to be paying attention. The “invention” in question is called Super Teaching (interchangeably used as one or two words). Here is the description of this revolutionary learning system from the UAH website: SuperTeaching is a multi-sensory instructional system designed to utilize computer generated audio and imagery in order to engage learners. The SuperTeaching system includes three screens positioned at the front of the room, which display images in a seemingly random pattern. The images included in the pattern roll are those of the instructor, learners, course content, and nature scenes. Read More...

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State school board member calls on AG to investigate campaign finance

August 31, 2009 – 6:21 pm
August 31, 2009 Dothan Eagle State school board member Betty Peters asked Attorney General Troy King for help Monday night. Betty Peters believes that if you’re going to get something done, you’ve got to take it to the top. The district 2 state school board member did just that last night, calling on Alabama Attorney General Troy King to investigate what she labeled as wrongdoing by a candidate for the district 3 state school board seat in last year’s election. Peters said that Skip Smithwick, who ran for Stephanie Bell’s seat, has not properly filled out campaign finance reports detailing from where he received all of his campaign contributions. Read More...

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More than meets the eye

June 30, 2009 – 8:48 am
Much more to chancellor salary story than what was reported Many newspapers recently ran an article by AP reporter Desiree Hunter about the Alabama Community College System’s proposed search for a new chancellor. Apparently it generated several editorials. I would like to clarify what happened regarding former Chancellor Roy Johnson’s pay raise. In 2005, a committee of several state school board members (including Dr. Mary Jane Caylor) was appointed to make a recommendation for a salary increase for Johnson. Dr. Caylor presented what I thought was a very vague recommendation to the board (it had no precise amount of the total, which included deferred compensation). Justification offered for the large raise included a comment that if he didn’t get the raise, Johnson might leave us to accept the headship of AEA. All voted for it except Stephanie Bell and myself. When I explained my negative vote, I turned to Mr. Johnson to ...

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Courage Under Fire

June 26, 2009 – 1:41 am
Courage Under Fire - an interview with Betty Peters

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Can Education Schools Be Saved?

June 7, 2009 – 12:44 pm
June 9, 2003 A Speech by John Stone at AEI Ladies and Gentlemen, Since the sixties, I have taught educational psychology at 4 universities. I have been in the College of Education at East Tennessee State University since the seventies. ETSU was founded as a normal school in 1911. It now has 12,000 students--800 of which are in the College of Education. It is much like James Madison and George Mason Universities that are closer here to Washington. As to whether the schools of education can be reformed, frankly, I am not optimistic. In my view, they are out of touch with the public. The training received by most teachers is based on teacher education's vision of a better world, not on the public's aims. BTW, my view isn't unique. The same complaint has been voiced by numerous observers, most recently by the teachers surveyed in Public Agenda's new report: Stand By Me. If you are interested in ...

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