Sunday, November 27, 2011

A weekend interview with Bill and Melinda Gates | Education articles blog on schools in Florida & Tampa Bay: the Gradebook | Tampa Bay Times

A weekend interview with Bill and Melinda Gates | Education articles blog on schools in Florida & Tampa Bay: the Gradebook | Tampa Bay Times:

A weekend interview with Bill and Melinda Gates

bill_and_melinda_gates.Recently, Bill and Melinda Gates spent a day visiting Jefferson High School in Hillsborough County to check on their $102 million investment in the district to reform teacher evaluations. It was their first visit to a Tampa school since the Gates Foundation awarded the district the grant for the closely-watched project called Empowering Effective Teachers. The billionaire couple spoke with teachers, students and administrators and also held a roundtable discussion with three members of the media, including St Petersburg Times Education Editor Marilyn Garateix. Here are excerpts from the interview as the couple shared their impressions on the feedback they received. The couple opened with a few remarks and then answered a handful of questions. The interview was edited for length and clarity. (Image from newsone.com)

Melinda: Well, maybe I’ll start. You know, it’s always just a fantastic opportunity when