I feel remiss in not responding to our list manager's prompt on the
referenda earlier.
I am hoping that Minneapolis voters will "Vote YES for Kids" on November
7th, because that is what this school referendum is really about. It is
about educating children from incredibly diverse backgrounds--in terms
of academic skills, language, socioeconomic status and race--through
smaller, more personal classrooms. It is very tough to serve the wide
array of kids that the Minneapolis schools serves in a large classroom
setting.
I've always felt that any parent who ever held a birthday party
intuitively knows the importance of lower class sizes, but it's critical
to have data to back that up. There has been research, including a
recent Rand study (a think tank in Santa Monica, CA) that documents the
improvement in student achievement when class sizes are small. You
should be able to find that study on the internet; it was discussed in
an article in the Star Tribune on July 25, 2000 (entitled "Reforms
Boosting Students' Scores") and also in the New York Times.
Minneapolis also has its own research department which has been
documenting the gains in achievement of those stduents who have been
with the MPS for their entire school career, and therefore benefiting
from the lower class size. For example, 79.4% of students who had 7
years of lower class size have passed the Minnesota Basic Standards Test
(Reading) compared with 53.5% of students who have had 1-3 years of
lower class size, and 42.3% of students who had no years of lower class
size.
There is always room for improvement, but I believe the Minneapolis
Public Schools, under the leadership of Carol Johnson, are moving in the
right direction. I hope and trust that the community will support our
city public schools by voting to continue with our lower class sizes.
They are critical to our continued improvement! PLEASE VOTE YES on
November 7th.
Catherine Shreves
Minneapolis School Board
