Catherine Shreves wrote:
> First, as a parent, I feel compelled to put a human face on the
> theoretical musings that the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) are
> failing. It's simply not true!
I think that one only needs to cite that the dropout rate for Black
students is 38% to indicate that MPS are failing. Beyond that you
can look at the results of this year's basic skills tests. The charts
below show the frequency of schools according to what percentage
of students passed. The vertical scale indicates the percent
(0 is from 0 to 9.9%; 1 is from 10 to 19.9%; 9 would be 90 to
99.9%). So the four x's next to 0 indicate that there are 4
schools where less than 9.99% of the students passed the basic
skills test for Math.
Math
0 xxxx
1 xxx
2 xxx
3 xxxxxxxx
4 xxxxx
5 xxxxxx
6 xx
7 xx
8 xx
9
Reading
0 xxx
1 xxx
2 xxxx
3 xxxx
4 xxxxxxxxxxx
5 xxxxxxxxxx
6 x
7 xxxxx
8 xx
9
What these charts show is that in the vast majority of MPS
less than 60% of the students can pass the basic skills tests.
The existence of schools that have students passing at
rates less than 40% is criminal. Personally, I would only consider
sending my child to a school where more than 80% of students
were passing and I would only rate such a school as "good."
We are talking *basic* skills here, not high achievement.
For those who have supported a litmus test for politicians I
suggest that rather than ask if they are willing to send
their children to a public school, they should be required
to send their children to the worst school in the system. It is
a scary thought indeed, but it is the same one that many
poorer parents face.
> That being said, I am not in denial about the problems that the MPS are
> having in closing the achievement gap, and I am absolutely committed to
> erasing that gap. There is a tremendous amount of research on this, but
> one of the most powerful is a report called "Good Teaching Matters" by
> the Education Trust, which you can download if you're really interested
> by going to http://www.edtrust.org/main/reports.asp.
I am very impressed by this organization whose basic goals are:
* Rigorous academic standards for all students at
all levels, kindergarten through college, that are understood and
embraced by the public.
* Curriculum aligned with standards for all students.
* Ongoing assessment to monitor the progress of students and of
schools and colleges toward meeting the standards.
* Extra instructional time for students who need it to meet standards.
* Mechanisms to help faculty deepen their knowledge, evaluate the
effects of their instruction on student work, and improve practice.
However, I am a little worried that Ms. Shreves cites a report that
emphases teaching as the major contributor to student achievement.
Although, I generally agree with the report's findings, I believe that
changing the level of quality of teaching is probably one of the most
intractable problems in educational reform. Because of the
unions it is almost impossible to move incompetent teachers out of
the system. We should work on these problems, but realize that
results will bypass entire cohorts of students.
In a talk at the American Educational Research Association,
Dorothy Shipps of Columbia University indicated
which types reforms can be achieved by solely administrators without
the necessity of seeking political or community approval. In
another talk Beth Simon from Johns Hopkins presented research
showing that one of the most important factors contributing
to student achievement are programs to involve parents. I believe
that the MPS can and should test an aggressive outreach program for
parents as one piece of a reform program, instead of wasting
large sums of money on reducing class sizes (a program which
has no empirical support in the context of MPS).
I would like to suggest one more reform that can be implemented
and tested fairly easily. If you would like to know why students
drop out of school you should ask them. Many students see
no relevance in the courses they are required to take. Why?
Because they do not plan to go to college and the courses will
not help them obtain quality employment. When asked what
would help solve the gang problem in L.A., gang leaders
responded by saying, "good jobs." The problem is that good
jobs are not available to applicants without skills. It is a
travesty that we graduate students from high school with
absolutely no marketable job skills. Woodshop is not going
to cut it. These shop courses are antiquated reforms from the
early 1900s that were intended to provide students with what
were then marketable job skills. We should consider doing the
same now, but train students as machinists, truck drivers, electricians,
carpenters, and in other trades that will earn them more than
substance wages.
There are effective reforms that can be implemented by the
MPS, if only administrators have the initiative and courage to try.
Michael Atherton
Prospect Park
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