I guess I need to add some clarity to my discussion. First of all it might help if people understood my experience base. I helped start a charter school for kids who mostly had social problems, family problems, peer problems, and poverty. These were the kids that perhaps weren't disruptive in school, but you didn't notice them really until they were gone one day....where did they go? What happened to them?
I have volunteered in the public school system. I've taught classes in both large and reduced class sizes. I've volunteered in private schools. I have taught at courses at the college level and at the Perpich school for the arts. I spent two summers running a summer theater program for kids aged 5 to 12. I am not a teacher, although my brother and sister-in-law are teachers and my in-laws are both teachers. Currently, I volunteer in my daughter's kindergarten class of 24 students teaching early math concepts and reading and phonics. Frankly, I'm amazed at how well her teacher runs that class. However, only a small percentage ever get individual attention. Generally speaking, the better students who can do the work suffer because they are not challenged as the teacher needs to focus on those who are having a harder time. >From my limited observation, not scientific by any means, I have come to believe that we could solve many of our problems if children came to school ready to learn every day. I agree with Michael Atherton that Head Start and other preschool programs have improved that initial jump. But there are still tremendous disadvantages, and not just in the inner city, kids have in coming to school. A kindergarten teacher with 24 children that has one or two who need special help and are taken out of class is one scenario. But when you've got a class of 20 and half the kids don't speak the primary language of the school and their families move around so much they don't participate in their children's education, that is a much different scenario. I agree with Mr. Atherton that there are plenty of things schools can do to improve, but I still believe unless we fundamentally address our understanding of community, strengthening families, and helping those children with profound disadvantages our schools will only make minimal progress. Perhaps I am light on the research, but my intuition and experience tells me that there is something to this approach. That means that the State, County and City have an obligation to help improve our schools beyond giving them money. They need to ensure affordable housing, stable work forces, and social services/intervention as well as address homeless children issues, and livable wages among other things. And if we are truly going to do accurate measurement and assessment of our schools, we need to include these variables and partners as a part of the assessment. Russell W. Peterson Saint Michael _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
