In a message dated 5/12/2002 9:58:16 PM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> It is an alarming number of children to be suspended. However, there were > not 20,000 different students suspended. I believe the actual number is > about 9,000 students. Is there anything going on in the classrooms that may be contributing to this problem? At Audubon Elementary School I noted that the behavior of some children change dramatically, and for the worse, from kindergarten to grade one. Seemingly happy, well behaved children in kindergarten became troubled, disruptive kids after being placed in a low-ability reading group at the beginning of the school year in the first grade. Most of those so-called low-ability learners made little progress in learning to read prior to the beginning of fourth grade. We know that there are huge disparities in educational outcomes, such as suspension rates, test scores, and graduation rates between white and black students, between students who do or do not qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. I believe these disparities are due, in large part, to policies approved by the board, such as the promotion of ability-grouping, the adoption of incoherent curricula, "outcome-based education" (profiles of learning) and an extremely high concentration of inexperienced teachers at certain schools. It should be noted that the test score gap between white and black students and between poor and non-poor students was greatly reduced between 1970 and the mid-1980's. Since then the gap has been getting wider. For example, the difference between average NAEP* reading scores for white and black 13 year olds decreased from 39 points in 1971 to 18 points in 1988, then increased to 32 points in 1996. *National Assessment of Educational Progress A widening of the academic achievement gap is the result of a major shift in educational policy which followed the release in 1983 of a report titled "A nation at risk," which was produced by a panel of K-12 experts selected by the Reagan-Bush administration. A Nation at Risk argued that America's Public Schools had gone too far in trying to close the academic achievement gap, that the test score gap was being closed at the expense of high achieving students. However, an analysis of NAEP test scores by the Sandia National Laboratories indicated that outcomes for high achievers steadily improved while the test score gap was closing during the 1970's and 80's. If the goal of the Minneapolis Public Schools is to "close the gap" improve education-related outcomes for all students, the current administration and board of directors are definitely on the wrong track. -Doug Mann MPS board candidate <http://educationright.tripod.com> _______________________________________ 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
