In a message dated 9/5/2002 3:34:32 PM Central Daylight Time, Dennis Schapiro writes:
> I raised the issue of the "study" with David Heistad, > director of research or the district. He said no such study > has been done, although the existence of such a study might > have been inferred from a fuzzy quote in a newspaper some > time ago. I also raised with Dr. Heistad questions about > long-term studies that indicate about 90 percent of > longer-term achievement outcomes can be predicted by family > and neighborhood variables. > Maybe "study" is the wrong term. How about an "analysis" of data using regression techniques? I attended the school board meeting where the Strib's education beat writer got that "fuzzy quote," and I taped the meeting later that evening. Audrey Johnson was there. Dennis Schapiro was not there. I would like to get a clarification from Mr. Heistad himself about that "study" which Dennis Schapiro says David Heistad says doesn't exist. And I would like to know something about those long-term studies to which Dennis Schapiro refers, like the title, who did the research and where they got the money for their research. Or are we dealing with a set of nonexistent studies? Last Fall, in a message dated 11/10/2001 2:36:36 PM Central Standard Time, Audrey Johnson wrote: > Mr. Atherton is right, current research shows that student achievement can > be accurately measured as follows: 49% attributed to parent involvement, > about 42% teacher quality, and about 8% to class size. A top priority of > the district is currently to provide staff development in a way that is > shown to raise teacher quality. In the extract from "What Matters Most" cited above [see footnote], Linda Darling-Hammond says, "In an analysis of 900 Texas school districts, Ronald Ferguson found that teachers’ expertise—as measured by scores on a licensing examination, master’s degrees, and experience—accounted for about 40% of the measured variance in students’ reading and mathematics achievement at grades 1 through 11, more than any other single factor. He also found that every additional dollar spent on more highly qualified teachers netted greater increases in student achievement than did less instructionally focused uses of school resources (see figure 4 in full report). "The effects were so strong, and the variations in teacher expertise so great that, after controlling for socioeconomic status, the large disparities in achievement between black and white students were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the qualifications of their teachers. An additional contribution to student achievement was made by lower pupil-teacher ratios in the elementary grades. In combination, differences in teacher expertise and class sizes accounted for as much of the measured variance in achievement as did student and family background factors." Footnote: "Doing What matters Most: Investing in Quality Teaching," Prepared for the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, by Linda Darling-Hammond, Nov. 1997 <http://www.tc.columbia.edu/nctaf/publications/doing.html> See: School Board Policy & Education Research http://members.tripod.com/educationright/id100.htm School Board Policy & Education Research #2 http://members.tripod.com/educationright/id102.htm -Doug Mann, King Field, the new 8th ward Mann for School Board web site 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
