For the record: Doug Mann has a child who was continuously enrolled at Lake Harriet Community School from the beginning of Kindergarten to part-way through the fourth grade in the fall of 2000.
Lynnell Michelsen has a child who was in the same school, in the same grade level, and sometimes in the same homeroom. Her child received phonics instruction in school, my child did not. (If students aren't learning something, the teachers aren't teaching it). Her child spent 50 minutes per day in a reading program for children designated as high-ability learners, my child spent those 50 minutes per day in one of the other reading programs. The sorting and assignment to separate reading classrooms happened at the beginning of first grade. The material presented in all of the reading programs was similar. However, the expected and actual outcomes were very different. The designated high-ability learners already possessed or quickly acquired critical decoding skills that helped them to assimilate the phonics materials presented to them, and they covered more ground than the other groups. No one moved in or out of the high-ability group after the initial assignments were made. The high- ability group members were also enrolled in the gifted pullout program at the beginning of grade 2. These kids are headed toward college and good jobs. The kids in the reading programs for so-called low- and medium-ability learners increased their stock of sight-words, increased their awareness of sound-letter relationships, and used contextual cues to guess at what a word is. Some of these kids learned how to sound out words but generally acquired a very limited knowledge of phonetic rules. Most of these kids are headed toward low-paying, low-status jobs and / or prison. While our child was at Lake Harriet Community School my wife and I used the school directory to figure out where most of the kids in the low-, medium-, and high-ability learners groups resided. It almost looked as if the kids were sorted and grouped by zip code. Students in the high-rent districts were placed in reading programs for high- and medium-ability learners. Students in the low-rent districts were placed in reading programs for the so-called low- and medium-ability learners. One of the reasons I think it looked like students were ability-grouped by zip code is that students in the high-rent district typically spoke middle-class English and many had been enrolled in the better (and higher-priced) preschool programs and private kindergartens before they entered the public school system. ADDENDA I have worked with "at risk" kids on their reading skills as a volunteer tutor in the Smart Start summer school program, and participated in discussion groups for parents of "at-risk" students organized by the Shulman law firm on behalf of the NAACP in 1998. I served on the NAACP K-12 education committee and the Parents Union executive board. And I did extensive canvassing during my campaigns for the Minneapolis School Board in 2001 and 2002, which resulted in many extended conversations with Minneapolis Public School parents, teachers, students, and administrators. -Doug Mann http://educationright.tripod.com Power doesn't take a step back in the face of a smile, or in the face of a prayer, or in the face of a loving nonviolent action. Power only takes a step back in the face of greater power. And power in defense of freedom is greater than power in defense of tyranny, because the power of a just cause is based on conviction, and leads to resolute and uncompromising action. --Malcolm X, "Prospects for Freedom," Militant Labor Forum, New York City, 7 January 1965 In a message dated 11/16/2002 4:40:38 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Doug Mann does not have a child the Minneapolis public > schools. I've have three kids in the city public schools. Doug Mann's > descriptions of MPS curriculum, class size and ability grouping > practices do not fit with what I've observed over the last ten years > and counting. > For the record: > 1) My kids were drilled in phonics and de-coding.The Whole > Language versus Phonics debate has been moot for us. Our teachers > have always used both methods and used them well. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
