I too like year round school in part to keep some of the young people busy and away from gangs and other negative influences foisted upon them by unemployed persons who hang on the front porches of the neighborhood. But I am afraid this one would be a tough sell to teachers who may have entered the profession with the expectation of having the summer off.
Bill Dooley Kenny -----Original Message----- From: Schapiro [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 10:00 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] All-day K / Year-round school Mark Anderson wrote: <<those kids most likely to fail are probably the same kids who aren't ready for full day kindergarten at five years old. ... The kids are too self-selected to be a valid statistic. ... I think we need to take the higher achievement of full day kindergartners with a grain of salt.>> There is a lot of truth in what he wrote, but we need to move forward with imperfect data. A couple items: David Heistad, who heads the MPS research operation, reports that last year the all-day kindergarten the program served 1314 students with free or reduced-price lunch (65%) and 706 students who did not qualify (35%). Those stats pretty much reflect the district breakdown. There is enough in the research indicating that gaps are reduced and achievement boosted to encourage us to push forward. Without speculating as to how the board will finally move, I do view our superintendent as encouraged and supportive of all-day kindergarten as a key strategy. Mike Hohmann wrote: <<2. How about with year-'round students in the higher grades relative to traditional-year students? What can be gleaned from current research?>> among other comments on year-round schools. We do have one year-round school in Minneapolis, Jordan Park.(St. Paul has at least one, too.) Jordan Park doesn't seem to show up remarkably different from other MPS schools on standardized tests, but it does have a history of high mobility. Also, there are lots of definitions of year-round school and lots of arguments pro and con. It just doesn't seem to be an issue ready for the front burner now, although I do see the board working hard to make sure that opportunities for kids to develop and learn ARE available year-round. If anyone wants more, there's lots on the web. Some starters: National Association for Year-Round Education in San Diego http://www.nayre.com There is a group opposed, as I understand. I don't know of a web site, but an old e-mail is [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dennis Schapiro Linden Hills Minneapolis Board of Education _______________________________________ 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 _______________________________________ 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
