Doug Mann states, in part, that... > And even the better schools within an integrated system are not very high > quality if the resources that make good schools good are > distributed unequally, > as is the case in Minneapolis. For example, the least experienced > MPS teachers > have been heavily concentrated in schools that serve the poorest > neighborhoods. It is usually the case that a teacher with no > experience is a lot less > effective than a teacher with 10 or 15 years of experience. The > overexposure of > students to inexperienced teachers creates an environment where the > professional growth of teachers is stunted by comparison to > teachers who work for school > districts where inexperienced teachers are distributed more > evenly between > schools.
[MH] Seems oversimplified to me. Basically, in MPS, all the inexperienced teachers (those hundreds without tenure- less than three years experience) have been laid off and teachers with limited tenure will be the next ones cut. I assume many of those non-tenured teachers (not all), including many recently recruited/trained minority teachers, were excellent teachers who looked like the kids in their classrooms-- and now they are gone. Opportunities lost for too many- including the students. It is a shame. I also assume that many (not all) of those tenured teachers remaining, mostly white teachers with decades of experience, are not good teachers. Again, more opportunities lost. That too is a shame. And, it's my understanding that with seniority, comes a degree of choice in where one teaches... in a high performing school or in a low performing school. Where do most new teachers end up? Probably where most of the more senior teachers don't want to be. I don't necessarily believe that tenure and years of experience define a good teacher. I believe the teacher's unions and their blind seniority system that eliminates good teachers with limited experience, while protecting poor teachers that are entrenched in the system, does irreparable harm to our students. Districts are held hostage in labor negotiations that all too often end with unaffordable contracts... and for what-- to perpetuate this increasingly dysfunctional education management system. Mr. Mann continues... > Yet the district has made cuts to the tune of $100 million. Where did all > that money go? [MH] I'm confident that negotiated wage and benefit increases account for a significant portion of the funds in question. The teachers union has become a gravy train that basically provides a job for life with step and ladder promotion based on years of education and years on the job, followed by a good retirement, with little-to-no regard for on-the-job performance over the years. The future of education under this management structure does not look promising-- unless you're a teacher with 20-25 years in the system. Don't get me wrong, good teachers perform an important function and deserve our respect and good pay for a job well done... and bad teachers should not be in the classroom-- period. There should be a trade-off continuum, allowing good pay for good teachers and no pay for bad teachers, and no assurance of a job for life. A more flexible, less protected and higher pay- kind of scenario. With risk, comes reward. In addition, when students don't attend class and disrupt class for other students, the teacher should not be held totally accountable for what often amounts to dysfunctional family situations that allow such improper student behavior on a continual basis. Peer mediation and counseling only goes so far. Teachers need to maintain control in their classrooms, but there is a limit to such expectations. Parents/guardians and students should assume responsibility and consequences. Junior and senior high school should not serve as a day care facility for juvenile delinquents. Get rid of problem students and raise standards/expectations for the 95 percent of kids that want to be there. If they don't want to be there, and demonstrate the fact via continued problem behavior, get rid of them. Send them to the '3rd strike, ur out' school for one last chance. The current model is broken and in need of repair. Also, if you want to reduce overhead, consolidate smaller school districts and get more money into the classrooms across the state. My five cents... Michael Hohmann Linden Hills TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
