The idea behind the SLCs is that smaller is better than bigger. In reality, good and bad schools / learning communities come in all sizes. So one cannot reasonably expect the high schools will do a better job simply because you reorganize them into smaller, self-contained units.
I think the Minneapolis Public Schools gets poor result because it has a bad system, not because a lot of its schools are big. I think that a reason that small schools / school districts are less likely than the big ones to have an elaborate, multitiered educational system comparable to the one used by Minneapolis Public Schools. The reorganization of the high schools into SLCs does not fundamentally change the system. It's sort of like the crew of the Titanic trying to save the passengers by rearranging deck the chairs. It's just another expensive public relations gimmick. 'College preparatory' programs provide marketable skills as well as the educational foundation required for many vocational programs. And it is possible to have all kinds of curriculum tracks into which college preparatory courses are integrated, including curriculum tracks organized around vocationally oriented themes (medical, engineering, management, the arts, etc.). But that is not what you get with most of the SLCs. MY EXPERIENCE During the early 1970s I went to Park High, the big high school in South Washington County, MN. Everyone there took Algebra and Geometry courses that covered the same ground as the Advanced Placement (AP) Algebra and Geometry classes in the St. Paul Public Schools. In fact, all of the Park High students were taking courses in all subject areas that were comparable to those reserved for the 'more academically able' in St. Paul Public Schools. In the 10th grade I transferred to Murray High School (St. Paul Public Schools), where I found most students took courses in math and other subject areas that were extremely watered-down versions of the courses that everyone took in South Washington County. I was initially placed in regular courses, and I got the impression that the other students in those regular classes were, like me, just doing time, extremely bored, etc. I also discovered that nearly all of the students who took AP classes at Murray High attended the neighborhood school for North St. Anthony Park, which was / is a predominantly white, middle-to-upper class neighborhood. Nearly all of the students who took regular courses attended neighborhood schools for much poorer, white, working class neighborhoods. Students who took 'regular' courses at Murray High and went on to college didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of testing out of what were then freshman courses, and which are today noncredit remedial courses, such as basic / introductory Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry, Biology, English Composition, etc. Today, most students entering high school in the Minneapolis Public Schools are shut out of college-preparatory courses. That was also the case before the high schools were reorganized into SLCs. The SLCs do not make college prep coursework any more accessible than under the organizational schema that it replaces. And it may make things worse by further narrowing the options that most students had prior to the SLC reorganization. -Doug Mann, King Field Educationright.tripod.com 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
