Jim Grathwol, an MPS spokesman makes no reasoned arguments and offers no evidence to support his contentions which address Ms. Quist's comments.
Ms. Quist on the other hand, supported her contentions about the SLCs with evidence, such as data and reasoned arguments, which Mr. Grathwol does not even try to refute in his latest post. In my opinion Ms. Quist made a valuable contribution to the discussion, and Mr. Grathwol insulted the intelligence of people on this list. -Doug Mann Educationright.tripod.com In a message dated 6/18/2003 4:03:35 PM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > I continue to respectfully disagree with your interpretation of the work > taking place in Minneapolis Public Schools. While I will ardently > defend your right to your views I don't want anyone to confuse your > views on this matter, with reality. > > At the risk of repeating myself let me restate: > > 1) Minneapolis Public Schools does not force 8th grade students to > choose career tracks. > 2) Enrolling in a Minneapolis Public High School Small Learning > Community cannot be equated by any reasoning adult to being "forced into > a career track". > 3) All of our Small Learning Communities (SLC's) deliver the state's > required and elective academic standards. > 4) Some of our SLC's are developed around an educational philosophy > (e.g. the Open programs at Henry, South and Roosevelt or the IB programs > at Henry and Southwest. > 5) Some SLC's are developed around general interest areas (e.g. Arts and > Communication, Summatech - math and science - at North, Arts and > Humanities at Southwest, Liberal Arts at South, American Studies at > Washburn) > 6) Some are developed around broad career pathways (e.g. Engineering at > Henry, Emerging Technologies at Edison, Teaching and Public Service at > Edison, and Medical Technologies at Roosevelt, Travel and Tourism at > Washburn.) > 7) The Small Learning Communities in our high schools are being > developed in response to best-practice research and in response to focus > groups with students who want a more relevant educational experience. > 8) We believe Small Learning Communities, are a key strategy to > increase: student engagement in learning; attendance; achievement; and > graduation rates. > 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
