I commend southhighsucks.com for its coverage of Carol Johnson's resignation -- and their roving scoundrelcam. With all of the oohs and ahhs about the magnificent strides the district has made toward "closing the gap" since Johnson became the superintendent, the coverage that I've seen from other sources reminds me of the story about the emperors new clothes.
Carol Johnson and the Minneapolis School Board say they have been focused on improving student achievement and closing the gap. The expansion of all-day kindergarten and the Arts for Academic Achievement program have had a positive impact, according to the district, but the net effect of the reforms carried out during Johnson's watch have been negative. Take the data on academic achievement for MPS students broken down by race and income, put it on a graph, and you will see that the academic achievement gap has steadily widened. When the board hired Carol Johnson in 1997 the public K-12 school system in Minneapolis was already a disaster for most of the people of color and poor whites enrolled in it, and it has gotten worse. Only about 20% of African-American students entering the 9th grade graduate from High School within 5 years. The High School graduation rate for Indian/Native students is only 14%. A majority of black middle school students are suspended at least once per year, compared to about 4% of white students. Over 20% of African American students are diagnosed as having some type of Emotional-Behavioral Disorder and are assigned to special education programs. -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, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
