http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4143783.html
"Critics of the appointment failed to understand...[that Jennings] is uniquely positioned to rally support for city public schools where it is badly needed, among the business community and state law makers..." "Moreover, Jennings represented policy continuity...He was sold on Johnson's program for closing the learning gap between majority and minority-race students, and has the executive abilities to carry it forward." [Doug Mann] The district says it has been closing the gap under Johnson. That claim is fraudulent. The district is cooking its data. If the district measured and reported on the progress of all students who are tested from one year to the next, the district would have to give itself a failing grade with respect to closing the gap. The racial learning gap has been getting wider. This is how the district has been cooking the books: The district measures progress for students who are "continuously enrolled" for a period of several years. The scores of newcomers are NOT added in. The scores of the dropouts/pushouts are not eliminated. Because a majority of the dropouts / pushouts are low performers, their departure raises the test score averages and reduces differences in average scores between racial groups. That's how the district figured that, on average, its students were making progress greater than the national norm in reading and math in a report by Dr. David Heistad at a November 1998 school board meeting and in the 1998 better schools report card (dated Jan. 1999). -Doug Mann, King Field Soon to publish a pamphlet entitled Flight from Equality: School reform in the US since 1983 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ 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
