I ran across a couple of good online articles. One was about assigning best teachers to the worst schools. It said the worst schools had the highest turnover for a lot of reasons. One was that they got the least experienced teachers, and those teachers had the worst working conditions. The article wasn't full of great ideas about attracting more-experienced teachers to these schools. One it did broach was some kind of a break in taxes for teachers willing to take jobs and stay.
http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/2002_04/execper.htm
But through surfing, I also ran across an article suggesting we've been unthinkingly building schools according to an industrial paradigm based upon cost accounting that didn't make sense. That is, we build schools the way industry builds superstores, trying to spread the cost across the most "units". But we don't really ask about output quality. This article says that while we save on COSTS, we output a lot of substandard units. That creates all kinds of SOCIAL costs that don't ever make it into the accounting. It says we really should look at costs per SUCCESSFUL student. And if we do that, we might understand that we need MORE schools and smaller ones. Which is interesting because we seldom see discussions of anything but small CLASSES, even if those CLASSES reside in HUGE schools. Of course we know that all the charter schools are very small, so the charter school movement is implementing this theory.
http://www.ruraledu.org/#small
Superintendent Choice
I�ve read more articles on the Seattle search. One flaw I can see in their process is the intrusion of the mayor into the process. We can HOPE RT will see the wisdom of protecting our choice from mayoral politics. If not, let him LOOK at what Seattle is doing and its adverse effect. He won�t stand or fall based on Minneapolis student achievement, so it would be gratuitous for him to comment. Another flaw is the mixture of union politics with the process. I might put a teacher or two on an advisory board, just for input. But I sure wouldn�t give any veto to teachers. The ultimate constituency should be parents. An advisory panel should insure a superintendent who has rapport with parents. Finally, I�m happy to see that one of the candidates was an Asian American. We have an increasing population of students from this minority, and as an ethnic subgroup, they tend to succeed better. Moreover, Libia Soccoro Gil actually has some educational ACHIEVMENTS to tout. I think that is what should make or break a candidate. Not job titles or degrees but signs of SUCCESS in pursuit of key goals of the district.
�But several national education experts said Seattle brought in some of the best prospects the profession has to offer. � Seattle Times October 5, 2003
Regarding Raj Manhas, who got a one-year contract as Superintendent in Seattle:
�Though Manhas, 55, has met with positive reviews since taking the helm in June, some were critical of last night's decision, saying the board has circumvented the public process it embarked upon by appointing him without community input.
�I think Raj is a lovely person, and I think Raj would be a wonderful interim superintendent,� said Brita Butler-Wall, who is challenging Waldman for her seat. �However, Raj has not undergone any democratic process here. The board has once again completely left the public out of the process.��
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2001758895_supe05m.html
________________________________________ Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood
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