Don Fraser & Dr. Jerry Stein wrote in the Star Tribute: > Pratt's students, 51 percent of whom qualify for free lunch, > are culturally and economically diverse. Nevertheless, their > average scores on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment Test > are the highest in the city. Pratt's scores are third-highest > in the state in reading, and second-highest in the state in math. http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4618723.html
Do you interpret these statements to imply that the Pratt students who scored the third-highest in reading and second- highest in math are culturally and economically diverse? If so, by most interpretations you would be wrong. That's because of the 16 third grade students who took the MCA Test last year at Pratt 12 (75%) were White and 4 (25%) were Asian. There were no students who took the test that were classified as Black, Hispanic, or Indian. 3 (18.75%) of the sixteen qualified for free or reduced lunch (FoRD) and 2 (12.5%) were classified as Limited English Proficiency (ELL) (as reported to me by the Minnesota Department of Education). This is not what would be considered as representative sample given the statistics cited for the Pratt (Mr. Fraser and Dr. Stein cite 51% as qualifying for free lunches for Pratt) and this is certainly not reflective of the District as a whole: Student Demographics (2002-2003) District Pratt 3rd Grade (MCA Test Takers) White 26% 75% Asian American 14% 25% African American 43% 0% Hispanic American 13% 0% Native American 4% 0% FoRL 68% 19% ELL 23% 13% To imply that these test results reflect anything special about Pratt other than a unique set of demographics is disingenuous at best. It should be noted that Pratt uses the same curriculum, philosophy, and teachers as the rest of the District. If there are any factors that make Pratt standout it's parent involvement and (for last year's 3rd grade) smaller than average class sizes. It's unclear if the same class sizes can be duplicated equally to other parts of the District and the same may be true of parent involvement (although I think that the MPS should at least have an active parent involvement program). What brothers me most about the campaign to save Pratt is that people we would normally expect to approach the issue with integrity, don't seem to have given these issues much thought. Some parents, of those who are still speaking to me, are willing to concede that the statistics may be distorted, but seem to think of these tactics as a necessary evil and they are unwilling to denounce their misapplication. Indeed, it seems that I am evil for pointing out their lack of validity Previously, I would have believed that liberal Democrats with a sense of social justice would have moral qualms about using misinformation to achieve political objectives, but I've since learned that, for some people, the means are subordinate to the ends, that ethics are situationally relative, and that by moving into a neighborhood one is expected to subjugate their values to the will of the most vocal. Michael Atherton Prospect Park 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. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
