I am not trying to stir the pot on this thread but I have a real life situation to report here as it applies to the NCLB Act.
Whittier was on the AYP list for 3 years. For a variety of reason which I won't get into here. Last year the school was lucky enough to get a fabulous and I do mean fabulous new principal. He is young, energetic, enthusiastic and a real take charge sort of man. He is very focused on raising Whittier from the bottom tier and removing the typical stereotypes inner-city schools have. As part of our work on the Community Leadership Council we examined ways to address the low test scores and develop a plan to redesign the curriculum in an effort to raise test scores and diversify the student base. The other reason we looked at these issues was to allow the school to attract kids from families in the neighborhood that were currently sending their kids to other Minneapolis schools. A couple days ago, the school principal reported that 181 kids in Whittier were eligible to attend Whittier but instead were attending 31 different schools throughout the district. Part of the redesign of the curriculum is intended to encourage those parents to bring their kids back to Whittier. It is also our plan to be able to attract kids from the rest of the district as well. >From a neighborhood perspective we believe this change will allow us to attract families with young children into the neighborhood because we have great amenities. The CLC in coordination and with help of school district staff looked at and prepared an application to integrate the IB program into Whittier. There is another grade school over north that was also selected. The name escapes me now. The district and principal also prepared an application to the No Child Left Behind Act for several hundred thousand dollars to allow Whittier to successfully integrate this new curriculum into the school. The good news in the meantime is that Whittier is off the AYP list and is on the watch list. That too is for a variety of reasons. A more stable student base, the on-going dedication of really great teachers and support staff and the music and arts curriculum. The exciting part of this whole thing is that we are able to keep our best asset which is the music and arts partnership we have built and combine it with an internationally recognized curriculum. Without the NCLB funds Whittier would never have been able to integrate this program. The costs for training, text books and materials is steep and I don't think the school board could afford it on their own. So while I don't pretend to understand all that is involved with the NCLB I can tell you it is doing some good right here for an inner-city school in Minneapolis. Barb Lickness Whittier ===== "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead 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
