"Raising Student achievement for all kids of all backgrounds." is an important goal, as long as the limit of achievemnet is not set at some arbitrary basic or even low level. As I understand it, this is objective standard of "No Child left behind". Using a basic standard of achievement as the goal for all kids is more appropriatly called "No child gets ahead".
I am repeating something I said earlier, but I want to emphasize that, whether we have magnet or neighborhood schools, we should be teaching all kids in an an environment that lets them stretch to their full potential. This means that kids need to be separated into groups of higher performing, and lower performing students. A well prepared, bright, motivated kid should never have to sit through classes that are paced to allow the slowest to keep up. We don't advance the prospects of the slower learner by handicapping the faster learners. ALL kids deserve to be challenged. Thomas Conlon said: > > > I agree with Roxy about local control. I also believe that neighborhood > schools are essential to rebuilding community, increasing parental > involvement, pride in a local school and neighborhood, reducing (and in > some > cases eliminating) transportation costs and reinvesting those funds into > classrooms, and, I believe, will yield higher student achievement for all > groups of kids. Volunteer programs and mentoring from families, > faith-based > and other community organizations in then neighborhood are likely to > increase when it is a school close by that people know. > > Like it or not, No Child Left Behind, state standards, and our own local > accountability expectations have shifted us from the deseg issue of 1-2 > generations ago to the 21st Century issue: Raising Student achievement for > all kids of all backgrounds. To me, it makes sense to shift dollars from > transportation costs to the classroom where we can make more impact in > that > area. > -- Bob Treumann, Saint Paul Please Note: Replies to this email address all go to the trash except where the subject line contains a recognized mailing list identifier, such as [TCMETRO] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
