>From the Minneapolis School Board
"MINNEAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE ENCOURAGE DEPARTMENT
OF CHILDREN FAMILIES AND LEARNING TO USE MORE THAN ONE INDICATOR TO
DETERMINE STUDENT SUCCESS".
Hello Mr. Wellstone, they are called standard measurements for a reason.
This is the same failed thinking that has been abolished by schools all over
the state. "We need more than one test because we don't look good enough by
the one that requires standard measurements".
This clip comes directly from the school board's communications department
..
"At a December 20 news conference, MPS Superintendent Carol R. Johnson
and U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone criticized the state's list of
underperforming schools and stressed a single test score cannot measure
the complexities of educating children in urban districts. The state
used a single indicator – performance on the Minnesota Comprehensive
Assessment tests – to measure a school's progress or “success.” Schools
that are not projected to reach 1420 on the MCAs within six years, based
on a comparison of different schools across time, were targeted as “need
improvement" on a list released December 20. Twenty-one out of the 56
schools on the list are Minneapolis public schools. “After more than
five years of building one of the toughest accountability systems in the
state, I can stand here and tell you that in a large urban district like
Minneapolis our teachers and students work incredibly hard," said
Superintendent Johnson at the press conference."
Yes, teachers and students "work" really hard, but there are a number of
issues that need to be addressed.
1. Increase parental involvement. Kids need the parents engaged in the
learning process. NO amount of money is going to affect this, and there
isn't anything the school board or the "administration" can do to solve it.
Parents...be parents!
2. Stick the money that the system already gets into the classrooms. Stop
spending the money on non education related items such as YMCAs, etc....
3. Lower transportation costs. Do we really need all this busing? Don't
think so! NAACP lawsuit transportation costs big time $$. Shipping kids
from one end of the city to the other, insane.
4. Lower administration costs. Stop playing the shell game with the numbers
to make the administration costs look good. According to the school board
the administration can't be cut anymore, because it already is cut lower
that a major corporation would be spending on admin. B as in B, S as in S.
The true numbers aren't represented correctly in the report.
5. Keeping focused on what works. Forget all the "feel good" methods. Give
these kids a solid base to start from, and lift up the ones that are gifted
to more advanced programs.
There are great Minneapolis schools, and there are those that just plain
stink to high heaven. The difference is a steady hand on the administration
tiller, parents that are involved in the school and their child's work, and
a teaching staff that keeps their eyes focused on the one and only
goal...teaching kids.
Steve Sumner
Ward 1
Involved Parent
