Steve Sumner (home) wrote:
> >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".
Yes, standard measurements, particularly minimum measurements, are important.
Our kids need to meet a basic standard. But Wellstone--and presumably Carol
Johnson--are also right. One standardized test does not a student measure.
There's more going on in the student's head that can be measured and should be
measured in addition to the standardized test results. So a kid can pass the
tandards test, what about the kid's social skills--that will be necessary to get
a job and keep it too. How about problem solving when the problem isn't just a
mathematical answer? How about ingenuity? A kid needs that to advance in
life. How about self-confidence? Ability to defend a position when necessary.
>
>
> 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!
We can shout all day about parents parenting, but we also have to face the fact
that some parents just don't have the stuff for parenting--maybe they weren't
well-parented. Maybe they won't parent like their parents did, but don't know
another alternative. If we want to bring all the kids along to good grades and
a good future, people are going to have to step in when parents don't parent.
How does that happen?
> 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.
At the time busing was instituted as a "solution" to segregated schools, it
didn't really have the ability to solve the problem. What was needed was
subsidies to move bunches of families of color into all white neighborhoods and
keep community schools. At the time we did not have the political will to opt
for the long term solution, hence busing. Because "we the people" allowed a
non-solution then, we are paying the price now. Busing wasn't ever designed to
solve anything, just to make us feel like we were doing something.
> 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.
In a country that runs almost entirely on a money economy, maybe our best bet is
to pay kids to learn. Then it's their job with rewards they can touch at the
end. Just a suggestion.
>
>
> Steve Sumner
> Ward 1
> Involved Parent
