[Mpls] "Unlearning racism.." / 8 point plan to close the gap

[Socialist2001 at cs.com]

In a message dated 5/28/2004 12:04:17 PM Central Daylight Time, 
ken_jorissen at yahoo.com writes:

<< So you are saying there are lying (even if to themselves) white racists 
that
 are actively and possibly coconsciouslyeeking to keep a wide racial learning
 gap. And (I'll stop full quoting here because data is data) you point to
 seemingly credible data about the effects of "ability-grouping and curriculum
 tracking" and resource disparities between the mostly white and mostly black
 schools on the racial learning gap. You then say that those two mechanisms 
were
 and are used to  keep the racial learning gap wide. That is all very 
possible.
 
 As a candidate for the school board you want to do what? 
  >>
I want to be a voice for school reforms that can close the gap. Here are 8 
reforms which the board could implement, given a critical mass of support within 
the school community in Minneapolis, and which would have the greatest impact:

1) Use testing to diagnose problems with schools and with individual 
students, not to pick winners and losers. We need to fix the school system, not 
downsize it.

2) Promote instruction for the general student population based on a 
college-bound curriculum and individualized educational planning, not 
'ability-grouping' and watering down the curriculum for most students. 

3) Provide special education services whenever appropriate to any student who 
is not thriving academically, and not wait until a student is performing two 
grade levels below minimum expectations for a 'normal' child of their age, or 
a comparable disparity between paired cognitive ability and achievement tests, 
which have been used by other districts to assess teacher effectiveness. A 
formal Individual educational planning process should be initiated with any 
student who is not thriving academically. Current policy in this area driven by 
rules for reimbursement of special education services by the state of MN. 

4) Teaching positions filled by non-tenured teachers (those employed by the 
district for less than 3 years) should be distributed evenly throughout the 
districts schools, assigning the less experienced teachers to schools where the 
level of teacher expertise is above average.

5) Promote integration rather than segregation of the student population by 
class and race when drawing school attendance boundaries, when making decisions 
about where the schools should be, and any other decision that would have a 
significant impact of the class and racial composition of a school. 

6) Repeal the school attendance policy adopted in 1999, which has been 
driving students out of the district and helping to raise test scores by driving a 
disproportionately large number of poor-performing students out of the 
district's schools rather than by helping to improve their test scores.

7) Repeal the district's "pay for performance" policy, which gives teachers 
financial incentives for taking some professional development courses and not 
others, rather than giving teachers pay increases linked to years of employment 
and additional education and training. Encourage teachers to decide for 
themselves what they need to learn in order to maximize their effectiveness as 
teachers!

8) I recommend that the board offer to amend the teachers contact to 
strengthen teacher tenure rights by a) adding language which recognizes the right of 
non-tenured teachers to appeal any decision to terminate their employment, 
which may be done only for cause; b) add language that requires the administration 
to fully inform teachers of their appeal rights, including time limits, when 
given notice of a layoff or forced transfer. c) add language that invalidates 
any layoff or forced transfer due to the elimination of a teaching position if 
the decision to eliminate the position is subsequently reversed.

-Doug Mann, King Field
Minneapolis School Board Candidate
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