[Mpls] Re: School Enrollment

[Socialist2001 at cs.com]

In a message dated 9/4/2004 12:51:17 PM Central Daylight Time, 
david at votedayhoff.org writes:

<< we must take action that gives people hope that something will be 
different and better next year than it was last year.  >>

In my opinion, the main systemic problems are high teacher turnover, a high 
concentration of probationary teachers in schools serving high poverty and / or 
high-minority neighborhoods, the tracking system, and no monitoring of the 
effectiveness of teachers and teaching practices based on student outcomes, 
especially closing the gap, which can be the basis of teacher improvement plans 
(and a mechanism for weeding the district's worst teachers). 

The solutions to those problems are pretty straightforward, but the political 
will to implement them is lacking. If the district really demonstrates a 
commitment to closing the gap without holding back the high-achievers, we will 
soon face a stampede of students INTO the district schools.

The current board members change the subject whenever the subject is fixing 
the schools. They want to talk about too many parents not doing their jobs, 
communities of color not valuing education, etc.  

-Doug Mann,