[Mpls] Doug Grow's Mythology

[Michael Atherton]

Britt Robson wrote:

> This is not an either/or issue. Is the overall quality of education
> adversely affected in a major way by BOTH an increasingly inequitable
> economic system and an understandably selfish but still covertly (and
> overtly) racist jiggering of the education bureaucracy by well-to-do,
> enclave-oriented MPS parents? Absolutely.

I'm certainly not claiming that poverty is not a contributing
factor to low academic acheivement, although I would claim that
it's more culture than family income.  What I am saying is that
it's socially irresponsible for the public schools to throw up their 
hands and say that there's nothing they can do, when in fact there are 
many things they can do and are not doing.

> There is one more thing I want to add that may or may not be 
> within the scope of this list. Just as Mr. Atherton correctly 
> warns us not to place too much stock in individual success stories 
> that obscure the more general failures when it comes to pupil 
> achievement, I would ask him to cite urban school systems that 
> have effectively achieved the kind of broad-based reforms he clamors 
> for, to the point of producing quantifiable, broad-based
> success for the vast majority of its students. This will either 
> provide us with examples that MPS might emulate, or expose the 
> possibility that the gross economic inequities that Mr. Atherton 
> blithely assumes will always be with us are in fact part of an 
> intractable problem when it comes to creating system-wide achievement 
> in schools disproportionately comprised of poor and/or non-white students.
> I'm really not trying to start an argument here; just attempting to
> stimulate some debate.

Well, it's surprising to me that any District in the country is
doing well given the culture of failure in the public schools
and the lobbying strength of the teachers' unions.  Nevertheless,
to answer your challenge I've included links to the articles
below, however I wasn't able to find a good statistical 
analysis of the reasons for their success, but maybe this is
the school district that Pawlenty and Peebles should be visiting. ;-)

I've been trying to get the Star Tribune to do an article on
public school successes for years, I wonder why they've never
taken up the challenge. ;-o

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park


California District Earns Top Urban Prize
http://www.districtadministration.com/page.cfm?p=550#31

Long Beach Unified School District is the top urban district in the nation--showing the best overall improvement in student
achievement and reducing achievement gaps across ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students, according to the Broad
Foundation. 

Long Beach schools won the Broad Prize for Urban Education in September. Last year's prize went to Houston Independent School
District.

The winning district receives $500,000 toward college scholarships or other post-secondary education for students. The four finalist
districts--Boston Public Schools, Garden Grove (Calif.) Unified School District, Jefferson County (Ky.) Public Schools and Norfolk
(Va.) Public Schools--each receive $125,000 for scholarships.

STATS 
Long Beach Unified School District
Schools: 95
Students: 96,488
Annual Budget: $840 million
Superintendent: Christopher Steinhauser
Students Eligible for Free/Reduced Price School Lunch: 69%
Student Designated as English-Language Learners: 36%
Summer Migrant Students: 1.5%
Students with Individual Ed. Plans: 7.7%
47.2% Hispanic
15.3% Black
34.6% White 

http://www.lbusd.k12.ca.us/broad_prize/broad_article7.asp
"The Long Beach Unified School District, with 97,000 students, is the third largest school district in California. The fact that the
prize went to a California school district is especially noteworthy considering the state's record budget deficit and reduced school
funding over the past two years."

http://www.ourpublicschools.org/state_of_success/data/Spotlight_R6_T9.htm

http://www.lindasanchez.house.gov/index.cfm?section=news&article=2003_10_15_0227