[Mpls] Teacher experience,student poverty: The Numbers!

[Michael Atherton]

Note: This is a rough analysis.  I have not double checked 
the data entry or the computations. The selection of
elementary schools is a biased (non-random) sample. This 
analysis should also really be done by numbers of students, 
not percentages.  However, what this analysis does imply is 
that a more accurate and detailed study is called for.

For those of you who don't understand correlation. An "R"
shows the strength of relationship with a number between
0 and 1.  0 indicates no relationship, 1 a perfect 
relationship (whenever one thing occurs so does the other).
A negative R indicates that as one thing goes up, the other
goes down (e.g., the larger the percentage of Black students, 
the smaller the percentage of teachers with more than 10
years of experience).

The important thing to notice is that at every level
schools with higher percentages of Black students appear
to have fewer experienced teachers and schools with
higher percentages of White students appear to have more.

In a perfect world we would expect to see no relationship
between race and teacher experience.  I had expected to
see much smaller correlations, ranging from 0 to 3.  The
fact that these are much higher should be enough to
initiate a city wide debate on this issue.

If this data is not formatted let me know and I'll send
you a copy of the spreadsheet.  Note: For the statistically
savvy, I think I should have used an "r", but "R" is more 
readable.

Please feel free to note errors and offer corrections,
but I don't think that there's anything big enough to
invalidate the implication that students in the most need
of good teaching in Minneapolis, don't get it (if good
teaching can be measured by years of experience!).

On a personal note, if I was the parent of a Black
student I'd be really really angry. And so much for
the "It's the Parents" argument.  We were discussing
the responsibility of teachers anyway.  Why don't
we try to stick to that topic?

And, for all of my neighbors in Prospect Park who
don't have a clue why I thought that Pratt Elementary
should be a Charter school that would have been open
to everyone, this is why.  Talk about social justice!

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park

Drawn from the DOE website:

	         	    White	 Black	Years of Exp			
	        	   Students	Students	<3	>10		
District	      	27.3%	 42.5%	8.0%	56.0%		
						
W. HARRY DAVIS		1.3%	54.0%		6.0%	21.0%	R(Black,>10)= -0.37
HALL				2.5%	75.3%		4.0%	24.0%	R(White,>10)= 0.55
JORDAN PARK			2.9%	59.6%		8.0%	24.0%		
NELLIE STONE 		2.5%	58.5%		8.0%	31.0%		
GREEN CENTRAL PARK	2.7%	37.1%		2.0%	42.0%		
PHILLIPS  			2.9%	16.7%		2.0%	51.0%		
LYNDALE			10.2%	60.5%		3.0%	52.0%		
BURROUGHS			71.3%	4.0%		0.0%	56.0%		
LORING			29.0%	45.3%		4.0%	56.0%		
LINCOLN EL. 		1.8%	71.3%		6.0%	58.0%		
NORTH STAR			3.5%	74.7%		2.0%	59.0%		
LAKE HARRIET UPPER	82.4%	8.6%		0.0%	62.0%		
ARMATAGE 			58.3%	24.2%		0.0%	65.0%		
KENNY				52.7%	27.3%		7.0%	68.0%		
BETHUNE 			0.0%	72.5%		6.0%	69.0%		
LAKE HARRIET LOWER 	85.5%	3.9%		0.0%	76.0%		
PILLSBURY EL		32.9%	46.4%		0.0%	89.0%		
						
FRANKLIN MID		27.3%	75.1%		13.0%	29.0%	R(Black,>10)= -0.79
OLSON MID			12.5%	57.0%		14.0%	32.0%	R(White,>10)= 0.57
ANTHONY MID			50.2%	38.4%		0.0%	37.0%		
FOLWELL MID			12.3%	39.8%		2.0%	40.0%		
NORTHEAST MID		35.6%	36.5%		8.0%	44.0%		
Field Community 		56.1%	26.6%		8.0%	47.0%		
SANFORD MID			55.0%	33.0%		3.0%	50.0%		
ANWATIN MID			29.7%	49.5%		7.0%	47.0%		
						
NORTH				3.4%	72.3%		9.0%	39.0%	R(Black,>10)= -0.49
HENRY SR.			15.5%	49.7%		9.0%	27.0%	R(White,>10)= 0.67
ROOSEVELT SR.		19.1%	50.1%		7.0%	46.0%		
EDISON SR.			20.3%	51.3%		2.0%	48.0%		
SOUTH 			55.7%	24.0%		2.0%	56.0%		
SOUTHWEST			56.2%	17.6%		2.0%	50.0%		
WASHBURN SR. 		33.1%	48.0%		2.0%	56.0%