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

[Michael Atherton]

Dan McGuire wrote:

>  Is correlation and cause the same thing?  In other words, 
>  when that more accurate and detailed study gets done, it 
>  would be useful to establish if the more experienced teachers 
>  cause the racial differences or if the racial differences cause 
>  the more experienced teachers to move.  The same kind of cause 
>  and effect analysis could benefit the discussion about the 
>  achievement gap - do more experienced teachers lessen the gap, 
>  or does the lesser gap attract more experienced teachers?  My 
>  unscientific observation would be that it's some of both.  
>  And then the question is, What changes should be made and 
>  how should they be made?
>  
>  And when we discover the answer to these questions we can 
>  call it the Minneapolis Model and spread the good news all 
>  over the planet, via e-democracy, of course.

I'm trying not to get my street dander up here, but in a personal sense 
who gives a flying patuidy what causes more experienced teachers
to avoid teaching Black students?  The result is a social injustice
that each teacher should hold themselves individually accountable 
for.  From a Black parent's perspective (speaking rhetorically) 
why would I care what causes teachers to avoid providing a quality 
education for my child?  Maybe it's because they're racist or maybe 
they just what their classrooms to be more "pleasant."  I don't care, 
I just want my child to have the same educational opportunities as White 
kids.  So I'd either try to get them into a "White" school, or move them 
to a charter.  Do people really need to know what specific changes occur 
in DNA before they quit smoking?

So okay, from an organizational and management perspective it would
be useful to know why there are smaller percentages of experienced
teachers educating Black students, but that doesn't relieve the
Minneapolis Public Schools or the teachers' union from their 
responsibility that their services are qualitatively different for 
students of different races.  

Robert P. Goldman writes:

> The question is, "what should we do about this?"  I've heard a bunch
> of suggestions that boil down to "force more experienced teachers into
> high-poverty schools."  I would prefer not to do this, because it
> damages the other schools, and may just drive yet more teachers out of
> the system.

Rewind to 1957 in the Old South,  "We all don't want to integrate
because it will damage the schools and just drive teachers out
of the system."  Federal troops were required to provide justice
for Black students then.  Sometimes, there are higher moral necessities
that supersede practical concerns.

If in the America of the 21st century we cannot find a solution to
equalize the delivery of educational services then we have failed as 
a free and democratic society.  And there is no need to fail. As
an individual I can come up with any number of possible solutions,
none of which will be entirely pleasant for teachers, but so what.

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park