RAS 2009 AYP Results

For more details:
MN Dept of Education 2009 AYP Site

Unfortunately Forest did not make AYP this year, so we are down to 2.... Forest only missed Spec Ed Math proficiency, so they are still doing an INCREDIBLE job !!!!

Now remember, before you start ranting about how RAS is failing terribly.... The primary areas of failure are scattered across the Special Education, Free & Reduced Lunch, Minorities, and Limited English Proficiency. Also, the standards are rising far faster than the funding. So take some time and study the data closely(like DJ's Test Scores), then ask:

• What additional funding are we willing to provide? (ie helping kids from challenged families costs big dollars, you have to undo the damage/habits that has been done/formed in the pre-K years)
• What Priority 4 programs, transportation, etc are we willing to cut to improve these results? (ie move money from the lucky to the challenged) (priorities)(lucky)(patriot)
• Will we choose to leave the challenging kids, schools and district behind? (ie just move to a less challenged and diverse school/district)
• Do we as a community accept that a group of our kids are not meeting the academic standards? Or as a community do we choose to do something about it?

During the next couple of weeks I'll be posting regarding AYP and why it is critically important for the good of the community and country.

I once wrote that I would not run for school board because who would vote for someone that wants to cut programs and raise taxes. Unfortunately, I still believe that is a key aspect of turning around these AYP results.

The question is how far are willing to go to help these kids? Remember, ~4,800 of the kids attending RAS are on the free and reduced lunch program. This is an indicator of the challenge our district faces. It will be interesting to see how different groups react to these new results.

Thoughts welcome as always.