"This is off topic but I thought of you when I was introduced to a new organization called takechargemn.com. Their purpose is to help the black community and they seemed to have a similar philosophy as you on how this can be done. It was started by Kendall Quall. Molly"
Molly, I love when folks give me new topics, especially when the news feed is slow. :-)
I agree with much of their concepts / mission, however their education statement is questionable at best..
"Over 50 percent of black students in Minneapolis public schools perform below state and national averages while black students from the same neighborhood that attend Ascension, Cristo Rey, and Hope Academy, private faith-based schools, perform above state and national averages of all students. These schools have waiting lists from desperate parents. Government agencies should not hinder impoverished parents of their choice of schools when local public schools fail students academically. We believe that choice in education is a civil right. Clear and concise options should be given to parents and students on the routes to prosperity through college education as well as certification via trade schools."
Why can't these idiots just be honest and consistent when writing statements? Trying to compare schools where many of the parents do not prioritize learning to schools where they do drives me crazy. It is like comparing North Mpls to Wayzata.
But stressing strong families is definitely Job 1...
213 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 213 of 213"The parent(s) have choices, just not the one you want." Please, please, offer an explanation that will prevent me from calling that an outright lie. Here you go, working mother of three, barely getting by, leaves her kids at the church pre-school while she works. The local public school gets about 30% of its kids meeting the performance standards. What are her choices? Move to the suburb? Find a /public/ charter school that may do better or worse? Pay thousands for a private/ parochial school? Homeschool? What? Name it.
Move, Open enroll, Charter, Magnet, Public School, Private School scholarship, Home school, Marry up, Move in with Parents, Other
So many options, even for the poor. God Bless America !!!!
"The parents have choices, just not the one you want." Before I label that an outright lie, why do you not convince me just what these fabulous "choices" are? Say for a working mother of two, just getting by, who leaves her kids at the church pre-school while she works. Her choices seem to be: the public school, where only 30% of the kids achieve at grade level, or a public charter school, which as we know may be better or worse. Homeschooling, or moving to the suburbs or paying for a private school are simply not among her choices, UNLESS she is given the means for the latter. Or maybe you know where to find this magic public school that suddenly becomes so much better, just because you wish it to be so?
And you keep complaining private and parochial schools do not measure results. That appears also to be a lie, but understandable since they generally outperform public schools and that is supposed to be (shhh) a secret. Parents know this and that is why, GIVEN a choice, they choose to leave the public school. See here NAEP
I want the demographics and results..
By individual school.
Just like what we have for the publics.
Unless you are scared they are not doing as well as the publics. :-)
How can YOU not find the results that others easily find? Why do YOU get to decide what results are or are not acceptable, rather than parents? And WHY do you care so much about demographics? If these schools succeed with SOME kids, why should YOU deny those kids the right to a better education?
"Some" have been succeeding for decades / centuries, that is why we have a gap.
Exactly. So your fear is that the public schools cannot teach the captive audience unless you also make captives of those who would "succeed anyway." How perfectly socialist-- to create equity not by raising the bottom but by pulling down the top. We have a gap, I point out, under the current situation, where black kids do not get taught as well, to the extent this gap is larger than any other state in the country. You don't make that better without raising up the bottom achievers. If you are not willing to let them seek that improvement elsewhere, then what magic wand are you going to wave to improve them where they are? And don't give me that pre-school nonsense. I want to know what you will do for the third grader that cannot read today?
I have given you solutions, you just do not like them.
And this is incorrect. "where black kids do not get taught as well"
They all start behind, and they finished behind... Seems about correct.
What solutions have you offered for improving the schools? If the kids who "start behind finish behind" then why send them to school at all? You insist on rewarding failure.
And it lS correct to say black kids do not get taught as well. That is one of the things we measure, and the result is the largest achievement gap for black kids in the country. You would think an "excellent" MN school system could do better than that. Have you offered ANYTHING, or seen anything, that would close that gap for kids already in the school system?
You send them to school or they would still be at a 2 year old academic level instead of a 15 year old academic level...
Sorry I have given up on the kids in school... The HCZ early experiences showed that it was too late...
So it is not possible for schools to be better than they are? Or one school better than another? Everything before kindergarten determines where they will end up 12 years later? So why is it that those kids who voucher out do better?
It doesn't even make sense. If the schools cannot close the achievement gap, that is, cannot help kids overcome whatever initial handicap they may have started with (and I remind you I have seen it happen time and again) then we need to let parents find a school that CAN. Even a test score "tie" with the public schools, if chosen by parents, is "Better."
But what really concerns me is that you want to concentrate on improving the "raw material" that goes into the schools-- fixing all the known social ills. My question is, WHEN are you going to start all this? Leaving aside the question of how, If the schools are creating a huge achievement gap based solely on race, which you cannot change, what will you change about the SCHOOL so it does not continue to create this gap?
I have NO PROOF that those who voucher out do better.
And if they do, it is likely because they get moved to a school like Wayzata that has more resources, fewer special education kids, families that value academic achievement and are willing to work for it.
Of course your whole causal premise is flawed, therefore so is your proposed solution.
"schools are creating a huge achievement gap based solely on race"
Or are you saying that the police are responsible for arresting and killing so many black, brown, native american and poor people. Maybe we should privative the police?
Post a Comment