[Rhodes22-list] Some Public School Programs Work Pretty Well
Roger Pihlaja
cen09402 at centurytel.net
Thu Oct 7 13:24:35 EDT 2004
Todd,
The state of Michigan is using the MEAP test results here as well to force
public school districts to show "continuous improvement" year over year or
face a state BOE take-over. I've not heard of anyone using the MEAP test
results in a racial context yet. But, there are plenty of school districts
in trouble for not achieving their continuous improvement milestones.
Between the MEAP guidelines, unfunded no child left behind mandates, plus
shrinking enrollments, shrinking local tax revenues, & shrinking state tax
money due to the poor economy, it can't be much fun to work in a public
school these days.
Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
----- Original Message -----
From: "Todd Tavares" <sprocket80 at mail.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 12:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Some Public School Programs Work Pretty Well
>
> Roger,
>
> We HAD something like that here in Maryland, called the MSPAP. I
> was initally to used to gage how well the schools were teaching the
> pupils. The schools had to pass and each year show an improvement or
> face take-over by the state BOE.
>
> We unfortunately did not reap such positive results. Instead, the
> results were twisted and used by a certain racially based "lobbyist"
> group (no names here), to show that minority children did universally
> worse than their white counterparts. The test was supposed to be
> blind and the children's sex, ethnic and economic information was
> never to be recorded...but it was.
>
> A committee was formed by the state Board of Ed to find out why
> the minority children....all except a group named the "Asian/Pacific
> Islander Group"...were scoring poorly. The committee spent two years
> and generated a 208 page report. I studied the report in painstaking
> detail. The conclusion was 11 reasons grouped into three main root
> causes. Poverty, Lack of parental involvement, and low self esteem.
> When explaining why the Asian/Pacific Islander Group children (approx
> 2%) scored consistently highest in all grades and genders, the
> committee came up with a statement..to paraphrase it...It is widely
> known that Asian students are generally the smarter.
>
> Poverty meant that the children were under nourished, could not
> buy paper and pencils, etc. Lack of parental involvement is
> self-explanatory. Low self esteem was sort of a catch-all for every
> other excuse. Low self esteem came from low self worth in males
> because of the absence of a male role model in the home setting;
> and the instructional material did not reflect enough people of color
> or their heritage. That is about the only point I could have agreed
> with. etc, etc, etc.
>
> The state budgeted monies and came up with very loose guidelines
> for the counties to follow as far as what types of programs and
> activities to provide to the minoritiy students. This money was to
> specifically help only minority students who were scoring poorly. The
> counties in turn passed the money out to the schools and left it up to
> individual principals to decide how to use it. (within the vague
> guidelines mandated by the state BOE) There was no accountability at
> all. At my sons' elementary school there was free breakfast and
> lunch for minority children, free before and after daycare for
> minority children, they had the "BBC'......the black boys club which
> held field trips, pizza parties and more exclusively for "african
> american" students. Hispanic, Asian and all other minority students
> were excluded....community mentoring and big brother programs, etc.
> The principal was African American, and she too k all of the money
> given out by the state, all money budgeted for the gifted and talented
> program, and even bullied the PTA into opening their accounts to her
> for the stealing.
>
> One of the county Board of Ed members is a friend of ours. When she
> spoke out against the testing and kept her children home during that
> week, she was publicly censured by the Board, received a gag order
> and was threatened with legal action for not having her children at
> in school.
>
> Thankfully so much negative publicity was generated that the state
> stopped this particular test. Now we have "No Child Left Behind" and
> no funding.
>
> My brother and sister-in-law have their daughter in a Catholic
> school. There are less programs and resources available than in public
> schools. They face a different set of problems though. My niece did
> not do very well last year, but she was advanced anyway. When I was
> discussing this with my brother-in-law, he reasoned that she must have
> done enough or she would not have been advanced to the next grade. I
> could not contain my laughter. I looked him in the eye and asked, "Do
> you think they would admit that they dropped the ball on educating
> your daughter and then look you in the eye and ask for another $6000
> to repeat the sixth grade? Come on!!"
>
> Schooling is like anything else. You only get out what you put
> in. We stay very involved with our kids schooling. -proactive and
> not reactiveand so far it has paid-off.
>
> Todd
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roger Pihlaja"
> Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 08:22:27 -0400
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list"
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Some Public School Programs Work Pretty Well
> > Here in Michigan, we have a test called the Michigan Education
> Assessment Program (MEAP). It tests skills in math, science, reading,
> writing, and critical thinking. Students that score highly in the 9th,
> 10th, 11th, & 12th grades on all sections of the MEAP test can earn up
> to $3000 towards attending a Michigan college. Our older son, Daniel,
> maxed out on the MEAP award money & it helped tremendously in paying
> for his college at Northern Michigan University (NMU). So far, our
> younger son, Gary, is on track to max out as well. I've seen the MEAP
> test & it seems like a pretty reasonable tool to access a student's
> level of development. But, the MEAP test has been controversial here
> in Michig an as well. Lots of educators don't like it for all the
> reasons cited in the earlier posts on this subject.
> >
> > Schools of choice also seems to work pretty well here in Michigan.
> Again, both of our sons have benefited. We live in the Meridian School
> District, a rural area that is not very wealthy. Meridian High School
> does not have a very good vocational education program. However, they
> supplement their program by participating in a magnet school program
> with the Bay-Arenac Skill Center, located in Bay City, MI. Note that
> the Bay-Arenac Skill Center is located in another county, about 30
> miles away. The Meridian School District pays tuition and provides bus
> transportation for our students to & from the Bay-Arenac Skill Center.
> The program is a half day, 5 days/week. Meridian High School students
> either take their morning or afternoon classes at Meridian and then
> the other half of the school day at the Bay-Arenac Skill Center.
> Daniel took 2 years of Computer Aided Design classes at the Bay-Arenac
> Skill Center, which has been very helpful in his Graphic
> Arts/Electronic Imaging major up at NMU. Gary has benefited from this
> program even more than Daniel. Last year, Gary took his first year of
> Criminal Justice at the Bay-Arenac Skill Center and earned 6 college
> credits. This year, Gary is in his 2nd year of the Criminal Justice
> program and will earn 6 more college credits. A major portion of
> Gary's 2nd year in the Criminal Justice program involves doing a
> series of internships with various law enforcement agencies in the
> area. These internships come in 9-week blocks & were setup thru the
> Bay-Arenac Skill Center. For example, right now, Gary is doing
> ride-alongs with the Midland City Police Dept. in 12 hour shifts.
> Sometimes, he comes back from these ride-alongs with some hair-raising
> tales! His next assignment will be with the Michigan State Police
> Crime Scene Investigation Unit. Because of his class schedule and the
> 12 hour sh ift time commitment, this internship keeps Gary pretty busy
> on weekends. Finally, because Gary had already accumulated nearly all
> the credit hours required for graduation and scored very high on his
> MEAP tests in the 9th, 10th, & 11th grades, he is also taking 6 credit
> hours/semester at Delta College in classes which will count towards
> his Criminal Justice major. The only stipulation on the nature of
> these college classes was they had to be in subjects not offered at
> Meridian High School. The only class Gary actually takes at Meridian
> High School is a college prep English class. The Meridian School
> District is paying the tuition & other fees for all this! Naturally,
> with Gary's wild class schedule, he has to provide his own
> transportation. He's putting a lot of miles on his car this year &
> we're helping him with those expenses. By the time Gary graduates from
> high school next spring, he will have accumulated 24 college credits
> towards his BS degree in Criminal Ju stice. It's been like a defacto
> scholarship from the Meridian School District & he'll still get the
> $3000 MEAP money after graduation!
> >
> > How about that for creative use of tax dollars? When it comes to
> head count, I'm not certain who gets to count Gary - Meridian High
> School, the Bay-Arenac Skill Center, Delta College? Frankly, I don't
> care. I realise Gary's situation is pretty unusual. There are probably
> very few students with sufficient skills, maturity, & ambition to be
> able to handle a program like Gary's. But, it does illustrate the sort
> of things that are possible within the public school systems if
> administrators are allowed to be creative.
> >
> > Roger Pihlaja
> > S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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