Students, parents choose schools

by Jennifer Harris

The deadline for choosing a school in Minneapolis this year is Jan. 15. Parents of students entering kindergarten, as well as those who wish to change schools, need to have their notification card mailed in by that date to ensure they are included in the first round of consideration.
This choice is difficult for any parent. There is a lot of information available, but often it seems contradictory. How can you be sure you’ve made the right decision?
Although the Information Fair is over, parents can request information from the South Minneapolis Area Welcome Center by calling 668-5085. This will tell you which schools you can choose from; although you can choose from almost any school in Minneapolis, and indeed in Minnesota, there are only a few that the district will provide transportation to. Most homes in Minneapolis, but not all, have a community school where they have priority to get in. There are also many different magnet schools, including Montessori, Fine Arts, various world languages, science and the environment.
All schools hold tours, so call the schools you’re interested in and find out when you can go. This is an often overlooked part of the process, but it can be helpful.
There is also a great deal of information available on-line, which can be accessed from any public library or from your home computer. But be sure that when you look at test scores, you consider all factors.
For instance, the state recently released its report showing which Title I schools are and are not making adequate progress on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test. Title I is a federal program that provides funds for schools with a high percentage of students living in poverty. The government requires that states find a way to show that this money is being put to good use, and Minnesota uses MCA scores. All students in Minnesota take the MCA in the third and fifth grade in reading and math, and fifth graders also take a writing test. If a student scores 1420 points on the test, it is 95 percent likely that he or she will pass the Minnesota Basic Standards test on the first try in the eighth grade. Schools with average scores below this on any of the tests were given a 6 year schedule of target scores to catch up, 1/6th of the way each year. If a school misses this mark two years in a row, they are not making adequate yearly progress (AYP). They are given extra money and assistance in examining their teaching practices and curriculum, among other things. If a school still fails to improve, there may eventually be some sanctions from the state.
For parents with a child who will be attending a Minneapolis school this coming fall, how should they use this information? The recently released report “Measuring Up,” which is available at schools and through the school district, provides better information. As a requirement of the settlement between the Minneapolis Public Schools and the NAACP, schools are rated from 1-5 on a wide variety of factors, including the percentage of students showing one year or more of progress on test scores, long-term progress on test scores, attendance, and student and parent attitudes about each school. Many of the schools rated highly on this assessment are among those not making adequate yearly progress, which is confusing until you look at factors such as student mobility—on average, 40% of students in Minneapolis change schools during the year—and the high percentage of students who speak a language other than English at home. The rating considers long-term student progress, the gains made by each ethnic group both this year and in years past, and improvement in attendance over two years. So it is not a moment in time, like a snapshot. It looks at a school over time, giving parents and the community a better understanding of the education students are getting.
One other thing about the school choices in Minneapolis: students of color are much less likely than white students to take advantage of this opportunity. It is vital to our community that all families feel like they have control over their children’s education. Parental involvement is one of the key factors in student education, and choosing which school your children will attend is the first step. Remember, the deadline to turn in your school choice cards is Jan. 15, 2002.

The “Texas Miracle”

One of President Bush’s top campaign issues was education. He repeatedly referred to the "Texas Miracle," where once teachers were held accountable for their students test scores, those scores shot way up. However, whether it's a miracle or not is open for debate.
The Rand Educational Institute published a study of the Texas results on both its own state test and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAES). From 1994 through 1998, students showed dramatic improvements on the Texas Assessment of Academic Schools (TAAS). Students of color, in particular, made great headway in closing the gap between their scores and the scores of white students.
However, on the NAES, overall Texas scores increased only as much as the rest of the nation did, and the gap between white and minority students is actually bigger than it was at first.
How is this possible? Teachers in Texas report spending much more time preparing for standardized testing than teachers in other states do. Schools that performed poorly the year before spend even more time. This leaves less time for all other learning. And since the questions on the TAAS are published every year and always similar to the year before, teachers prepare students mainly for what they know will be on the test. Many of the lower-scoring schools are in urban and largely minority areas, so often those schools in particular focus on this one test. There have also been documented cases where teachers cheated to improve their scores.
This is not to say that test scores should not be considered when judging schools, of course. But it does show that many other factors determine the quality of education at any given school.