Mann for School Board | home
2004 Minneapolis school board election
by Doug Mann, 29 Oct 2004
Submitted to the Star-Tribune for publication on 28 October 2004
Demand a quality education for all on an equal basis!
Don't Settle for phony "No Child Left Behind" School Reforms
All of the district-run schools can be good schools
Make a college-bound education accessible to all
Five policy changes needed to improve and equalize the quality of
instruction in district-run schools:
*Stop excessive layoffs, which contribute to high teacher turnover
*Distribute probationary teachers evenly throughout the district
*Eliminate tracking / phase out "low-ability" tracks
*Monitor effectiveness of teachers & teaching practices
*Repeal the current attendance policy (revert to pre-1999 policy)
Updated 28 August 2004 (more about attendance policy)
Two reasons to eliminate tracking:
1) Small schools would generally be cost effective if tracking (by ability) were eliminated.
2) MPS data suggests that parents are likely to withdraw their children from the Minneapolis Public Schools if any of their children are assigned to a 'low-ability' track in the early elementary grades.
"Are you experienced? Teachers with less than three years of experience are twice as likely to work in schools with high proportions of minority and low income students, yet students learn better under teachers with five or more years of experience." [two sources cited] September 2004
In a 1997 report, "Doing What Matters Most: Investing in quality teaching," Linda Darlington Hammond cited an analysis of data from 900 Texas school districts by Ronald Ferguson and others, which concluded that about 40% of the variance in measured achievement in math and English in grades 1 to 11 can be attributed to teacher expertise, as measured by scores on licensing exams, master's degrees, and years of experience.
For screening by Local 59, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers
by Doug Mann, 25 August 2005 (message to Mpls. issues list)
background, endorsements, essay - published 28 August 2004
Caution: The Star-Tribune web site has pop-up ads
by Britt Robson, 22 Sept. 2004 , [link to] City Pages
Why I am running as a write- in candidate
by Doug Mann, 22 Sept. 2004
