Mann for School Board

Mann for School Board

www.educationright.com

===================================================

Education is a Right, Not a Privilege!

===================================================

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

Pro-working class policies for the Minneapolis Public Schools

by Doug Mann, 11 Feb 2005 (Letter to the Minneapolis NAACP branch)

by Doug Mann, 11 Feb 2005

By Doug Mann, 9 March 2005

Executive Committee member-at-large, Minneapolis NAACP branch

by Doug Mann (one of the whistle-blowers), 26 March 2003

at March 25, 2005 informational meeting ***Includes text of letter dated

June 30, 2003 from Evelyn Eubanks, Resigned chair of The Parent Information

Centers Commission, to Barbara Zohn, MN Department of Education, PIC project

dated July 10 & 31, 2003

by Doug Mann, 28 March 2005 (also posted at mpls issues list)

by Doug Mann, 01 April 2005

re: Did the Minneapolis NAACP loan $85,000 for investment in grocery stores

without a written agreement to repay?

by Ron Edwards, 04 April 2005, theminneapolisstory.com

by Doug Mann, 6 April 2005

Minneapolis NAACP branch audit & hidden records

by Doug Mann, 05 April 2005

Post to Minneapolis Issues list by Doug Mann, 19 February 2005

Report prepared for (and approved by) the March 17, 2005 Special Meeting

of the Minneapolis NAACP Branch Executive Committee

by Doug Mann, 16 March 2005

by Doug Mann, 5 March 2005

By Doug Mann, 9 March 2005

Letter from PIC Board Chair Beverly Propes to project manager

Marceline Dubose (MN department of Education), dated January 31, 2005.

Text of letter dated 5 March 2005 from Duane Reed, Minneapolis NAACP branch

president to Ms. Marceline Dubose, Department of Education, project manager

for the Parent Information Centers. [Posted 12 March 2005]

Edwards is the host of "Black Focus," a cable TV show aired on Sundays,

5:00 to 6:00PM on channel 17 (available in Minneapolis)

by Doug Mann, 24 March 2005

by Doug Mann, 17 March 2005

The beginning of public agitation for a financial audit,

regime change in the Minneapolis NAACP branch

by Doug Mann, 18 March 2005

Investigative reports, February 15-March 26, 2005

A faked Minneapolis NAACP branch membership meeting, conflicts of interests,

another rigged election of Minneapolis NAACP branch officers, and

a quid pro quo. It appears that the newly installed branch officers

struck a bargain through a power-broker, and were not fully informed

about the terms of the bargain at the outset.

Includes: Anatomy of a Cover-up and

& Was the Special EC meeting of 25 February 2005 legal?

by Doug Mann, 6 March 2005

NAACP Branch President, Treasurer refuse to comply with demand of Branch

Executive Committee to open the books of the NAACP Parent Information

Centers, support claim of absolute power by branch administrator.

by Doug Mann, 5 March 2005

Content: Notice of 25 Feb. 2005 meeting; Agenda proposal; response to position

of Administrator Carl Breeding that the meeting was improperly called; Summons

to the Minneapolis NAACP branch president and treasurer; NAACP administrator

attempts to call off meeting; Eight Branch EC members met, took action.

Archives - The Minneapolis NAACP branch officers illegally opened two parent

information centers August 16, 2003. By a two-thirds majority the branch

membership voted to kill the project on June 28, 2003, before the national

office gave conditional approval for the parent information centers project.

One of the conditions was ratification of a hiring policy by the branch membership

(which didn't happen). The Parent information center are currently being run by

"consultants," including a lawyer. (October 11, 2003)

Hollman Achives Hollman Consent Decree Hits the Fan

The City, Legal Aid, and the NAACP stuck to their game plan: Support motions in court that could save the City millions at Hollman plaintiff's expense. A special NAACP branch membership meeting on October 8, 2003 unanimously passed a motion to not support any motions by the city's attorneys. The NAACP also withdrew from the Hollman, housing discrimination lawsuit on October 15, 2003.

By Doug Mann, Pulse of the Twin Cities 10-16 March 1999

------------------------------------------------------

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.

by Doug Mann, 29 Oct 2004, Submitted to the Star-Tribune for publication on 28 October 2004

===================================================

The Coleman Report (Link to University of Washington web site)

By Doug Mann -(Edited by UW Sociology Department). A Selection of comments

from an on-line dialogue taking place prior to school board elections in Minneapolis,

Minnesota. Assigned reading for Sociology 401 / Service learning program

(teacher training in association with the Seattle Public Schools), University of

Washington, Spring 2004. The unabridged version can be found here in three parts:

In The Coleman Report, Doug Mann argues that schools (and school policies)

have a big effect on learning independent of class, race, culture, and other student

background characteristics. Backup copy of The Coleman Report (by Doug Mann)

on the Mann for School Board web site.

by Doug Mann, a 40 page pamphlet, also published on-line

The Reagan - Bush administration justified a C change in educational

policy during the 1980s with an unproven claim about a

"rising tide of mediocrity" in much the same way that the Bush

administration justified the 2003 invasion and occupation

of Iraq with an unproven claim about Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Public K-12 schools in the US were closing the racial learning gap in

the 1970s and early 1980s. However, A Nation at Risk, the report of

an advisory committee selected by the Reagan-Bush administration,

recommended a major shift in educational policy.

Released in April 1983, A Nation at Risk warned of "a rising tide of

mediocrity" that threatened the foundations of our educational system,

i.e., class and racial learning gaps were being closed at the expense of

the high achievers. However, the existence of "a rising tide of mediocrity"

in the 1970s and 80s is not supported by the evidence, such as math

and reading scores on National Assessment of Educational

Extracted from the pamphlet, Perfuming the Minneapolis Schools, by Doug Mann

Adopted by the NASP Delegate Assembly, April 17, 1993

Reapproved by the NASP Delegate Assembly, July 25, 1998 http://www.nasponline.org/information/pospaper_ag.html

Hot Topic: Does Ability Grouping Help or Hurt?

A Talk with Anne Wheelock

First Q & A: "Does ability grouping — or tracking — enhance

academic achievement? No, and research tells us that it is not

a neutral or benign practice, either. Although it is widespread and

widely accepted, ability grouping generally depresses student

achievement and is harmful to kids."

1 October 2004, from Mpls issues list

*Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

28 September 2004, from Mpls issues list

-from Minneapolis Issues List discussion-

by Doug Mann, 8 August 2004

by Doug Mann, 6 July 2004

Supt. Peebles is getting paid big money to carry out a plan to semi-privatize and

de-unionize the school system that David Jennings proposed early this year.

by Doug Mann, 3 August 2004

Superintendents, Inc. (Link to City Pages)