[movermike] movermike: Jeff Miller: Wrong About Our Portland Schools!

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Posted by movermike:
Jeff Miller: Wrong About Our Portland Schools!
http://www.movermike.com/posts/1157656232.shtml


   Enlightening interview in The Oregonian by Scott Learn of [1]Jeff
   Miller the new president of the Portland Association of Teachers. One
   of Miller's top priorities is the passage of the local option, the
   school district's $33 million local option property tax request.
   Miller voices concern about teacher migrations away friom the
   district's poorest schools.

     Miller: The district also needs to ask itself why experienced
     teachers are leaving some of these struggling schools.

     Learn: Why are they?

     Miller: Many of our most experienced teachers say that they have
     left mainly because of poor leadership. There are two common
     (complaints): Abusive treatment of our members by their
     supervisors, and unclear or confusing expectations.

   He is asked

     What's the effect of allowing students to transfer schools
     relatively easily?

     Miller: It's been common knowledge for years that the district's
     student transfer policy hurts schools in North and Northeast
     Portland. The remedy is not mysterious. What's needed is courage to
     undertake it.

     And the remedy is?

     Miller: The school board would have to reconsider the degree of
     choice it currently allows.

   So it is ok for teachers to leave the North and Northeast schools, the
   "poorest schools", but if parents and students want to leave the
   poorest schools he thinks choice should be discouraged.

   Now on the same page, we get to see the SAT scores of our high schools
   versus last year and the nation.

                 Reading      Math         Writing
                 2005 -- 2006 2005 -- 2006 2005 -- 2006
   Benson        452 -- 479   489 -- 512   457
   Cleveland     534 -- 544   522 -- 538   521
   Franklin      486 -- 490   508 -- 519   477
   Grant         551 -- 556   543 -- 543   544
   Jefferson     380 -- 389   401 -- 415   396
   Lincoln       585 -- 593   576 -- 589   577
   Madison       469 -- 475   490 -- 483   461
   Marshall      457 -- 449   450 -- 490   424
   Roosevelt     426 -- 399   448 -- 449   424
   Wilson        563 -- 574   562 -- 572   546
   David Douglas 487 -- 478   498 -- 485   469
   Parkrose      490 -- 465   479 -- 450   452
   Nation        508 -- 503   520 -- 518   497
   Oregon        526 -- 523   528 -- 529   503

   I have highlighted the SATs of the North and Northeast schools. Are
   the scores low because students transferred or did the students
   transfer because the quality of the school or teaching is low?

   Portland should be ashamed that 8 out of 11 high schools don't come up
   to the National Average in reading and 6 out of 11 are below the
   National average in math. So what have we gotten for all the money
   we've spent nationwide since 1972? The most right column shows out of
   a possible 800, the SATs have been mostly flat going from 509 to 520.

   [2]Average SAT Scores, 1972â2005
   Verbal Score Mathematical Score
   Year Male Female Total Male Female Total
   1972 531 529 530 527 489 509
   1976 511 508 509 520 475 497
   1980 506 498 502 515 473 492
   1984 511 498 504 518 478 497
   1988 512 499 505 521 483 501
   1990 505 496 500 521 483 501
   1992 504 496 500 521 484 501
   1994 501 497 499 523 487 504
   1996 507 503 505 527 492 508
   1998 509 502 505 531 496 512
   2000 507 504 505 533 498 514
   2002 507 502 504 534 500 516
   2004 512 504 508 537 501 518
   2005 513 505 508 538 504 520
   Average SAT Scores byRace/Ethnicity, 2005

   Education is broken in this country and leaders like Jeff Miller don't
   want to admit that the old ways of doing things are not getting the
   job done. He thinks the answer is more money and fewer choices and
   more desegragation efforts will do the job. Money has not proven the
   answer in Kansas City, parents and teachers want to go to the best
   schools, and Chicago is finding that boys and girls do better apart.

   [3]Jeff Miller [4]Portland Association of Teachers [5]Education
   [6]Mover Mike

References

   1. http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1157171104108710.xml?oregonian?pddfr&coll=7&thispage=1
   2. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0883611.html
   3. http://technorati.com/tag/Jeff+Miller
   4. http://technorati.com/tag/Portland+Association+of+Teachers
   5. http://technorati.com/tag/Education
   6. http://technorati.com/tag/Mover+Mike