Glenn Tracey

Journal Article #1

The 30th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Publics Attitudes Toward The Public Schools By Lowell C.Rose and Alec M. Gallup September 1998

This article was given to me by the principle of Ordean Middle School and immediately became a source of confirmation as to the impact public attitudes have in changing our schools. The majority of the text is concerned with the approval that parents have for the school their children attend along with a special focus on public funding for private and church related schools. The results to each question are discussed and compared to previous years findings to provide a general impression on how the public attitude is changing. I would conclude from the responses that the public approves of the school attended by their children in the local community as 62% graded the school their oldest child attends at a B level or better, and only 3% felt they were failing. The opposite is true however of the perception of public schools nationally with only 18% feeling a grade of B or better should be awarded. This would bring us to the debate concerning public dollars and the changing attitudes that the poll reveals. In 1993 almost 75% of respondents opposed allowing students and parents to choose a private school at public expense, however only 50% of 1998 parents felt this way and the number of people supporting vouchers, tax credits, and partial funding has increased steadily each year. There are numerous other results showing opinions on topics such as school size, understanding and racial tolerance, inner-city schools, problems facing schools, and political parties approaches to improving education. Some of the more interesting results showed a higher percentage of Democrats 51%, than Republicans 47%, favoring vouchers paying all tuition at private or church-related schools, almost two thirds of respondents feel students with learning problems should be put in a special class, 67% of responses support amending the Constitution to allow spoken prayer in public schools, and almost three-fourths of those responding believe themselves to be at least fairly well informed regarding local public schools. The significance of the fact that so many parents approve of the public schools attended by their oldest child seems to support the findings of local polls regarding school choice at the middle level in Duluth. The elementary and middle schools in Duluths eastern section will allow upcoming fifth grade parents to decide where their child will attend, but the perception of those who have no children in middle school has been that this is not the right environment for younger students. However, the perception changes with those parents who have children atttending middle schools, and leads me to believe that although the public feels they know what goes on in the schools in their community they reach conclusions based on the negative gossip that always seems to be more prevalent than positive news. It is sometimes unwise to allow the direction of our schools to be dictated by the results of the latest polls.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 1999

Answers

Glenn Tracey Journal Article #2 2/2/99 Minnesota Educator, January 29, 1999. "House hearings begin on Profile." I could not pass up the opportunity to discuss a topic as immediate to all cohort members as the Profile of Learning, even though the article in itself does nothing more than explain current status and proposed legislation which could affect it I mean us! The discussion of recommendations by the legislative panel suggests "scaling down the number of learning areas and eliminating reference to performance packages." The Minnesota House Education Committee is hearing testimony from a number of sources like the Minnesota School Boards Association, Education Minnesota, the public, and the Department of Children, Families and Learning. The positive comments supporting quality in our schools through implementing the Minnesota Graduation Rule are to be expected coming from representatives of the committee and they should be applauded for the willingness to revisit the overzealous legislation that created a complicated system with little support in the classroom. By providing time to develop an understanding of the challenges associated with implementation the legislature has seen many successes and even more resistance as the full scope of the process is realized. I have mixed feelings as well with regard to process used to develop better education for the students in Minnesota. Being involved in the process from the beginning has left me with a lack of respect for our legislature and governor because the initial message seemed to be that there were few of these types of learning taking place and we needed to be told how to educate by politicians. The performance packages seemed to be individual laws that dictated what and how students should learn, but the apparent flexibility experienced in workshops providing accommodations for special needs students, inclusion in district wide development of a new performance package, and knowledge that more of the current packages have been developed by professional educators is what I find promising. I guess the final decision as to what will be done with the countless hours and millions of dollars that were spent to create what was demanded by law is awaiting us. I would like to see more consistency from the Department of Children, Families and Learning in providing assistance in implementing performance packages. The lack of leadership is a result of the politics former Governor Carlson used to diminish the effectiveness of our public schools by promoting alternatives in the private sector. Education is too important to allow capitalism and profit to dictate decisions that will affect learning. Hopefully a better plan for the graduation standards will reaffirm a commitment from the legislature and public schools in Minnesota that quality education continues to be a priority.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 1999