Refugee Problems 6/8/09
CONFIDENTIAL
Dear Ted,
I noted that you identified the refugees as the only reason Manchester school test scores are low. I'm sure you must be right, but the state Department of Education publishes all these "lies, damned lies, and statistics" about our schools that are somewhat inconvenient. Fortunately, nobody ever looks at them, but just in case, I wanted to give you a heads-up.
I'm simplifying, but the main way that schools stay out of "School In Need of Improvement" status is for every student subgroup to get a passing Group Performance Index Score in reading and math. The number that's a pass varies between reading and math, and between primary and secondary schools. If you crunch the numbers the DoE puts out, none of our schools would have changed from a flunking to a passing score if none of the limited-English immigrants were there.
Some of the poorest-testing schools, like West, don't test more than a handful of limited-English kids. I know you're really good at this, but it's hard to blame a next-to-non-existent group.
One other thing... you might want to change the line about the immigrant kid who's only been here three months and does poorly on the tests. They don't test kids who don't speak English for at least a year. I'm sure someone must have misled you when you checked into this.
So I'd suggest quietly finding another goat to blame for the low test scores. My personal favorite is "kids whose parents don't care about education". Nobody will self-identify with THAT, and there's no way to measure it, so it's pretty safe.
Regards,
TMM
P.S. Sorry to hear about all the kerfuffle re you being both mayor and senator. I guess they just don't know what you're capable of. As far as the cost of the special election - well, it should be obvious that Manchester will get its money's worth, and more!
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