Saint Paul Public Schools

According to an article in the Pioneer Press, St. Paul Public schools fell way behind in meeting the targets set for them. In fact, they failed 72% of targets. Targets included things like standardized testing, number of honor classes taken, and number of problems like suspension. Minority groups did the worst on the targets. As a graduate of the St. Paul School system, this article was a little sad to read. Especially considering my high school was 60+ percent Asian and also had a large African American population. One of the reasons I believe schools did so poorly is the testing. The tests don't count towards grades or graduation, so many students don't come to them and if they do they don't try. I never felt standardized testing was a good way to measure student success. I think having the plan a five year plan, which the article said it was, is somewhat useful. This way they can measure improvement which I think measures success better than just meeting standards because it shows growth from where they were. I also think measuring the number of honors classes is a bad idea because many students have to interest or need for them. Plus, when I was in school at least, some of the St. Paul Schools did not offer honor classes. The ways in which the superintendent is measuring the success and growth could be planned out better. However, this still shows that the schools in the district are not doing well enough and improvement is needed.