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Audit Reveals Alarming Problems at Portland Public Schools
State of Oregon ^ | 01/11/2019 | DENNIS RICHARDSON

Posted on 01/11/2019 6:39:10 PM PST by aquila48

Portland Public Schools (PPS) has an unacceptably high achievement gap of 53% between white and African-American students. This gap is far worse than the state average. There are also troubling gaps in student achievement for students who are Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, or economically disadvantaged.

My team’s recent audit of PPS revealed a system that is grossly underserving low-income students and students of color. This is not acceptable in Portland, or anywhere. Every Oregonian should be alarmed and angered by these findings. Our kids deserve better.

High Funding But Low Results

Despite higher funding and lower poverty rates than most peer districts, management challenges at PPS and an inconsistent focus on performance are hurting students and teachers. Achievement gaps can mean that underserved students are years behind their peers in learning.

PPS has more funding per student than all Oregon peer districts, with $2,000+ per student more than each of the next 11 largest districts. PPS also has more funding than many national peer districts, along with equal or lower poverty rates than most state and national peer districts.

PPS is doing better than the state average at helping wealthy and middle-class white students succeed, as well as students with disabilities. However, low-income students and students of color are significantly worse off.

As we found in a statewide audit last year, high school graduation rates remain low, with worse outcomes for low-income students and students of color. While PPS should be applauded for recent small increases in graduation rates, there is far more work to do.

.......

Despite relatively high funding, PPS is spending a smaller percentage on instruction than many of their peer districts. So, where is the money going?

(Excerpt) Read more at content.govdelivery.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: education; oregon; portland; race
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To: oldasrocks
They don’t want no white mans education.

🎵

We don't need white education
We dont need no cracker control
No white sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them students of color alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them students of color alone!
All in all it's just another thug at the mall.
All in all you're just another drag on us all.

🎵


21 posted on 01/11/2019 7:21:33 PM PST by bagster ("Even bad men love their mamas".)
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To: aquila48

“Analysis of spending in PPS and peer districts revealed potential savings for PPS in executive administration (high numbers of employees earning over $100,000), use of substitute teachers and educational assistants, health benefits, bus service, legal costs, and building utilization.

“The audit identified insufficient oversight of contracts, as well as purchasing card spending for things like staff meeting refreshments and Amazon Prime memberships. In 2017, PPS spent at least $13,000 on a retirement party to rent the Portland Spirit river cruise ship, give out crystal clock retirement gifts, and shipped in flowers from Hawaii. Another party was held in 2018.

Well, it was a great party....


22 posted on 01/11/2019 7:32:04 PM PST by proxy_user
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To: aquila48
There are only three choices, each of which is crimethink.

a) the underperformers are less intelligent

b) the culture (to include family and home life) of the overachievers, is superior (NOT all cultures are equal)

c) the instructors are racist, incompetent, or both

Suck on that, libs.

23 posted on 01/11/2019 7:32:38 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: aquila48

They could spend a million dollars a person on “underachieving” students and it would not close the gap one inch. They will figure out the only way to close it is on paper, that is, just announce the gap has closed, everyone is an A student and move forward.


24 posted on 01/11/2019 7:32:39 PM PST by Midwesterner53
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To: grey_whiskers

Seems like 3:

“For example, hiring rules give high-poverty schools fewer teachers to choose from than wealthier schools. The rules also lead to staffing of these underperforming schools with more difficult-to-place teachers and can cause the schools to lose their newly trained teachers after just two years.

“A longtime principal at a high-poverty school told us that high-poverty schools “not only get the least-qualified new applicants, but then we get the people who are guaranteed jobs but have been passed over for openings at other schools.”


25 posted on 01/11/2019 7:34:55 PM PST by proxy_user
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To: grey_whiskers
You forgot "D".

d). All of the above.

I choose "D".

#ProductOfTheWhiteMansEducation

26 posted on 01/11/2019 7:37:48 PM PST by bagster ("Even bad men love their mamas".)
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To: bagster
I carefully did NOT say they were mutually exclusive.

#GaveMyselfWiggleRoom
#MyEyebrowsAreHigherThanYours

27 posted on 01/11/2019 7:40:29 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: grey_whiskers
#MyEyebrowsAreHigherThanYours


28 posted on 01/11/2019 7:49:49 PM PST by bagster ("Even bad men love their mamas".)
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To: grey_whiskers

culture. 75% of white kids live with both parents. 39% of black kids do. Not only is it important to have a dad to help out and the various character building things only a dad can do, but the lack of responsibility and commitment shown by black men is modeled by their kids.


29 posted on 01/11/2019 7:51:01 PM PST by 21twelve (!)
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To: Flavious_Maximus

It isn’t the lack of funds that create the achievement gap. Instead, it’s the cultural gap.


And the culture is the black/urban culture. At the small rural school I taught at/sub at there are some black kids. For the most part they behave/approach learning pretty much the same as their white peers. But a couple of years ago a couple of black families with lots of kids moved in. They proudly proclaimed that they were “ghetto”, even though they weren’t really from an urban area. They completely disrupted the school. The other blacks kids and some of the white kids started to emulate their ways and attitudes. It was awful. When they moved out, things pretty much reverted back to normal.

It’s not the color of the kid’s skin, it is his or hers attitude/culture/upbringing that makes the difference.


30 posted on 01/11/2019 7:53:09 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: aquila48

Proves Portland is generally racist.


31 posted on 01/11/2019 8:06:47 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (Trump 2020 - Re-Elect the M*****F***er!)
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To: aquila48
It isn't the kid's fault that they have rotten teachers.

Look at who Salem is hiring, and the material the teacher's colleges choose to work with.

The modern college student who should be apprenticed as a lifetime coffee barista, since he/she/it can't make change without a calculator, have been steered into ED programs for years.

As an addendum, these are the ones who are whining the loudest about having $300,000 overdue student loans.

32 posted on 01/11/2019 8:10:44 PM PST by jonascord (First rule of the Dunning-Kruger Club is that you do not know you are in the Dunning-Kruger club.)
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To: aquila48

Grades are raciss.


33 posted on 01/11/2019 8:12:23 PM PST by moovova
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To: aquila48

Ditto, having such a “gap” is normal in every US school district. They should know that, this outrage is just propaganda.


34 posted on 01/11/2019 8:13:02 PM PST by buwaya
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To: proxy_user
...we get the people who are guaranteed jobs but have been passed over for openings at other schools...

Thomas Sowell pointed out that the worst teachers end up at the worst schools. In large cities, those are generally black schools.

Fifteen to twenty years ago, I spent a lot of time, as a freelance photographer with a private company, going into Chicago Public Schools to take candid photos in classrooms and to photograph school events.

In the black schools, almost all the teachers are black. The ataff is black. The Administration is black. Most of the students don't even show up for school. Promotions to the next grade are based on age, and so are the awarding of diplomas.

Draw your own conclusions.

35 posted on 01/11/2019 8:14:58 PM PST by ChicagahAl (I am Henry Bowman. You should be, too.)
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To: 17th Miss Regt

This is the case in every high-minority school district.
The high costs come with the population. Among other things, expensive stuff like extra remedial ed and special ed.

The population they are dealing with is inherently expensive.

The causation is inverse from what the complaint states.


36 posted on 01/11/2019 8:16:59 PM PST by buwaya
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To: jonascord; bagster; 2banana

What it’s like teaching black students...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1PL3xQu16w&t=430s


37 posted on 01/11/2019 8:35:34 PM PST by aquila48
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To: aquila48

I haven’t read the article, but I expect this is the result of endless liberal programs to increase minority graduation rates. What is taught to minorities is dumbed down year after year after year. The dumbing down then seeps into the main curriculum. It is a perfect example of the bigotry of low expectations.

Combine that with the near impossibility of disciplining colored kids and you have the perfect educational storm.

Then the top-down testing requirements together with the massive growth of school “administrators” means teachers spend WAY too much time on administrivia and nowhere near enough time on actually teaching or working with kids. Teachers are also forced to follow rote, standardized lesson plans set by the latest academic fads without any deviation or experimentation.

Is anybody surprised by this?


38 posted on 01/11/2019 8:37:19 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: 17th Miss Regt

That would be the sensible thing, but liberals being liberals, you know there is only one cure for failure...MORE MONEY and DOUBLING DOWN.


39 posted on 01/11/2019 8:38:45 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: aquila48
there's only one solution... fail more whites!!!
40 posted on 01/11/2019 8:41:29 PM PST by Chode ( WeÂ’re America, Bitch!)
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