The Need for the Michael Goar Administration to Move Beyond Verbiage to Fulfill the Promise of Focused Instruction, High Priority Schools, and Shift

Fifth Major Communication to the MPS School Board




In the course of the past several months, decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools have articulated a viable framework for achieving educational excellence. At the behest of Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson, who abdicated her position at the end of January 2015, decision-makers identified three programs with the potential to transform the school district into a delivery system for excellent education:


1) Focused Instruction, under which a common curriculum is consistently delivered to students at the same grade level throughout the Minneapolis Public Schools;


2) High Priority Schools, under which schools wherein student skills in math and reading have lagged for years gain flexibility in hiring and retention of teachers who flourish in such challenging situations and get the resources they need to succeed; and


3) Shift, under which human and material resources are moved toward students and those who work most closely with them, with particular emphasis given to students at High Priority Schools; there is an implication of transfer of resources from the central bureaucracy and from schools where students face fewer economic and academic challenges.


Also touted by school district officials is a 2020 Plan that seeks to put these programs to work for better outcomes by the designated year; an Office of Black Male of Achievement; and Community Partnership Schools (through which the school district aims to adapt the charter school model in four currently existing schools designated to receive exemptions from certain mandates in exchange for meeting academic goals).


I am on record as strongly supporting the three key programs given numerically above. But at a certain point, even those programs become mere verbiage if not given greater definitional clarity and specificity as to what means will be employed for achieving the generally stated objectives. And until the three key programs are defined and implemented in a clear and forceful manner, the 2020 Plan will be a mere exercise in setting goals; the Office of Black Male Achievement will be just another bureaucratic imposition; and Community Partnership Schools will constitute mere hope for better outcomes, before desired results have been precisely identified.


What is necessary at this point, therefore, is a clear and confident articulation by Superintendent Michael Goar and his staff as to the specific approaches that are going to be taken in realizing the promise of Focused Instruction, High Priority Schools, and Shift in delivering results.


Confidently Taking Responsibility for a Well-Articulated Plan to Achieve Educational Excellence


Interim Superintendent Goar should, then, lead his staff in the confident articulation of the exact means for attaining excellent education at all sites of the Minneapolis Public Schools. Such confident articulation should include the following:




#1 >>>>> Clear definition of educational and teacher excellence for the three given purposes:


Definition of an Excellent K-12 Education


An excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers imparting a content-rich liberal arts curriculum (focused especially on math, natural science, history, economics, literature, and the fine arts) in grade by grade sequence to students of all demographic descriptors.


Definition of an Excellent K-12 Teacher


An excellent teacher is a professional of deep and broad knowledge in her or his subject area, with the pedagogical ability to impart that knowledge to students of all demographic descriptors.


Purposes of K-12 Education


The purposes of excellent education are to provide students with knowledge and skill sets abetting a life of 1) cultural enrichment, 2) civic preparation, and 3) professional satisfaction.




#2 >>>>> Clear articulation of those principles and actions that will result in educational excellence, for the given purposes:


1) Acknowledge that existing teacher training programs are certification and degree mills with little academic merit, and that teachers (particularly at the K-5 level) will have to be thoroughly retrained;


2) State clearly that Focused Instruction will be implemented according to a strong liberal arts curriculum specified in grade by grade sequence throughout the K-12 years, modeled on Core Knowledge, Common Core, and the curricula that can be found in the August edition (Vol. 1, No. 2) of my publication, Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota;


3) State clearly that the school district will implement its own teacher training program for producing teachers capable of delivering the strong liberal arts curriculum, with reference to the program that I detail in the September edition (Vol. 1, No. 3) of my publication, Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota;


4) Carefully place teachers in the classrooms of High Priority Schools who are capable of imparting the strong liberal arts curriculum to students at the designated sites, with the expectation that all students will achieve grade level math and reading skills;


5) Assertively address, utilizing all in-school and after-school tutoring assistance necessary, the math and reading challenges of any students, at High Priority Schools and otherwise, who continue to lag in those key skill areas;


6) Reduce the bureaucracy at 1250 West Broadway Avenue to 25% of the current staffing level, retraining those staff members who prove themselves willing and able to provide needed functions at school sites, such as tutoring of students, communication with families, and delivery of support services.


With the practical approach given above, detailed as a viable program for achieving educational excellence in accordance with the three main purposes, Interim Superintendent Goar will be able to demonstrate the kind of decisiveness necessary to instill confidence in the Minneapolis Public Schools and forestall any efforts to take over or redesign the district before programs inaugurated during the Bernadeia Johnson administration have had a chance to fulfill their considerable promise.