Plan of Action for Officials at the Minneapolis Public Schools in the Overhaul of K-12 Education

Note   >>>>>   If you scroll on down to the next article, you will gain an understanding of how I go about the processes of the New Salem Educational Initiative that can be extrapolated for application in the Minneapolis Public Schools as a guide for the plan of action that I advocate in this article.


…………………………………………


In order to become an effective imparter of K-12 education to young people of all demographic descriptors, officials at the Minneapolis Public Schools must do the following things >>>>>


1 >>>>> Define a knowledge-intensive, logically sequenced, grade by grade curriculum for delivery grade-by-grade throughout the K-12 years.


Officials in the Minneapolis Public Schools must embrace knowledge as the key component of an excellent K-12 education


. ……………………………………………………………………..


At the grades K-5 level, teachers must deliver well-defined skill and knowledge sets.


Present staff responsible for curriculum should be charged with the task of defining what children in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade should learn in each of those years. The focus for learning at this level should be in math, natural science (with an emphasis on biology, chemistry, and physics--- but including geology and health), literature & language arts, fine arts (visual and musical), history (incorporating geography, government, and other social sciences and humanities), and economics. Instruction in natural science should emphasize biology, chemistry, and physics--- but should include information on all of the earth and health sciences. Economics and history should be specified for detailed coverage, with the latter incorporating a great deal of information throughout the social sciences and humanities.


By the time students complete their K-5 years, they should have mastered the four major arithmetic operations; know how to perform all operations with fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, proportions, and simple probability; understand how to construct and interpret tables, charts, and graphs; and demonstrate significant skill in beginning algebra and geometry.


Students at the completion of the K-5 sequence should have a strong sense of the distinction among biology, chemistry, and physics; and to understand the essentials of the key contributions of scientists to the understanding of the human body; plants and animals; key elements of the periodic table, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles; and the fundamental principles of physics, including a comparison of Newton’s laws of motion with the universe described by Albert Einstein in terms of energy, mass, and velocity.


Students upon completion of the kindergarten through fifth grade curriculum should have read many literary classics of the European, Asian, African, and American traditions, and they should have a firm understanding of English language usage.


These students should understand major genres of painting, sculpture, and architecture across the world.  They should hear great music from the baroque, classical, and romantic periods of Europe; and the American traditions of blues, jazz, rock and roll, country, rhythm and blues, and hip-hop musical genres. They should come to understand technical aspects of music such as pitch, melody, timbre, composition, and instrumentation, with an appreciation for the way in which technical aspects differ according to international setting.


Students upon graduation from Grade 5 should have gained a thorough overview of world and American history, with much information imparted as to world religions, philosophy, and psychology as major ideas set in historical context. And students should understand the economic principles of the capitalist system, with the ability to contrast these principles with those of other economic systems such as socialism and fascism.


……………………………………………………………………..


At the grades 6-8 (middle school) level, students should continue to study the key subjects of mathematics, natural science, literature & English language usage, fine arts, history, and economics; and they should be required to study a non-English language for the acquisition of one year of secondary world language credit.


Students also should have elective courses available in technical and technological fields such as plumbing, woodworking, electronics, computer technology, and auto mechanics.


The guiding principle in curriculum design at the grades 6-8 level should be preparation for Advanced Placement courses and specialized study in high school (grades 9-12):


Math at the Grade 8 level should be a challenging course conventionally identified as Algebra I.


Natural science study throughout grades 6-8 should be at ascending levels of sophistication leading to Advanced Placement courses for all students in high school in biology, chemistry, and physics.


Literature and English usage courses should be preparing students at a level enabling them to enter high school functioning so as to take the Advanced Placement exam in English by the end of Grade 9.


Students at the grades 6-8 level should continue to study the fine arts so as to be prepared to opt for specialized study in high school, readying themselves for participation in choir and for study of a selected musical instrument at a high level of skill.


And at the grades 6-8 level, students should continue to master world history, American history, and economics at ascending levels of sophistication, with applications to current events and in preparation for specialized study in high school.


. ……………………………………………………………………..


At the grades 9-12 (high school) level, students will be prepared to take Advanced Placement and specialized courses:


At Grade 9, all students will train for and take Advanced Placement courses in English, United States history, and biology.


At Grade 10, all students will train for and take Advanced Placement courses in world history and chemistry.


At Grade 11, students will train for and take an Advanced Placement course in physics.


At Grade 12, students will train for and take an Advanced Placement course in calculus.


Other required courses in grades 9-12 will include world literature in Grade 10; at least one additional year of world language, for a total of two secondary world language courses, continuing from middle school; Grade 12 research in English (with options for research in various academic fields); Grade 12 research in natural science; and Grade 12 microeconomics and macroeconomics (one semester each).


Other than these required courses, at Grade 11 students will be given many options for specialized courses in literature: Spanish, French, German, African American, African, Hispanic, and Native American literature; and classical and Shakespearean drama.


Also at Grade 11, students may opt for specialty courses in classical Greek and Roman history, medieval European history, European Renaissance and Reformation, Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution, African history, Asian history, Latin American history, and psychology.


And in each semester of their academic years in high school, students will opt for courses from a category known as FIT (fine, industrial, and technological arts): sculpture, history of art, music composition, choral singing, marching band, jazz band, popular music, classical music (including music from the European baroque, classical, and romantic periods), history of music, auto mechanics, plumbing, woodworking, construction trades, culinary arts, electrician training, electronics, computer science, and forensic science.


. ……………………………………………………………………..



2 >>>>> Train teachers capable of imparting this knowledge-intensive curriculum.


Delivery of such a knowledge-intensive curriculum will require teachers of high intellectual caliber who are passionate about the world of knowledge. Grasping that such teachers are not produced by terrible conventional training programs in departments, schools, and colleges of education, officials at the Minneapolis Public Schools will have to design their own program of teacher training, as follows:


At the grades K-5 level, prospective teachers will be thoroughly retrained in the facilities of the Minneapolis Public Schools.




All prospective teachers at grades K-5 will be required to study for a Masters of Liberal Arts degree.


They will study for one full academic year over the course of five-day weeks of intensive study under the instruction of college and university professors and other experts commissioned to teach the courses. Prospective K-5 teachers will, over the course of 33 weeks (the academic year minus holidays), study mathematics through calculus (total of ten [10] weeks); biology, chemistry, and physics (total of six [6] weeks; world and American history (total of eight [8] weeks); literature and English usage (total of five [5] weeks); and fine arts (visual and musical, total of four [4] weeks).


They will do so to demonstrate their intellectual acumen and versatility; to enable them to envision the academic road ahead and to articulate that vision to their students; and to be ready to instruct the many students capable of studying at very advanced academic levels during the K-5 years.


Following the intensive academic year taking intensive courses in major disciplines, prospective K-5 teachers will over the following summer complete and defend a master’s thesis.


Each prospective teacher will then serve a full academic year of internship under the best experienced teachers available, and will for at least two months of that time engage in student teaching.


After completing all requirements for the Masters of Liberal Arts degree and serving the academic year of internship, the prospective teacher will be evaluated for employment in the Minneapolis Public Schools. At first, prospective K-5 teachers will come to the teacher retraining program of the Minneapolis Public Schools possessing formal teacher certification from one of the established conventional programs, or according to present alternative certification processes. In the course of time, officials at the Minneapolis Public Schools will work with a college or university to gain recognition for its program of teacher retraining as an alternative licensure program.




At the grades 6-8 (middle school) level, prospective teachers will study through to both the bachelor’s (B. A. or B. S.) and master’s (M. A. or M. S.) degrees before applying for a position in the Minneapolis Public Schools.


The bachelor’s and master’s degrees may not be in the field of education, but rather should be in disciplines such as mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, English, art, music, history, economics, and political science.


After completing the master’s degree in a legitimate academic discipline, each prospective teacher at grades 6-8 will then serve a full academic year of internship under the best experienced teachers available, and will for at least two months of that time engage in student teaching.


After serving the academic year of internship, the prospective teacher will be evaluated for employment in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Certification will be obtained in one of the ways as given for teachers at grades K-5: traditional, alternative, or recognition of the graduate study and internship sequence required by the Minneapolis Public Schools as an alternative licensure program.




At the grades 9-12 (high school level), the process will be as with prospective teachers at grades 6-8: They will study through to both the bachelor’s (B. A. or B. S.) and master’s (M. A. or M. S.) degrees before applying for a position in the Minneapolis Public Schools.


The bachelor’s and master’s degrees may not be in the field of education, but rather should be in disciplines such as mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, English, art, music, history, economics, and political science.


Additionally, prospective grades 9-12 teachers will be encouraged to study through to the Ph. D. in the relevant legitimate academic discipline, with generous remuneration offered for doing so. Such academic qualifications will provide highly trained high school teachers for providing Advanced Placement and university-level courses on the high school campuses of the Minneapolis Public Schools.


After completing the master’s degree and, ideally, the Ph. D. in a legitimate academic discipline, each prospective teacher at grades 9-12 will then serve a full academic year of internship under the best experienced teachers available, and will for at least two months of that time engage in student teaching.


After serving the academic year of internship, the prospective teacher will be evaluated for employment in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Certification will be obtained in one of the ways as given for teachers at grades K-5 and grades 9-12: traditional, alternative, or recognition of the graduate study and internship sequence required by the Minneapolis Public Schools as an alternative licensure program.


  ………………………………………………………


3  >>>>>   Eliminate most positions at the central offices of the Minneapolis Public Schools and greatly enhance outreach to families.


At the central school district level, certain positions relevant to school finance, building maintenance, public communications, legal matters, and transportation will be retained. But otherwise, the objective should be to move any truly necessary positions out to the building level.


At the level of the school building, there will be much new emphasis placed on building a staff of people highly adroit at communicating with and visiting families of students.


Once curriculum has been defined and teachers retrained in the manner specified in sections 1 and 2 above, there will be little need for full-time curriculum specialists or a chief academic officer.


Assistant superintendent positions should also be eliminated, according to a shift to a site-based focus and a strengthening of the building principal position.


The building principal should have great authority and responsibility in the hiring and evaluation of teachers, with her or his own review by the superintendent determined by the academic results achieved according to the performance of students taught by those hired, evaluated, and retained by the building principal.


. ………………………………………………………


Moving to put in place these administrative policies would put the Minneapolis Public Schools in a position to deliver an education of truly knowledge-intensive excellence, with a staff of intellectually engaged and pedagogically skilled teachers--- and to offer the public locally centralized school district in Minneapolis as a model for utilization by other urban school districts.