There is a "Great Leap Forward" Atmosphere of Illusion and Delusion Prevailing at the Minneapolis Public Schools

Mao Zedong was a great revolutionary who led a peasant-based movement that resulted in the establishment of the People's Republic of  China in 1949.  During the 1950s, Mao superintended favorable economic policies, but then toward the end of that decade he descended into a fantasy world that imposed the tenets of his thought-world on a Chinese people who endured two decades of death and division.


Mao forced policies on the young nation from 1958 through 1961 that imagined a poor country of peasant farmers overtaking industrialized Great Britain within 15 years---   by following the delusionary strategies of a purported Great Leap Forward.


And then beginning in 1965, lasting in full force until 1969, but then continuing along many misguided pathways until Mao's death in 1976---  came the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
that in actuality promoted a low aesthetic in culture and ignored the fact that as a matter of demographic percentage the People's Republic of China had very few proletarians.


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When one examines documents of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) such as the Acceleration 2020 Strategic Plan and the Educational Equity Framework, one must confront claims that have a Great Leap illusionary sensibility in wildly improbable forecasts of student academic accomplishment and assume an unfolding Cultural Revolution in predicting a coming attitudinal shift toward a belief in the ability of every student to achieve at high levels---  in the absence of any viable strategies for attaining these grand goals.


Hence, at the Department of Academic Affairs, Chief Academic Officer Susanne Griffin is impelled to make claims that cannot possibly gain realization in the context of the bureaucratic structures of the Minneapolis Public Schools and the academic performance of students that I have discussed in many articles of recent vintage on this blog---  outcomes revealed in Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) scores and the Multiple Measurement Rating (MMR) presented by brilliant Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment Director Eric Moore.


Consider these claims at the Academic Affairs portal of the MPS website.




Chief Academic Officer, Susanne Griffin, oversees the district’s academic division by implementing the district academic agenda to provide world class education for all MPS students.


We work closely with the schools and many other departments at MPS to ensure that we are all focused on the following areas:


• Accelerated academic achievement for all students


• Shared accountability for student learning


• Professional development for teachers and principals


• Respectful and welcoming school environments


The Academic Leadership team works with the Superintendent to help each principal apply the educational priorities of the district within each school. This work is prioritized out of the Strategic Plan and includes a strong focus on aligning standards with instruction and assessment to ensure all students have access to rigorous learning.


Our vision to support college and career readiness is articulated in our Steps to Student Success. These represent metrics over the course of a student's K-12 experience that will accelerate their readiness for post-secondary success. Our next step is to build the character qualities that are also a critical component helping our students thrive in future pursuits.

The Academic Affairs portal then offers a link to a set of goals forecasting great advances in student achievement:

Steps to Student Success

>>>>>    ACT >  24  (College and Career Ready)

 >>>>>    B+ in Algebra by 11^th grade  (Students are successful in HS math)

 >>>>>    3 AP/ IB/ CIS courses  (Students enroll and succeed in advanced HS courses)

>>>>>    EXPLORE >  20  (Students are prepared for rigorous HS courses by 8^th grade)

>>>>>    MAP Math  >  228   and  proficient  on MCA II Science (Students are advanced in math

                                and science by 5^th grade)

>>>>>    Students are advanced readers by 3^rd grade

 >>>>>    Beginning of kindergarten literacy  >  216   (students are ready for kindergarten)

 >>>>>    Attendance rate >  95%  (students attend school at least 95% of the time)

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There prevails at the Minneapolis Public Schools, embedded in these noted documents and exercises in goal-setting, a Great Leap Forward and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution sensibility, whereby wild imaginings replace viable policy.

Decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools would do much better to adopt Mao's strategies of the revolutionary period (1934-1949), rather than the fantasies of his last two decades (1958-1976)in power at the helm of the young People's Republic of China.

Mao the revolutionary was realistic, methodical, grounded in the circumstances of the people he motivated to achieve a great victory.

Mao the hegemon sought grand goals in the absence of any viable program for achieving those goals.

And so do decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools need viable, revolutionary overhaul of current approaches to curriculum, teacher training, academic remediation, parent and community outreach, and bureaucratic paring.

Superintendent Ed Graff, Chief of Schools Michael Thomas, Chief Academic Officer Susanne Griffin---  the entire staff of an ineffective bureaucratic hierarchy---  take note.