Dec 1, 2016

An Assessment of Director Macarre Traynham and the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Minneapolis Public Schools


Macarre Traynham is the Executive Director of the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Minneapolis Public Schools, receiving an annual salary of $117,000.

 

The following gives Ms. Traynham’s academic credentials, based on information conveyed to me upon request:



Macarre Traynham, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning

 

Ed.D.: Educational Leadership & Equity, Lewis and Clark College (anticipated)

M.A.: Educational Administration, California State University

Administrative Licensure, Portland State University

B.S.: Mathematics, Norfolk State University

 

At the portal for the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Minneapolis Public Schools website, the following mission statement appears:

 

Teaching and Learning Mission 

 

Through the lens of racial equity, Teaching and Learning provides culturally relevant resources and leads the implementation of research based instructional practices that ensures all students meet or exceed grade level standards.

 

At the portal for the Office of Academic Affairs, led by Susanne Griffin (to whom Macarre Traynham reports), the following goals are set that are highly pertinent to purposes of the Department of Teaching and Learning:

 

Steps to Student Success

 

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

 

>>>>>    B+ in Algebra by 11th 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 8th grade)

 

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

                                and science by 5th grade)

 

>>>>>    students are advanced readers by 3rd grade

 

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

 

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

 

Macarre Traynham leads a department that currently consists of 52 staff members, making Teaching and Learning the largest department at the Davis Center, which at 1250 West Broadway in North Minneapolis houses the central offices of the Minneapolis Public Schools.  My current calculations yield a figure of approximately $3,300,000 in salary outlays for staff at the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning.  There are presumably grant-supported staff and programs that also go to this department, information that I will collect in time.

 

There has been considerable turnover at the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning since I first began collecting salary information;  also, the following list is drawn from a combination of lists that respectively emphasized a complete rendering of current staff positions and figures for staff most directly involved in prime academic tasks.  Hence, the following list is the most recent information available for current staff positions;  and features annual salary information for select positions, given in parentheses:

 

Teaching and Learning Staff Directory 2016-2017

 

Director

 

1.  Macarre Traynham    ($117,000)

 

 

Administrative Office Support

 

                                                                  Position

 

2.  Amanda Andrews           ITT and Online, Office specialist                

 

3.  Jeanne Lacy                     Executive Assistant                                        ($52,416)

 

4.  Yana Manalov                 Business Services Financial Specialist

 

 

AVID                                                    Position

 

5.  Maria Roberts                 Program Manager, AVID                      ($100,958)

 

6.  Christen Lish                   AVID Elementary Coordinator

 

7.  Paula Killian                    AVID Middle School Coordinator

 

8.  Tommie Casey                AVID High School Coordinator             ($77,019)

 

 

Elementary Team

 

                                                            Position

 

9.  Casey Seeley                  Director, Elementary Education       ($96,093)

 

10.  Janna Toche                 Elementary DPF         ($78,070)

 

11.  Julie Tangeman            Elementary DPF         ($81,223)

 

12.  Sara Naegli                    Elementary DPF

 

13.  Sarah Hunter                  Elementary DPF        ($66,511)





Focused Instruction



Position

 

14.  Tina Platt                                     Project Manager             ($73,237)

               

15.  Jake Hirschman                         Curriculum Assets Assistant

 

16.  Nancy Mai                                   Curriculum Assets Assistant

 

Instructional Technology Team                

 

Position

 

 

17.  James Stock                               Learning Assistant Administrator DPF

 

18.  Jeff Brazee                                 Applications Trainer



19.  Kevin Keller                               Technology Integrationist DPF

 

 

Material Management

 

                                                                     Position

 

20.  Terry Dinovo                            Materials Coordinator

 

21.  Judy Stack-Nelson                   Materials Handler

 

 

Online Learning

 

                                                              Position

 

22.  Edith McDonald                        Online, Art

 

23.  James Carr                                 Online, Physical Education

 

24.  Karen Maverick                         Online, Special Education

 

25.  Katy Hemmah                            Online, Program Counselor

 

26.  Kelsey Zogby (Passa)                Online, Math, Telescope

 

27.  Lynn Lurvey                                Online, English

 

28.  Seth Levitt                                  Online, Math, Elementary

 

29.  Tom VanErp                               Online, Health

 

30.  Tony Patterson                          Online, Associate Educator

 

31.  William Holm                             Online, Math, High School

 

Science Center

Position

                                                               

32.  Timothy Lilla                     Science Senior Materials Handler

 

33.  Donell Shinder                  Science Materials Handler

 

34.  Mark Berg                          Science Materials Handler

 

35.  Tara Newhouse                 Science Materials Handler of Living Organisms

 

 

Secondary Team

 

Position

 

 

36.  Naomi Taylor                     Director, Secondary Education

 

37.  Chris Wernimont               Secondary Math  DPF             ($77,019)

 

38.  Colleen Atakpu                   Secondary Math  DPF                    

 

39.  Hibaq Mohamed                Secondary ELA/ Reading

 

40.  Jennifer Rose                       Secondary Science  DPF        ($81,223)

 

41.  Katy Stephens                      Secondary ELA/ Reading DPF      ($65,461)

 

42.  Kleber Ortiz-Sinchi               Secondary Social Studies  DPF    ($52,580)



43.  Samantha Weiman               Associate Educator                       ($71,078)



Specialists

Position



44.  Ashley Crohn               K-12 Library and Information Media  DPF



45.  Kathy Dunbar              Arts Exploration and Extension Coordinator



46.  Nora Schull                   K-12 Arts  DPF



47.  Sara Loch                      K-12 Health/  Physical Education



STEM

Position



48.  Charley Ellingson                      STEM Integrationist

 

49.  Elizabeth Stretch                      STEM Integrationist



Talent Development and Advanced Academics



Position



50.  Alyssa Polack                             Elementary Talent
                                                                  Development and   

Advanced Academics  DPF



51.  Kelly McQuillan                         High School Talent            ($54,952)

Development and
Advanced Academics  DPF



52.  Theresa Campbell                    Middle School Talent          ($80,171)
                                                            Development and                               

       Advanced Academics  DPF

 

Be reminded that the most recent results of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs), given in spring 2016, are as follows:



Percentage of Students Recording
Grade Level Performance on MCAs:

Disaggregated Data for Academic Years
Ending in 2014, 2015, and 2016

                     Math 


African American                  2014       2015      2016
 
Male                                       20.8%    22.0%   19.1%

Female                                    21.2%   20.7%   20.5%

African (Somali, Ethiopian, Liberian---
(late 20th/early 21st century immigrant populations)

                                                 2014       2015      2016

Male                                       24.2%      25.0%   23.6%

Female                                    24.1%     25.9%    21.5%

Hispanic                                  2014       2015      2016

Male                                       32.1%      33.5%   32.1%

Female                                   29.4%       30.3%  30.4.%

Native American/                   2014       2015      2016 
American Indian


Male                                      19.9%      16.5%   16.0%

Female                                  25.0%      21.9%   21.3% 




Asian                                      2014        2015      2016 

Male                                      44.1%      47.4%   45.4%

Female                                   51.3%      53.4%   54.1%




White/ Caucasian                   2014       2015      2016

Male                                       76.7%     78.4%   77.4%


Female                                    77.0%     77.9%   78.4%

All Students                           2014       2015      2016  

Male                                      43.1%     44.3%    42.9%

Female                                  43.9%      44.5%   44.4%

Percentage of Students Recording Grade Level Performance on MCAs:


Disaggregated Data for Academic Years Ending in 2014, 2015, and 2016

Reading                                          

African American                2014       2015      2016

Male                                    18.8%     18.5%    18.2%

Female                                 24.0%     24.5%    23.4%

African (Somali, Ethiopian, Liberian---
 late 20th/early 21st century immigrant populations)

                                             2014       2015      2016 


Male                                   18.8%     19.3%    20.4%

Female                               27.6%     24.3%     23.2%

Hispanic                             2014       2015      2016 

Male                                   22.0%     22.9%   24.7%

Female                               24.5%     26.6%    27.6%

Native American/              2014       2015      2016 
American Indian

Male                                   18.3%     13.9%   15.3%

Female                                23.6%     26.1%   25.9%

Asian                                   2014       2015      2016 

Male                                    36.0%     35.8%   38.8%


Female                                 44.7%     44.1%   50.6%



White/ Caucasian                2014       2015      2016 

Male                                    75.3%     74.3%   74.0%

Female                                 81.0%     80.2%   80.0%

All Students                         2014       2015      2016 

Male                                     39.2%    38.7%    39.6%

Female                                  45.3%    45.1%   45.8%



................................................................


My Analysis


The above academic outcomes from the spring 2016 MCAs, given also in my article assessing the performance of Chief Academic Affairs Officer Susanne Griffin, are wretched. 

 

Anyone bearing the title of Director of Teaching and Learning must embrace the responsibility of transforming these outcomes to ensure that all Minneapolis Public Students are achieving at grade level or, in the case of special needs students and English Language Learners, are attaining the highest performance of which they are capable---  if quality of curriculum and teaching were to give them a viable chance to demonstrate such capability.

 

Ms. Traynham is recently arrived at the Minneapolis Public Schools, so that she is not responsible for the MCA results of spring 2016.

 

The question is, then, is she capable of overseeing curriculum overhaul, teacher training, and academic remediation (tutoring) necessary to raise student performance to grade level and then move forward toward a rigorous, college preparatory program?

 

The answer, based on the best information available to me, is “no.”  This information strongly suggests that Macarre Traynham does not believe in broad and deep knowledge-intensive curriculum in grade by grade sequence throughout the K-12 years, with particular upgrading necessary at grades K-5.

 

Macarre Traynham’s academic training is slim in the legitimate subject area disciplines other than math (i.e., history, economics, English literature, fine arts, chemistry).  She does commendably have a bachelor’s degree in math, but otherwise her training is entirely in programs granting degrees and certifications in education, the least academically rigorous and the most jargon-infested area of study on any college or university campus.

 

Chief Academic Affairs Officer Susanne Griffin brought Macarre Traynham to the Minneapolis Public Schools expressly to emphasize culturally responsive curriculum, so that at this point I offer similar comments to those that I rendered in my articles focused on Michael Walker (Director, Office of Black Male Achievement) and Anna Ross (Director, Department of Indian Education): 

 

1)  All curriculum should be culturally responsive. 


All subjects, particularly history, government, other social sciences, and literature should give generous coverage to the specific histories and cultures of key ethnic groups in our society of many origins and belief systems;  and the culturally specific information so imparted should be contextualized by the history and culture commonly shared by citizens of all ethnic groups. 


I provide such a curriculum in my Journal of the K-12 Revolution:  Essays and Research from Minneapolis Minnesota and in my nearly complete new book, Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education.  My presentation of curriculum is consistent with the approach taken by E. D. Hirsch at the Core Knowledge Foundation, on which I work my own innovations and extend logically into the high school years (Hirsch has long emphasized curriculum at grades K-6 and more recently at grades 7-8).


2)  Culturally responsive curriculum is vital, but an exclusive focus on building cultural awareness is not sufficient for academic improvement, nor is it sufficient for excellence in education.


We need to simplify our approach and discard the verbal detritus and philosophical poverty of schemes hatched in our wretched departments, colleges, and schools of education. 


Be clear  >>>>>

By simplifying our approach to focus on matters relevant to curriculum and teachers throughout the Minneapolis Public Schools, we are then free to concentrate on the truly difficult work of generating a knowledge-intense curriculum and training teachers who are capable of imparting such a curriculum to students of all demographic descriptors. 

A logically adept response to the needs of all students will include as a key facet the delivery of high-quality academic remediation (tutoring) to those students lagging below grade level in mathematics and reading.

Decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools need to be clear as to the reason for the existence of the Department of Teaching and Learning.  As it is, there is too little learning, and the teaching is too mediocre.  Macarre Traynham and her staff should clearly be responsible henceforth for the academic outcomes given as goals in the Acceleration 2020 Strategic Plan and measured on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) and other objective instruments such as the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress).


If they do not provide the excellent quality of education that will ensure the desired outcomes, their employment status should be under serious scrutiny.

 

As to her own employment status, given her expertise in culturally responsive curriculum, Macarre Traynham may have a specialized role to play in the Department of Teaching and Learning. 


But her training is too limited to position her to lead a department in which the greatest abiding need is to overhaul curriculum for the delivery of grade by grade knowledge in the liberal, technological, and vocational arts.

 

Thus, Macarre Trayham should be terminated in her position as Director of Teaching and Learning at the Minneapolis Public Schools, possibly moved to another position more specialized and less comprehensive in scope.

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