Given
Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Ed Graff’s emphasis on “Social and
Emotional Learning,” his record in promoting this pedagogical approach during
his tenure as superintendent at Anchorage, Alaska, should be examined. Mr. Graff won the Exemplary Social and
Emotional Leadership Award from CASEL
(Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) in 2016.
Mr. Graff’s
award was so impressive to school board members in Anchorage that they declined
to renew his contract at the end of that very year of 2016 when he won the
CASEL award. Graff served as
superintendent in Anchorage for three academic years: 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016. The most recent figures available to me are
for academic year 2014-2015, the second of the three academic years for which
Graff served as superintendent.
A look at
those figures strongly suggests why Graff’s contract was not renewed, and the
reason why the school board was less than impressed with the Social and
Emotional Learning strategy as utilized by Graff:
Results
for Academic Year 2014-2015
All Grade Levels
Language Arts
Meet Meets Standard Standard
Standard Standard
Student
Categories
African
35.1% 42.1% 20.5%
2.3%
American
White/ 13.3% 33.7% 44.3% 8.5%
Caucasian
Hispanic 28.3% 42.3% 26.9% 2.5%
Alaska 42.4% 37.5% 18.1% 1.9%
Native
American/
American
Indian
All Grade Levels
Mathematics
Meet Meets Standard Standard
Standard Standard
Student
Categories
African
29.5%
51.3.% 16.9% 2.3%
American
White/ 12.9% 39.7% 36.5% 10.9%
Caucasian
Hispanic 23.4% 50.9% 21.8% 3.9%
Alaska 29.0% 50.3% 18.2% 2.5%
Native
American/
American
Indian
All High School
Mathematics Students
Mathematics
Does Not
Partially Meets Meets Exceeds
Meet Meets Standard Standard
Standard
Standard
Student
Categories
African
48.6%
36.7% 13.5% 1.2%
American
White/ 26.5% 35.4% 31.3% 6.8%
Caucasian
Hispanic 47.8% 35.4% 15.2% 1.6%
Alaska 46.0% 35.4% 17.5% 1.0%
Native
American/
American
Indian
Grade 10
Mathematics
Does Not
Partially Meets Meets Exceeds
Meet Meets Standard Standard
Standard
Standard
Student
Categories
African
69.5% 24.7% ---------
---------
American
White/ 36.9% 30.6% 25.6% 6.9%
Caucasian
Hispanic 61.3% 23.2% 14.4% 1.1%
Alaska 69.4% 24.5% ---------
---------
Native
American/
American
Indian
All 48.7% 27.9% 19.4%
3.9%
Students
Grade 10
English/
Language Arts
Does Not
Partially Meets Meets Exceeds
Meet Meets Standard Standard
Standard
Standard
Student
Categories
African
35.9% 53.3% ---------
---------
American
White/ 12.5% 44.7% 39.7% 3.1%
Caucasian
Hispanic 28.6% 50.5% ---------
---------
Alaska 47.3% 40.5% --------- ---------
Native
American/
American
Indian
All 23.9% 46.6% 27.7%
1.8%
Students
Composite
Achievement Gaps (All Grade Levels)
English/Language
Arts Mathematics
Student
Categories
African
30.0%
28.2%
American
vs.
White/
Caucasian
Alaska 32.8%
26.7%
Native
American/
vs.
White/
Caucasian
Asian
22.4% 12.5%
vs.
White/
Caucasian
Native
Hawaiian/ 40.2%
32.5%
Other
Pacific Island
vs.
White/
Caucasian
Hispanic
23.4% 21.7%
American
vs.
White/
Caucasian
Two
or More 15.9% 13.7%
Ethnicities
vs.
White/
Caucasian
These
are abysmal results, actually worse than those that I have posted on this blog many
times for the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Reference
to those figures shows that fewer than 27% of African American, American
Indian, or Hispanic students showed proficiency in mathematics and reading, and
that the given figures holds for Hispanic reading levels; for mathematics, the percentage of Hispanics demonstrating
proficiency is a bit higher but still under 34%. Proficiency figures for White/ Caucasian
students in the Minneapolis Public Schools during academic year 2014-2015 were just
under 78% for mathematics and 81% for reading.
Hence,
an examination of the objective academic results in Anchorage, Alaska, during
the tenure of Ed Graff as superintendent indicates that students in that school
district were worse than those for students in the Minneapolis Pubic Schools.
What,
then, emboldens Graff to pursue in the Minneapolis context the Social and
Emotional Learning Strategy that failed in Anchorage?
What
justifies leading the members of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of
Education on a trip to Chicago to receive the wisdom of Collaborative
for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the organization that
granted him an award during the very year that the Anchorage school board
declined to renew his contract?
An
examination of the objective data given above strongly suggests that
endeavoring to instill self-confidence and social skills in young people, while
clearly worthy , is not a strategy for academic achievement.
Graff and Minneapolis school board members might do penance for that wasteful meeting in Chicago by initiating a program for basic skills acquisition, knowledge-intensive
curriculum, and teachers trained to impart such skills and knowledge
sets--- along with a family outreach
program capable of ensuring that precious young lives of all demographic
descriptors can benefit.
No comments:
Post a Comment