Sep 2, 2017

Most Critical Needs of the Minneapolis Public Schools >>> Assessment and Programmatic Response from Alternate Universe MPS Superintendent Gary Marvin Davison

Unlike the inept Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Ed Graff and incompetent MPS Board of Education in the conventional universe, I (Gary Marvin Davison) and my board in the alternate universe intend clearly to assess, announce, and remedy the deficiencies of this iteration of the locally centralized school district.

 

The deficiencies are as follows:

 

>>>>>  Curriculum is weak, failing to follow the Minnesota state academic standards, and neglecting to impart to students vital knowledge and skill sets in the liberal, technological, and vocational arts.

 

>>>>>  Teachers are typically mediocre in quality.  Teachers at grades K-5 gain certification by completing the weakest academic training on any academic campus, emerging with low knowledge of history, government, economics, psychology, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and the visual and musical arts---  those subjects in which K-5 students should be gaining a firm foundation.  Too many teachers at the grades 6-8 and 9-12 level have a poor grasp of the fields in which they should be specialists;  rather than matriculating in rigorous field-specific master’s degree programs, they move up the step and lane system on the basis of flimsy master’s degrees earned in departments, schools, and colleges of education.

 

>>>>>  The school district of the Minneapolis Public Schools has no coherent tutoring or academic enrichment program to meet the specific academic needs of students.

 

>>>>>  The district fails to reach out to families facing dilemmas of finances and functionality, neglecting to engage them with MPS representatives comfortable on the streets and in the homes of these families.

 

>>>>>  The central bureaucracy is bloated and ineffective, infested with numerous departments and personnel the names and position titles of which have no relationship to their actual function or performance.

 

>>>>>  Students from families whose adult members are ill-educated or who do not speak English well generally have poorly developed vocabularies and have not read very much rigorous academic material.  This situation therefore means especially that the academic needs of English Language Learners and students on Free/ Reduced Price Lunch go unmet.

 

>>>>>  Because of this confluence of factors, students facing challenging linguistic and financial circumstances typically score in the 9 to 15 range on the ACT college readiness exam, the top score of which is 36 and a minimally acceptable score for which falls in the 18-21 range even for nonselective colleges and universities.

 

>>>>>  Four-year graduation rates are just over 60% for the general MPS student population and under 50% for students struggling with familial situations of poverty and functionality;  even those students who do manage to graduate have low knowledge and skill sets, a condition so severe that one-third of them require remedial training in mathematics and reading if they manage to matriculate at a college or university.

 

>>>>>  The latter situation has been exacerbated by the elimination of the grade 9 writing and grade 10 reading requirements for graduation;  students still take the corresponding Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) but do not need to demonstrate proficiency to graduate.  The reading and mathematics MCAs at the high school and the grades 3-8 levels have been vitiated by state policies.  Teachers do not properly prepare students for these exams by imparting the range and rigor of skills tested on these assessments.

 

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As Alternate Universe MPS Superintendent, I have clearly articulated my program to address these deficiencies and to provide educational excellence.  Both my Alternate Universe MPS staff and our Alternate Universe Board of Education understand my priorities and new programs to bring high academic achievement to MPS students of all demographic descriptors:

 

>>>>>  We are implementing a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum.  Academic field experts are training teachers in knowledge and skill sets pertinent to grade levels and subject areas taught.  A coordinator is now in place to oversee the new MPS-wide tutoring and academic enrichment program.  We have hired 200 new workers who are connecting with struggling families right where they live.  In order to provide the tutoring and outreach staff that we need, we have trimmed 400 positions from the conventional bureaucracy that has burdened the Minneapolis Public Schools for decades.

 

>>>>>  We are now ensuring that English Language Learners and students from academically unnourishing home environments are reading challenging material at every grade level and receiving explicit vocabulary instruction to raise their vocabulary and reading levels to grade-appropriate and college-preparatory proficiency.

 

>>>>>  I have made clear to my staff and to the Alternate Universe Board of Education that we will properly prepare students to achieve at grade level proficiency on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) and the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) standardized tests:

 

>>>>>  I have made clear to all staff members that this district strongly embraces standardized tests as the most effective and objective measures of student performance.  We will take vigorous action against any teachers who encourage parents to allow their children to opt out of our tests, and we will provide appropriate counsel in this regard to parents themselves.  

 

>>>>>  And we will accordingly prepare all students to take the ACT exam for college readiness.  They will be prepared both with the rigorous new knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum, and with specific ACT training via practice materials and teachers capable of imparting the material in the areas of English Usage, Reading, Science Reasoning, and Mathematics Reasoning covered in the four major sections of the ACT exam.

 

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You will never witness Superintendent Ed Graff or the MPS Board of Education in the conventional universe admit the deficiencies or provide the remedies given above.


But we in the Alternate Universe of MPS leadership are frank about those deficiencies and are vigorously implementing the challenging new academic program, preparing for that day when we take our program into the conventional universe, sweeping aside the incompetent Ed Graff and the conventional MPS Board of Education who are academically abusing the students whom by professional and moral duty they are bound to serve.  

 

 

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