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.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
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.
……………………………………………………………………
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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