Will Michael Thomas, Eric Moore, and Cecilia Saddler Grasp the Importance of a Knowledge-Intensive, Skill-Replete K-12 Education? I'll Be Keeping You Posted.

Observations on the New Leadership Structure at the Minneapolis Public Schools (Follow-Up to Previous Article as you Scroll on Down This Blog)

 

As you scroll on down to the next article on this blog, you will find a highly important presentation of information concerning the new leadership structure put in place by Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Ed Graff.  You will find details as to staff working under the supervision of the highest placed administrators in this new leadership structure, these most prominent decision-makers given as follows:

 

Superintendent Ed Graff

 

Chief of Academics, Leadership, and Learning Michael Thomas

                                               

Chief of Accountability, Innovation, and Research, Eric Moore

 

Chief Financial Officer, Ibrahima Diop

 

Chief Human Resources Officer, Maggie Sullivan

 

Chief Information Officer, Fadi Fahill

 

Chief Operations Officer, Karen Devet

 

Chief of Staff, Suzanne Kelly

(Communications and Engagement)

 

In any organization, the chief administrators or managers responsible for finance, human resources, information technology, and operations are important to the viability of the organization.  All staff (Diop, Sullivan, Fahill, Devet), in those positions at the Minneapolis Public Schools are good enough in their roles, and my interaction with Diop suggests that he is particularly talented.  Anyone whose job is to serve as a link among other leaders or to make meetings flow more smoothly is also important;  Kelly seems well-suited to such a role.

 

But without question the key decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools are now Michael Thomas and Eric Moore.  Michael Thomas now combines the duties formerly undertaken by Chief Academic Officer Susanne Griffin and those that he himself had as Chief of Schools;  this is to convey that Thomas now has responsibility for designing and implementing the academic program of the Minneapolis Public Schools and also for overseeing the work of the associate superintendents, who in turn oversee the work of building principals.

 

Moore is responsible for collecting and conveying data on student performance;  he is the person who has delivered the bad news on student grasp of mathematics, reading, and science as measured on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA);  he also analyzes data concerning performance on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), the ACT, and other instruments.  In addition to data on student performance, Moore’s office oversees the collection and analysis of many other forms of data such as those pertinent to family and community opinion on the performance of the school district and on referenda issues.

 

But my information suggests that Moore now also exerts significant influence on academic policy and thus along with Thomas will be responsible for the educational programming of the Minneapolis Public Schools.  The third person who is now instrumental in developing academic programming for the school district is Cecilia Saddler, a former associate superintendent who now bears the title, Associate Chief of Schools.  She has a bevy of staff members reporting to her (as given in the next article as you scroll on down this blog) and heads up the Department of Teaching and Learning, effectively replacing former Executive Director Macarre Traynham, who along with Susanne Griffin was ousted in spring 2017.

 

Michael Thomas, Eric Moore, and Cecilia Saddler are genuine talents who understand that student performance on reading and mathematics assessments has been unacceptable and that the district’s inability to educate students from families of poverty and dysfunction has been morally abysmal.

 

But here is the problem:   All that Superintendent Ed Graff offers in the way of new programming for addressing the academic deficiencies of MPS students is an emphasis on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and a new reading curriculum.  There will also be an effort to track student performance in mathematics and reading much more closely so as to catch and address problems before they become intractable dilemmas.  But the current teaching staff at the Minneapolis Public Schools is not fully up to demands posed by these latter academic issues;  SEL is an adjunct, not a main inroad to better academic performance;  and reading is just one part of an academic program that should be completely redesigned to impart highly specified knowledge and skill sets in grade by grade sequence across the liberal, technological, and vocational arts to students of all demographic descriptors.

 

As much as I admire the talents of Michael Thomas and Eric Moore, the best information available to me strongly suggests that they do not yet grasp the importance of a core knowledge approach to education, developed by E. D. Hirsch at his Core Knowledge Foundation for grades pre-K through 6 and by me for secondary students in editions of my Journal of the K-12 Revolution:  Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in my nearly complete book, Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education.

 

I am going to be doing my best to develop in these talented and dedicated MPS staff members a full understanding of a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete K-12 education.

 

I’ll keep you posted on my success in that mission and on the actions that I will take in the months to come, based on my ability to get my message across to Michael Thomas and Eric Moore.

 

Now please do scroll on down to read (perhaps again and certainly if you have not done so) the next two articles posted on this blog.