Remember that many months ago Dr. Davison terminated
the positions of Office of Black Male Achievement Director Michael Walker,
Department of Indian Education Director Anna Ross, and Department of College
and Career Readiness Executive Director Terry Henry, inviting those staff
members to reapply for other positions in the district.
Ongoing decisions pertinent to
administrative restricting and academic program design have now made the services
of Ross and Henry highly tentative and have resulted in an enhanced but very
different role for Michael Walker. Dr.
Davison has also jettisoned several other administrative positions and
departments that have become superfluous with the overhaul of MPS curriculum
and the implementation of academically rigorous teacher and site principal training,
highly intentional tutoring and academic enrichment, and outreach to struggling
families.
The important decisions and features of the
redesign are as follows:
1) A
knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum has been designed and is now in
implementation. The curriculum has been
developed by Dr. Davison, staff from the Core Knowledge Foundation created by
E. D. Hirsch, and academic department scholars from the University of
Minnesota. The curriculum emphasizes
grade by grade knowledge sets for acquisition by students at K-5 in the subject
areas of mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, geography,
economics, literature, English usage, music, and visual art. This emphasis continues at grades 6-8, at
which students also select from rigorous courses in Spanish, French, German,
Chinese, and Japanese for specific language of study. Courses in the vocational and technological arts
have also been established at grades 6-8.
At grades 9-12, all students, with a very few exceptions in the cases of
students with specified learning challenges (who are still offered a
challenging academic program), take Advanced Placement courses in mathematics,
biology, chemistry, physics, world history, United States history, and English; and they exercise numerous options relevant
to specialized academic options across the liberal arts, foreign languages, and
the vocational and technological arts.
2)
All teachers at K-5 are now participating in a Masters of Liberal Arts
program designed to give them strong subject area knowledge sets in
mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, government, economics,
literature, English usage, music, and the visual arts. Degrees conferred in departments, colleges,
and schools of education are no longer recognized. All teachers at grades 6-12 have been
evaluated for knowledge of subject area and required to obtain B. A. and M. A.
degrees in college and university departments relevant to the fields in which
they teach. New teachers at both K-5
and grades 6-12 now are serving full academic year internships and those
experienced teachers who remain on staff have undergone extensive evaluation to
determine suitability for providing classroom instruction. Decisions on employment as classroom teachers
in the Minneapolis Public Schools are now made on the basis of completion of
the above academically rigorous program and proven classroom effectiveness.
3) One
hour a day is now dedicated to enrichment opportunities for all K-5
students. Volunteers and staff members
are now being trained and evaluated for effectiveness in assisting classroom
teachers in tutoring students lagging below grade level in mathematics or
reading; and to assist students
operating at grade level or above in pursuing special interests during the hour
devoted to academic enrichment.
4) A new Department of Family Resource Provision
and Referral has been created. The
Department of Student, Family, and Community Engagement has been disbanded. Staff members with the ability to connect
with families right where they live have been added at each school of the
district, and extensive efforts are underway to engage in collective efforts
with community organizations, mosques, and churches to address the problems of
families that struggle with problems of finances and functionality.
Since teachers are now professionals with
broad and deep knowledge and the ability to impart that knowledge to all
students, the Department of Teaching and Learning and all positions in that
department, typically approximately 45 in number, have been terminated, at a
savings of about three million dollars ($3,000,000).
Finance Chief Ibrahima Diop has been
enthusiastically retained and is now thoroughly evaluating every MPS program
for cost effectiveness. Karen Devet
(Chief Operations Officer), Fadi Fahill (Chief Information Officer), Amy Moore
(General Counsel), Maggie Sullivan (Human Resources Chief), and Eric Moore (Chief
of Research and Assessment [a slimming of his former title] have also been
invited to continue their suitably effective work at the Minneapolis Public
Schools.
Michael Thomas (former Chief of Academics,
Leadership, and Learning) now works closely with Dr. Davison as Administrative
Superintendent.
Michael Walker (former head of the Office
of Black Male Achievement) is now director of the Department of Family Resource Provision and
Referral.
The former positions and departments
(College and Career Readiness and Indian Education respectively) led by Terry
Henry and Anna Ross have been disbanded and their employment status continues
under review.
Former Deputy Chief of Academics,
Leadership, and Learning Cecilia Saddler and Associate Superintendents Ron
Wagner, Laura Cavender, Lucilla Davila, and Carla Steinbach have all been
reassigned as building principals.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
With the disbandment of various departments
at the Davis Center and the professionalization of teaching staff, the prevailing median salary
for teachers has risen from $67,000 to $87,000.
The programmatic emphasis within the district focuses on teachers and
students. There is great emphasis placed
on administrative slimming. As in the
case of college and university professors, teachers are now regarded as masters
of their fields, without need of curriculum specialists and the like.
In making these changes in the Alternate
Universe, Superintendent Gary Marvin Davison is sending a strong signal to
conventional universe Superintendent Ed Graff to follow this administrative and
academic course or prepare to make his exit in favor of new leadership.
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