Feb 20, 2018

Among the Many Emerging Themes in My Substantially Complete Book >>>>> Under-Education, Underperformance, and Overpayment of Administrative Staff at the Minneapolis Public Schools

Among the many emerging themes of my substantially complete book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect, is the confirmation via data presentation that administrative staff at the Minneapolis Public Schools is undereducated, under- performing, and overpaid.

 

With regard to education, not one of the top academic program decision-makers has even a bachelor’s degree in a major academic discipline:

 

Superintendent Ed Graff has a B. A. in elementary education and an M. A. in education administration---  from third-tier or lower institutions.

 

Chief of Academics, Leadership, and Learning Michael Thomas has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work and is working on a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of St. Thomas, one of the most culpable degree mills in the Twin Cities.  Thomas is the most talented upper level administrator in the Davis Center (central offices of the Minneapolis Public Schools, 1250 West Broadway), but that is despite, rather than because of, his formal credentials.

 

Deputy Chief of Academics, Leadership, and Learning Cecilia Saddler has a B. A. in communications, so that she is best qualified to teach journalism and public speaking classes;  she also took enough courses to gain certification in English/ language arts.  But her master’s degree is in teaching.

 

These non-academicians are the very top decision-makers for academic programming at the Minneapolis Public Schools.  Graff is paid an annual salary of $225,000;  Thomas is paid $163,333;  and Saddler is paid $151,980, for a total of $540,313.  Graff is now in his second year as superintendent;  Thomas and Saddler have many years of employment at the Minneapolis Public Schools.  Hence, Thomas and Saddler are among those responsible for the following academic results;  Graff must be held accountable for the academic year ending in 2017 and for the present academic year ending in 2018, which in my assessment will feature similarly dismal academic results.

 

Be reminded of the abysmal results for the academic years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, which Graff, Thomas, and Saddler are obliged to improve dramatically but have offered no viable program for doing so:

 

Summary of MCA Disaggregated Data for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017

 

Percentage of Students Recording Grade Level Performance on MCAs:

Disaggregated Data for Academic Years Ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017

 

Math

                                            

African American 

 

                              2014           2015        2016         2017

 

   23%        23%         21%         18%

 

Hispanic

 

                              2014           2015        2016        2017

 

    31%       32%        31%       29%

 

 

Native American/ American Indian

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

   23%        19%       19%       17%

 

Asian/ Pacific Islander

                 

                2014         2015        2016     2017

 

  48%         50%       50%      47%

 

White/ Caucasian

 

                              2014           2015        2016       2017

 

   77%        78%        78%      77%

 

All Students

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

   44%        44%        44%      42%

 

Reading

                                            

African American 

 

                              2014           2015        2016        2017

 

    22%       21%        21%       21%

 

Hispanic

 

                              2014           2015        2016      2017

 

   23%        25%       26%       26%

 

 

Native American/ American Indian

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

   21%        20%       21%      23%

 

 

 



Asian/ Pacific Islander

                 

               2014         2015        2016     2017

 

  41%         40%       45%      41%

 

White/ Caucasian

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

   78%        77%       77%      78%

 

All Students

 

                              2014           2015        2016      2017

 

   42%        42%       43%     43%

 

Science

                                            

African American 

 

                              2014           2015        2016       2017

 

    11%       15%       13%       12%

 

Hispanic

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

   17%        18%       21%      19%

 

Native American/ American Indian

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

   14%        16%        13%     17%

 

 

Asian/ Pacific Islander




                       2014         2015        2016     2017

 


                         31%          35%         42%      35%               

 

              

White/ Caucasian

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

   71%        75%       71%      70%

 

All Students

 

                              2014           2015        2016     2017

 

    33%       36%        35%     34%

 

 

The system that produces these results must be overhauled:  a new, knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum should be specified for grade by grade implementation throughout the K-12 years, with particular attention to improving curriculum at grades K-5;  both administrators and teachers should be trained for overall academic knowledge acquisition, so that they are in a position to establish and impart knowledge-intensive curriculum;  highly intentional tutoring should be rendered to those students lagging below grade level;  resources should be provided directly or by referral to struggling families;  and the Davis Center bureaucracy should be severely trimmed.

 

The three top academic decision-makers---  Graff, Thomas, and Saddler---  should held responsible for the academic results of the students whose academic and therefore life prospects are in their hands.  They should be evaluated for employment retention, based on student academic performance and on the basis of their willingness to train and demonstrate academic mettle in mathematics, natural science, history, government, economics, literature, English composition, and the fine arts.

 

These standards should also be maintained for Associate Superintendents Ron Wagner, Laura Cavender, Lucilla Davila, and Carla Steinbach-Huther;  Director of Secondary Education Naomi Taylor;  and Director of Elementary Education Carey Seely Dzierzak. 

 

The associate superintendents exist to compensate for the fact that the principals whom they supervise are of such low quality that there was a perceived need to provide mentors for the leaders at school sites---  a classic case of a bureaucratic rather than an effective response to a problem. 

 

The positions occupied by Taylor and Dzierzak are superfluous and will become ever more so when a through teacher training program is instituted. 

 

Not one of the associate superintendents, each of whom is paid $144,330 annually, is trained at any level in a major academic discipline;  this is true for Taylor at all levels and for Seely for all levels above the bachelor’s degree.  Taylor is paid an annual salary of $110,895;  Dzierzak is paid $108,191.

And the standards should also be applied to Office of Black Male Achievement Director Michael Walker, Department of Indian Education Anna Ross Direcotr, and Department of College and Career Readiness Executive Director Terry Henry, who are annually paid $125,468;  $116,509;  and $107,406 respectively.  None of these Davis Center staff members is an academician or scholar.  Neither African American males nor Native Americans enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools demonstrate any academic improvement over the course of academic years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.  Minneapolis Public Schools graduates are neither college nor career ready;  one-third of them require remedial training once matriculating on a college or university campus. 

 

Walker, Ross, and Henry should improve their own performance or take part in a mass exodus of ineffective administrators out the door of the Davis Center.

 

The administrative bloat is manifest.

 

Key decision-makers are undereducated, underperforming, and overpaid.

 

They must transform their professional profiles and their performance or submit to the tidal wave of transformation with which they will be soon confronted.

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