Feb 6, 2018

GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science) & GISE (Guys in Science and Engineering)>>>>> Article #5 in a Multi-Article Series >>>>> Programs Projected to Raise Academic Achievement of Students in the Minneapolis Public Schools--- With No Viable Hope of Doing So


This is the fifth article in a series presenting figures for programs identified by the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) administration and MPS Board of Education as the key initiatives of the MPS district to raise student achievement levels, especially those for African American, Hispanic, American Indian (Native American), Somali, and Hmong students, for which not even 25% meet grade level standards on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs).

 

Most of these programs have been in place for many years, with meager results.  

 

Other than these programs, the Superintendent Ed Graff administration is placing its hopes on the training of staff and students in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), the use of Culturally Relevant Materials (CRM) and the implementation of a new reading curriculum for grades PK-5.

 

For reasons that I have detailed in past articles posted on this blog, none of the programs articulated by the Graff administration and approved by the MPS Board of Education is adequate to the task of raising student achievement levels or imparting a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education. 

 

That will only come with complete curricular overhaul, comprehensive teacher retraining, highly intentional tutoring, resource provision and referral for struggling families, and bureaucratic trimming so as to direct resources to the students themselves.

 

These observations will be discussed at length in my substantially complete book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect, for which I will continue to post snippets in the run-up to publication this coming May 2018.

 

The program under review here is the combined GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science) & GISE (Guys in Science and Engineering) initiatives. The purposes of this initiative in meeting World’s Best Workforce regulations established by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) (among the six possible items for WBWF alignment) are to address Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps and to ensure that students are Ready for Career and College.  Via this combination of two closely related programs, decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools aim to attract more female students to the fields of engineering, math, and science;  and also to give male students challenges in science and engineering.

 

This is an admirable initiative.  But inasmuch as the combination of GEMS & GISE programs only serves approximately 2,675 students of color in this academic year 2017-2018, in a school district of approximately 20,000 students of color, participation is limited in the extreme.  In the absence of intentional programs designed to raise general achievement levels and the academic performance of students lagging behind, performance on mathematics and science assessments will continue to languish.

 

The impression builds with the review of each program purported to raise overall achievement levels that that decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools dwell in a fantasy world, are cynical in advancing programs that they know cannot work, or are joltingly incompetent.

 

Consider now the data pertinent to GEMS & GISE:              

 

>>>>>   

 

Program for                                       

World’s Best Work Force (WBWF)

Alignment, 2017-2018

 

Major (WBWF) Academic Program #5

 

GEMS & GISE

 

Projected WBWF Goals Addressed  >>>>>

 

Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps Closed

 

Ready for Career and College

 

2016                       2017                       2018

Budgetary           Budgetary          Budgetary

Allocation           Allocation          Allocation          

 

 $900,000             $213,000             $213,000            

 

Students Served (Grades K-8)

 

Academic Year Ending in 2017                  

 

K-5          K-8                Middle        High         Academic Year

                                      School         School      2015-2016

                           

1,648       676               257 -----       

 

Academic Year Ending in 2018                  

 

K-5          K-8                Middle        High         Academic Year

                                      School         School      2017-2018

                           

2,629       751                736                -----      

                                        

 

Students Served by Race                                                             

 

(Academic Year                Ending in 2017)

 

 

African American    >>>>>

 

951

 

American Indian     >>>>>

(Native American)

 

   84

 

Asian >>>>>

 

194

 

Hispanic >>>>>

 

 513

 

White  >>>>>

 

839

 

Total  >>>>>

 

2,581

 

 

(Academic Year                Ending in 2018)

 

African American    >>>>>

 

1,725

 

American Indian     >>>>>

(Native American)

 

    134

 

Asian >>>>>

 

    229

 

Hispanic >>>>>

 

    758

 

White  >>>>>

 

 1,375

 

Total  >>>>>

 

4,221

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