Feb 8, 2018

Office of Black Male Achievement >>>>> Article #10 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 article is the sixth 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 MPS Office of Black Male Achievement, for which since the inauguration of this office at the beginning of the 2014-2015 academic year Michael Walker has served as director.  There was an implicit assumption, given goals identified in the district’s Acceleration 2020 Strategic Plan, that Walker would focus on raising overall student mathematics, reading, and science achievement levels for African American males, since fewer than twenty percent (20%) of that student population records grade level performance in these subject areas as measured by the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments and other assessments administered by the Minneapolis Public Schools.  But the program has never had more than 350 participants out of an approximate total of 7,000 African American males in the Minneapolis Public Schools;  and the program has focused on African American culture, rather than demonstrating an explicit emphasis on  mathematics, reading, and science.

 

The purposes of this program in meeting World’s Best Workforce (WBWF) regulations established by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) (among the six possible items for WBWF are to Close Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps, ensure that students are Ready for Career and College, and maximize chances for Graduation from High School.

 

But given the limited student participation and lack of academic focus, there is no reason for believing that the Office of Black Male Achievement can fulfill the stated goals, especially those given for achievement levels and readiness for college.  Hence, the program does nothing anything to avert the impression that builds with the review of each program purported to raise overall achievement levels that MPS decision-makers 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 the Office of Black Male Achievement:      

 

>>>>>   

 

Program for                                       

World’s Best Work Force (WBWF)

Alignment, 2017-2018

 

Major (WBWF) Academic Program #10

 

Office of Black Male Achievement

 

Projected WBWF Goals Addressed  >>>>>

 

Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps Closed

 

Ready for Career and College

 

Graduation from High School

 

2017                            2018                      2019

Budgetary           Budgetary          Budgetary

Allocation           Allocation          Allocation          

 

 $310,000             $320,000             $320,000            

 

Students Served (Grades K-12)

 

Academic Year Ending in 2017                  

 

K-5          K-8         Middle        High         Academic Year

                                School        School     Q1 2016-2017

                           

(Starts     16            71                120                

Q2)           

 

Academic Year Ending in 2018                  

 

K-5          K-8         Middle        High         Academic Year

                                School        School     Q1 2016-2018

           

 62            25           94                167

 

Students Served by Race                                                             

 

This program by definition is exclusively for African American males:

 

(Academic Year                Ending in 2017)

 

 

African American    >>>>>

 

207

 

Total  >>>>>

 

207

 

(Academic Year Ending in 2018

 

African American    >>>>>

 

348

 

Total  >>>>>

 

348

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