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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