Programs Projected to Raise Academic Achievement of Students in the Minneapolis Public Schools--- With No Viable Hope of Doing So

Note to My Readers        >>>>>

 

This article begins 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.

 

Below is the first installment of the series focused on 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.

 

>>>>>    We begin with the program known as AVID

                (Advancement Via Individual Determination):    

 

Program for                                       

World’s Best Work Force (WBWF)

Alignment, 2017-2018

 

Major (WBWF) Academic Program #1

 

AVID                                     

(Advancement Via

Individual Determination)

 

Projected WBWF Goals Addressed  >>>>>

 

Racial and Economic Gaps Closed

Ready for Career and College

Graduation from High School

Budgetary Allocation, Academic Years
Ending in 2017, 2018, and 2019 

    2017                     2018                    2019

Budgetary           Budgetary          Budgetary

Allocation           Allocation          Allocation          

 

$163,000              $3,042,040           $2,942,000

 

Students Served (Grades 4-12)

 

Academic Year Ending in 2017                  

 

K-5 & K-8          Middle        High

(Elementary     School        School        

AVID)                 (PREP

                        & Elective)

 

981                         2,654          1,302

 

Academic Year Ending in 2018                  

 

K-8          Middle     High        

                  School     School             

 

694            1,414       1,734

 

Students Served by Race                                                             

 

(Academic Year Ending in 2018)

 

 

African American    >>>>>

 

1,025

 

American Indian     >>>>>

(Native American)

 

     86

 

Asian >>>>>

 

  136

 

Hispanic >>>>>

 

  426

 

White  >>>>>

 

  248

 

Total  >>>>>

 

1,921