Feb 11, 2018

Racially Identifiable Schools (RIS) Direct Support >>>>> Article #12 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 twelfth 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 Racially Identifiable Schools (RIS) Direct Support.  The purposes of this program 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 ensure that students are Ready for School, that Third Graders Are Reading at Grade Level, that Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps Are Closed, and that students Graduate from High School and are Ready for Career and College.

 

The MPS Racially Identifiable Schools are Andersen, Anishinabe, Anwatin, Bethune, Bryn Mawr, Cityview, Folwell, Green Central, Hall, Hmong International Academy, Henry, Jefferson, Jenny Lind, Lucy Laney, Nellie Stone Johnson, North Academy, Olson, Pillsbury, Sheridan, Sullivan, and Wellstone.

 

This program does cover half of the approximately 20,000 students of color in the Minneapolis Public Schools.  But exactly what the RIS program entails is murky.  The program is part of the MPS Achievement and Integration Plan, with an aim of raising academic quality at the identified schools and attracting a more diverse student population.  Given that students at these schools have lagged academically for many years and never benefitted from the sustained focus of resources and teaching talent that was supposed to come with the now-defunct High Priority School concept, little confidence should prevail as to the ability of MPS decision-makers to make RIS Direct Support anything more than a document meant to meet Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) regulations;  in this regard, the program exists in the same way as does the Educational Equity Framework, a document full of jargon but with little impact on the impartation of an equitably excellent education in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

                                                                  

We find once again that MPS decision-makers are dwelling in a fantasy world, cynical in advancing programs that they know cannot work, or joltingly incompetent.

 

Consider now the data pertinent to Racially Identifiable Schools:           

 

>>>>>   

 

Program for                                       

World’s Best Work Force (WBWF)

Alignment, 2017-2018



Major (WBWF) Academic Program #12

 

Racially Identifiable Schools (RIS)
 

Projected WBWF Goals Addressed  >>>>>

 

Ready for School

 

Third Graders Reading at Grade Level

 

Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps Closed

 

Ready for Career and College

 

Graduation from High School

 

2017                            2018                      2019

Budgetary           Budgetary          Budgetary

Allocation           Allocation          Allocation          

 

   $0                       $1,800,000           $2,000,000         

 

Students Served (Grades 4-12)

 

Academic Year Ending in 2018                  

 

K-5             K-8             Middle        High           Academic Year

                    School       School           School        2016-2017

                           

4,115       3,681               928              1,774

 

 

Students Served by Race                                                             

 

(Academic Year                Ending in 2018)

 

 

African American    >>>>>

 

5,786

 

American Indian     >>>>>

(Native American)

 

   463

 

Asian >>>>>

 

1,043

 

Hispanic >>>>>

 

 2,465

 

White  >>>>>

 

   766

 

Total  >>>>>

 

10,537

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