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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