This article is the thirteenth 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 Spring
and Winter Break Academy. 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) include Third Graders Reading at Grade Racial and Economic
Achievement Gaps Closed, and Graduation
from High School.
Fewer than 3,500
students of the approximately 20,000 students of color in the Minneapolis
Public Schools are included in this program.
The program is not sufficiently rigorous and lacks sustained focus on
the mathematics, reading, and science knowledge and skills that students need
to meet standards on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) and other
assessments. The drop in funding by the
2018-2019 academic year may mean that Chief Financial Officer Ibrahima Diop,
who especially under conditions of projected budget deficits rising to $33,000,000,
has asked for measures indicating program effectiveness, has deemed that outlay
for this program is not cost-effective.
The impression
has never abated, as we near the end of this series in 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 no cannot work,
or are joltingly incompetent.
We find once
again that MPS decision-makers are dwelling in a fantasy world, cynical in
advancing programs that they no cannot work, or joltingly incompetent.
Consider now the
data pertinent to Spring and Winter Academy:
>>>>>
Major (WBWF)
Academic Program #13
Spring and Winter Break Academy
Program for
World’s
Best Work Force (WBWF)
Alignment,
2017-2018
Projected WBWF
Goals Addressed >>>>>
Third Graders Reading at Grade Level
Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps Closed
Graduation from High School
2017 2018 2019
Budgetary Budgetary Budgetary
Allocation Allocation Allocation
$1,199,783
$60,000
$10,000
Students Served (Grades 4-12)
Academic Year Ending in 2017
K-5 K-8 Middle High Academic Year
School
School School
2016-2017
Data
not broken down by school.
Academic Year Ending in 2018
K-5 K-8 Middle High Academic Year
School
School School
2016-2017
Data
not broken down by school.
Students
Served by Race
(Academic Year Ending in 2017)
African American >>>>>
1,266
American Indian >>>>>
(Native American)
139
Asian >>>>>
236
Hispanic >>>>>
848
White >>>>>
232
Total >>>>>
2,715
(Academic Year Ending in 2018)
African American >>>>>
1,536
American Indian >>>>>
(Native American)
105
Asian >>>>>
201
Hispanic >>>>>
1,056
White >>>>>
332
Total >>>>>
3,220
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