Urban Debate League >>>>> Article #14 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 fourteenth 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 the Urban Debate League.  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 Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps Closed and Ready for Career and College.

 

Fewer than 450 students are included in this program.  The program may contribute to reading skills for students at grades 6-12 but does not serve students at grades K-5;  mathematics and science skills would be tangential to most subject matter considered in debate topics.  Furthermore, in the absence of intentional recruitment, students lagging farthest behind academically are not like to participate in the Urban Debate League.

  

With this last article in the fourteen-article series, we reflect that the impression has never abated 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 Spring and Winter Academy:           

 

>>>>>   

Major (WBWF) Academic Program #14

 

Urban Debate League

 

Program for                                       

World’s Best Work Force (WBWF)

Alignment, 2017-2018

 

Projected WBWF Goals Addressed  >>>>>

 

Racial and Economic Achievement Gaps Closed

 

Graduation from High School

 

2017                            2018                      2019

Budgetary           Budgetary          Budgetary

Allocation           Allocation          Allocation          

 

$300,783                $119,000           $119,000             

 

Students Served (Grades 6-12)

 

Academic Year Ending in 2017                  

 

K-8             Middle        High           Academic Year

School       School         School              2015-2016

 

200                106               116

 

Academic Year Ending in 2017                  

 

K-8             Middle        High           Academic Year

School       School         School              2017-2018

                           

101               138                105        

 

Students Served by Race                                                             

 

(Academic Year                Ending in 2017)

 

 

African American    >>>>>

 

 115

 

American Indian     >>>>>

(Native American)

 

     7

 

Asian >>>>>

 

   21

 

Hispanic >>>>>

 

   54

 

White  >>>>>

 

   227

 

Total  >>>>>

 

  424

 

(Academic Year                Ending in 2018)

 

 

African American    >>>>>

 

 138

 

American Indian     >>>>>

(Native American)

 

     4

 

Asian >>>>>

 

   29

 

Hispanic >>>>>

 

   45

 

White  >>>>>

 

   177

 

Total  >>>>>

 

  394