Mar 15, 2018

Understanding the Mediocrity of >Star Tribune< Coverage of K-12 Education Issues:Quality of Reporting, Assessment #1 >>>>> From >Star Tribune<, Page A1, 28 February 2018,“Graduation Rate at High Mark: State Record Clouded by Persistent Achievement Gap”


Contributing to the environment of wretched K-12 education at the Minneapolis Public Schools is the mediocrity of coverage by reporters at the Star Tribune.  The past several reporters at the Star Tribune covering the Minneapolis Public Schools have been Steve Brandt, Alejandra Matos, and Beena Raghavendran;  Faiza Mahamud now seems to have replaced Raghavendran, with Anthony Lonetree now covering the St. Paul Public Schools.  Articles written by these journalists are at best serviceable;  often, their articles betray their misinformation and naivete. 
 
Star Tribune writers Mila Koupilova and Maryjo Webster are now also covering K-12 education for the Twin Cities Metro and the state;  they joined Faiza Mahamud in writing the first of three articles that I posted this week, asking readers to look for meaning in subtext and to analyze the articles for quality of reporting.
 
Please now read these articles again, paying careful attention to my own comments at multiple points in the heading and the text  >>>>>
 
Heading and text of Star Tribune article, >>>>> “Graduation Rate at High Mark:  State Record Clouded by Persistent Achievement Gap” (Page A1, February 28), by Mila Koupilova, Maryjo Webster, and Faiza Mahamud  >>>>>
 
>>>>> 
 
“Graduation Rate at High Mark:  State Record Clouded by Persistent Achievement Gap” by Mila Koupilova, Maryjo Webster, and Faiza Mahamud  >>>>>
 
My Comment
 
The “Graduation Rate at High Mark” title was the large, dark-type heading for the article.  This was most likely the fault of another Star Tribune staffer;  I know from my own experience with articles of mine printed on the Opinion Pages that the title of the author rarely is what goes as the heading, and in the case of staffers, as opposed to outside contributors, they may in knowing this not even provide their own title when they file their report.
 
In any case, the dark heading puts the most positive spin on a miserable K-12 education situation in Minnesota, by emphasizing increasing graduation rates.  Anyone skimming the pages of the Star Tribune without paying much attention to the subtitle or to those mitigating references in the text very well could come away thinking, “Oh, good, we’re seeing progress in K-12 education in Minnesota.”
 
In fact, going from a graduation rate of seventy-eight percent to eighty three percent in the span of of five years and calling that success should remind one of the blues lyric,
 
I’ve been down so long,
down looks like up to me.”
 
One way to look good by making progress is to start so low in the first place that gains to a still low level seem to indicate significant advancement, rather than the persistence of abysmal conditions.
 
The text of the article began as follows  >>>>>
               
Minnesota high school graduation rates continued to tick up in 2017, but progress stalled in closing a wide gap between the rates for whites and students of color.
 
A record nearly 83 percent of students graduated from high school on time last year, according to data released by the Minnesota Department of Education.  That’s an overall gain of about 5 percentage points during the past five years.
 
Yet a gap of almost 19 percentage points separates the graduation rates of white students and their peers of color.  Only about half of American Indian students graduated on time last year;  roughly two-thirds of black and Latino students did, compared with 88 percent for whites.
 
But the state has made marked gains toward closing those gains since 2012, with students of color showing more pronounced gains than their white peers over time.
 
My Comment
 
The writers return again to the positive spin.  This can be seen as journalistic balance, but in the absence of a generous amount of commentary elsewhere in the newspaper at which reportorial coverage gives way to analysis, K-12 decision-makers (both central school district staff and school board members) are continually given an escape route for maintaining academic mediocrity.
 
The central fact on which readers should concentrate is that in Minnesota approximately half (50%) of American Indian students are not graduating within four years and that for African American and Latino students in Minnesota the figure is thirty-three percent (33%).
 
In what world is this acceptable?
 
 The text of the article continues as follows  >>>>>
               
“While our graduation rates have continued to climb and gaps are narrowing, we have too many students who are not receiving a diploma,” Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius said, adding that much work remains to reduce disparities.  Graduation rates for low-income, special education,
migrant and homeless students as well as English language learners also lagged significantly behind the state average.
 
My Comment
 
Brenda Cassellius has been making these statements for seven years now.  She serves in a Mark Dayton gubernatorial administration that terminated the MCAs (though still administered) as  graduation requirements, issued a murky Multiple Measurement Rating System (MMRS) that eased pressures on locally centralized school districts to improve, and in many ways did the bidding of Education Minnesota and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT), who heavily supported Dayton’s campaigns and those of other Democrat-Farmer-Labor party politicians.  
 
The text of the article continues as follows:  >>>>>
 
In Minneapolis, about two-thirds overall graduated on time in 2017---  a 1-percentage point dip---  placing the district just shy of the bottom for metro graduation rates.  But that’s still up about 14 percentage points over five years ago, representing one of the biggest gains of any Twin Cities district.
 
My Comment
 
Note that the graduation rate for all student populations at the Minneapolis Public Schools actually declined just a bit.  This is a very significant fact in the context of an article that gives a generous measure of approval for improved graduation rates.  If a school district starts with graduation rates well under fifty percent and then improves, failure looks like success and even decline for a given year is given positive spin.
 
Again, we remember  >>>>>
 
I’ve been down so long,
down looks like up to me.”
 
 
The article continues as follows  >>>>>
 
St. Paul graduation rates inched up to 77 percent, and the districts made modest headway toward reducing disparities for students of color.  In both urban districts, rates remained lowest for blacks and American Indians, while Latino students made significant gains in recent years.
 
Districts in the west and north suburbs led the metro pack in overall graduation rates:  The St. Anthony-New Brighton district graduated almost 98 percent of its students on time last year and posted the largest gains in the past five years.  Minnetonka, Orono, and Edina flowed close behind.
 
On the flip side, Brooklyn Center ranked at the bottom of the metro, with half of students graduating in four years.  There, officials noted that a majority of students attend two alternative high schools, including a statewide online program loosely affiliated with the district.  They noted the district’s traditional high school outperformed the state as a whole.
 
The state education department touted a decrease in the percentage of high school graduates who took remedial classes at Minnesota colleges and universities over the past five years---  a sign that more students are leaving high school ready to tackle college.  But those rates remain high, particularly for some students of color:  In 2016, more than 40 percent of black high school graduates took such courses, which have been shown to reduce the odds of finishing college.
 
My Comment  >>>>>
 
The stark fact here is that forty percent of African American students statewide have to take remedial courses once matriculating on college and university campuses.  Since many of those students attend two-year colleges and those institutions are now frequently addressing academic deficiencies of entering students via remediation not officially labeled remedial, the figure is even higher.  And for less that fifty percent (50%) of African American students who do actually graduate from the Minneapolis Public Schools, the substantial majority require remediation and, worse, given their initial deficits just cannot perform academically at the college and university level.  They drop out and all too often go forth to lives that are not at any level as rewarding as they should be.   
 
The article continues as follows  >>>>>
 
Because of federal law changes, the state tweaked the way it calculates graduation rates.  Changes included adding categories for students who identify as two or more races, migrant students and those who experience homelessness.  The education department recalculated rates for the past five years using the new approach for an accurate comparison.
                                                                                                                                                                         
In an interview, Cassellius voiced confidence that the state can meet ambitious goals it set last year:  a 90 percent statewide rate and racial group rates of at least 85 percent by 2020.  She singled out notable gains in recent years for the new category of multiracial students.  She also highlighted a plan to extend state support this spring to more high schools with lagging graduation rates, reserved until now for schools with high numbers of low-income students.
 
“We need to keep pressing the accelerator down to make sure every kid graduates on time and ready,” she said.
 
In a statement, Gov. Mark Dayton called the report great news for the state even as he acknowledged that “unacceptable disparities” remain.
 
My Comment  >>>>>
 
Remember my comments above regarding the Dayton administration and the political corruption of the DFL on K-12 education issues.
 
Brenda Cassellius is a friend of mine. 
 
She is a sincere and dedicated educator. 
 
I came to favor her selection as Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools when she was in the running along with the ultimately elected Ed Graff. 
 
Cassellius has a strong sense of what must be done to move toward excellence at the level of the locally centralize school district, but at the state level she must do the biding of the DFL and Dayton.   
 
The article continues as follows  >>>>>
 
In Minneapolis, Superintendent Ed Graff highlighted the “on track” program, which uses attendance, behaviors, and grades to promptly identify struggling students, who are then put on a help plan.  He also noted the credit-recovery efforts that helped more than 2,000 students earn credits during the school break.
 
Michael Thomas, chief of academics, leadership, and learning, noted that the district’s high number of English language learners and students with disabilities who struggle to graduate in four years and touted increases in the district’s seven-year rate, to 73 percent in 2017---  data the state released for the first time this year.
 
Still, a 28 percent percentage-point graduation rate disparity between white and minority students persists.  Graff acknowledged that the district must redouble efforts to narrow the gap and ensure graduating students are ready for college and jobs.
 
The article continues as follows  >>>>>
        
Michael Thomas is forced into making statements that he knowsare only fractionally revelatory, hamstringed as he is in serving boss Ed Graff, who imagines that social and emotional learning, an emphasis on literacy, verbal testimony to valuing equity, and externally subsidized and very limited tracking and support mechanisms are going to produce better (very murkily defined) academic results.  Thomas is a talented administrator who must assert the case for a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum as he prepares to be the next superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.   
 
The article continues as follows  >>>>>
 
In St. Paul, officials noted that American Indian, Latino, black, and homeless students, as well as English language learners and those eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, outperformed state averages for those groups.  They highlighted a “check and connect” approach in which social workers and other mentors check in with special education high schoolers at risk for dropping out;  the district has also worked to open opportunities to earn college credit to more high school students.
 
A push is underway to improve graduation rates for American Indian students, officials said, and the district plans to keep closer track of five- and seven- year rates.
 
For some students, four years to graduate is an arbitrary and even inappropriate bar,” said Joe Munnich, assistant director of research, evaluation, and assessment for the St. Paul district.
 
Anoka-Hennepin, the state’s largest school system, saw a 2 percentage point drop in its graduation rate, from the 2015-2016 school year to last year, though the district noted that its students of color outperformed state averages.
 
According to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, about 70 percent of the state’s students enroll in college in the fall immediately after graduation.  In 2016, that number was 72 percent of white students compared to 61 percent of students of color.
 
“It’s important to note that disparities that are happening in K-12 education are also happening in higher education,” said Meredith Fergus, manager of financial aid research for the Minnesota Department of Higher Education.           
 
My Comment  >>>>>
 
Insufficient academic preparation at the K-12 level will indeed continue to weigh heavily on the chances of students to succeed at the collegiate and university level.  All of the K-12 commenters cited and quoted in the article continue to make excuses and to convey in subtext that they do not feel the necessary sense of urgency in making the changes needed to create a democratically equitable, excellent program of K-12 education
 
…………………………………………………………………….
 
The article provided tabular and graphical material, summarized as follow  >>>>>
 
On Time Graduation Gains:  2011-12 to 2016-17
 
All students                >>>>>             +  5 points
 
American Indian       >>>>>              +  6 points
 
Asian                           >>>>>             + 10 points
 
Black                           >>>>>             +  19 points
 
Hispanic                     >>>>>             +  11 points
Two or more races   >>>>>             +  15 points
 
White                          >>>>>             + 5 points
 
BIGGEST INCREASES AND DECLINES IN GRAD RATES
 
          [Note  >>>>>   Minnesota Districts with the greatest six-year change in their graduation rate                       
                                     (increases and decreases).  Many districts with large decreases had very high rates 
                                     to begin with.
 
Greatest 6-year improvement, 2011-12 to 2016-2017
 
Richfield                     >>>>>             +  14 points
 
Minneapolis              >>>>>             +  14 points
 
St. Anthony-              >>>>>             +  11 points
   New Brighton                   
 
St. Paul                     >>>>>                +   9 points
 
Prior Lake-                >>>>>               +   8 points
   Savage
 
Largest 6-year declines, 2011-12 to 2016-2017
 
 
Belle Plaine                     >>>>>          -    2 points
 
White Bear Lake            >>>>>           -    4 points
 
Mahtomedi                    >>>>>           -     4 points
 
Randolph                       >>>>>            -     5 points
 
Shakopee                       >>>>>           -      5 points
 
 
…………………………………………………………………….
 
Summary Comments  >>>>>
 
Editors at the Star Tribune are not sufficiently interested in the matter of improving K-12 education.  They are not knowledgeable enough on education issues to make the proper advocacies even if they were inclined to do so.  Furthermore, as employees of a mainstream newspaper, editors are hesitant to offend the offenders who give them access for interviews to do lightweight, sycophantic stories even when articles tend toward the feature rather than the reportorial.
 
In this situation, readers must always apply their own analytical reasoning in considering K-12 articles in the Star Tribune.
 
For that reasoning to be effective, readers must ever endeavor to increase their own knowledge of K-12 issues.   

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