Understanding the Importance of the Immediately Following Multi-Article Series, “Principles of the K-12 Revolution,” Written by the National Expert on the Locally Centralized School District

Immediately following this article, readers will find a multi-article series of great importance.

 

The series draws heavily from seminal articles that I wrote for publication in the second and third editions of my Journal of the K-12 Revolution:  Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota, which I launched in July 2014.

 

I have taught students living at the urban core for 47 years and have done so in North Minneapolis for 27 years.  During the last quarter of a century, I have followed events at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) closely.  Close attention to events at MPS became an investigation into the inner workings of that school district in June 2014.  Since that time I have copiously gathered data and information, have attended more important events than any other observer, have had multiple meetings with MPS personnel, and along the way have recorded my findings on this blog and in the academic journal mentioned above.  I have also discussed the data and my observations on my television show, The K-12 Revolution with Dr. Gary Marvin Davison (Minneapolis Telecommunications Network [MTN], public access Channel 17 in Minneapolis, appearing every Wednesday at 6:00 PM) and at many public forums, including Public Comments made at monthly meetings of the MPS Board of Education.

 

The results of this whirlwind of data collection and activity will soon gain publication in my substantially complete book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect.

 

No one knows more about the inner workings of the Minneapolis Public Schools than do I;  by extension, now one knows more about the functioning of the locally centralized school district than do I.
 

No one.

 

If someone makes a counterclaim, I am ready to meet them in energetic debate any time, any place.

 

…………………………………………………………..

 

The articles that you read as you scroll on down this blog, therefore, are written by the national expert on the locally centralized school district.  

 

And they are written by the thinker with the clearest philosophy of education that you will ever read.  I am ever amazed as public school officials and education change advocates alike become tongue-tied when they are asked,

 

“What is an excellent education?”

 

Officials and putative reformers alike hem and haw and stammer and stew and tend to offer some laundry list of worthy educational goals and programs---  but no fundamental definition that goes to the core of the constituent elements of an excellent education.  Likewise, few people understand the defining qualities of the truly excellent teacher.

 

You will find no such hemming, hawing, stammering, stewing, or fuzziness in the articles below.

 

What you will find instead are clear definitions of an excellent education and the excellent teacher.

 

You will find clear identification of the three main purposes of K-12 education.

 

You will find details concerning the knowledge-intensive curriculum at the core of an excellent education.

 

You will find explication of the nature of teacher retraining that must ensue at the level of the locally centralized school district to create the professionals capable of imparting information-heavy curriculum.

 

And you will find a thoughtful vision of the society that we can expect once we institute knowledge-intensive curriculum, retrain teachers, and impart an education of excellence to all of our precious children, of all demographic descriptors.

 

Read carefully.

 

Understand the seminal importance of what you are reading.

 

Then embrace the responsibility of citizenship, and get to work.