The
Comprehensive District Design now under development by Superintendent Ed Graff
and Minneapolis Public Schools staff in consultation with highly paid TeamWorks
International consultant Dennis Cheesebrow has a number of promising features,
all of which will most likely be vitiated by fatal flaws.
The
unfolding design promises to bring a holistic
approach to achieving better academic outcomes for all students to the
mission of existing to ensure that all
students learn, upon a vision to ensure
every child college and career ready.
The
emerging design is proceeding with a goal of equipping graduates with the
knowledge and skills to be successful in three key areas: 1) academics; 2) social and emotional skills; and 3)
career and life experiences; with
a plan that keeps students at the center, realigns resources to provide
predictable staffing and programming, and supports stable funding through a
multi-tiered strategy that includes intentional recruitment and retention of
students and families; so that students
are prepared for excellence and success in career, college, and life for having
been equipped with a broad array of knowledge, capacities, skills, and
experience.
The plan
includes five key elements: ELEMENT 1,
to set clear expectations for all graduates and for the daily experiences of students,
staff and families; ELEMENT 2, to
enhance academic programming that delivers academically and relevant
programming to meet the needs of all learners, with consistent provision of an
individualized approach to instruction that begins in pre-kindergarten with all
students participating in high-quality coursework aligned to state standards,
enriched to result in a well-rounded education;
ELEMENT 3, to create a solid and predictable foundation upon which
schools can build to meet the unique needs of the students they serve; ELEMENT 4, to provide clear, equitable
academic pathways supported by efficient and financially sustainable
transportation options; and ELEMENT 5,
to pursue multiple approaches to sustainable funding, including targeted,
data-informed efforts to increase market share.
There are
promising features in this design:
In Element
1, there is the promise that students will graduate with a well-rounded
education, adopting the federal definition of a well-rounded education as courses, activities, and programming in
subjects such as English, reading or language arts, writing, science,
technology, engineering, mathematics, global languages, civics and government,
economics, arts, history, geography, computer science, music, career and
technical education, health, physical education, and any other subject, as
determined by the state or local agency, with the purposes of providing all
students access to an enriched curriculum and educational experience.
[Every Student Succeeds Act: S. 1177-298], with the necessary curricular
offerings projected by 2022 at each grade, in the context of a new culture that
supports such learning.
In Element
2, there is a vow by 2022 to prepare students via elementary and middle school
curriculum to meet the demands of rigorous core and elective courses in high
school.
In Element
3, there is the promise by 2022 to provide health and aide staff needed to
establish a context of student physical and emotional health to abet learning.
In Element
5, there is a projected effort to redesign the district so as to create
appealing schools for students of all demographic descriptors and in all
geographic areas, with special emphasis on reaching out to demographic groups
who have in recent years opted for schools outside the Minneapolis Public
Schools.
But Element 4 is off-target, and the MPS comprehensive design has a number of
probable fatal flaws that will make this another exercise in futility:
…………………………………………………………….
The first
warning sign comes in the form of the phrase, “MPS has demonstrated it can
provide academic excellence for some students.”
In fact,
the schools of this school district do not provide academic excellence to any
student in the school district; this is
true of most K-12 providers of education in the United States. Those who wrote this text are making a false
claim, or they are clueless.
Then there
is the problematic phrase, “individualized approach to instruction.” Every teacher, administrator, and staff
member should be sensitive to the individual life circumstances of each child
and young person enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools; but curriculum and pedagogy utilized should
be consistent from student to student, including an abundance of whole-class
instruction.
The entire
Element 4 is severely flawed with the advancement of the notion of
“articulated pathways.” This is a misguided
approach that echoes the failed tenure of former MPS Chief Academic Officer
Susanne Griffin. In fact, teachers
should be teaching from a common curriculum that includes an abundance of
cross-cultural knowledge that would incorporate American Indian, Hmong, Somali
language and culture; visual and
performing arts; and foreign language
learning opportunities. Certain ideas of
Maria Montessori are useful in understanding and teaching the young child, but
the Montessori approach results in gaps in knowledge and skill sets and should
not be the prime means of curricular delivery;
impartation of knowledge and skill sets should be in logical,
grade-by-grade sequence to all students. A knowledge-intensive curriculum should be delivered
not via an International Baccalaureate program;
rather, students should acquire those knowledge and skill sets that will
lead to enrollment in Advanced Placement courses in high school.
Programming
should be consistent and multicultural at all sites. Families of all demographic descriptors
respond to a knowledge-intensive, skill replete, ultimately college preparatory
curriculum. They will seek out the
Minneapolis Public Schools if they are presented such a curriculum, and the
knowledgeable teachers required to impart such a curriculum.
……………………………………………………………………………..
Ultimately,
the emerging Minneapolis Public Schools Comprehensive District Design is overly
verbose and fails to focus on an overriding goal of providing
knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education in grade by grade sequence to all students.
The
emphasis on “creative and critical thinking” at grades K-5 seems an adaptation
of the education professor’s mantra that serves as a smokescreen for providing
very little of the knowledge base that would serve as the springboard for
creative and critical thinking.
There is
verbiage suggestive of the provision of rigorous course work, but there is no
accompanying plan for the overhaul of curriculum so as to impart grade by grade
knowledge and skill sets or to train teachers to become bearers of knowledge.
As
Cheesebrow, Graff, and MPS leaders proceed to put the detail into the
Comprehensive District Design, the chief goal of providing common knowledge and
skill sets to students of all demographic descriptors should be clarified and
emphasized as dominant:
The notion
of pathways should be jettisoned, making way for a plan to assure that students
arrive in high school with a commonly shared knowledge base so that all
students proceed to advanced courses in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics,
calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, history, government, economics,
psychology, literature, and fine arts;
while also gaining as chance at the high school stage to pursue driving personal
interests via electives in the liberal, vocational, and fine arts.
Students at
the Minneapolis Public Schools should be given a common broad, deep, knowledge-intensive
education in grade by grade sequence through middle school, continuing into
high school while at that latter stage also providing the opportunity to pursue
well-informed personal driving interests.
Success in
doing this will assure that the best features of the MPS Comprehensive Design
will be realized.
But failure
to provide the necessary curriculum overhauled for grade by grade knowledge
intensity; and to train the teachers
necessary to deliver such a curriculum;
will expose the probable fatal flaws in the design--- making the whole exercise another costly
diversion that once again deceptively promises much but delivers little to the
students and families within the area served by the Minneapolis Public Schools.
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