Article #3
Wretched Academic Results Argue Powerfully for Elimination
of the Office of Black Male Achievement and the Overhaul of the
Government-Mandated Department of Indian Education at the
Minneapolis Public Schools
As this edition of Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis
Minneapota goes to publication, we are awaiting results at this point on
student performance on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) measure of
academic achievement for spring 2018; advanced
word is that there is a bit of incremental student academic improvement in a
few schools, but for the most part student performance will remain flat and for
some categories will actually show continued decline.
The pattern for African American
males during the period when the Office of Black Male Achievement has been in
existence (excepting spring 2014 results, recorded before the creation of the
office in autumn 2014) has been generally downward. This is true for African American females in
mathematics; for reading, the results
are essentially flat for the four years indicated:
African American Students
Demonstrating Grade Level Achievement
Math
2014
2015 2016 2017
African American
Male 22% 23% 21% 18%
Female 22% 22% 21% 19%
Reading
African American
Male 19% 19% 19% 18%
Female 25% 24% 23% 25%
The staff composition of the
Office of Black Male Achievement is as follows:
Office of Black Male Achievement Staff Members, August 2018
1) Michael Walker, Director
2) Office Specialist, Senior – Cierra Burnaugh
3) Andria Daniel, Family and Community Inclusion specialist
4) Corey Yeager, Educational Equity Coordinator
5 ) Jamil Jackson, Community Expert Classroom
6) Richard Magembe, Social
Studies Teacher
7) Marjann Sirdar, Social Studies
Teacher
Director Michael Walker receives
$125,468 per annum in salary; other salaries
in the department total approximately $400,000, so that in remuneration alone
the Office of Black Male Achievement costs the district over a half-million
dollars.
The Office of Black Male
Achievement serves only 348 students and four years into its existence is still
at the pilot program stage in a school district whose African American males
number approximately 7,000. There is no
way, therefore, that this office is going to raise overall achievement levels
of African American males throughout the Minneapolis Public Schools. Office staff researchers cite some gains in
grade point averages for participating males, as well as indicators signaling
likelihood of high school graduation.
But such measures mean little when objective measures indicate such low
academic skills, even for the tiny percentage (5%) of the total African
American male student population who participate.
Multi-year figures for academic
results and number of students served do not support the continuation of this
office. African American history and
culture should be an integral part of a logically sequenced, grade-by-grade,
knowledge intensive curriculum throughout the K-12 years. The functions of this office should be
subsumed for now in the Department of Teaching and Learning, which also should
be greatly reduced as teachers are trained for the delivery of a
knowledge-intensive curriculum.
For Native American/ American
Indian students, academic results for years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, and
2017 are as follows:
American Indian/ Native American
Students Demonstrating Grade Level Achievement
Math
2014
2015 2016 2017
Native American/ American Indian
Male 20% 16% 16% 18%
Female 25% 22% 21% 17%
Reading
Native American/ American Indian
Male 18% 14% 15% 19%
Female 24% 26% 26% 27%
Central office staff members who should be held responsible for this wretched academic performance are the following:
Department of Indian Education Staff Members, August 2018
1) Anna Ross, Director
2) Terry Bignell, School Success Program Assistant
3) Jodi Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment
4) Tracy Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment
5) Braden Canfield, Social Worker
6) Miskwa-Kukwa Desjarlait, Youth Engagement Specialist
7) Ida Downwind, District Program Facilitator
8) Alicia Garcia, Social Worker
9) Tami Johnson, Counselor on Special Assignment
10) Elaine Kopischeke-Trejo, Office Specialist
11) Gary Lussier, District Program Facilitator
12) James Kukelich, School Success Program Assistant
13) Christine Wilson, Family Engagement Specialist
14) Odia Wood, District Program Facilitator
Department
of Indian Education Director Anna Ross receives $116,509 in salary per
annum; salaries for other staff members
total approximately $975,000; thus, in
salaries alone this department costs the district over a million dollars. By state law, this department must be part
of the locally centralized school district in Minnesota. But the department has not been effective in raising American
Indian student achievement. Director
Anna Ross should be replaced, the entire staff should be reevaluated, and
staffing for the department should be reduced to a legally acceptable
minimum. American Indian history and
culture should be an integral part of a logically sequenced, grade-by-grade, knowledge-intensive
curriculum throughout the K-12 years, and staff reductions should proceed apace
as the Department of Teaching and Learning oversees overhaul of curriculum for
logically sequenced knowledge intensity and teachers are trained for the delivery
of knowledge-intensive curriculum that incorporates diverse ethnic history and
culture into curriculum imparted to all students.
Superintendent Ed Graff has
overseen the elimination of a separate Department of Communications and the
jettisoning of much dead weight in the Department of Teaching and Learning and
the Department of College and Career Readiness.
The Office of Black Male
Achievement and the Department of Indian Education should be next in this
rationalization of central office staffing at the Davis Center (1250 West
Broadway) at the Minneapolis Public Schools.
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