Sep 9, 2018

Volume V, Number 1, July 2018 >>>>> >Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota<, Article #3 in a Multi-Article Series


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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