District Article #3
Likely Fatal Flaws in the
MPS Comprehensive District Design
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:
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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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