Nov 21, 2018

Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota >>>>> Vol. V, No. 5, November 2018 >>>>> MPS Comprehensive District Design: Faint Potential with Likely Fatal Flaws >>>>> Article #4 >>>>> My Answers to Questions Posed at the End of the Overview of the Tentative MPS Comprehensive District Design


Article #4

My Answers to Questions Posed at the End of the

Overview of the Tentative MPS Comprehensive

District Design

 

In the overview of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Comprehensive District Design distributed at the MPS Board of Education gathering on Saturday, 8 September 2018, there were on the back page several very well-posed and important questions.

 

Here I present those questions and my answers:

 

Questions to Consider

 

Comprehensive District Design

 

With the district’s challenging demographics, the value of integration often conflicts with the value of prioritizing the enrollment of students who live within the school’s neighborhood:

 

Which value should be prioritized when enrollment decisions are made?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

The enrollment of students who live within the school’s neighborhood should be prioritized. 

 

The focus should be on the provision of knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum that includes and honors all cultures, imparted by teachers who are intimately attune to the particular strengths and the specific life challenges brought by each student into the classroom.

 

Would you support a proposal in which a percentage of seats at a school are held at schools that are over 70% homogenous to increase diversity?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

No. 

 

Provide an excellent education at every school site, along the lines given in the question above, and people of all demographic descriptors will seek out a school of genuine excellence.               

 

Would you support that magnet school enrollment must be diverse to receive integration revenue? 

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

Yes.

 

Make each school, including magnet schools, excellent via the impartation of knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum, delivered by teachers of broad and deep knowledge.  The idea behind magnet schools is the attraction of a diverse student body, so that the ability to do that should be the qualifier for receipt of integration funding.  This answer is given, then, in frank recognition of the irony that the integration of a school on the basis of magnetically attractive excellence will then be the qualifier for integration funds.

 

Would you support a proposal that adjusts attendance boundaries to increase a school’s diversity?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

Adjustment of boundaries to increase a school’s diversity is acceptable but unnecessary;  such adjustment should be done with attention to geographical integrity and relentless focus on school quality as the core of the academic appeal that will be the generator of diversity.

 

Providing the foundation for a well-rounded education in elementary schools might mean lengthening the school day for elementary students to ensure that there are enough minutes in the day to support core instruction.  Is this something that we should consider?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

No--- 

 

but read below carefully for nuance:

 

The current amount of time designated for the school day, which is largely wasted in such ways as temporally uneconomical group projects, overreliance on videos, teacher absences and extended leaves yielding ineffective substitutes, ill-focused field trips with lack of student preparation, pep rallies, “free days,” and all manner of maddening distractions;  any additional time should be used for enrichment and remedial experiences as appropriate, rather than on the academic core.  Everyone in the universe should know by now that my priority is the academic core, so my view here is that the currently specified classroom time should be more than sufficient if economically used, and that any extended time should be utilized to make sure that students have the math and reading skills necessary to properly receive the core.  

 

Guaranteeing a well-rounded education for all students with enrichment opportunities could mean less autonomy for schools to make staffing and programming decisions.  Would you support this if it meant more guaranteed access to programming supports and enrichment for all students?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

Yes. 

 

Knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum should be designed at the level of the central office (Davis Center) for grade by grade implementation in the classrooms of the individual sites.

The knowledgeable, pedagogically skilled teacher is ever adept at working innovations upon a commonly imparted curriculum.

 

K-8 schools limit the experiences of their 6-8 students because of the costs associated with programming their low enrollment.  With this in mind, would you support the District moving to  K-5, 6-8, 9-12 school design so that all middle school students have equitable programming?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

Yes.

 

The properly sequenced, grade by grade K-5 curriculum should focus on mathematics, natural science (foundations of biology, chemistry, physics), literature and English usage, history, economics, psychology, and the fine (visual and musical) arts.

 

The grade 6-8 curriculum should continue this emphasis, with accompanying world language opportunities.

 

Given academic rigor at the K-5 and 6-8 levels, grade 9-12 students will be ready for Advanced Placement courses concomitantly preparing them to take the ACT and SAT college readiness assessments;  and should also at this stage be given ample elective opportunities to pursue personal interests in the liberal, vocational, and fine arts.

 

Providing predictable staffing for all schools could mean a reallocation of resources from schools with larger budgets.  Should the District provide subsidies for small schools or schools with limited poverty to achieve equitable staffing?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

Yes.

 

Not without much thought should resources ever be shifted from schools with many students on Free or Reduced price lunch;  but predictable and equitable staffing is a paramount objective necessary to attain academic excellence at each school site.

 

Data suggests that there are portions of the city where parents choose to enroll outside of the District due to concerns about transportation and walk zones, lack of culturally and linguistically specific schools, and academically rigorous curricular offerings.  Would you support a plan that offers geographically differentiated transportation options or program choices specifically to increase market share?

 

My Answer >>>>>

 

No.

 

Except for some immensely pragmatic objective to address a highly particular situation, the emphasis should be the provision of an excellent education as given in answers above, creating a situation in which students and families of all demographic descriptors will seek out that school of excellence close to the familial residence.

 

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