Nov 15, 2018

Commonalities in the Analytical and Conceptual Confusion Manifested by MPS Superintendent Ed Graff, the MPS Board of Education, and members of the 2020 Advisory Committee (Article #7 and Conclusion of a Series)

In planning or leading any endeavor, one has first to be clear as to one’s ideals and objectives and then to communicate those clearly to those whom one leads. 


The best thinkers and leaders are those who are able to study the complexities of a subject and then express the core of that subject in the leanest possible terms:


Thus, physicist Albert Einstein succinctly stated his key ideas on general relativity in the cosmos in an equation giving the relationship of mass, energy, and velocity.


Behaviorist psychologist B. F. Skinner did the same in explaining human behavior in terms of schedules of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment.


To date I have observed only one who in planning or leading an endeavor pertaining to K-12 education can express her or his ideas so clearly as did Einstein or Skinner.  Very few people can answer the following question clearly and succinctly:


What is an excellent education?  


Whenever I pose that question, I get astonished looks as if the person never thought about getting the definition of an excellent education straight before launching an initiative with the purported goal of attaining what has not even been defined.


Although I have sought clarity on the matter of defining an excellent education in many quarters, I have observed only one who in planning or leading an endeavor pertaining to K-12 education can succinctly render the requested definition.


That person is myself.


My succinct definition goes as follows: 


An excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers imparting a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum in logical grade by grade sequence to students of all demographic descriptors.
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If one knows one’s way around the landscapes on which K-12 education is discussed, one grasps that certain terms in the definition given above, when understood, are enormously controversial and productive of much rhetorical reply and resistance from those who have been philosophically and professionally damaged by education professors who provide such wretched training in departments, schools, and colleges of education.  


Thus a leader has to be bold in clearly stating the definition and to marshal the skill for explaining one’s reasoning and replying to objectors and opponents in the education establishment.


MPS Superintendent Ed Graff is a creature of the education establishment and most likely is antagonistic toward the definition that I give. 

But we really do not know. 


I have asked him many times to state his definition and to be clear as to his objectives but unless we are supposed to infer some definition from the programmatic elements of Social and Emotional Learning, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, literacy, and equity, we wait still for Graff’s clear answer;  and if those four elements be those deemed sufficient to move our students toward better academic achievement, we are lost in a world of deep illusion.
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Soon after my arrival as superintendent I would first define an excellent education succinctly, as I did above, and ask if there was any discussion, waiting for responses to words and phrases in the definition such as “impart, knowledge-intensive, logical grade by grade sequence.”  We would have a full discussion as necessary.  I would hear all opinions and objections and then let everyone know in no uncertain terms that as long as I should serve as superintendent we would be providing an academic program based on that definition.


I would then give those I now lead a more expansive account of the direction of the school district, as follows: 


The purpose of K-12 public education is to prepare students for lives of cultural enrichment, civic participation, and professional satisfaction.  An excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers


imparting a logically sequenced, grade by grade, knowledge-intensive curriculum in the liberal, fine, technological, and vocational arts to students of all demographic descriptors.  An excellent teacher is a professional of deep and broad knowledge with the pedagogical ability to impart that knowledge to students of all demographic descriptors.

Upon those principles of educational purpose and excellence, the Minneapolis Public Schools will impart an education of excellence to students of all demographic descriptors.  At K-5, teachers will impart logically sequenced, grade by grade knowledge sets in mathematics, natural science (biology, chemistry, and physics), history, government, economics, world literature, English usage, and the fine arts (visual and musical) to students of all demographic descriptors.  Curricular emphasis on these academic disciplines will continue in middle school (grades 6-8), with expanding opportunities for students to learn world languages. 


By the time students get to high school, all but those with severe intellectual challenges will be prepared to take Advanced Placement (AP) courses in calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, world history, United States history, and English.  In addition to their core requirements, they will have multiple options via course electives to pursue their driving personal academic interests and those in fine, technological, and musical arts.


Until high school, teachers( retrained and well-trained by academicians engaged by decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools to implement a teacher- training program that goes far beyond traditional professional development [PD]) will be responsible for educating students.  Their methods will focus heavily on direct impartation of the knowledge-intensive curriculum in whole-class, teacher-led academic sessions, in which students are asked to analyze critically and discuss as a class varying points of view concerning issues that arise in the scholarly worlds of mathematics, natural science, history, government, economics, world literature, and the fine arts--  with generous application to current issues and the vision of student lives as adults.


In high school, teachers will maintain this manner of imparting knowledge-intensive curriculum, accompanied by lively student discussion, both in core classes and the generous array of course electives for the pursuit of driving student interests.  From grade 9 forward, counselors will provide thorough information to students concerning post-secondary education and the specific
training necessary for particular careers.  Students will have received by their high
school years in the Minneapolis Public Schools an education that prepares them for
further training in any educational experience or profession that they opt to pursue.
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I would then set about getting my carefully selected staff moving on overhauling curriculum, training teachers, providing remedial instruction to students in grave academic need, and connecting with impoverished or dysfunctional families for resource provision or referral, and stringently trim central office expenditures.


The vison would be stated clearly as producing students who upon graduation are prepared to read and discuss topics across the field of academic disciplines, to be well-informed and participatory citizens, and to live life as culturally enriched, professionally satisfied members of the human community.


No one in the Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway) can confidently claim the  likelihood of realizing such a vision.


Neither can members of the 2020 Advisory Committee, who here and there echo some heartfelt community need or find their way to a genuinely good idea, but in the main are captive to the parameters set by Graff and corrupted by an conversational ether wherein bad ideas abound.


The members of the MPS Board of Education are politically corrupt and even more philosophically befuddled.
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 I intend to pursue K-12 revolution upon the ideas of mine that I clearly state, first succinctly, then in fuller exposition, above.


If you ever want to contribute to the development of genuine equity and democracy in these less than United States, you should embrace these ideas and get to work.  

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