Readers will find as they scroll on down
this blog a complete presentation of the proposed preliminary Minneapolis
Public Schools (MPS) Comprehensive District Design, as revealed by district
officials Eric Moore (Chief of Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and
Accountability; and Interim Chief of
Academics, Leadership, and Learning), Cecilia Saddler (Deputy Chief of
Academics, Leadership, and Learning), and Rochelle Cox (Executive Director of
Special Education) at the meeting of the MPS Board of Education on Tuesday, 14
May.
Development of the Design began with
Superintendent Ed Graff and other MPS officials conferring with consultant
Dennis Cheesebrow (TeamWorks International) during the 2017-2018 academic year; Cheesebrow researched and presented information
pertinent to demographics in Minneapolis; disaggregated data concerning academic
performance of MPS students; the
phenomenon of families seeking charter school, parochial school, and private
school alternatives to MPS; and prospects
for attracting students back to the district.
On a Saturday morning in October 2018, an
important meeting (open to the public) was held that gave attendees a view of
the preliminary MPS Comprehensive District Design. There was much talk at the time, and there
continues to be much talk by district officials as to the preliminary nature of
the Design, which still is open for comment by members of the public and
members of the MPS Board of Education.
But the thrust of the Design is clear, and the current detailed version is
highly consistent with the sketchier plan as given in October 2018, so that
those examining the Design may form their own views either for or against the
plan with a clear understanding of what officials are conveying or not
conveying in terms of ideas undergirding the Design and means of
implementation.
Examination of the Design is one of the
last tasks for me as I produce the refined version of my book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public
Schools: Current Condition, Future
Prospect. Look for detailed analyses
in the coming days. I want my readers to
have an opportunity to review the Design and form their own opinions before I
present my own full analysis. I will,
though, offer this comment as readers make their own determinations:
The
Minneapolis Public Schools Comprehensive Design is strongest in identifying the
subjects at the core of a well-rounded education, consistent with content given
in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA);
and in the very thoughtful organization of special education programming
detailed for every MPS school. The plan
gives a much less tangible presentation of strategies for improving student
academic performance.
The
murkiness of methods proposed in the Design for improving academics at the
Minneapolis Public Schools makes all the more important the hiring of a
proponent of logically sequenced knowledge-based education as the new Chief of
Academics, Leadership, and Learning (best simplified to “Chief of Academics”).
I have presented the MPS Comprehensive
District Design in five articles immediately following this entry:
Article #1 gives the opening pages of the
Design, which presents an overview of the principles guiding the Design and
strategies for improving academic performance.
Article #2 gives the first part of a
lengthy Appendix, which in the beginning focuses on proposed academic
strategies pertinent to Career Technical Education, Middle Grades, STEAM
(Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), Comprehensive Plan
for the Arts, and Ethnic Studies.
Article #3 gives the part of the Appendix
covering the Comprehensive Districtwide Assessment Implementation Plan.
Article #4 gives the part of the Appendix
covering the Redesign for Special Education.
Article #5 gives the part of the Appendix
covering the four MPS priorities under Superintendent Ed Graff: Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), Social
Emotional Learning (SEL), Equity, and Literacy.
……………………………………………………………………………………
Understand that MPS officials are holding a
number of community engagement meetings to present the MPS Comprehensive District
Design to the public and to get feedback from the latter.
Meetings that have already been held
include the following:
Community
Engagement Opportunities
30 April
Latino Parent Advisory Committee
3 May
Somali Parent Advisory Committee
9 May
Special Education Advisory Committee
13 May
Edison High School
15 May
MFT and ESP members (tentative)
16 May
Southwest High School
20 May
Wilder
Those that remain on the calendar,
including a meeting scheduled for today, are as follows:
Community
Engagement Opportunities
21 May
Davis Center
22 May
Latine community presentation at Waite
House
23 May
Heritage Family Night @ Hmong International
Academy
30 May
Black Parent Advisory Committee
30 May
Title VI Parent Advisory Committee
13 June
Special Education Advisory Committee
TBD
>>>>> Internal engagement with MPS staff
(departments and school staff)
>>>>> Individual and group meetings with key
community influencers (Board and Leadership)
>>>>> Ongoing engagement June-August (Calendar of
Events Summer 2019)
………………………………………………………………………………..
My own essential view, very likely consistent
with the analysis that I will present later on this blog and will include in Understanding the Minneapolis Public
Schools: Current Condition, Future
Prospect, is that the Design should be approved at the August meeting of
the MPS Board of Education; that great
care should taken by Graff and other MPS officials in hiring a proponent of
logically sequenced knowledge-intensive education; and then that the most important work of improving
the academic program should move forward on the basis of my own five
programmatic emphases: 1) curriculum
overhauled for knowledge intensity; 2)
thorough training of teachers capable of imparting such a curriculum; 3)
provision of academic enrichment opportunities for an hour each day at
the K-5 level, including highly intentional skill remediation for academically
lagging students; 4) the provision and
referral of services to struggling families, in conversation with staff
comfortable on the streets and in the homes of students right where they live; and 5) continued reduction of the Davis
Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway) bureaucracy so as to garner
resources for the four programmatic features above.
My fundamental recommendation, then, is to
approve
the plan, hire a worthy Chief Academic Officer, and move forward for work on
the ground that will deliver a knowledge-intensive education of excellence to
students of the Minneapolis Pubic Schools.
……………………………………………………………………………………
Please now proceed to the five articles
that present the proposed Minneapolis Comprehensive District Design, which MPS
officials emphasize is a preliminary document, pending further refinement in
the aftermath of public and MPS Board of Education comment:
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