May 29, 2019

Meeting (5:30-7:30 PM) Today (Wednesday, 29 May) at the Davis Center Should Be Seen as an Opportunity to Address the Failures of the MPS Department of Indian Education led by Anna Ross

A 5:30-7:30 PM meeting today at the Davis Center (Minneapolis Public Schools [MPS] central offices, 1250 West Broadway) under the aegis of the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID) should be seen as an opportunity to ask hard questions of Executive Director Anna Ross and other staff of the MPS Department of Indian Education regarding the dismal academic proficiency rates among MPS Native American students.

 

As gleaned from a statement of MUID leaders concerning the Franklin-Hiawatha housing struggle, the organization, Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID), is a coalition of leaders representing Native American organizations and official tribal groups in Minneapolis. Membership includes nonprofits focused on the provision of services or issues pertinent to health services, education, housing, and economic development.  The MUID organization is partner in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Minneapolis;  the MOU provides a framework for the city’s engagement with the Native American community.

 

Recently, leaders of MUID sought to connect grassroots groups, public entities, and private sector organizations endeavoring to address housing issues relevant to the Franking-Hiawatha encampment.  Leaders of MUID are seeking to work with multiple groups to create long-term solutions to homelessness among Native Americans and others in Minneapolis.  Leaders of MUID seek to build a sustainable, long-term, coordinated effort that acknowledges those aspects of indigenous peoples’ history that have created the contemporary situation.  

 

Each spring Anna Ross and other staff from the MPS Department of Indian Education gather to report on developments at MPS schools that serve heavily American Indian populations.  These schools include Anishinabe Elementary, NaWayEE Center School, and American Indian OIC/Takoda Academy.

 

Those attending the meeting should keep in view the following academic performance of MPS American Indian students over the course of the five academic years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

 

MPS Academic Proficiency Rates for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, & 2018

 

Math                     2014       2015       2016      2017      2018

 

American             23%        19%           19%       16%        17%

Indian

 

Reading               2014       2015       2016      2017      2018

 

American             21%        20%           21%       22%        23%

Indian

 

Science                2014       2015       2016      2017      2018

 

American             14%        16%           13%       16%        13%

Indian

 

Performance and profile for Anishinabe Elementary is as follows:

 

Percentage of Students Proficient on the

Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs),

Academic Years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018

 

Anishinabe Elementary School                 Principal >>>>>   Laura Sullivan

 

Math                     2014       2015       2016      2017      2018

 

                                  6%          12%         8%          8%          8%

 

                                (186)      (172)      (156)     (156)     (98)

                                                                               

Reading               2014       2015       2016      2017      2018

 

                                  7%           9%          9%          6%         16%

 

                                (186)      (172)        (156)      (156)    (98)

 

Science                  2014       2015       2016      2017      2018

 

                                   1%         7%           2%          2%         14%

                               

                                 (69)       (59)          (45)        (44)      (21)

 

Student Population

 

Enrollment:  not tabulated as yet by MPS officials

 

                                                Percentage of                   Percentage of

                                                Enrollment at Site           Enrollment

             Districtwide

 

Native American                     78%                                       4%

African American                    10%                                     36%

Asian American                         0%                                       6%

Hispanic American                 10%                                     20%

White American                       2%                                     34%

English Learners                        1%                                     24%

Receiving Free or                   97%                                     63%

         Reduced Price Lunch

Receiving Special                   18%                                     14%

         Education Services

     

Contact Information

 

3100 E. 28th Street

Minneapolis  MN  55406

Grades PreK-5

Principal:  Laura Sullivan

Hours:  8:40 AM-3:10 PM

Phone:  612-668-0880

FAX:       612-668-0890


Website:  anishinabe.mpls.k12.

 

District information on the academic performance at American Indian/OIC is sketchy.  The reading proficiency rate in academic years 2013-2014 and 2016-2017 was fourteen percent (14%);  The science proficiency rate in academic year 2015-2016 was seventeen percent (17%).  Data for other categories and in other years is missing, raising questions regarding attendance and fulfillment of assessment obligations.

 

Staff at Takoda Prep/American Indian OIC assert that the school is “focused on helping all students make advances in reading, writing, and mathematics while making a strong connection to American Indian culture.”  Those at NaWayEE School seek to serve at-risk students as described in MN Statute 126.22.

 

The Department of Indian Education identifies the following as four key services provided by staff members:

 

1)  Support for Instruction

 

2)  Support for Family involvement

 

3)  College Readiness

 

4)  Advocacy for Families

 

The Mission of the Department of Indian Education is given as follows:

 

Improve Native American achievement and graduation rates through academically rigorous culturally responsive instruction, family and student engagement, and collaborative partnerships with schools and communities.

 

The Vision of the Department of Indian Education is given as follows:

 

All American Indian students are empowered as lifelong learners to be fully engaged leaders, stewards, and citizens.

 

National American Indian/OIC President/CEO Joe Hobot received press coverage on 29 June 2017 for his touting of Takoda Prep’s success in closing the achievement gap.  But as in similar claims regarding bridging of that gap, reality confronts verbiage.  The claim had little to do with academic performance:  The only achievement cited was implicit in a comparison with graduation rates at the Minneapolis Public Schools for Native American students as a whole with those at Takoda Academy;  for MPS Native American students as a whole, the graduation rate  in 2017 was thirty-six percent (36%);  for Takoda Academy, the corresponding figure was eighty-five percent (85%).  In the Minneapolis Public Schools, graduating students lack proper academic preparation for postsecondary education;  this is even truer for alternative schools:  Graduation rates do not equate with academic achievement.  

 

Anna Ross’s salary increased from $116,509 in December 2017 to $119,422 in February 2019.

 

Her department has been a failure in promoting academic achievement among American Indian students in the Minneapolis Public Schools.  The MPS Department of Indian Education exists via government mandate.  But the staff can be called to account for their dismal performance and dismissed for their failures.  They are fulfilling neither their expressed mission nor their vision.

 

Hard questions should be asked at today’s meeting.

 

I will ask those questions.

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