A close look at Strategic Plan: Acceleration
2020 of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) reveals the document’s stark
deficiencies as a guide for excellence in K-12 education.
This document was approved at a September 2014
meeting of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education. Via the program advocated in the pages of the
work overseen by then Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson and Chief Executive
Officer Michael Goar, the public schools of Minneapolis were to advance
educational excellence and equity for all students enrolled in the district.
Six high-level goals were given in the
document: 1) Improved Student
Outcomes; 2) Equity; 3)
Family and Community Partnership;
4) Effective Teachers, School Leaders, and Staff; 5) Stewardship; and 6) Resources for Students and Schools.
Goals offered in what was termed the “big,
bold spirit of the 5-8-10 plan” included the following, to be attained in the
run-up to year 2020:
>>>>> 5
percent annual increase in students overall meeting or exceeding state
standards in reading
and math;
>>>>> 8 percent annual increase in students meeting
or exceeding state standards in reading
and math for MPS’s lowest performing students;
>>>>> 10 percent annual increase in the four-year
graduation rate
Officials at MPS declared that “Our
targets are intentionally high to reignite a sense of urgency in the system and
ensure that everyone is operating with growth mindset. Meeting these targets is
absolutely possible. Under this plan, we
will achieve our vision of every child graduating college and career ready.”
Toward the achievement of Goal Number One,
Improved Student Outcomes, officials at MPS stress that teachers at Grades
Pre-K through Grade 3 should have routines in place for development of student
reading and language skills; that
teachers at Grade 4 through Grade 12 and for adult learners should abet the
development of such skills via guided academic conversations and “close
reading”; and that teachers at Grade 6 through Grade 12 and for
adult learners develop students’ math and science vocabulary and content
knowledge using “literacy strategies.”
Also stressed are core instruction for all categories of learners; personalized learning opportunities; readiness at key points of transition from
one major age grouping to another;
behavioral interventions that minimize suspensions; and the availability of ethnic studies
courses in high school.
Toward the achievement of Goal Number Two,
Equity, officials at MPS stress the use of student data as examined and
then acted upon by Professional Learning Communities of teachers at each site,
problem-based learning and critical thinking;
multiple pathways to graduation via dual enrollment, Post-Secondary
Options (PSEO), credit recovery, community-based GED and literacy programs, and
online learning; and availability of
world languages. Associate
Superintendents are to monitor progress toward the goal of equity and the given
sub-goals; and staff at all schools are
to be given proper supports, with enhanced supports at High Priority Schools
and Focus Schools.
Toward the achievement of Goal Number
Three, Family and Community Partnership, officials at MPS
Stress engagement with families of students,
with appropriate language translation and interpreting services, with training
for teachers in communication with families, and with great effort made to
provide accessible locations and temporally flexible times for familial
participation. They also stress
increases in corporate support, grant funding, and volunteers--- with ongoing monitoring of community
partnerships for effectiveness.
Toward the achievement of Goal Number Four,
Effective Teachers, School Leaders, and Staff, officials at MPS stress the
need for diversity in hiring, identification and placement of individuals
particularly suited for teaching and staff roles to meet the needs of students
at certain schools, and the provision of training and supports for staff in
performing to expectation. There is also
emphasis placed on providing leadership training and career advancement
opportunities; and on implementing
Quality Compensation (Q-Comp) to promote staff retention and career
development.
Toward the achievement of Goal Number Five,
Stewardship, officials at MPS stress accountability on the part of
administrators at all levels for the implementation of Strategic Plan: Acceleration
2020 via ongoing assessment of effectiveness and adjustment of strategies
as necessary; use of the Baldrige
Criteria for Education Organizations as a guide to ongoing staff training
in planning, management, decision-making and data collection and
utilization; and central office
adjustments to abet increased school autonomy.
Toward the achievement of Goal Number Six,
Resources for Students and Schools, officials at MPS stress “zero-based
budgeting” to assure that funds are used where they are truly needed, with
allocations prioritized for the classroom, and with attention to services
pertinent to transportation, food security, instructional technology, school
environment, and athletics that have a direct impact on students’ lives.
All of these goals are to be attained in the
context of an inclination toward school autonomy and upon the conviction that
the individual site--- the
school--- is the meaningful unit of
change and that school staff members should have flexibility to meet the needs
of their particular student population.
………………………………………………………………….
Stating that the school is the unit of change,
with attention to the needs of particular populations, is one of those
expressions that can float into the ears of people without giving offense and
even seeming favorable--- but actually
may be harmful, depending on those devils called details.
In reality, in the United States the locally
centralized district itself must be the unit of change. At that level, we must specify a
knowledge-rich curriculum for implementation throughout the schools of MPS, for
impartation by knowledgeable teachers trained by the school district
itself. With the definition of an
excellent education, the identification of a knowledge-rich curriculum, and the
training of knowledgeable teachers accomplished, then most functions of the
central bureaucracy could be moved out to the individual sites, with principals
and teachers given responsibility for implementation. With the central bureaucracy having acted
meaningfully as the original unit of change, the sites will then become
subsidiary units of change.
Remember that an excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers imparting a
knowledge-intensive, logically seqauenced curriculum in the liberal
(mathematics, natural science, history, economics, literature, fine arts),
technological, and industrial arts to students of all demographic descriptors throughout
the K-12 years.
And remember that an excellent teacher is a professional of deep and broad knowledge with
the pedagogical ability to impart that knowledge to all students.
Remember also that the purpose of a strong K-12 education in the liberal, technological,
and industrial arts is to provide maximum probability that students will
graduate with the likelihood of living lives of cultural enrichment, civic
participation, and professional satisfaction.
With those succinct definitions and observations,
I have provided more detail in my vision of an excellent education than
officials at the Minneapolis Public Schools have given in their entire Strategic Plan: Acceleration 2020 document.
In the latter document, the most specific
statements are those pertinent to goals for student achievement; and those identifying the school as the unit
of change. But those statements seem to
assume that annual increases in math and reading skills (5% annually for the
general student population, 8% for
previously lowest-performing students),
and 10% annual increases in the four-year graduation rate; can be attained without highly specific
approaches for achieving results. And
MPS officials focus measurable goals on basic skills, while relying on
site-based school innovation, multiple pathways, and linguistic and advanced
course opportunities to forge a path to excellence.
Compare such “Hail Mary” approaches to my own
approach, summarized above and detailed in articles posted on this blog focused
on the meaning and purpose of excellent education; and the need for thorough training of
teachers, all of whom come ill-prepared to enter the classroom by virtue of the
abominable training that they get in departments, schools, and colleges of
education.
We will achieve educational excellence for all
of our precious children when we specify a knowledge-rich curriculum for
implementation in grade by grade sequence throughout the K-12 years. Teachers of such an information-heavy
curriculum must have a much stronger knowledge base than they have now.
As I have detailed in other chapters, the
knowledge base of our K-5 teachers is particularly wretched and must be
rectified via mandatory acquisition of a challenging Masters of Liberal Arts
degree for knowledge mastery in math, natural science, history, economics,
literature, English usage, and the fine arts---
with a required master’s thesis and a full year of internship served
under the guidance of the best teacher available; this Masters of Liberal Arts degree must be
superintended at the central school district (MPS) level, with instruction
provided by professors and other experts in their fields of instruction.
Secondary (Grade 6 through Grade 12) teachers
should possess an academic master’s degree (granted in legitimate disciplines,
not from faculty composed of education professors) and serve the same full year
of internship as given for K-5 teachers.
This level of specificity for achieving excellent
education, detailed in part Three, Philosophy, is what is missing from the Strategic
Plan: Acceleration 2020 document of
MPS.
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