Last evening (Tuesday, 22 October 2019) at
6:45 PM I was working with a student of mine in the Tuesday program of the New
Salem Educational Initiative, a grade 6 student who could be attending the
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) but, exercising an option similar to those
decisions made by so many others, is attending Harvest Preparatory
Academy. She had high-quality
mathematics homework focused on order of operations; she needed a few guiding comments from me but
ultimately used the PEMDAS code with pre-algebraic alacrity that escapes most
students who come to me from the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Reluctantly but dutifully, I asked one of
my tutors to take my place with this student and dragged myself over to the
meeting of the MPS Board of Education Committee of the Whole, at which Chief of
Research, Evaluation, and Accountability Eric Moore gave his annual report of
dismal academic results at the Minneapolis Public Schools. So sloppily was the draft for “Committee of
the Whole Academic Report” proofread that the identifying day of the week and
date were given as Thursday, October 22, 2019--- the correct date but missing the day of the
week by two.
The document is a part fact, part
propaganda rendering of the current academic morass of the district and what
purports to be the solution. The
solution focuses on Superintendent Ed Graff’s four-point program of Social and
Emotional Learning, Multi-Tiered System of Support, Literacy, and Equity---
which is not sufficient to address the grave knowledge and skill
deficits of the students of the Minneapolis Public Schools. There is a vow to carry forth with intensive
Professional Development work, with great emphasis on cultural competence and
differentiation according to student need, in the context of the four-point
program. But cultural competence is a
hard trait to teach, and as deficient in such as are the teachers of the
Minneapolis Public Schools, their even greater deficiency is in the knowledge
and skill with which they themselves emerge from woeful teacher training
programs.
The document is replete with yet another
round of deceitful vows, fronted by a “Call to Uncommon Courage,” followed by a
quotation from T. S. Eliot:
Only those who will risk going too far
can possibly find how far they can go.
The claim of courage and risk-taking
propensity from the moral cowards leading the Minneapolis Public Schools is
tragi-comic:
Actual moral courage would find
academicians and board members committing themselves to knowledge-intensive,
skill-replete curricular overhaul and teacher training that would find preK-5
(elementary) students actually studying history, natural science, fine arts,
and quality literature; completely
reworking the current grade 6-8 curriculum to extend knowledge of those
subjects and provide language and vocational training options; and proceeding in logical sequence to a
transformed high school (grades 9-12) curriculum that would now offer academic
and vocational options reminiscent of the first two years at colleges and
universities.
But the courage and ability to design and
implement knowledge-intensive curriculum at the Minneapolis Public Schools is
lacking:
There are no academicians at the Davis
Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway):
Superintendent Ed Graff is an able slimmer
of the central office bureaucracy and custodian of finances.
But
>>>>> Graff is an academic lightweight who
has topped out with an online masters of education administration degree from
low-tier University of Southern Mississippi.
>>>>> New
Department of Teaching and Learning Executive Director Aimee Fearing’s degrees
are in education programs; she has no
expertise in any specific academic field.
Staff at the Department of Teaching and Learning also are devoid of qualifications
as scholars.
>>>>> Eric
Moore is well-trained in data collection and assessment but has been
unsuccessful as an academic decision-maker.
Thus, what the Committee of the Whole (COW)
Academic Data Report offers as the new “Academic Plan” for the Minneapolis
Public Schools relies heavily on generalities from the Every Student Succeeds
Act (ESSA), World’s Best Workforce (WBWF) Minnesota legislative regulations, Graff’s
four-point program, and values expressed by the MPS Board of Education that
have been incorporated into the MPS Comprehensive District Design (the latter
still in formulation pending further public vetting).
But, in order,
>>>>> staff
at the Minneapolis Public Schools do not grasp the meaning of the ESSA
definition of a well-rounded education and have no ability to provide such if
they did;
>>>>> enforcement
of WBWF falls to the hapless staff at the Minnesota Department of Education and
that department’s understaffed, comically named Regional Centers of
Excellence;
>>>>> Graff’s
program is inefficacious in the extreme;
and
>>>>> the academic program portion of the most
current draft of the MPS Comprehensive District Design presents the same
jargon-infested proclamations pervading the COW Academic Data Report.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
There is an abiding assumption in the new academic
plan that once cultural relevance in coursework is attained, African American,
Hispanic, Hmong, American Indian, and Somali students will be on their way to better
performance; and that enhanced social
and emotional sensitivity will promote those relationships among teachers and
students conducive to effective delivery of culturally relevant curriculum.
Two comments by MPS Board of Education
members exposed the problematic nature of reliance on such assumptions:
>>>>> District
1 (Northeast Minneapolis) representative Jenny Arneson cited a conversation that
she had had with a student who advocated for ethnic studies courses over a reported
rehash of United States history already taken in grade seven. But MPS students learn very little United
States history unless they take Advanced Placement courses in high school; whether at grade 7 or at high school, given
the propensity of teachers to rely on worksheet packets and videos in the
absence of class discussion and teacher-imparted knowledge sets leaves students
devoid of historical knowledge. Arneson’s
assumption that a high school student is repeating at the high school level
what has already been learned at grade 7 is possibly rooted in denial or
dishonesty but most likely is grounded in her failure to understand classroom
teacher incompetence, despite Arneson’s children having matriculated in the
Minneapolis Public Schools.
>>>>> At-large
representative Kim Ellison cited her experience as a teacher at the alternative
school of Plymouth Youth Center (PYC) (formerly Plymouth Christian Youth Center
[PCYC]) as a model for the Minneapolis Public Schools. She cited success in teacher-student
relationship building but failed to mention that fewer than twenty percent (20) of
students at PYC now or when she was a teacher at that institution demonstrate or
demonstrated grade level academic ability.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Two moments must suffice for any evidence
of discernment at the woeful affair that was the COW meeting on Tuesday 22 October.
>>>>> Student
Representative Janaan Ahmed commented that she is a keen advocate for ethnic studies
but wanted to see a more complete version of history conveyed in mainline
United States and world history courses, rather than for the curriculum to rely
on ethnic studies courses in high school to impart the pertinent information.
>>>>> At-large
representative Josh Pauly noted the Eliot quote, said that we have heard vows courageously to forge our way to better academic results before, but wondered
what is really in the new plan to give us hope.
To the Pauly comment, Fearing and Moore
gave the usual jargon-infested double-talk that confirmed Pauly’s skepticism rather
than answered his question.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Massive incompetence characterizes academic
decision-makers and board members of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
As we endeavor to overhaul curriculum and train
teachers of excellence in the courageous steps actually needed for the achievement
of academic excellence, we must show these prevaricating, ignorant actors their
way out the Davis Center door.
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