Most teachers at the Minneapolis Public
Schools are not capable of imparting a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete
curriculum, described in the article entered yesterday, which readers will find
as they scroll on down this blog.
Teachers at preK-5 endured teacher training
in college and university based education programs that are the weakest on any
post-secondary campus.
Teachers at grades 6-8 and 9-12 frequently
do have bachelor’s degrees in a legitimate academic discipline (mathematics,
natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, fine arts), but certification
requirements are academically insubstantial and almost all teachers seek to
move up the step and lane system via pursuit of a master’s degree in education
rather than in the subject area taught.
Hence, teachers at all levels preK-12 have
a weak knowledge and skill base.
Such teachers have no chance of imparting
knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum to students.
Thus, we must first jettison those central
office administrators at the Davis Center (1250 West Broadway) who are charged
with the responsibility to design the academic program; this must include especially Superintendent
Ed Graff and Executive Director of Teaching Learning Aimee Fearing, and the
entire Department of Teaching and Learning;
and also Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron
Wagner, and Brian Zambreno; Office of
Black Male Achievement Michael Walker;
and Department of Indian Education Jennifer Simon.
Then we must place true academicians in
those central office positions, who will feel impelled to bring in college,
university, and independent scholars to train a new type of teacher for the
Minneapolis Public Schools.
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Subject area experts would then train teachers
at preK-5 to pursue a Masters of Liberal Arts Degree; teachers would undertake a highly intensive course
of study over one full academic year in mathematics (through calculus), natural
sciences (biology [with significant anatomy and physiology components],
chemistry, and physics), history [incorporating major personages and concepts
in government, economics, and psychology), English literature and usage, and
the fine arts (visual and musical). The
summer after the intensive academic year course, preK-5 teachers would research
and write a master’s thesis in a topic pertinent to one of the subject area
fields studied. Upon receipt of the
Masters of Liberal Arts degree, the prospective preK-5 teacher would then serve
a full academic year internship before being evaluated for service as a
professional teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Teachers at grades 6-8 and 9-12 would seek
master’s degrees in legitimate academic disciplines in mathematics, biology,
chemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology, political science, history, economics,
psychology, English, music, or visual art;
or they would obtain superior credentials in the technological or vocational
arts. Upon receipt of her or his subject
area degree, the prospective grades 6-8 or 9-12 teacher would then serve a full
academic year internship before being evaluated for service as a professional
teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Among current teaching staff at the
Minneapolis Public Schools, no master's or doctoral degrees in education would
be recognized. For new hires, no degree
in education at the bachelor’s or master’s level would be accepted.
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Training under these academic requirements
and serving the academic year internships, teachers at the Minneapolis Public
Schools would be scholars possessing broad and deep knowledge, highly capable
of imparting a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum in the liberal, technological,
and vocational arts to students of all demographic descriptors.
Teachers would be professionals at the
level of attorneys and physicians; pay
in the public sphere would not match attorneys and physicians in the private
sector but would rise from the current MPS median for teachers of $67,000 to
$85,000.
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PreK-12 revolution at the Minneapolis
Public Schools must include curricular overhaul of knowledge intensity and
training of teachers capable of imparting that curriculum.
Professionalized, academically inclined teachers
will be prepared to deliver the curriculum overhauled to provide knowledge-intensive,
skill-replete curriculum to students of all demographic curriculum.
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