Perusing again the overview of the Comprehensive District
Design that I provide in Part One: Facts,
as presented by Minneapolis Public Schools officials in October 2018, will
remind readers of features that I analyze, as follows:
The phrase,
“individualized approach to instruction” used so often in the Design is
problematic:
Every
teacher, administrator, and staff member should be sensitive to the individual
life circumstances of each child and young person enrolled in the Minneapolis
Public Schools; but curriculum and
pedagogy utilized should be consistent from student to student, including an
abundance of whole-class instruction.
The notion of “articulated pathways” is misguided.
Teachers should be teaching from a common curriculum that
includes an abundance of cross-cultural knowledge that would incorporate
American Indian, Hmong, Somali language and culture; visual and performing arts; and foreign language learning opportunities. Certain ideas of Maria Montessori are useful
in understanding and teaching the young child, but the Montessori approach
results in gaps in knowledge and skill sets and should not be the prime means
of curricular delivery; impartation of
knowledge and skill sets should be in logical, grade-by-grade sequence to all students. A knowledge-intensive curriculum should be
delivered not via an International Baccalaureate program; rather, students should acquire those
knowledge and skill sets that will lead to enrollment in Advanced Placement
courses in high school.
One also has to beware of the term, “culturally
responsive teaching.”
This term is much in vogue with teachers and
administrators trained by education professors, upon the abiding irony that
most education professors, teachers, and administrators in Minnesota have very
little knowledge of the history and experiences of people across the world,
including the Hispanic, Hmong, and Somali populations who have so observably
come to Minnesota.
Programming should be consistent and multicultural at all
sites. Families of all demographic
descriptors respond to a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete, ultimately college
preparatory curriculum. They will seek
out the Minneapolis Public Schools if they are presented such a curriculum, and
the knowledgeable teachers required to impart such a curriculum. They deserve to have the knowledge and skill
sets that will enable them to succeed in post-secondary settings.
Students of all demographic descriptors deserve more than
jargon claiming commitment to “culturally responsive teaching,” from MPS staff
that has so little knowledge of world cultures, immigrant populations, or the
subject areas that will give first generation college students the knowledge and
skills to go forth in the world as culturally enriched, civically prepared, and
professionally satisfied citizens.
…………………………………………………………………………….
Answers to “Questions to Consider,” Minneapolis Public
Schools Comprehensive District Design, 2019-2022
In the overview of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS)
Comprehensive District Design distributed at the MPS Board of Education
gathering on Saturday, 8 September 2018, there were on the back page several
very well-posed and important questions.
Here I present those questions and my answers:
Questions to Consider
Comprehensive District Design
With the district’s challenging
demographics, the value of integration often conflicts with the value of
prioritizing the enrollment of students who live within the school’s
neighborhood:
Which value should be prioritized when
enrollment decisions are made?
My Answer >>>>>
The enrollment of students who live within the school’s
neighborhood should be prioritized.
The focus should be on the provision of knowledge-intensive,
skill-replete curriculum that includes and honors all cultures, imparted by
teachers who are intimately attune to the particular strengths and the specific
life challenges brought by each student into the classroom.
Would you support a proposal in which a
percentage of seats at a school are held at schools that are over 70%
homogenous to increase diversity?
My Answer >>>>>
No.
Provide an excellent education at every school site,
along the lines given in the question above, and people of all demographic
descriptors will seek out a school of genuine excellence.
Would you support that magnet school
enrollment must be diverse to receive integration revenue?
My Answer >>>>>
Yes.
Make each school, including magnet schools, excellent via
the impartation of knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum, delivered by
teachers of broad and deep knowledge.
The idea behind magnet schools is the attraction of a diverse student
body, so that the ability to do that should be the qualifier for receipt of
integration funding. This answer is
given, then, in frank recognition of the irony that the integration of a school
on the basis of magnetically attractive excellence will then be the qualifier
for integration funds.
Would you support a proposal that adjusts
attendance boundaries to increase a school’s diversity?
My Answer >>>>>
Adjustment of boundaries to increase a school’s diversity
is acceptable but unnecessary; such
adjustment should be done with attention to geographical integrity and
relentless focus on school quality as the core of the academic appeal that will
be the generator of diversity.
Rationalization of transportation routes and inducements to attend
community schools are worthwhile goals.
But educational excellence accrues from knowledge-intensive curriculum,
taught by knowledgeable teachers, who should undergo thorough subject area
training and be placed at all schools.
Providing the foundation for a well-rounded
education in elementary schools might mean lengthening the school day for
elementary students to ensure that there are enough minutes in the day to
support core instruction. Is this
something that we should consider?
My Answer >>>>>
The current amount of time designated for the school day,
which is largely wasted in such ways as temporally uneconomical group projects,
overreliance on videos, teacher absences and extended leaves yielding
ineffective substitutes, ill-focused field trips with lack of student
preparation, pep rallies, “free days,” and manner of maddening
distractions; any additional time should
be used for enrichment and remedial experiences as appropriate, rather than on
the academic core. Everyone in the universe
should know by now that my priority is the academic core, so my view here is
that the currently specified classroom time should be more than sufficient if
economically used, and that any extended time should be utilized to make sure
that students have the math and reading skills necessary to properly receive
the core.
Guaranteeing a well-rounded education for
all students with enrichment opportunities could mean less autonomy for schools
to make staffing and programming decisions.
Would you support this if it meant more guaranteed access to programming
supports and enrichment for all students?
My Answer >>>>>
Yes.
Knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum should be
designed at the level of the central office (Davis Center) for grade by grade
implementation in the classrooms of the individual sites.
The knowledgeable, pedagogically skilled teacher is ever
adept at working innovations upon a commonly imparted curriculum.
K-8 schools limit the experiences of their
6-8 students because of the costs associated with programming their low
enrollment. With this in mind, would you
support the District moving to K-5, 6-8,
9-12 school design so that all middle school students have equitable
programming?
My Answer >>>>>
Yes.
The properly sequenced, grade by grade K-5 curriculum
should focus on mathematics, natural science (foundations of biology,
chemistry, physics), literature and English usage, history, economics,
psychology, and the fine (visual and musical) arts.
The grade 6-8 curriculum should continue this emphasis,
with accompanying world language opportunities
Given academic rigor at the K-5 and 6-8 levels, grade
9-12 students will be ready for Advanced Placement courses concomitantly
preparing them to take the ACT and SAT college readiness assessments; and should also at this stage be given ample
elective opportunities to pursue personal interests in the liberal, vocational,
and fine arts.
Providing predictable staffing for all
school could mean a reallocation of resources from schools with larger
budgets. Should the District provide
subsidies for small schools or schools with limited poverty to achieve
equitable staffing?
Yes.
Not without much thought should resources ever be shifted
from schools with many students on Free or Reduced price lunch; but predictable and equitable staffing is a
paramount objective necessary to attain academic excellence at each school
site.
Data suggests that there are portions of
the city where parents choose to enroll outside of the District due to concerns
about transportation and walk zones, lack of culturally and linguistically
specific schools, and academically rigorous curricular offerings. Would you support a plan that offers
geographically differentiated transportation options or program choices
specifically to increase market share?
My Answer >>>>>
No.
Except for some immensely pragmatic objective to address
a highly particular situation, the emphasis should be the provision of an
excellent education as given in answers above, creating a situation in which
students and families of all demographic descriptors will seek out that school
of excellence close to the familial residence.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Superintendent Ed Graff’s Frank Admission
of Past Failures and Current Shortcomings in Minneapolis Public Schools
Comprehensive District Design, 2019-2022
Superintendent Ed Graff has shown some signs of
professional growth since his assumption of his position with the Minneapolis
Public Schools on 1 July 2016.
Early in his tenure, I hit Graff with questions for which
he was unprepared and could not handle at a series of community meetings.
Graff made a paltry and ill-rehearsed botch of Prince’s
“Dearly Beloved….” piece at his first State of MPS speech, the latter of which
was full of nothing but bromides.
I called Graff out numerous times for his shallow attempt
to sloganeer MPS into public better graces with his silly, “MPS Strong”
mantra. Graff and staff have signs and
electronic media displays of this fantasy shibboleth as one enters and walks
the main hallway through the Davis Center, but Graff no longer spouts that
nonsense in my presence, knowing that I will call him on his immoral pretense
on the spot.
Ed Graff has meager academic training and an undistinguished
history. He has made no effort to
compensate for his own academic mediocrity by bring a scholar on staff to head
the academic division. Thus, we have the
hodgepodge of jargon and failed approaches in the academic portion of the MPS
Comprehensive District Design.
The strengths of the design are in accord with Graff’s
own ability as an administrator to slim and rationalize the bureaucracy. The Design rationalizes the transportation
system, locates magnet programs centrally, and creates more efficient and
logical linkages as students in the dual language and language immersion
programs move from preK-5 level to middle school, with an emphasis on locating
schools providing those programs in geographical areas where large
concentrations of Hispanic and Somali populations live.
Graff and staff make several frank admissions in the
Design.
Across
Elements 1-5, for academic year 2018-2019, admissions that there would be the
following were most certainly true:
>>>>> uneven experiences and access to programming
>>>>> inconsistent access to enriched curriculum, specialized
programming, and enriching educational experiences
>>>>> student supports that vary from school to school
>>>>> an often confusing choice system that does not result in
equitable outcomes for students and creates pathways and program articulation
that families find hard to navigate.
>>>>> uneven enrollment patterns:
- based on perceived quality of schools and safety issues
- current MPS market share ranges from approximately 40% to 75%
Not until
academic year 2021-2022 is any favorable change in this lamentable state of
affairs forecast.
The needed overhaul must occur immediately, and the
change must go beyond the vague formulations of the Comprehensive District
Design to include
>>>>> redesign
of curriculum for logically sequenced, grade by grade knowledge intensity;
>>>>> training
of a teacher force capable of imparting such a curriculum;
>>>>> highly
intentional and aggressive program of skill remediation for students functioning
years below grade level
>>>>> resource
provision and referral to families struggling with dilemmas of poverty and
functionality.
Graff needs to bring genuine scholars and academicians
onto his staff, to address the fact that he himself is not a scholar and that
he has no staff members at the vital Department of Teaching and Learning or
among his associate superintendents who are scholars. The needed academic program must be designed
by academicians.
Probable Fatal Flaws in Minneapolis Public
Schools Comprehensive District Design, 2019-2022
The Comprehensive District Design developed by
Superintendent Ed Graff and Minneapolis Public Schools staff in consultation
with highly paid TeamWorks International consultant Dennis Cheesebrow has a
number of promising features, all of which will most likely be vitiated by
fatal flaws.
The Design approaching completion is undergirded by the
features prominent since the initial overview presented in autumn 2018:
The Design promises to bring a holistic approach to achieving better academic outcomes for all
students to the mission of existing to
ensure that all students learn, upon a vision to ensure every child college and career ready.
The emerging design is proceeding with a goal of
equipping graduates with the knowledge and skills to be successful in three key
areas: 1) academics; 2) social and emotional skills; and 3)
career and life experiences; with
a plan that keeps students at the center, realigns resources to provide
predictable staffing and programming, and supports stable funding through a
multi-tiered strategy that includes intentional recruitment and retention of
students and families; so that students
are prepared for excellence and success in career, college, and life for having
been equipped with a broad array of knowledge, capacities, skills, and
experience.
The plan includes five key elements:
ELEMENT 1, to set clear expectations for all graduates
and for the daily experiences of students, staff and families;
ELEMENT 2, to enhance academic programming that delivers
academically and relevant programming to meet the needs of all learners, with
consistent provision of an individualized approach to instruction that begins
in pre-kindergarten with all students participating in high-quality coursework
aligned to state standards, enriched to result in a well-rounded education;
ELEMENT 3, to create a solid and predictable foundation
upon which schools can build to meet the unique needs of the students they
serve;
ELEMENT 4, to provide clear, equitable academic pathways
supported by efficient and financially sustainable transportation options; and
ELEMENT 5, to pursue multiple approaches to sustainable
funding, including targeted, data-informed efforts to increase market share.
There are promising features in this design:
In Element 1, there is the promise that students will
graduate with a well-rounded education, adopting the federal definition of a
well-rounded education as courses,
activities, and programming in subjects such as English, reading or language
arts, writing, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, global languages,
civics and government, economics, arts, history, geography, computer science,
music, career and technical education, health, physical education, and any
other subject, as determined by the state or local agency, with the purposes of
providing all students access to an enriched curriculum and educational
experience. [Every Student Succeeds Act: S. 1177-298], with the necessary curricular
offerings projected by 2022 at each grade, in the context of a new culture that
supports such learning.
In Element 2, there is a vow by 2022 to prepare students
via elementary and middle school curriculum to meet the demands of rigorous
core and elective courses in high school.
In Element 3, there is the promise by 2022 to provide
health and aide staff needed to establish a context of student physical and
emotional health to abet learning.
In Element 5, there is a projected effort to redesign the
district so as to create appealing schools for students of all demographic
descriptors and in all geographic areas, with special emphasis on reaching out
to demographic groups who have in recent years opted for schools outside the
Minneapolis Public Schools.
But the Element 4 is off-target, and the MPS
comprehensive design has a number of probable flaws that will make this another
exercise in futility:
…………………………………………………………….
The first warning sign comes in the form of the phrase,
“MPS has demonstrated it can provide academic excellence for some students.”
In fact, the schools of this school district do not
provide academic excellence to any student in the school district; this is true of most K-12 providers of
education in the United States. Those
who wrote this text are making a false claim, or they are clueless.
Then there is the problematic phrase, “individualized
approach to instruction.” Every
teacher, administrator, and staff member should be sensitive to the individual
life circumstances of each child and young person enrolled in the Minneapolis
Public Schools; but curriculum and
pedagogy utilized should be consistent from student to student, including an
abundance of whole-class instruction.
The entire Element 4 is severely flawed with the
advancement of the notion of a notion of “articulated pathways.” This is a misguided notion that echoes the
failed tenure of former MPS Chief Academic Officer Susanne Griffin. In fact, teachers should be teaching from a
common curriculum that includes an abundance of cross-cultural knowledge that
would incorporate American Indian, Hmong, Somali language and culture; visual and performing arts; and foreign language learning
opportunities. Certain ideas of Maria
Montessori are useful in understanding and teaching the young child, but the
Montessori approach results in gaps in knowledge and skill sets and should not
be the prime means of curricular delivery;
impartation of knowledge and skill sets should be in logical,
grade-by-grade sequence to all students.
A knowledge-intensive curriculum should be delivered not via an
International Baccalaureate program;
rather, students should acquire those knowledge and skill sets that will
lead to enrollment in Advanced Placement courses in high school.
Programming should be consistent and multicultural at all
sites. Families of all demographic
descriptors respond to a knowledge-intensive, skill replete, ultimately college
preparatory curriculum. They will seek
out the Minneapolis Public Schools if they are presented such a curriculum, and
the knowledgeable teachers required to impart such a curriculum.
……………………………………………………………………………..
Ultimately, the emerging Minneapolis Public Schools
Comprehensive District Design is overly verbose and fails to focus on an
overriding goal of providing knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education in grade by grade sequence to all
students.
The emphasis on “creative and critical thinking” at
grades K-5 seems an adaptation of the education professor’s mantra that serves
as a smokescreen for providing very little of the knowledge base that would
serve as the springboard for creative and critical thinking.
There is verbiage suggestive of the provision of rigorous
course work, but there is no accompanying plan for the overhaul of curriculum
so as to impart grade by grade knowledge and skill sets or to train teachers to
become bearers of knowledge.
The notion of pathways should be jettisoned, making way
for a plan to assure that students arrive in high school with a commonly shared
knowledge base so that all students proceed to advanced courses in algebra,
geometry, trigonometry, statistics, calculus, biology, chemistry, physics,
history, government, economics, psychology, literature, and fine arts; while also gaining as chance at the high
school stage to pursue driving personal interests via electives in the liberal,
vocational, and fine arts.
Students at the Minneapolis Public Schools should be
given a common broad, deep, knowledge-intensive education in grade by grade
sequence through middle school, continuing into high school while at that
latter stage also providing the opportunity to pursue well-informed personal
driving interests.
Success in doing this will assure that the best features
of the MPS Comprehensive Design will be realized.
But failure to provide the necessary curriculum
overhauled for grade by grade knowledge intensity; and to train the teachers necessary to
deliver such a curriculum; will expose
the probable fatal flaws in the design---
making the whole exercise another costly diversion that once again
deceptively promises much but delivers little to the students and families
within the area served by the Minneapolis Public Schools.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Knowledge-Deficient Academic
Decision-Makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools Have Failed the Students of
the District for Decades and Will Still in the Absence of the Needed Overhaul
Readers should keep in view that when
Superintendent Ed Graff cites good results for some students at the Minneapolis
Public Schools, he tacitly admits that he has no understanding of the meaning
of an excellent education:
No one in the Minneapolis Public Schools
receives an excellent education.
No one.
Not one staff member among academic
decision-makers at the Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway)
is a scholar or an academician.
Let me repeat that >>>>>
Not one staff member among academic
decision-makers at the Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway)
is a scholar or an academician.
Academic decision-makers at the Minneapolis
Public Schools have very little knowledge themselves and no respect for
knowledge at the core of an excellent education:
All graduates of the Minneapolis Public
Schools walk across the stage to claim a piece of paper that is a diploma in
name only.
This magnifies the terrible performance in
key demographic categories:
Decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public
Schools cannot now and have not for decades even been able to impart
mathematics and reading skills to most students at the district.
What an embarrassment, then, is the prevailing
circumstance that we would be turning cartwheels if this incompetent cohort
could just superintend a program for the delivery of basic skills.
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