The islands that are locally
centralized school districts such as the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) are surrounded
by a sea of corruption that vitiates preK-12 public education throughout the
state and makes imperative that on one of these islands an edifying structure
for delivery of educational excellence be built.
The appointment of a commissioner of education
in Minnesota is highly political, with the selection occurring at the behest of
the governor. With one exception in
recent memory, Republican appointees tend to be less activist; they have no ties to Education Minnesota, the
state teachers union, so they are not tainted by that association, but inasmuch
as Republicans lean toward local control, nothing in the way of very assertive
policy typically occurs during Republic administrations. By contrast Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL)
administrations are heavily beholden to Education Minnesota as a key supportive
lobby and campaign funder and enact policy consonant with teacher union
positions.
A major exception to the rule of
Republican passivity on education policy came during the Tim Pawlenty administration
(2002-2010), the first part of which his commissioner of education was Cheri
Pierson Yecke. These were the days in
which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was launched, Minnesota State Standards were
written, and the Minneapolis Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) were
formulated. The standards and the
assessments were in accord with NCLB strictures; for the next half-decade, a harsh light shone
on locally centralized school districts as disaggregated data indicated massive
failure on the part of districts throughout the state to impart even basic
skills in reading, mathematics, and science to students, especially those on
free and reduced price lunch and bearing the burden of historical abuse.
As forces of both the political left
and right went to work to terminate NCLB, pressures mounted on Yecke and forced
her exit. In 2016, the Every Student
Succeed Act (ESSA) replaced NCLB; by
this time, Mark Dayton’s administration (2010-2018) that included education
commissioner Brenda Cassellius had been in office for six years and seized on
waiver opportunities offered by the Obama administration to undo much of what
had been put in place under No Child Left Behind. A waiver produced a Multiple Measurement
Rating System (MMRS) that relegated the MCAs to just one of a number of other
measures (including graduation rates and incremental academic improvement) used
to judge school performance. Then within
the last two years of the Dayton-Cassellius administration, the Minnesota
Department of Education announced its new North Star Accountability System.
During the Dayton Cassellius years, administration
of MCAs continued each spring (typically in April), fulfilling the continuing
mandate under ESSA that objective assessment be part of school
accountability. But the 9th
grade writing test was eliminated and academic proficiency as indicated by the
10th grade reading and 11th grade mathematics MCAs was no
longer a requirement for graduation.
This created a climate in which the MCAs as assessment tools were
vitiated and the opt-out movement could ensue.
The anti-assessment advocates in Education Minnesota and local
affiliates such as the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers had had their way.
The advent of the North Star
Accountability System (NSAS) serves as
an example of the cynicism and corruption that invests the Minnesota Department
of Education.
Please review my objective
presentation of this system in Part One, Facts, then consider the following
comments and experiences I had with officials who are perpetrating this ruse on
the students of Minnesota.
…………………………………………………………………………
At 6:00 PM on Monday, 24
September, in Conference Center B at the Minnesota Department of Education, Brenda
Cassellius’s aide Michael Diedrich and others conducted an information session
focused on the North Star Accountability system. This is the system of purported
accountability now being foisted on the public in the latest failed
proclamation hailing a program that nevertheless has no chance of raising
academic performance of Minnesota students.
Of
the approximately 2,000 schools in Minnesota, 485 of them have failed to
demonstrate acceptable performance along
several indicators: graduation rates,
attendance, academic progress for English learners, general academic progress,
and proficiency as demonstrated on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs). Note that the latter indicator, which is the
only measure that reveals the actual proficiency levels of students in a given
academic year, now is a mere inclusion in an array of indicators. Much mention was made at the meeting of
reference to how schools now have multiple ways of demonstrating that they are
making progress; the matter of academic
performance is not clearly in focus, as was the case during 2002-2016 before
Congressional jettisoning of No Child Left Behind and the passage of the new Every
Student Succeeds Act. The Every Student
Succeeds Act and the North Star Accountability System designed by staff at the
Minnesota Department of Education allow for considerable more wiggle room for
failing schools to claim some level of success:
Perpend,
on the latter matter:
One
MDE presenter gave his approval to a case in which a school has done a
particularly good job of cleaning up around and plugging bullet holes in
lockers, indicating that this could be a case of what MDE staff is touting as
“Quick Wins.”
I
kid you not.
And
some members in the audience comprised heavily of people from Minnesota Public
Schools systems gave verbal expressions of approval.
I
kid you not on that, as well.
After
the meeting had proceeded through three presentations and the clock indicated
that we had rolled past the hour point, with less than thirty minutes to go, I
raised the following question, with introductory comments as follows:
“There
are to be six Regional Centers of Excellence, staffed with a total of 45
members, so that each center will have seven or eight people providing
assistance.”
“That’s about right,” the presenter responded.
I continued:
“Back in the late 1990s and very early 2000s
in the time of the Minnesota Basic Skills Test, the school systems of Minnesota
demonstrated that they could not even educate an acceptable percentage of
students at a grade 8 level. Then we had
No Child Left Behind and more embarrassing academic results, at that time with
the MCAS; No Child Left Behind was
attacked by the left (Education Minnesota, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers,
DFL) and right (when the right figured out, “Oh, yeah, these are central
government mandates”), so that we then had the Multiple Measurement Rating
System, the Every Student Succeeds Act and with it the current North Star Accountability
System.
“My
question to you, then, is:
Do
you at the Minnesota Department of Education live in a fantasy world, or are
you knowingly perpetrating this hoax on the students of Minnesota?”
The
crowd, comprised mainly of public school administrators and teachers, sat in
stolidly stunned silence. The presenter
stammered that answering that question would take a lot of unpacking.
I
said, “Sure would. Go ahead and unpack
it.”
“Not
now,” he said.
And
I then responded, “Well then, would you meet me in a public debate”?
“No,
I wouldn’t,” he said.
“Of course, you wouldn’t,” I asserted,
“because you don’t have the ability. You
know that I’m correct about the new system being a hoax. You’d be defending the indefensible.”
Members
of the audience, all of those retorting representing either Minnesota school
districts or the MDE, then began to issue rejoinders to me. I challenged two more MDE members and one
school district representative to a refereed public debate. There were no takers.
One
of the previous presenters came to the fore and threatened to call a security
guard.
“And
on what basis would you do that?” I asked.
“Disturbing our meeting,” came the reply.
Michael
Diedrich, I kid you not once again, hastened out of the room to summon the
nearest security guard.
I
just laughed.
As
the last presenter made one more lame presentation, Diedrich returned with the
security guard as both remained at the back of the room (I was sitting right up
front). The presenter concluded, called
for questions, there were no takers, and the meeting was over.
I
rose slowly but was the first to stride up the aisle. I expected a few people to meet me in the eye
with angry stares, given the dominant composition of the crowd representing the
state department and the school districts culpable for the academic results
that have no more than sixty percent (60%) of our students reading and
performing mathematical tasks with grade level proficiency.
But
not a single person met my eye.
I
continued my trip up the aisle, staring a hole in Michael Diedrich’s
prevaricating countenance.
But
I turned amiably to the security guard and said, “Hey, good to see you,
man.” He shook my proffered hand. I strode out the door smiling at the
stupidity that I had witnessed on the part of the audience at this charade of a
meeting. But I had three attending
thoughts as I strode to my Toyota Matrix and drove home:
With
regard to public and official attitudes about K-12 education; people variously
>>>>> are dimwitted on the issues;
>>>>> are dissembling officials or their
sycophants;
or
>>>>> they just don’t care.
………………………………………………………………………….
The chief initiative on which
the success of the North Star Accountability depends is a cooperative
arrangement with six Regional Centers of Excellence (RCE), located in
Rochester, Marshal, Sartell, Thief River Falls, Mountain Iron, and Fergus
Falls; additionally, the Minneapolis
Public Schools and St. Paul Public Schools act as their own RCEs, purportedly
in consultation with and the support of MDE staff. In all, the sites have only 45 staff members,
meaning only seven or eight staff members per RCE.
This all a massive gambit.
Here is an introduction to the
RCEs in the words of staff at MDE, from the department’s website:
Minnesota’s
Regional Centers of Excellence (RCE) deliver a wealth of support and services straight to
schools -- and it’s working. Centers are staffed by specialists with a full
range of expertise, including math, reading, special education,
English language development, equity, graduation support, implementation,
data analysis, school leadership and district support.
For districts or charters with schools identified under the accountability system, the RCEs provide on-the-ground assistance to create the capacity and conditions that support change and continuous improvement. The Centers partner with leadership teams to facilitate school improvement efforts focused on equity for underserved student groups.
Once designated, comprehensive
support and improvement (CSI) and targeted support and improvement (TSI)
schools must conduct a needs assessment, build and strengthen leadership
teams, and develop school improvement plans, but they don’t have to go it alone. The schools can get help from
Minnesota’s Regional Centers of Excellence. In addition to content expertise,
center specialists offer an outside perspective on schools’ efforts to increase
student outcomes.
In 2015, the Regional Centers of Excellence were named one of Harvard Ash Center’s Top 25 Innovations in Government.
In attempt to sell the
putative Regional Centers of Excellence to the public, the Minnesota Department
of Education (MDE) has posted feel-good features of certain staff at RCE sites.
One of the chief mantras
of education professors and the education establishment with which they infect
their vacuous notions is that of “critical thinking,” of which they do so
little but that they use as a smokescreen behind which lurks massive failure to
provide vital knowledge and skill sets to the students of Minnesota.
Regarding the Regional
Centers of Excellence, state officials claim and convey the following:
August 20, 2018
The Regional Centers of Excellence (RCEs) work in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to help schools make long-lasting improvements to student learning, providing hands-on support to help guarantee that every student has the opportunity to reach his or her full potential. The RCEs are made up of a team of education specialists, called advocates, who travel across the state to help guide schools and districts through the process of identifying needs, creating an action plan, and implementing changes to improve student outcomes. RCE school advocates specialize in the areas of literacy, equity, math, special education, English language development, high school graduation, and principal and district support.
The most important resource advocates bring districts is active implementation, a systems-based approach that links all of a system’s moving parts and builds a process that creates a way to sustain the good work being done by schools. Advocates do a lot for their schools and bring their unique backgrounds and expertise to each unique situation and challenge.
……………………………………………………………………………………
Readers may contact staff at these Regional Centers of Excellence to inquire how much they have improved the schools of Minnesota, testing my assertion that they have not improved and cannot improve student proficiency to make any aggregate difference whatsoever:
Regional Centers of Excellence
Directors Name and Region Phone Number Email Address
Lowell Haagenson Central Lakes Region Cell: 320-492-9092 lhaagenson@mnce.org Resource Training and Solutions 137 - 23rd Street South Sartell, MN 56377
Tara Lindstrom Northern Pines Region Cell: 218-410-8111 tlindstrom@mnce.org Northeast Service Cooperative 5525 Emerald Avenue Mountain Iron, MN 55768
Becca Neal Northern Sky Region Cell: 218-686-9719 bneal@mnce.org Northwest Service Cooperative 114 - 1st Street West Thief River Falls, MN 56701
Jane Drennan Southeast-Metro Region Cell: 507-696-5572 jdrennan@mnce.org Southeast Service Cooperative 210 Wood Lake Drive Southeast Rochester, MN 55904
Nicole Lydick Southwest Prairie Region Cell: 231-878-1925 nlydick@mnce.org Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative 1420 East College Drive Marshall, MN 56258
Staci Allmaras Western Lakes Region Cell: 218-255-1650 sallmaras@mnce.org Lakes Country Service Cooperative 1001 East Mount Faith Fergus Falls, MN 56537 Minnesota Department of Education - Regional Centers of Excellence Support Name and Region Phone Number Email Address
Toni Cox RCE Program Manager Cell: 218-416-2416 toni.cox@state.mn.us Minnesota Department of Education c/o Northwest Service Cooperative 114 - 1st Street West Thief River Falls, MN 56701
Tyler Livingston Director, Division of School Support Office: 651-582-8427 tyler.livingston@state.mn.us Minnesota Department of Education 1500 Hwy 36 West Roseville, MN 55113
Greg Keith Chief Academic Officer Office: 651-582-8316 greg.keith@state.mn.us Minnesota Department of Education 1500 Hwy 36 West Roseville, MN 55113
……………………………………………………………………………………..
My assertion that you may test
by calling one or all of these Centers is as follows:
These Regional Centers of
Excellence, six in number, with approximately 42 total staff members and
designation of the Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools systems as their own
RCEs, have no capacity to improve education in Minnesota by lifting overall
achievement or addressing the particular injustices perpetrated on students on
free and reduced price lunch or student populations bearing the bruises of
history.
This is a salient example of
the kind of hoax perpetrated decade after decade on the students of Minnesota
by the Minnesota Department of Education.
Soon after the Minnesota Department of Education
presented its North Star Accountability Systems, the Department announced
results of Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) in math and reading for
the 2017-2018 academic year. Just 60 percent
of Minnesota students were proficient in mathematics, the same figure as that
for 2016-2017; for reading the
comparable figures were 59 percent in academic year 2016-2017 and 57 percent in
2017-2018,a two percentage point decline.
In the Minneapolis Public Schools, reading proficiency
rose a bit over those two academic years, from 43 percent to 45 percent, with
math proficiency flat at 42 percent. In
that school district, one-third of graduates who matriculate at colleges and
universities need remedial instruction.
And most graduates walk across the stage to claim a piece of paper that
is a diploma in name only, so deficient are they in key knowledge and skill
sets in mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, government,
economics, quality literature, English composition, and the fine, vocational,
and technological arts.
The North Star Accountability System has no chance to
improve basic skills proficiency or to induce local districts to design
knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum.
The Minnesota Department of Education must be identified and called to
account for maintaining the sea of corruption that defines the MDE inept
bureaucracy.
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