The Minneapolis Public Schools
(MPS) Department of Teaching and Learning is an embarrassment; staff members in this department are
ill-trained and feature no scholars.
The very existence of a
Department of Teaching and Learning attests to the abysmal nature of teacher
training.
No four-year college or
university would have such a department:
Professors walk onto campus and
into classrooms with curriculum embedded in their brains.
Because preK-12 teachers are so
insubstantially trained, the perception abides that an department must abide to
give them academic support to atone for their deficiencies. But those in departments such as Teaching and
Learning at the Minneapolis Public Schools are just as slimly trained as are
classroom teachers
MPS superintendent Ed Graff has
mercifully trimmed a department that once billowed to 42 staff members down to
the current twenty-two (22). But this is
22 too many. Although staff members fill
roles that seemingly denote academic expertise, the subject area training that members
of the Department of Teaching and Learning receive is meager in the extreme.
The MPS Department of Teaching
and Learning has seven staff members who are not identified with a major
academic field; one is an executive
assistant, the other six are science materials handlers who serve an important
function but could perform their roles outside a Department of Teaching and
Learning.
Fifteen members of the MPS
Department of Teaching and Learning have some function avowedly pertinent to
academics. None of these department
members has a master’s or doctoral degree bestowed by a college or university
department representing a major academic discipline. Even many bachelor’s degrees received by
staff members in this embarrassing assemblage of non-scholars were received
from education programs rather than from key academic departments.
On the MPS Department of
Teaching and Learning staff are two members with roles pertinent to mathematics:
Marium Toure is K-5 Math District Program
Facilitator (DPF) at the Davis Center;
she holds only a B.A. in Education and an M.A that is also in Education.
Chris Wernimont is 6-12 Math DPF; he holds a B. A. in the important academic
discipline of Economics but his M.A. is in Mathematics Education , rather than
the much more demanding discipline of mathematics.
There are no staff members in the MPS
Department of Teaching and Learning in the important academic discipline of
English/World Literature. There are two
staff members who are billed as literacy specialists:
Sara Naegli (K-8 Literacy) has a B. A. in
Education and an M.A. that is also merely in Education.
Hibaq Muhamed (6-12 Literacy DPF) holds a
B.S. in English Teaching snd an M.A. in Education.
Two members of the MPS Department of Teaching
and Learning occupy positions with some relevance to natural science:
Jennifer Rose, who now seems to lead the
department, received a B.A. in the academically important field of Biology but
her M.A. is in Science Education.
Julie Tangeman (K-5 Literacy, Science DPF,
Davis Center) has a B.A. in Education and an M.A. that is also in Education.
One staff member represents social studies (an
ungainly amalgam of history and the social sciences):
Lisa Purcell, K-12 Social Studies DPF has a
B.A. in Social Sciences and History (from an education program, too broad as to
denote any expertise in history, political science, economics, psychology,
sociology, or anthropology) and an M.A. in Education.
Nora Schull K-12 Arts DPF is the lone
representative for the arts; she holds a
B.S. in Dance and the Arts.
Sara Loch (K-12 Health/Physical Education DPF)
solely represents health and physical education; she received a B.A. in Physical Education and
Coaching and an M.A. in Education.
Ashley Krohn (K-12 Library Media Information
DPF) alone represents library science and media; she has a B.S. in Film and Television and an M.A.
in Education.
Within the MPS Department of Teaching and
Learning, three members represent an ineffective program purporting to prepare
students for college and university attendance.
This program, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), teaches
students notetaking skills, provides assistance in making college applications,
and takes students on field trips to college and university campuses; but any academic training, including ACT
preparation, tends toward zero. The slim
academic qualifications of the three AVID staff members indicate why the latter
is lamentably so:
Tommie Casey (AVID Program Manager) has a
B.A. in Education, an M.A. in Education, and an Education Specialist
certification (gained in insubstantial academic programs that nevertheless
promote advancement in administrative roles).
Christen Lish (K-8 AVID Coordinator) has a
B.A. in Education and an M.A. in Science Education.
Paula Kilian (6-12 AVID Coordinator) holds a
B.S. Education and another B.S. in Psychology.
Two members of the the MPS Department of
Teaching and Learning are identified with the Gifted and Talented program:
Kelley McQuillan (9-12 Talent Development and
Advanced Academics) topped out with an M.A. only in Education.
I am still seeking information on Christina
Ramsey (K-8 Talent Development and Advanced Academics) as to degrees held.
…………………………………………………………………….
Readers must note the insubstantial academic
preparation of the above members of the MPS Department of Teaching and
Learning.
Education programs do a great deal of
pedagogical harm to prospective teachers and impart very little subject area
knowledge. These are the programs that
have overwhelmingly produced the above staff members.
The staff of the MPS Department of Teaching
and Learning should be dismissed and the department dismantled.
After ridding the school district of this
staffing burden, independent and university scholars, each holding a Ph.D. in a
key academic discipline, should be hired to design a knowledge-intensive,
skill-replete curriculum, logically sequenced across the preK-12 years; and to train teachers capable of imparting
such a curriculum.
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