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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