Article #10 in a Series Focused on Those Culpable for the Wretched Level of Education at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) >>>>> The Embarrassing Academic Credentials of Minneapolis Public Schools Staff in the Department of Teaching and Learning

The Embarrassing Academic Credentials of Minneapolis Public Schools Staff in the Department of Teaching and Learning

 

The Minneapolis Public Schools Department of Teaching and Learning is an embarrassment featuring not a single scholar on a staff that should in any case be superfluous.

 

The existence of a Department of Teaching and Learning demonstrates a number of key abominations in the organization of the locally centralized school district.  Because there is so much incompetence throughout the system, bandaids are always being sought.  Since academic results for African American students at the Minneapolis Public Schools are so wretched, the system responds by creating the Office of Black Student Achievement.  Because the system educates American Indian students so abominably, the Minnesota State Legislature dictates that a Department of Indian Education must be installed.  Because building principals are so abominably trained, four (in the past, as many as eight) associate superintendents preside over certain sites, with the expressed duty of mentoring principals;  but this is merely laughable, because associate superintendents are also incompetent intellectual lightweights, including among them failed building principals.

 

And, for the specific reference of this article, because teachers are so poorly prepared in departments, schools, and colleges of education, the system generates a Department of Teaching and Learning to create curriculum that should already be embedded in the brains of scholar- teachers  >>>>>

 

>>>>>               What college or university would have a Department of Teaching and Learning? 

 

This would be laughable, since college and university professors carry curriculum for mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, political science, economics, literature, music, and art in their cerebral cortices by the nature of their scholarly training.

 

But since this is not so for preK-12 teachers, the system applies another ineffective bandaid, another laugher---  were the matter not so deadly serious--- in the form of a Department of Teaching and Learning comprised of former teachers, many of them failed classroom embarrassments, who are as poorly trained as the teachers over whom they have bureaucratic responsibility.

 

Notice that not a single staff member of the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning has a graduate degree in a key academic field. 

 

Do not be fooled by degrees in education with appellations such as Masters of Teaching English, Science, or Social Studies--- or any degree in a department, school, or college of education.  Such degrees are campus jokes, derided by field specialists in the legitimate academic departments.  Education degrees have none of the academic legitimacy of degrees in English, biology, or history conferred by departments devoted to study of those fields.

 

Perpend:    

 

Department of Teaching and Learning Staff

 

Staff members listed except Aimee Fearing were those who occupied positions in the Department of Learning when I last collected this data, in spring 2019.  There has since been considerable turnover, so that five of those given below are not on staff as of September 2019.  Fearing came on staff for this academic year 2019-2020;  inasmuch as she is the new director of the department, I include her credential here, along with staff on the spring 2019 list.

 

Aimee Fearing   (Executive Director, Teaching and Learning)

 

Degrees Earned           Field in Which              Institution at Which             

           Degree Was Earned    Degree Was Earned

 

Bachelors Degree          ESL Education            University of Northwestern

13 May 2000

 

Masters Degree          Education   Hamline University

23 May 2003

 

Doctorate Degree       Education   Hamline University

30 April 2015

 

Professional Licensures

 

K-12 Principal Licensure

Expiration, 30 June 2023

 

K-12 ESL Licensure

Expiration, 30 June 2023

 

5-12 Communication Arts Licensure

Expiration, 30 June 2023

 

…………………………………………………………………………………

Aneesa Parks

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

B.A., Education                           Buena Vista University

Licensures:

Elementary Education

Ashley Krohn

Degrees Earned                                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                                              Hamline University

B.S., Film and Television                              Boston University

Licensures:

Communication Arts/Literature

Christopher Jones                          

Degrees Earned                                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                                               Chapman University

B.S., Education                                       Central Michigan University

Licensures:

Physical Education

Mathematics

Christen Lish                     

Degrees Earned                                                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Science Education                               University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

B.S., Education                                                  University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Licensures:

Life Sciences

Earth and Space Science

Science 5-8

Christina Ramsey                            

Degrees Earned                                     Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

Education Specialist                       University of St. Thomas

M.A., Education                                  Hamline University

B.S., Education                      University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Licensures:

Pre-Kindergarten

Elementary Education

Principal K-12

Christopher Wernimont                              

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Mathematics         University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

B.A., Economics                                                Grinnell College

Licensures:

Mathematics

Hamdi Ahmed                  

Degrees Earned                                                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

B.A., Education                                                 Eastern Michigan University

Licensures:

Communication Arts/Literature

Hibaq Mohamed                             

Degrees Earned                                     Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                                    Augsburg University

B.S., English Teaching              Metropolitan State University

Licensures:

English as a Second Language

Communication Arts/Literature

Jennifer Rose                   

Degrees Earned                                        Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Science Education                     University of Iowa

B.S., Biology                                             Drake University

Licensures:

Life Sciences

Science 5-8

Julie Tangeman                               

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                 St. Mary’s University of Minnesota

B.A., Education                       University of St. Thomas

Licensures:

Elementary Education

Katharine Stephens                       

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Language Arts                  University of Minnesota

B.S., English                                       Macalester College

Licensures:

Communication Arts/Literature

Kelly McQuillan                              

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                          University of St. Thomas

Licensures:

Social Studies

Lisa Purcell                        

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                               University of Utah

M.A., Education                               Harvard University

B.S., Social Sciences                          Hope College

and History

 

Licensures:

 

Social Studies

English as a Second Language

Principal K-12

Marium Toure’                

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                  St. Mary’s University of Minnesota

B.S., Education                    University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Licensures:

Elementary Education

Mary Lambrecht                              

Degrees Earned                                             Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Mathematics Education     University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

B.A., Education                                   University of Minnesota – Morris

 

Licensures:

Elementary Education

Communication Arts/Literature

Spanish

Natasha Parker                

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

B.A., English                                       Hampton University

Licensures:

Early Childhood Education

Nora Schull                        

Degrees Earned                                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

B.S., Dance and Theatre Arts        Minnesota State University - Mankato

Licensures:

Dance and Theatre

Paula Kilian                       

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

B.S., Education                           St. Cloud State University

B.A., Psychology                       University of St. Thomas

Licensures:

Elementary Education

Sara Naegeli                     

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                       Concordia University, St. Paul

B.S., Education                  Minnesota State University - Moorhead

Licensures:

Elementary Education

Pre-Primary

Sarah Wehrenberg                        

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education               Concordia University, Portland Oregon

B.A., Science Education                                Bethel University

Licensures:

Life Sciences

Science 5-8

Sarah Loch                         

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

M.A., Education                 University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

B.A., Physical Education and Coaching   Concordia University, St. Paul

Licensures:

Physical Education

Health Education

 

Tommie Casey                 

 

Degrees Earned                                Institution at Which Degree Was Earned

Education Specialist                    University of St. Thomas

M.A., Education                  University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

B.A., English                                    Missouri Valley College

Licensures:

English/Language Arts

Article #9 in a Series >>>>> Culpable Parties and the Revolution That Will Expose Them and Replace the Abysmal Level of Education at the Minneapolis Public Schools >>>>> Knowledge-Intensive Curriculum That Will Be Implemented at MPS as My Book, >Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect< (Already Entered in Its Entirety on This Blog) Goes into Physical Circulation

Administrators, teachers, and staff are about to be rocked with the physical circulation of my book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect, inducing the implementation of knowledge-intensive curriculum to replace the embarrassing subject area content now inflicted on students enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

Impartation of a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education is the core mission of any locally centralized school district.   

 

Fundamentals of an excellent liberal arts education include teaching with breadth and depth the subjects of mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, government, American history, world history, economics, psychology, English and world literature, English usage, music, and visual art.  In---  count’em---  fourteen---  that’s fourteen, years in the currently typical preK-12 scheme, there is an abundance of time to convey a great bevy of information in all of these subjects, with plenty of time also for physical education and health and an array of vocational subjects (carpentry, plumbing, auto mechanics).

 

At grades PreK-5 (elementary school in most locally centralized schools districts as now structured), students should have detailed, knowledge-intensive, information-heavy introductions to all of the key subjects in the liberal arts.  At grades 6-8 (middle school), impartation of knowledge and skill sets in the liberal arts should continue at ever higher levels, and students should have increasing access to courses in the vocational and technological arts.  With this approach to curriculum, students will arrive in high school ready to take Advanced Placement (AP) courses in calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, world history, United States history, government, and economics.  They will also have opportunities to take specialized courses in those fields, explore vocational interests, and conduct formal research with a resulting 20-page paper.

 

Specifically, at the three major levels of preK-12 education at the Minneapolis Public Schools, the following curricular matters will pertain.

 

>>>>>    All preK-5 schools will impart specified knowledge sets in grade by grade sequence pertinent to mathematics, natural science (biology, chemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology, nutrition), social science and humanities (government, history, economics, geography, psychology), English usage and literature (classical Western, world, ethnic-specific), and fine arts (visual and musical).  PreK-2 students will have a strong grasp of phonics and phonemic awareness, and they will develop fluency and comprehension by reading a bevy of high-quality literary works.  Students at all grade levels will continue to read fiction and nonfiction of high quality and rigor;  and they will graduate from grade 5 with a very strong foundation of subject area knowledge.

 

>>>>>    All middle schools (grades 6-8) will provide a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education that proceeds logically from curriculum at grades preK-5.  Students will have the opportunity to study foreign languages provided on the basis of student expressed interest, student ethnic composition, and the importance of certain languages worldwide:  those to be considered at each site will include Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Somali, and Hmong.  Students will study algebra I, geometry, and algebra II in succession;  master the fundamentals of American and world history, incorporating a wealth of information germane to the histories of all major ethnic groups and world populations;  continue to acquire strong knowledge sets in Western classic, world, and ethnic-specific literature;  master standard courses in biology, chemistry, and physics;  and pursue instrumental and choral activity options, as well as continuing the academic study of the fine arts (visual and musical).

 

>>>>>    On the strength of such rigorous academic curriculum at grades preK-5 and grades 6-8, students will arrive in high school (grades 9-12) ready to focus on Advanced Placement courses in Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, United States History, World History, Economics, Psychology, English, and Spanish.  They will be offered a range of subject area electives and multiple options for acquiring skills in vocations that match students’ driving interests.  In grade 12, each student will conduct an individual research project, producing a paper that follows manual of style guidelines, with abundant citations in proper form, and meeting specifications of research papers at the four-year college and university level.

 

……………………………………………………………………………

 

Thus, students will graduate from the Minneapolis Public Schools with knowledge and skill sets that should be associated with first and second year college students but in reality will exceed the actual knowledge and skill level of typical students at those stages in the college and university experience.

 

All pre-K through 12 teachers will be given rigorous subject area training and knowledge of constituent student populations. 

 

Teachers will be mandated to develop pedagogy capable of imparting the knowledge and skill sets of the rigorous curriculum.  While a variety of pedagogies can possibly deliver such knowledge and skill sets, academic decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools will stress that knowledge directly imparted by teachers in the context of whole-class discussions is typically the most efficient and provides for vigorous critical analysis and exchanges by students expressing a wide variety of viewpoints.   

 

……………………………………………………………………………

 

Following the above described principles of curriculum and teacher training will overturn the current abysmal approaches to curriculum and teaching, projecting the academic program of the Minneapolis Public Schools as a model for locally centralized school districts throughout the United States---  and have favorable implications for public schools systems throughout the world.

Grasp This Dismal Description of Curriculum and Teaching at the Minneapolis Public Schools

Article #8 in a Series  >>>>>  However Bad You May Think Things Are at the Minneapolis Public Schools, They Are Much Worse---  And Thus I Am in the Process of Taking the Offending Systems and Staff Apart Piece by Piece

 

We Must Be Clear in Calling Out Those Responsible for the Abysmal Education at the Minneapolis Public Schools as We Examine

 

the Corrupt Context in Which the Superintendent Ed Graff;  Interim Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing; Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, Brian Zambreno;  the 22 Staff Members of the Department of Teaching and Learning; Michael Walker and the Office of Black Student Achievement;  and Jennifer Simon and the Department of Indian Education Academically Abuse MPS Students

………………………………………………………………………………

However bad you may think education is in the Minneapolis Public Schools, the situation is much worse than your perception, and the dilemmas that have gotten the most attention do not represent the gravest vexations of the district.

The problems have little to do with the Comprehensive District Design (CDD), transparency, culturally responsive curriculum, lack of community input, or any of the other shibboleths mumbled by ill-informed critics.

The actual problems center on curriculum and teaching.

Students at grades preK-5 (elementary schools) learn a modicum of reading and arithmetic but little else.  Substantive and comprehensive instruction in natural science, the social sciences, quality literature, and English usage is absent.  Knowledge imparted as to multiple genres and world traditions in music and visual art is slight.  Students graduate from grade 5 having little grasp of economics, government, American history, world history, or quality literature across ethnicity and world traditions.  They have gained little introduction to the natural sciences of biology, chemistry, or physics---  with no sense of the origin of the universe, the evolution of plant and animal life on earth, human origin and dispersal, the formation and diversity of ecosystems, the defining qualities and importance of natural elements, and the fundamentals of velocity, mass, energy, Newtonian laws of motion, and Einsteinian theories of the physics of the cosmos.

Substantive education is little better at the middle school (grades 6-8) level.  Students progress a bit in mathematics, gaining some knowledge of algebra and geometry, but if they ever gained fundamental arithmetic skills, these atrophy;  lack of knowledge of multiplication tables is the rule, not the exception.  Students advance little in other academic subjects.  They may dabble in a foreign language and gain some vocational skills, but they move on to high school almost as ignorant of biology, chemistry, physics, government, American history, world history, economics, quality world and ethnic literature, and the fine arts as when they entered middle school.

Instruction at high schools is mediocre at the median, rarely excellent, and frequently abominable.  Substantive education is lacking, except in Advanced Placement courses, and only a few teachers possess the knowledge base necessary to render quality college preparatory instruction, so that students scoring the 4 or 5 demanded by most colleges and universities are very few.  Administrators at the Minneapolis Public Schools and the other schools of Minnesota make a big show of administering the ACT to all students, but they do not prepare them for the test.  Across the high schools of the district, the typical ACT median is 16, which barely indicates middle school much less college readiness.  Ask a young person from an impoverished and challenged familial situation what she or he scored on the ACT, and the reply is typically “13”---  or worse.  Administrators and teachers at the Minneapolis Public Schools deliver an acceptable education to no student, of any demographic descriptor;  the education rendered to students experiencing multiple life challenges of historical and current societal abuse is morally negligent and vulnerable to litigious action.

One-third of the less than seventy percent of students managing to graduate and go forth to college matriculation require remedial courses.  No student is truly well-prepared by the schools of the district.  Any acceptable level of college preparation occurs due to the human rarity of herculean personal interest and self-education through extracurricular reading and study;  or, as in the case of many students from affluent families, through private tutorial instruction.

Teachers in the Minneapolis Public Schools have slim knowledge bases.  Elementary school teachers have little subject area knowledge;  many are math-phobic and do little substantive reading on their own time.  Middle and high school teachers tend to have majors in a specific academic discipline, but few have master’s degrees in the key academic fields of mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, political science, history, economics, or literature:  They are not scholars and their academic interest is typically limited in the extreme.  In class they show too many videos, give too many “free days,” assign too many frivolous and inefficient projects, and relegate too much student activity to group rather than individual academic endeavor.

You are not likely to have known education at the Minneapolis Public Schools is this bad until you read the above account;  even now, you may have a hard time grasping that education at MPS schools is this abominable---  but ponder the facts of the matter until you internalize the extremity of the dilemma, because the situation is just this abysmal.

And never forget that in terms of even basic skills, the following are the facts  >>>>>

>>>>>             MPS Student Academic Proficiency as Indicated by MCAs for years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017m 2018, and 2019

Math                     2014       2015       2016      2017      2018         2019

 

African                  23%       19%         19%      16%          17%          18%

American

 

American             23%        19%           19%       16%        17%         18%

Indian

 

Hispanic               31%         32%          31%       29%        26%         25%

 

Asian                     48%         50%          50%       44%        46%        47%

 

White                   77%         78%          78%       77%        77%         75%

 

Free/                     26%         26%          25%       24%        22%        20%

Reduced

 

All                          44%         44%           44%     42%        42%          42%

 

Reading               2014       2015       2016      2017      2018       2019

 

African                  22%       21%         21%      21%       21%           23%

American

 

American             21%        20%         21%      22%        23%               25%

Indian

 

Hispanic               23%         25%          26%       26%        27%      29%

 

Asian                     41%         40%          45%       38%        44%      50%

 

White                   78%         77%          77%       78%        80%       78%

 

Free/                     23%         23%          23%       25%        25%      25%

Reduced

 

All                          42%         42%           43%     43%        45%       47%

 

Science               2014       2015       2016      2017      2018        2019

 

African                 11%       15%         13%      11%       10%                  11%

American

 

American             14%        16%        13%      16%       13%           17%

Indian

 

Hispanic               17%         18%        21%      19%       17%          16%

 

Asian                     31%         35%       42%       31%       34%          40%

 

White                   71%         75%        71%       70%       71%               70%

 

Free/                     14%         15%        17%       16%      15%          14%

Reduced

 

All                          33%        36%        35%        34%      34%                 36%

 

Percentage of Students Graduating

     2013     2014      2015      2016       2017       2018

Student

Category

 

African                             44.8%    47.8%    52.8%     59.5%    56.9%     61.7%  

American

 

American         38.1%     25.6%   36.3%     37.4%    29.8%     37.8.%  

Indian

 

Asian                 69.7%     78.8%   83.3%     85.6%     82.5%     87.1%  

 

Hispanic           42.8%     44.5%   57.6%     50.6%     56.7%     57.1%  

 

White               75.8%     77.4%   82.5%     85.1%     86.0%     86.7%  

 

Free/                 47.4%     49.7%   56.8%     56.9%     56.7%     61.4%  

Reduced

Lunch

Homeless/         26.1%     26.1%    37.3%    35.7%    40.1%    37.8%  

Highly

Mobile

 

Advanced           85.6%     86.7%    90.4%    89.3%    83.3%    90.8%  

Learner

 

Female                60.3%    62.1%     69.0%    71.7%    69.3%    71.8%  

 

Male                    51.9%     55.6%    61.3%    63.0%    63.1%    66.6%  

 

All                         56.1%     58.8%    65.1%    67.3%    66.0%    69.2%  

Students

 

………………………………………………………………………………….

 

Excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers imparting broad and deep knowledge and skill sets in the liberal, technological, and vocational arts to students of all demographic descriptors;  such curriculum is so comprehensive as to be seamlessly and necessarily culturally responsive.

 

An excellent teacher is a professional of broad and deep knowledge with the pedagogical ability to impart that knowledge to students of all demographic descriptors.

 

Until we redesign curriculum for knowledge intensity and train teachers capable of imparting such a curriculum, utterance of the typical buzz words and activity of that erratic and episodic sort generated by such distractions as the Comprehensive District Design constitute silly sound and futile fury.

 

So as you assess your own lack of productive attention and activity, make yourself feel soothed by knowing that the following are even more culpable that are you:  

 

Superintendent Ed Graff

Interim Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing

Associate Superintnedent Shawn Harris-Berry

Associate Superintendent LaShawn Ray

Associate Superintendent Ron Wagner

Associate Superintendent Brian Zambreno

The 22 staff members of the Department of Teaching and Learning

Office of Black Male Student Director Michael Walker and his staff members

Department of Indian Education Director Jennifer Simon and her staff members

 

On the MPS Board of Education, in order of offensiveness there are

 

District 4 Member Bob Walser

District 5 Member Nelson Inz

District 2 Member KerryJo Felder

At-Large Member Kim Ellison

District 1 Member Jenny Arneson

At-Large Member Kim Caprini

District 4 Member ira Jourdain

District 3 Member Siad Ali

At-Large Member Josh Pauly

 

MFT President Michelle Wiess and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers

 

At the Minnesota Department of Education there have been and are those responsible for such corrupt pretensions as the North Star Accountability System and World’s Best Workforce, including

 

Former Commissioner Brenda Cassellius

Current Commissioner Mary Cathryn Richter

All MDE staff members who have colluded with these intellectually corrupt officials, including prominently Michael Dietrich

 

Decision makers and implementers dwell at institutions such as the University of Minnesota (UM), Hamline, Augsburg, St. Thomas, and UM Mankato, including

 

University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel

 

The presidents and administrative decision-makers at the other given institutions

Staff Members and Education professors in the UM College of Education and Human Development

(CEHD)

 

Key Members of the Private and Public Sectors in Minneapolis, including

 

Sandy Vargas, erstwhile head of the Minneapolis Foundation, she who was going to RESET education 

 

R. T. Rybak, who was going to atone for 12 yers of neglect of public education as mayor by leading Generation Next toward solutions for the public education quandary but departed for a better paying job at the Minneapolis Foundation. 

 

Former members of the MPS Board of Education, who showed great promise in driving to the core of the vexations at the Minneapolis Public Schools---  but are now nowhere to be seen

 

Carla Bates

Josh Reimnitz

Tracine Asberry             

 

Former member of the MPS Board of Education who issues bombastic proclamations but has no program and no sustained commitment in any positon he assumes:

 

Don Samuels

 

Members of the public and press who neglect the responsibilities of citizenship or give evidence of ntellectual and moral corruption, including

 

Star Tribune Editorial Board Scott Gillespie

Star Tribune Commentary Pages Editor Doug Tice

 

That segment of the general public that got all worked up about the Comp[rensive District Design (CDD) but has now disappeared into the woodwork

 

Ineffective putative activists and incompetent heads of key organizations, including

 

Minneapolis Urban League President/CEO Steve Belton

 

Erstwhile law professor, NAACP President, and ineffective gadfly Nekima Levey-Armstrong