Low Bases of Information Cost Citizens of the United States Gravely During 2020

At the stroke of midnight on Friday, the first of January 2021, many citizens will be celebrating the end of 2020, with hopes that 2021 will be better.  But while that hope may come to pass in terms of fewer catastrophic events, year 2020 was never at fault: 

 

We were.                                                                                                             

 

And if we do not rectify our ways, we will be just as blameworthy in 2021 in terms of the foundational reason for our culpability:

 

Our ignorance.

 

As we entered the week that will bring 2020 to a close and inaugurate 2021, reported cases of Covid-19 in the United States had reached nearly 19 million, with deaths at approximately 330,000. 

 

If most United States citizens had merely worn masks, avoided large gatherings, stayed at least six feet apart, health professionals estimate that 150,000 or so of those who died would still be alive.  If in some fantasy world the citizens of the United States could muster the discipline and convey the respect for knowledge of counterparts in Taiwan and New Zealand, the lives lost might have been much more dramatically reduced.

 

Approximately 48 percent of the electorate voted to keep the presidential administration in power that had induced such a circumstance with its policies;  two out of three Republicans think that Donald Trump won the November presidential election.   

 

But the United States is a nation in which private enterprise and individual freedom are values pursued for private gain but little understood as expressions of constitutional principles.  Immigrant populations, ill-treated during the last four years, have long sought the shores of the USA for freedom to sell their labor at a price far beyond that prevailing in the home of origin or to seek a profession or launch a business with the prospect of economic return similarly higher than in the immigrant’s nation of nativity.

 

The United States economy booms, with a per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $63,000, substantially higher than Japan’s $44,000 and Germany’s $54,000.

 

But life expectancy lags by comparison in the United States, health indicators are less favorable, and students score lower in mathematics, reading, and science on the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) by comparison with students in those same nations:

 

The United States economy booms on the strength of minimally fettered private enterprise, but the absence of a collective spirit undermines the health and education of the United States citizenry. 

 

The approach to education in the United States embodies our societal dilemmas and promotes citizen ignorance. The system of public education and curricula at colleges and universities produce citizens who have low information bases.  At best, preK-12 systems provide tracks leading to Advanced Placement courses in which students gain a measure of substantive information and objective testing opportunities that, along with ACT scores, may be used to get into prestigious colleges and universities.  But even the few students who so augment their records walk across the stage at graduation with gaping holes in their information bases, and the great bulk of students who manage to graduate in four years walk across such stages having very little knowledge to claim for thirteen or more years spent in school.

 

Most college and university undergraduate programs do not provide the broad knowledge base that students should have gained at the preK-12 level.  Those who are mislabeled as best-educated matriculate in graduate and professional programs that give them highly focused training in a narrow specialty.

 

In the course of the typical educational experience, no one is educated very well.  Very few people have grasp of the fundamentals of biology, chemistry, and physics.  Historical knowledge is abominable.  Knowledge of government and the United States Constitution is meager in the extreme.

 

Thus do we pay for these educational deficiencies in our denial of scientific reality as pertinent to a virulent pandemic that becomes more deadly than it should have been.

 

Thus do nearly half of United States citizens show little regard for constitutional principles or the electoral process.

 

People in the United States may be proud of an economy that booms, despite periodic busts, most of the time and under typical conditions.  But they should be ashamed of the low value they place on mass education and health, and on the collective good.

 

We must have a national discussion about our values and the educational systems that embodies those values and makes of us such an ignorant and self-seeking people.  Private enterprise is economically beneficial under most circumstances;  public neglect of education and health is detrimental.

 

Particular catastrophes struck in 2020, but the calendar was not at fault.  The year 2021 will not be better as to our social and political foundations if we do not build those more solidly on the basis of knowledge and on consideration for the public as well as the private good.

 

Let us blame not the year 2020 for our woes, but ourselves.

 

Then let’s be about the work of making of ourselves a better people through the power of education.     

 

 

Nativity 2020

Nativity 2020

 

We now stand exposed

for

the

depths of our ignorance,

gravity of our corruption,

imbecility of our religions,

incapable of communicating

Divinity:

Ethics

Compassion

Empathy.

 

But we remain

Blessed

with

the

Wellspring

of

Supreme Wisdom,

Cyclical Inspiration,

Continual Promise

of

Redemption,

Renewal,

Hope.

 

Let us, then,

abandon the

Lie,

embrace the

Truth,

Discovering

in all

Humanity

our

Sister,

Brother,

the

Saving Grace

of

Universal Love.

 

 

GMD

Christmas 2020

Understanding Foundational Causes of Youth Violence, We Must Elevate Quality in the Minneapolis Public Schools >>>>> The Culpability of Superintendent Ed Graff; Interim Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing; Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, and Brian Zambreno; Office of Black Student Achievement Director Michael Walker; Department of Indian Education Director Jennifer Rose Simon; Senior Officer for Accountability, Research, and Equity Eric Moore; Senior Officer for Human Resources Maggie Sullivan; Senior Executive Officer, Office of the Superintendent Suzanne Kelly; and the Entire Staff at the Department of Teaching and Learning

On Winter Solstice, Monday, December 21, 2020, darkness had already arrived in North Minneapolis: 

 

Another teen-ager (17 years old) fell to homicide;  as is all too typical, the adolescent was shot after an altercation with another youth.  

 

Few understand the strong connection between youth violence and the wretched level of K-12 education with which the students of the Minneapolis Public Schools are abused each day.

 

Because of a history of residential covenants, out-migration of the middle class from the urban core from the 1970s forward, and the increasing demographic challenges that decision-makers at the Minneapolis Public Schools proved incapable of meeting, cyclical poverty and familial dysfunction too often describes the households of the city’s North Side.

 

From the time that crack cocaine hit the streets and gang activity became rife in the 1980s, an already mediocre school system became ever more abominable at meeting the needs of its very challenged student population.

 

Be clear.  There remain solid middle class families on the North Side and one need not fear most of the time in strolling amidst the arboreal beauty of the area’s streets.  But the challenges are evident, and too many youth bearing the burden of our historical sins strike out desperately at the wrong targets, as did the poignant character of Levee in August Wilson’s magnificent play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

 

K-12 education is key to ending cyclical poverty and redressing the wrongs of history. 

  

Excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers imparting a logically sequenced, knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum to students of all demographic descriptors throughout the preK-12 years.  An excellent teacher is a professional of deep and broad knowledge with the pedagogical ability to impart that knowledge to students of all demographic descriptors.

 

The Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) have neither knowledge-intensive curriculum nor excellent teachers at the median.

 

Students from grade 2 forward lack knowledge that they should possess in mathematics, natural science, history, government, economics, literature, English usage, and the fine arts.  They have poor vocabulary development and slim grasp of fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, proportions, and probability necessary to succeed in algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, and calculus courses.  Because of the knowledge-deficient, skill-deplete approach to curriculum and the mediocre teaching in the Minneapolis Public Schools, MPS students do not gain the necessary knowledge and skill base to achieve at a high level on the ACT college readiness exam;  in particular, students from families facing dilemmas of finance and functionality tend to record a score in the 9-14 range, not even reflecting middle school capability.

 

MPS students do not read broadly and deeply across a full liberal arts curriculum.  Students move forward from grade 5 having little knowledge of any subject area.  Curriculum and teaching is not much better in middle school and high school;  only students who take Advanced Placement (AP) courses learn anything of substance, and then only in the off-chance of getting a teacher qualified to impart college preparatory curriculum.

 

The most vexing dilemmas at the Minneapolis Public Schools are the lack of scholars among academic decision-makers;  knowledge, deficient, skill-deplete, incoherent curriculum;  and teachers lacking the subject area training to impart knowledge-intensive curriculum and failing to comprehend the life experiences of young people living at the urban core. 

 

The Minneapolis Public Schools serve no student well;  failure to provide the subject area knowledge necessary to aspire to post-secondary education hurts students mired in cyclical poverty and facing problems of familial functionality the worst.  Most of these students had the requisite rudimentary reading and arithmetic skills upon entering grade 2;  but from grade 2 forward, they never received the knowledge-intensive, skill-replete education that would maximize chances of breaking the cycle of poverty and going forth to a life founded on the three great purposes of public education:  cultural enrichment, civic participation, and professional satisfaction.

 

As the national sickness of year 2020 goes into remission and celestial light increases from now into June, we must dedicate ourselves to the brighter future that we owe the long-waiting students of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

The Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway) staff members named in this article’s title are highly paid occupants of sinecures who year after year draw their excessive remuneration without indicating any remorse for the wretched academic program of the Minneapolis Public Schools, nor the role that they have in sending young people who lack any grounding at home or school to their deaths.

 

I have explained the culpability of most of these staff members many times in the articles entered on this blog.  Emerging evidence and the passage of time without proper action on the part of Eric Moore, Maggie Sullivan, and Suzanne Kelly will lead me to turn toward greater exploration of their culpability in articles soon to come.

 

Students of the Minneapolis Public Schools have long waited for celestial light to be beamed into their lives via knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum, imparted by teachers capable of mastering and delivering such knowledge:

 

Eric Moore, Maggie Sullivan, Suzanne Kelly, and the previously reviewed other members of the inept group identified in the title must get busy, resign, or face professional embarrassment.   

 

MPS Department of Teaching and Leerning Staff Members Erin Clarke, Christen Lish, Jenn Ross, and Julie Tangemann Bear Major Responsibility for the Wretched Levels of Student Science Proficiency in the Minneapolis Public Schools

Year after year, students of the Minneapolis Public Schools record dismal proficiency rates in science.

 

Perpend  >>>>>

 

Minneapolis Public Schools Student Proficiency in Science, Based on Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) for Academic Years Ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019

 

Science               2014       2015       2016      2017      2018        2019

 

African                 11%       15%         13%        12%       11%                14%

American

 

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

Indian

 

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

 

Asian                     31%         35%       42%       38%       37%          40%

 

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

 

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

Reduced

 

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

Among Davis Center (Minneapolis Public Schools central offices, 1250 West Broadway) decision-makers responsible for design of the academic program, Superintendent Ed Graff and Interim Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing have ultimate responsibility;  key roles in implementation are occupied by Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, and Brian Zambreno.

 

But by specificity of title and function, MPS Department of Teaching and Learning staff members Erin Clarke, Christen Lish, Jenn Ross, and Julie Tangemann are particularly culpable for low science proficiency rates.  

 

Erin Clarke  is a K-8 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) District Program Facilitator (DPF);  she is the only member of the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning who has an advanced degree in a legitimate academic field, but this degree is in geology rather than in the very most key science subject areas of biology, chemistry, and physics.  

Christen Lish is AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Coordinator;  she holds only the very general and lightweight master’s degree in science education, with a bachelor’s degree in education:  Lish has insubstantial credentials as a scientist. 

 

Julie Tangemann is doubly culpable for maintaining DPF roles in both literacy and science, for which in both cases MPS student proficiency rates are abominably low;  she has only degrees in education, with no indication of any academic training in science training whatsoever.

 

Jenn Ross is K-12 Science DPF;  she does have a bachelor’s degree in biology but a master’s degree only in science education.

 

Full credentials for these Davis staff members with explicit responsibility for science are given as follows:

 

Erin Clarke

 

B.A., Geology (College of William & Mary)

M.A., Geology (University of Wisconsin)

M.A. Education (Univeristy of Minnesota)

 

Christen Lish                     

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

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

Licensures:

Life Sciences

Earth and Space Science

 

Jenn Ross, K-12 Science DPF                      

M.A., Science Education                                               University of Iowa

B.S., Biology                                                                       Drake University

Licensures:

Life Sciences

Science 5-8

Julie Tangemann, K-5 Literacy DPF

    K-5 Science DPF                                                   

 

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

B.A., Education   (University of St. Thomas)

Licensures:

Elementary Education

………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Students in grades preK-5 learn very little science at all.  An MCA in science is administered to grade 5 students, who perform predictably poorly.

 

Middle school students do take courses bearing the names Science 6, Science 7, and Science 8;  a science MCA is administered in grade 7, also yielding predictably low proficiency rates.

 

Low proficiency continues at the high school level, indicated by results on the science MCA, low scores on Advanced Placement tests, and poor performance on the science portion of the ACT college preparedness exam.

 

Heretofore, Erin Clarke, Christen Lish, Jenn Ross, and Julie Tangemann have operated below the radar as to their insubstantial credentials and their roles in poorly designing and implementing science curriculum at the Minneapolis Public Schools;  they share responsibility with the highly paid Graff, Fearing, Harris-Berry, Ray, Wagner, and Zambreno.

 

In my book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect, I reveal the knowledge-deficiency of the science program at the Minneapolis Public Schools, with elevated specificity as to the culpable staff members.

 

The days of designers and implementers of science curriculum at the Minneapolis Public Schools academically abusing the students for whom they have sacred responsibility are over.

 

Ineptitude of Julie Tangemann, Lisa Purcell, Meghan Gasdick, Molly Siebert, and Molly Vasich >>>>> Meager Academic Qualifications of MPS Department of Teaching and Learning Staff Members and Cluelessness as to Development of Reading Skill Results in Abominable Levels of Student Proficiency

Ineptitude of Julie Tangemann, Lisa Purcell, Meghan Gasdick, Molly Siebert, and Molly Vasich  >>>>>  Meager Academic Qualifications of MPS Department of Teaching and Learning Staff Members and Cluelessness as to Development of Reading Skill Results in Abominable Levels of Student Proficiency

 

Julie Tangemann is a K-5 Literacy District Program Facilitator (DPF) in the Minneapolis Public Schools Department of Teaching and Learning;  she also is a K-5 Science DPF.

 

Meghan Gasdick is another K-5 Literacy DPF in the department.

 

Lisa Purcell is a K-12 Social Studies DPF.

 

Molly Siebert is another K-5 Social Studies DPF.

 

And Molly Vasich is a 6-12 English Language Arts/Reading DPF.

One would tend to look first to Tangemann, Gasdick, and Vasich for leadership in the teaching of reading in the district, since their fields are explicitly in Literacy and Language Arts.  But Purcell and  Siebert should also be held responsible for the teaching of reading, since courses in history and government should include challenging reading material of the kind that should be the driver of reading development beyond grade 2.

In my book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current condition, Future Prospect, I give in Part I (Facts) the brutal data pertinent to student reading proficiency in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS);  in Part II (Analysis) I indicate staff members in the Davis Center who are responsible for the dismal academic proficiency rates at the district;  and in Part II (Philosophy) I describe the history and current circumstance of curriculum design and teacher training that explains how we got in this academic morass.

 

At the top of the leadership hierarchy of the Minneapolis Public Schools, Superintendent Ed Graff and Interim Senior Academic officer Aimee Fearing bear the responsibility for low levels of student proficiency; Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, and Brian Zambreno also bear responsibility for their duties to implement curriculum at schools throughout the district.

 

None of these highly paid leaders is a scholar.

 

All have been ruined for their training under the intellectually corrupt, anti-knowledge ideology of education professors.

 

Such training is pertinent to the cases of Julie Tangemann, Lisa Purcell, Meghan Gasdick, Molly Siebert, and Molly Vasich.

 

None of these staff members have any idea what she or he is doing.

 

Read that again and perceive the implications for student academic proficiency at the Minneapolis Public Schools:

 

None of these staff members has any idea what she or he is doing.

 

……………………………………………………………………………………

 

For decades the education establishment represented most saliently by education professors has been in the throes of an intellectually degraded argument positioning the explicit teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness against an approach dubbed whole language learning.

 

The whole language approach has been dominant in advocacy by education professors.   This is an organic approach whereby the child picks up such skills through reading engaging literature.

 

The impracticality of the whole language approach for very young children has led many teachers to ignore anti-phonics advocacy and to incorporate considerable teaching of letter sounds into their instruction.  Instruction at the preK-1 level actually features the best teaching in the district.  For students moving beyond grade 1, though, problems do occur in spelling, where the lack of explicit instruction in that phonics-associated skill has in fact been lacking:  Student spelling is typically ragged in the extreme.

 

The fact that there has been a phonics versus whole language debate demonstrates the silliness and incompetence of education professors and their acolytes:

 

Very young children should be given explicit instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness, and they should additionally and as time moves on dominantly apply these skills to the reading of engaging literature.  Students throughout grades preK-5 should be given regular spelling tests that incorporate the phonics instruction that they have been given in the early grades and familiarize them with the spelling of two and three letter combinations, and with homophones, homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms.

 

This is not difficult.

 

To combine phonics and spelling with engaging literature, teachers just need to be persistent and consistent.

 

They should love letter combinations in words.

 

They should be alive in the world of quality world and ethnic-specific literature.

 

They should communicate their love for words and literature to their students.

 

………………………………………………………………………………………….

 

Beyond grade 1, the way to become a better reader is to read.  

                                                            

But in the Minneapolis Public Schools, students from grade 2 forward lack knowledge that they should possess in mathematics, natural science, history, government, economics, literature, English usage, and the fine arts.  They have poor vocabulary development Because of the knowledge-deficient, skill-deplete approach to curriculum and the mediocre teaching in the Minneapolis Public Schools, MPS students do not gain the necessary knowledge and skill base to achieve at a high level on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment in Reading, much less the much more challenging ACT college readiness exam;  in particular, students from families facing dilemmas of finance and functionality tend to record a score in the 9-14 range, not even reflecting middle school capability.

 

MPS students do not read broadly and deeply across a full liberal arts curriculum.  Students move forward from grade 5 having little knowledge of any subject area.  Curriculum and teaching is not much better in middle school and high school;  only students who take Advanced Placement (AP) courses learn anything of substance, and then only in the off-chance of getting a teacher qualified to impart college preparatory curriculum.

 

Early childhood literacy is not a panacea for low reading proficiency in the Minneapolis Public Schools.  And even logical resolution of the phonics versus whole language debate will not solve the problem:

 

Only the design and implementation of knowledge-intensive curriculum that gives student opportunity to read quality nonfictional and fictional literature across the liberal arts---   and the training of teachers capable of imparting such curriculum---  will improve proficiency as students move to grades 5, 7, 10, and on to graduation.

 

………………………………………………………………………….

 

Ed Graff, Aimee Fearing, Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, and Brian Zambreno do not comprehend the importance of knowledge-intensive curriculum to the improvement of student reading proficiency in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

Neither do Julie Tangemann, Lisa Purcell, Meghan Gasdick, Molly Siebert, and Molly Vasich.

---  those whose job duties dictate that they design and implement curriculum that properly develops the reading skills of students.

 

None of these Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway) staff members has substantial academic credentials.  They are not scholars.  They are not capable of designing and implementing knowledge-intensive curriculum or understanding the works that should be read by students.  They will need to be replaced by college, university, and independent scholars who have such capabilities.

 

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

Why do we get the following results year after year?

 

Reading               2014       2015       2016      2017      2018       2019

 

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

American

 

American             21%        20%         21%      23%        24%               25%

Indian

 

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

 

Asian                     41%         40%          45%       41%        48%      50%

 

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

 

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

Reduced

 

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

 

 

For the answer, perpend the meager academic credentials of these staff members:

 

Julie Tangemann, K-5 Literacy DPF

    K-5 Science DPF

 

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

B.A., Education   (University of St. Thomas)

Licensures:

Elementary Education

Lisa Purcell, K-12 Social Studies DPF                      

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

Meghan Gasdick, K-5 Literacy DPF

 

B.A. Elementary Education (Florida State University)

M. A., Educational Leadership (University of Minnesota)

 

Molly Siebert, K-5 Social Studies DPF

 

B. A., General Studies (University of Wisconsin)

M.A., Education (St. Mary’s of Minnesota)

 

Licensures:

 

Social Studies (5-12)

 

 

Molly Vasich, 6-12 English Language Arts/Reading DPF

B.A., World Languages  (Macalester)

M.A., Education  (University of Minnesota)

 

………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Then conclude that we get the inevitable dismal results because MPS staff leaders and MPS Department of Teaching and Learning staff members Julie Tangemann, Lisa Purcell, Meghan Gasdick, Molly Siebert, and Molly Vasich are academic lightweights who are not up to the task.

 

And know that such staff members should be jettisoned,

 

that the academic abuse of MPS students has lasted for decades,

 

that this must stop,

 

and that the time is now.

Christopher Wernimont, Erin Clarke, Jennifer Hanzak, and Marium Toure’ are Academic Lightweights Who have No Idea How to Generate Mathematics Curriculum or Teach Mathematics >>>>> Identification of Minneapolis Public Schools Davis Center Staff Responsible for Abominable Student Proficiency Rates in Mathematics

As the K-12 Revolution wrought by my book, Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect, sweeps over the district, certain individuals are going to be squirming. 

 

For decades students of the Minneapolis Public Schools have been academically abused with impunity.

 

No longer.

 

So be clear, among the highest paid staff at the Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway), Superintendent Ed Graff and Interim Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing are the top decision-makers with regard to the academic program. 

 

Responsible for implementing the program are Associate Superintendents Shawn Harris-Berry, LaShawn Ray, Ron Wagner, and Brian Zambreno. 

 

Not a single one of these individuals is a scholar with a firm grasp of any academic field.

 

Among other Davis Center staff responsible for the academic program are the woefully trained staff members at the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning.  Not a single staff member in this department of twenty-four people is a scholar with a master’s degree in a key subject area.

 

Thus, from the very top-paid staff at over $150,000 per annum (Graff receives $230,000) to those in the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning who each knock down an average of $80,000 per year, there are no scholars or anyone who knows what she or he is doing in generating knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum---  even if there was the inclination to do so.

 

As Malcolm X would say, staring straight into a camera as if were going to break it,

 

“As you can see, we have a problem here.”

………………………………………………………………………………

 

Student mathematics proficiency at the Minneapolis Public Schools is an abomination.

 

The reason is rooted in the lack of mathematicians among decision-makers and a faulty approach to the instruction of mathematics derived from the exhortations of mathematics education professors (those academic lightweights who themselves struggle with calculus and differentials equations while waxing pseudo-philosophical in their approaches to instruction in the basic operations addition, subtraction, multiplication, division;   fractions, decimals, and percentages;  and ratios, fundamental proportions, and simple probability).

 

The result is an enormously time-wasting approach utilized by math-phobic elementary school teachers and the spectacle of grade 5 students poised to make the middle school transition without knowing how to perform long division, lacking mastery of multiplication tables, lacking facility in performing basic operations with fractions, decimals, and percentages;  and having little idea as to the principles behind and the relationships among those latter skills comparing part to whole.

 

Students then go on to middle school, at which they continue to rely too heavily on calculators as they learn fundamental pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry, so that they are at a loss to explain what they are doing in utilizing the Pythagorean Theorem, solving linear equations, and calculating and graphing slope.  In the absence of fundamental skill mastery, they then wander through high school courses in algebra, geometry, and pre-calculus (if they even take this latter course in functions, statistics, and trigonometry);  and they muddle through---   for those few who take calculus---  the putatively highest course offered at the high school level.

 

Students thus wander through a murky forest of inept and faulty mathematical instruction, many still thinking in their heart of hearts that fractions constitute a higher mathematical skill---  true, too, of many teachers, especially those presiding at grades preK-5.

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………

 

This is all sinful:  There is not actually that much mathematics to learn.

 

Properly rendered, instruction should make clear the very basic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages, ratios, proportions, simple probability, graphing, and construction of tables and charts.  Then students would be prepared to go forth properly prepared to comprehend algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, and calculus.

 

But Graff and Fearing have little training in mathematics. 

 

None of the associate superintendents has advanced very far in the study of mathematics. 

 

What graduate training those in the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning responsible for generating or implementing mathematics curriculum or overseeing pedagogy have is all under mathematics education professors, not under mathematicians---  between which there is an enormous distinction (no one holding a flimsy mathematics education doctorate would ever be accepted by colleagues in a college of university department of mathematics).

 

Peruse the qualifications of these MPS Department of Teaching and Learning staff members responsible for designing or implementing mathematics curriculum at the Minneapolis Public Schools: 

 

>>>>>     

 

Math 

 

Christopher Wernimont                              

Degrees Conferred                                    Institution at Which Degree Was Conferred

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

B.A., Economics                                                Grinnell College

Licensures:                                                               

Mathematics

 

Erin Clarke, K-8 STEM DPF

B.A., Geology (College of William & Mary)

M.A., Geology (University of Wisconsin)

M.A. Education (Univeristy of Minnesota

 

Jennifer Hanzak, K-5 Math DPF

 

B. A. , Child Psychology (university of Minnesota)

M.A., Education (University of Minnesota)

 

Licensure:

Elementary Education

 

Marium Toure’, K-5 Math DPF                  

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

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

Licensures:

Elementary Education

   

Now consider student proficiency rates >>>>>

 

MPS Academic Proficiency Rates for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019

 (as indicated by Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment [MCA] results for spring of the given years)

 

Math                     2014       2015       2016      2017      2018         2019    

 

African                  22%       23%          21%        18%       18%          18%

American

 

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

Indian

 

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

 

Asian                     48%         50%          50%       47%        50%        47%

 

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

 

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

Reduced

 

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

 

Thus, be clear:

Christopher Wernimont, Erin Clarke, Jennifer Hanzak, and Marium Toure’ are academic lightweights who have no idea how to generate mathematics curriculum or teach mathematics, their field of responsibility for which they are paid approximately $80,000 each.

Wonder no longer why student mathematic proficiency rates are so abominably low for the ill-served students of the Minneapolis Public Schools:

Those responsible are academic lightweights who have no chance of developing knowledge-intensive, skill-replete mathematics curriculum and have no grasp of how to render instruction.