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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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