The Sea of Corruption That Is the Minnesota Department of Education
No academic progress
will ever be made in the United States on the basis of federal policy.
The mania for
local control assures that national level policy, even if promising on paper,
will never be enacted. The forces of
resistance at the state and local level will always undermine federal policy initiatives: Education establishment actors at those
levels will sabotage even those policies that would otherwise have potential to
make academic advances.
And readers must
understand that as we move the from federal to the state level, the impact of
intellectual corruption in the education establishment is deep.
The islands that
are locally centralized school districts such as the Minneapolis Public Schools
(MPS) are surrounded by a sea of corruption that vitiates preK-12 public
education throughout the state and makes imperative that on one of these
islands an edifying structure for delivery of educational excellence be built.
The appointment
of a commissioner of education in Minnesota is highly political, with the
selection occurring at the behest of the governor. With one exception in recent memory,
Republican appointees tend to be less activist;
they have no ties to Education Minnesota, the state teachers union, so
they are not tainted by that association, but inasmuch as Republicans lean
toward local control, nothing in the way of very assertive policy typically
occurs during Republic administrations.
By contrast Democrat-Farmer-Labor (DFL) administrations are heavily
beholden to Education Minnesota as a key supportive lobby and campaign funder
and enact policy consonant with teacher union positions.
A major exception
to the rule of Republican passivity on education policy came during the Tim
Pawlenty administration (2002-2010), the first part of which his commissioner
of education was Cheri Pierson Yecke.
These were the days in which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was launched,
Minnesota State Standards were written, and the Minneapolis Comprehensive
Assessments (MCAs) were formulated. The
standards and the assessments were in accord with NCLB strictures; for the next half-decade, a harsh light shone
on locally centralized school districts as disaggregated data indicated massive
failure on the part of districts throughout the state to impart even basic
skills in reading, mathematics, and science to students, especially those on
free and reduced price lunch and bearing the burden of historical abuse.
As forces of both
the political left and right went to work to terminate NCLB, pressures mounted
on Yecke and forced her exit. In 2016,
the Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA) replaced NCLB; by this time, Mark Dayton’s administration
(2010-2018) that included education commissioner Brenda Cassellius had been in
office for six years and seized on waiver opportunities offered by the Obama
administration to undo much of what had been put in place under No Child Left
Behind. A waiver produced a Multiple
Measurement Rating System (MMRS) that relegated the MCAs to just one of a
number of other measures (including graduation rates and incremental academic
improvement) used to judge school performance.
Then within the last two years of the Dayton-Cassellius administration,
the Minnesota Department of Education announced its new North Star
Accountability System.
During the Dayton
Cassellius years, administration of MCAs continued each spring (typically in
April), fulfilling the continuing mandate under ESSA that objective assessment
be part of school accountability. But
the 9th grade writing test was eliminated and academic proficiency
as indicated by the 10th grade reading and 11th grade
mathematics MCAs was no longer a requirement for graduation. This created a climate in which the MCAs as
assessment tools were vitiated and the opt-out movement could ensue. The anti-assessment advocates in Education
Minnesota and local affiliates such as the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers
had had their way.
The advent of the
North Star Accountability System (NSAS)
serves as an example of the cynicism and corruption that invests the Minnesota
Department of Education.
Please review my
objective presentation of this system in Part One, Facts, then consider the
following comments and experiences I had with officials who are perpetrating
this ruse on the students of Minnesota.
…………………………………………………………………………
At
6:00 PM on Monday, 24 September, in Conference Center B at the Minnesota Department
of Education, Brenda Cassellius’s aide Michael Diedrich and others conducted an
information session focused on the North Star Accountability system. This is the system of purported
accountability now being foisted on the public in the latest failed proclamation
hailing a program that nevertheless has no chance of raising academic
performance of Minnesota students.
Of the approximately 2,000 schools in Minnesota, 485 of them have
failed to demonstrate acceptable
performance along several indicators:
graduation rates, attendance, academic progress for English learners,
general academic progress, and proficiency as demonstrated on the Minnesota
Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs). Note
that the latter indicator, which is the only measure that reveals the actual
proficiency levels of students in a given academic year, now is a mere
inclusion in an array of indicators.
Much mention was made at the meeting of reference to how schools now
have multiple ways of demonstrating that they are making progress; the matter of academic performance is not
clearly in focus, as was the case during 2002-2016 before Congressional
jettisoning of No Child Left Behind and the passage of the new Every Student
Succeeds Act. The Every Student Succeeds
Act and the North Star Accountability System designed by staff at the Minnesota
Department of Education allow for considerable more wiggle room for failing
schools to claim some level of success:
Perpend, on the latter matter:
One MDE presenter gave his approval to a case in which a school
has done a particularly good job of cleaning up around and plugging bullet
holes in lockers, indicating that this could be a case of what MDE staff is
touting as “Quick Wins.”
I kid you not.
And some members in the audience comprised heavily of people from
Minnesota Public Schools systems gave verbal expressions of approval.
I kid you not on that, as well.
After the meeting had proceeded through three presentations and
the clock indicated that we had rolled past the hour point, with less than
thirty minutes to go, I raised the following question, with introductory
comments as follows:
“There are to be six Regional Centers of Excellence, staffed with
a total of 45 members, so that each center will have seven or eight people
providing assistance.”
“That’s about right,” the presenter responded.
I continued:
“Back in the late 1990s and very early 2000s in the time of the
Minnesota Basic Skills Test, the school systems of Minnesota demonstrated that
they could not even educate an acceptable percentage of students at a grade 8
level. Then we had No Child Left Behind
and more embarrassing academic results, at that time with the MCAS; No Child Left Behind was attacked by the
left (Education Minnesota, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, DFL) and right
(when the right figured out, “Oh, yeah, these are central government
mandates”), so that we then had the Multiple Measurement Rating System, the
Every Student Succeeds Act and with it the current North Star Accountability
System.
“My question to you, then, is:
Do you at the Minnesota Department of Education live in a fantasy
world, or are you knowingly perpetrating this hoax on the students of
Minnesota?”
The crowd, comprised mainly of public school administrators and
teachers, sat in stolidly stunned silence.
The presenter stammered that answering that question would take a lot of
unpacking.
I said, “Sure would. Go
ahead and unpack it.”
“Not now,” he said.
And I then responded, “Well
then, would you meet me in a public debate”?
“No, I wouldn’t,” he said.
“Of course, you wouldn’t,” I asserted, “because you don’t have the
ability. You know that I’m correct about
the new system being a hoax. You’d be
defending the indefensible.”
Members of the audience, all of those retorting representing
either Minnesota school districts or the MDE, then began to issue rejoinders to
me. I challenged two more MDE members
and one school district representative to a refereed public debate. There were no takers.
One of the previous presenters came to the fore and threatened to
call a security guard.
“And on what basis would you do that?” I asked.
“Disturbing our meeting,” came the reply.
Michael Diedrich, I kid you not once again, hastened out of the
room to summon the nearest security guard.
I just laughed.
As the last presenter made one more lame presentation, Diedrich
returned with the security guard as both remained at the back of the room (I
was sitting right up front). The
presenter concluded, called for questions, there were no takers, and the
meeting was over.
I rose slowly but was the first to stride up the aisle. I expected a few people to meet me in the eye
with angry stares, given the dominant composition of the crowd representing the
state department and the school districts culpable for the academic results
that have no more than sixty percent (60%) of our students reading and
performing mathematical tasks with grade level proficiency.
But not a single person met my eye.
I continued my trip up the aisle, staring a hole in Michael
Diedrich’s prevaricating countenance.
But I turned amiably to the security guard and said, “Hey, good to
see you, man.” He shook my proffered
hand. I strode out the door smiling at
the stupidity that I had witnessed on the part of the audience at this charade
of a meeting. But I had three attending
thoughts as I strode to my Toyota Matrix and drove home:
With regard to public and official attitudes about K-12
education; people variously
>>>>> are
dimwitted on the issues;
>>>>> are dissembling officials or their
sycophants;
or
>>>>> they just don’t care.
………………………………………………………………………….
The chief initiative on
which the success of the North Star Accountability depends is a cooperative
arrangement with six Regional Centers of Excellence (RCE), located in
Rochester, Marshal, Sartell, Thief Rive Falls, Mountain Iron, and Fergus
Falls; additionally, the Minneapolis
Public Schools and St. Paul Public Schools act as their own RCEs, purportedly
in consultation with and the support of MDE staff. In all, the sites have only 45 staff members,
meaning only seven or eight staff members per RCE.
This all a massive
gambit.
Here is an introduction
to the RCEs in the words of staff at MDE, from the department’s website:
Minnesota’s Regional Centers of Excellence (RCE) deliver a wealth
of support and services straight to schools -- and it’s working. Centers are
staffed by specialists with a full range of expertise,
including math, reading, special education, English language
development, equity, graduation support, implementation, data
analysis, school leadership and district support.
For districts or charters with schools identified under the accountability
system, the RCEs provide on-the-ground assistance to create the capacity and
conditions that support change and continuous improvement. The Centers partner
with leadership teams to facilitate school improvement efforts focused on
equity for underserved student groups.
Once designated,
comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) and targeted support and
improvement (TSI) schools must conduct a needs assessment, build and
strengthen leadership teams, and develop school improvement plans, but they don’t have to go it alone. The schools can
get help from Minnesota’s Regional Centers of Excellence. In addition to
content expertise, center specialists offer an outside perspective on schools’
efforts to increase student outcomes.
In 2015, the Regional Centers of Excellence were named one of Harvard Ash
Center’s Top 25 Innovations in Government.
In
attempt to sell the putative Regional Centers of Excellence to the public, the
Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has posted feel-good features of
certain staff at RCE sites.
One
of the chief mantras of education professors and the education establishment
with which they infect their vacuous notions is that of “critical thinking,” of
which they do so little but that they use as a smokescreen behind which lurks
massive failure to provide vital knowledge and skill sets to the students of
Minnesota.
Regarding
the Regional Centers of Excellence, state officials claim and convey the
following:
August 20, 2018
The Regional Centers of Excellence (RCEs) work in conjunction
with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to help schools make
long-lasting improvements to student learning, providing hands-on support to
help guarantee that every student has the opportunity to reach his or her full
potential. The RCEs are made up of a team of education specialists, called
advocates, who travel across the state to help guide schools and districts
through the process of identifying needs, creating an action plan, and implementing
changes to improve student outcomes. RCE school advocates specialize in the
areas of literacy, equity, math, special education, English language
development, high school graduation, and principal and district support.
The most important resource advocates bring districts is active
implementation, a systems-based approach that links all of a system’s moving
parts and builds a process that creates a way to sustain the good work being
done by schools. Advocates do a lot for their schools and bring their unique
backgrounds and expertise to each unique situation and challenge.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Readers may contact
staff at these Regional Centers of Excellence to inquire how much they have
improved the schools of Minnesota, testing my assertion that they have not
improved and cannot improve student proficiency to make any aggregate
difference whatsoever:
Regional Centers of Excellence
Directors Name and Region Phone
Number Email Address
Lowell Haagenson Central Lakes Region Cell: 320-492-9092
lhaagenson@mnce.org Resource Training and Solutions 137 - 23rd Street South
Sartell, MN 56377
Tara Lindstrom Northern Pines
Region Cell: 218-410-8111 tlindstrom@mnce.org Northeast Service Cooperative
5525 Emerald Avenue Mountain Iron, MN
55768
Becca Neal Northern Sky Region
Cell: 218-686-9719 bneal@mnce.org Northwest Service Cooperative 114 - 1st
Street West Thief River Falls, MN 56701
Jane Drennan Southeast-Metro
Region Cell: 507-696-5572 jdrennan@mnce.org Southeast Service Cooperative 210
Wood Lake Drive Southeast Rochester, MN
55904
Nicole Lydick Southwest Prairie
Region Cell: 231-878-1925 nlydick@mnce.org Southwest/West Central Service
Cooperative 1420 East College Drive Marshall, MN 56258
Staci Allmaras Western Lakes
Region Cell: 218-255-1650 sallmaras@mnce.org Lakes Country Service Cooperative
1001 East Mount Faith Fergus Falls, MN 56537 Minnesota Department of Education
- Regional Centers of Excellence Support Name and Region Phone Number Email
Address
Toni Cox RCE Program Manager Cell:
218-416-2416 toni.cox@state.mn.us Minnesota Department of Education c/o
Northwest Service Cooperative 114 - 1st
Street West Thief River Falls, MN 56701
Tyler Livingston Director,
Division of School Support Office: 651-582-8427 tyler.livingston@state.mn.us
Minnesota Department of Education 1500 Hwy 36 West Roseville, MN 55113
Greg Keith Chief Academic Officer
Office: 651-582-8316 greg.keith@state.mn.us Minnesota Department of Education
1500 Hwy 36 West Roseville, MN 55113
……………………………………………………………………………………..
My
assertion that you may test by calling one or all of these Centers is as
follows:
These
Regional Centers of Excellence, six in number, with approximately 45
total
staff members and designation of the Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools
systems as their own RCEs, have no capacity to improve education in Minnesota
by lifting overall achievement or addressing the particular injustices
perpetrated on students on free and reduced price lunch or student populations
bearing the bruises of history.
This
is a salient example of the kind of hoax perpetrated decade after decade on the
students of Minnesota by the Minnesota Department of Education.
Soon after the Minnesota Department of Education
presented its North Star Accountability Systems, the Department announced
results of Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) in math and reading for
the 2017-2018 academic year. Just 60
percent of Minnesota students were proficient in mathematics, the same figure
as that for 2016-2017; for reading the
comparable figures were 59 percent in academic year 2016-2017 and 57 percent in
2017-2018,a two percentage point decline.
In the Minneapolis Public Schools, reading
proficiency rose a bit over those two academic years, from 43 percent to 45
percent, with math proficiency flat at 42 percent. In that school district, one-third of
graduates who matriculate at colleges and universities need remedial instruction. And most graduates walk across the stage to
claim a piece of paper that is a diploma in name only, so deficient are they in
key knowledge and skill sets in mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics,
history, government, economics, quality literature, English composition, and
the fine, vocational, and technological arts.
The North Star Accountability System has no chance to improve basic skills proficiency or to induce local districts to design knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum. The Minnesota Department of Education must be identified and called to account for maintaining the sea of corruption that defines the MDE inept bureaucracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment