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 DevelReading 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 professor
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
American
22% 21% 21% 21% 22%
23%
American Indian
21%
20% 21%
23% 24% 25%
Hispanic
23%
25% 26% 26%
27% 29%
Asian
41%
40% 45%
41% 48% 50%
White
78%
77% 77%
78% 80% 78%
Free/ Reduced
Lunch
23%
23% 23%
25% 25% 25%
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 and
History
Hope College
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.
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