From the caves of Yan’an (a revolutionary metaphor referring to my study), I have been pounding out rhe nearly complete June 2022 editon of Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota that I will use to rock members of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education by the arrival of the Tuesday, 14 June board meeting.
This document will serve as a guide to the search for the new superintendent, covering the dilemmas facing the public schools, providing the resolution to those dilemmas in the form of curriculum overhaul and teacher training, and specifying the qualities needed in the new superintendent and, at least as important, the new senior academic officer--- and detailing how the search for those to fill these roles shall ensue.
The front matter and brief descriptions of content of the given articles are as follows:
Volume VIII, No. 12
Journal of the K-12 Revolution:
Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota
A Publication of the New Salem Educational Initiative
Gary Marvin Davison, Editor
Selecting a New Superintendent
For the Minneapolis Public Schools:
Unprecedented Opportunity for the
Transformation of Public Education
Gary Marvin Davison, Ph. D.
Director, New Salem Educational Initiative
New Salem Educational Initiative
Selecting a New Superintendent
For the Minneapolis Public Schools:
Unprecedented Opportunity for the
Transformation of Public Education
New Salem Educational Initiative
Introductory Comments
Seizing the Opportunity Presented in the
Selection of a New Superintendent of the
Minneapolis Public Schools
Comment from Gary Marvin Davison >>>>>
In the Introductory Comments I explain the absence of an academically astute superintendent in any locally centralized school district anywhere in the nation--- but the opportunities presented by Ed Graff’s resignation, the appointment of Rochelle Cox as interim superintendent, and the power shift that Adriana Cerrillo has been able to oversee in the direction of positions taken by her and Sharon El-Amin--- and the experience and knowledge brought my own advocacy.
Article #1
Facing the Dilemma of Ineptitude in the
Public Education Establishment
Comment from Gary Marvin Davison >>>>>
In Article #1, I trace the dilemmas of preK-12 education to their historical origins and the training of public education administrators and teachers in departments, schools, and colleges of education--- yielding the inevitable failure and inability of all superintendents to oversee the needed overhaul, and making necessary the approach that I detail in this edition of the academic journal.
Article #2
Overhauling Curriculum
Comment from Gary Marvin Davison >>>>>
In Article #2, I give a detailed overview of the necessary knowledge-intensive, logically sequenced curriculum for grades preK-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
Article #3
Overhauling Teacher Quality
Comment from Gary Marvin Davison >>>>>
In Article #3, I give a detailed description of the Masters of Liberal Arts degree to be overseen by the new superintendent and senior academic officer of the Minneapolis Public Schools for prospective teachers of students in grades preK-5; and the requirements in subject area training for teachers of students 6-8, and 9-12, who will be required to have master’s degrees in major subject areas, primarily mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, geography, economics, literature, world languages, music and visual art--- understanding, too, that there will be teachers who will be required to manifest professional skill in the vocational and technological arts.
Article #4
The Impediment to Intellectual Quality Presented
by the Legislatively Mandated Requirements for
Superintendent Licensure in Minnesota
Comment from Gary Marvin Davison >>>>>
In Article #4, I detail the legislative requirements for superintendent licensure, the academically insubstantial nature of the state-approved programs providing courses in educational leadership and administration (providing multiple examples from such institutions as the University of Minnesota, St. Thomas University [St. Paul], Minnesota State University/Mankato, Augsburg University, St. Cloud State University, Hamline University, St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, University of Northwestern [not to be confused with Northwestern University], and the University of Wisconsin/ River Falls)--- and thus the need for a new superintendent not so ruined by these programs that she or he cannot be made to see what needs to be done in overseeing the needed overhaul.
Article #5
Characteristics Mandatory for the New Superintendent and
New Senior Academic Officer of the Minneapolis Public Schools
Comment from Gary Marvin Davison >>>>>
In Article #5, I detail the atypical characteristics needed in the new superintendent and the scholarly credentials required of the new senior academic officer--- who will in turn engage university-based and independent scholars to design curriculum and provide academically substantive training of teachers.
Concluding Comments
Ancillary Measures Needed for the Transformation
Comment from Gary Marvin Davison >>>>>
In my Concluding Comments, I detail the measures that should accompany the primary tasks of curriculum overhaul and teacher training, including the jettisoning of the MPS Department of Teaching and Learning, Office of Black Student Achievement, and Associate Superintendents; and the establishment, amidst overhaul bureaucratic slimming, of a new Department of Resource Provision and Referral, staffed with people comfortable on the streets and in the homes of students from families facing dilemmas of finances and functionality. I also explain the needed hour per day for Student Enrichment, providing skill acquisition for students lagging below grade level and opportunities for exploring driving interests for students already possessing grade level skills.
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