Article #7
Ancillary Measures Needed for the Transformation
The key vexations of the Minneapolis Public Schools, as with
locally centralized school districts throughout the United States, pertain to
knowledge-deficient curriculum and ineffective teaching at the median.
Accordingly, the articles in this edition of Journal of the
K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research
from Minneapolis, Minnesota, focus on the quest for a superintendent and
senior academic officer who can oversee the program necessary to achieve the
needed overhaul in curriculum and teacher quality.
In addition to these paramount concerns, there are several
ancillary measures that must be taken to maximize the advantages of overhaul in
curriculum and teacher quality. These
measures include the elimination of two costly bureaucratic entities, the MPS
Department of Teaching and Learning and the Office of Black Student Achievement; the transformation the legislatively mandated
Department of Indian Education; the creation
of a new Department of Resource Provision and Referral, staffed with people
comfortable on the ground and in the homes of students from families struggling
with dilemmas of finances and functionality; and the provision of academic
enrichment opportunities that variously offer scope for the exploration of
student driving interests or instruction necessary to raise a student to grade
level academic proficiency.
Below I comment on these ancillary measures, beginning with an
examination of the ineffectiveness of the Department of Teaching and Learning,
the Office of Black Student Achievement, and the Department of Indian
Education.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The Consequences of the
Anti-Knowledge Ideology of Education
Professors Are Witnessed in the
Achievement Rates of Students
in Locally Centralized Schools
Districts Such as the Minneapolis
Public Schools, Perpetuated by
Central Office Acolytes
The United States citizenry has
suffered catastrophically from the anti-knowledge ideology of education
professors that became embedded in our systems of public education from the
1970s forward.
The consequences of the
anti-knowledge ideology of these campus embarrassments are witnessed in the
skill levels of students in locally centralized systems of public education
such as the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Such skill levels persist with
these students right on through graduation, giving these nominal graduates
(those students who do manage to shuffle through the system for thirteen years,
then across a stage to claim a piece of paper that is a diploma in name only)
little chance of ending familial cycles of poverty at the urban core, but many
opportunities to wander desperately on mean streets leading to early death or
incarceration.
Ed Graff is the Superintendent of the
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS); his salary is $230,000 per
annum.
Aimee Fearing is MPS Senior Academic Officer;
her salary is $174,971.
Maria Rollinger is MPS Deputy Senior Academic
Officer; her salary is $146,813.
Jennifer Rose is Executive Director of the
K-12 program; her salary is $126,874.
These four officials and the 31 staff members
of MPS Department of Teaching and Learning are most responsible for the abysmal
academic program of the district.
Below I give grade level
proficiency rates for students enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools
(MPS), followed by the culpable staff members in the Department of Teaching and
Learning, all of whom have been intellectually corrupted by the anti-knowledge
ideology of education professors whose classes they endured >>>>>
>>>>>
Academic Proficiency as Indicated
Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs)
Academic Years Ending in 2014,
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021
(Note >>>>> The
MCAs were not administered for the academic year ending in 2020.)
Reading
African American
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
22% 21% 21% 21% 22% 23% 19%
American Indian
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
21% 20%
21% 23% 24% 25% 20%
Asian/Pacific Islander
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019
2021
41% 40%
45% 41% 48% 50% 54%
Hispanic
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
23%
25% 26% 26% 27%
27% 20%
All
Students
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
42% 42%
43% 43% 45% 47% 46%
Mathematics
(Note >>>>> The
MCAs were not administered for the academic year ending in 2020.)
African American
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
22% 23%
21% 18% 18% 18% 9%
American Indian
2014
2015 2016 2017 2018
2019 2021
23% 19% 19% 17% 17% 18% 9%
Asian/Islander
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019
2021
48%
50% 50% 47% 50%
47% 46%
Hispanic
2014
2015 2016 2017 2018
2019 2021
31%
32% 31% 29% 26% 25%
12%
All
Students
2014
2015 2016 2017 2018
2019 2021
44%
44% 44% 42% 42%
42% 35%
Science
(Note >>>>> The
MCAs were not administered for the academic year ending in 2020.)
African American
2014 2015 2016
2017 2018 2019 2021
11%
15% 13% 12% 11%
11% 11%
American
Indian
2014
2015 2016 2017 2018
2019 2021
14%
16% 13% 17%
14% 17% 9%
Asian/Pacific
Islander
2014 2015 2016
2017 2018 2019 2021
31% 35% 42% 35% 37% 40% 43%
Hispanic
2014 2015 2016
2017 2018 2019 2021
17% 18%
21% 19% 17%
16% 10%
All
Students
2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
33% 36%
35% 34%
34% 36% 36%
Department of Teaching and
Learning Staff, Minneapolis Public Schools
Abdi Ogle, Cultural Facilitator
Brandy Siddiqui, K-12 Social
Studies District Program Facilitator
Christen Lish, AVID Coordinator
Christina Ramsey, K-8
TD AA
Christopher Wernimont, 6-12
Mathematics District Program Facilitator
Erick Hensel, Comprehensive
District Design/Magnets
Erin Clarke, K-8 STEM District
Program Facilitator
Gabrial Pass, Career and Technical
Education, Teacher on Special Assignment
Jeanne Lacy, Executive Assistant
Jenn Rose, K-12 Science District
Program Facilitator
Jennifer Hansak, K-5 Mathematics
District Program Facilitator
Julie Tangemann, K-5 Literature
District Program Facilitator
K-5
Mathematics District Program Facilitator
Kelly McQuillan, 9-12 AA and K-12
International Baccalaureate Program Manager
Kristin Bauck, 6-12
English/Language Arts (ELA)/ Reading District Program Facilitator
Lori Ledoux, K-12 Arts Specialist/
Teacher on Special Assignment
Marium Toure, K-5 Mathematics
District Program Facilitator
Meghan Gasdick, K-5 Literature
District Program Facilitator
Melissa Damon, K-88 TD AA
Melody Lockwood, Multi-Tiered
System of Support (MTSS) Coordinator
Molly Siebert, K-5 Social Studies
District Program Facilitator
Molly Vasich, 6-12
English/Language Arts/ Reading District Program Facilitator
Muhammad Tayyeb, Cultural
Facilitator
Natalie Tourtelette, K-8 PYP and
MYP District Program Facilitator
Nora Schull, K-12 Arts District
Program Facilitator
Paula Killian, AVID Middle School
Coordinator
Paulina Jacobsson, Cultural
Facilitator
Tara Finne, Fine Arts Teacher on
Special Assignment (TOSA)
Tommy Casey, AVID Program Manager
La Saderia Rogers, Account
Specialist
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The Consequences of Academically Inept
Administrators and
Teachers for African American Families Living
at the Urban Core
Ed Graff is the Superintendent of the
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS); his salary is $230,000 per
annum.
Aimee Fearing is MPS Senior Academic Officer;
her salary is $174,971.
Maria Rollinger is MPS Deputy Senior Academic
Officer; her salary is $146,813.
Jennifer Rose is Executive Director of the
K-12 program; her salary is $126,874.
These four officials and the 31 staff members
of MPS Department of Teaching and Learning are most responsible for the abysmal
academic program of the district.
But to address the particularly troubling
academic proficiency levels of African American males in the Minneapolis Public
Schools, an Office of Black Male Student Achievement was opened in
2014; by the 2020-2021 academic year, the office had been renamed as
the Office of Black Student Achievement. This office also bears
responsibility for low academic proficiency levels of African America youth.
Michael Walker, a former Dean of Students at
Roosevelt High School, is Director of the MPS Office of Black Student
Achievement. He was a very effective Dean of Students and has
enormous skills in connecting with young people and their
families. But he has no degree in a key academic subject area, and
he has failed miserably in his current position. When he took the position,
Walker said that he would know that he had been successful when he had worked
himself out of a job; seven and a half years on, Walker has still
not worked himself out of a job, but with a starting salary of $114,000 and a
current salary of $140,577, Walker is $26,000 per year richer in 2022 than he
was is 2014.
Walker’s staff includes the
following >>>>>
Office of Black Male Student Achievement
Staff, Minneapolis Pubic Schools
Michael Walker, Director
Dena Luna, Educational Equity Coordinator
Umar Rashid, MPA Kings Program
Qiana Surrell, Program Coordinator
Jamil Jackson, Classroom Coach
Richard Magembe, Classroom Coach
Marquez Walker, Classroom Coach
Isa Kibira, Classroom Coach
And the paramount consequence of having such
low-quality administrators and classroom teachers is witnessed in the abysmal
academic record of the district. With regard to African American
youth at the Minneapolis Public Schools, most of whom live in low-income
families, the record that follows offers little hope for breaking cycles of
multigenerational familial poverty; for many, the chances for lives
lived on mean streets leading to early death or incarceration will be high.
Consider the following dismal
record >>>>>
>>>>>
Academic Proficiency Rates for African
American Students at the Minneapolis Public Schools
Results of Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments
(MCAs)
Academic Years Ending in 2014, 2015, 2016,
2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021
(Note >>>>> The
MCAs were not administered for the academic year ending in 2020.)
Reading
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
22% 21% 21% 21% 22% 23% 19%
Mathematics
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
22% 23% 21%
18% 18% 18% 9%
Science
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
11% 15% 13% 12% 11% 11% 11%
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The Heavy Toll Taken on Native
American Students at the
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS)
Due to the Abysmal
Quality of MPS Curriculum and
Teaching
The Department of Indian Education at the Minneapolis Public
Schools (MPS) is legislatively mandated, so that unlike the MPS Office of Black
Male Achievement, this academically hopeless entity cannot be
disbanded. But the 15-member department should be overhauled for
focus on academic achievement, so that most of the current staff is dismissed,
to be replaced by scholarly academicians whose unrelenting mission is to
provide the knowledge and skills sets that American Indian students need to go
forth in the world as culturally enriched, civically engaged, and
professionally satisfied citizens.
A retrained MPS teaching staff, including those at schools such as
Anishinabe Academy and South High School with high percentages of Native
American students, should be especially attentive to the literature and history
of American Indians while imparting the knowledge and skills sets to be
received by all MPS students in the overhaul of curriculum at the district.
Remember that the 31-member staff of Teaching and Learning and the
following staff members at the Minneapolis Public Schools are most culpable for
the knowledge-deficient, skill-deplete curriculum that academically abuses MPS
students >>>>>
>>>>>
Ed Graff is the Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS); his salary is $230,000 per annum.
Aimee Fearing is MPS Senior Academic Officer; her salary is
$174,971.
Maria Rollinger is MPS Deputy Senior Academic
Officer; her salary is $146,813.
But Department of Indian Education Director Jennifer Rose Simon,
who receives an annual salary of $115,379, and the department’s other staff
members, whose salaries total approximately $1,300,000, are also deeply
culpable for the academic abuse specifically heaped on Native American
students.
Proficiency rates for American Indian students for years ending in
2014-2021 are given as follows, succeeded by a list of staff members of the MPS
Department of Teaching and Learning >>>>>
>>>>>
Minneapolis Public Schools Department of Indian Education
Academic Proficiency for American Students,
as Indicated by Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs)
Academic Years Ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and
2021
(Note >>>>> No
MCAs were administered during the academic year ending in 2020.)
Reading
2014 2015 2016
2017 2018 2019 2021
21%
20% 21% 23% 24% 25%
20%
Mathematics
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
23% 19% 19%
17% 17% 18% 9%
Science
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
14% 16% 13% 17% 14% 17% 9%
Department of Indian Education Staff, Minneapolis Public Schools
Jennifer Simon, Director
(Cheyenne River Dakota)
Diane Leaskas, Account Specialist
Christina Wilson, Family Engagement Specialist
(White Earth)
Alexis Dauenhauer, School Success Program Assistant
(Standing Rock)
Patrick Engrav, School Success Program Assistant
(Bois Forte)
David Stier, School Success Program Assistant
Leo Baker, School Success Program Assistant/ Senior Graduation
Coach
(Upper Sioux Community)
Jodi Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment
Tracy Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment
Branden Canfield, Social Worker
Jennifer Weber, Special Education District Program Facilitator
(Oklahoma Choctaw)
Anjanette Parisien, District Program Facilitator
(Turtle Mountain)
Mathew La Fave, Ojibwe Language Teacher
(Fon Du Lac)
Shiela Zephler, Dakota Language Teacher
(Oglala Sioux, Turtle Mountain)
Tate Wilson, Social Studies Teacher
(Sisseton Wahpeton)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The MPS Department of Teaching and Learning is comprised of 30
staff members, none of whom has received an advanced degree in a key academic
area. Total expenditure for salaries in
the Department of Teaching and Learning is approximately $2,100,000.
The MPS Office of Black Student Achievement is comprised of 30
staff members, none of whom has received either a bachelor’s or an advanced
degree in a key academic area. Total
expenditure for salaries in the Office of Black Student Achievement is
approximately $630,000.
The MPS Department of Indian Education is comprised of 15 staff
members, none of whom has received either a bachelor’s or an advanced degree in
a key academic area. Total expenditure
for salaries in the Department of Indian Education is approximately $1,050,000.
Readers have observed the academic proficiency rates for students
in the Minneapolis Public Schools, for which these bureaucratic entities are
responsible.
The MPS Department of Teaching and Learning and the Office of
Black Male Achievement were optionally created;
especially in view of the overhaul of curriculum and teaching training
to be overseen by university-based and independent scholars that will make
these sinecures obsolete, these bureaucratic creations should be disbanded and
staff dismissed. This will entail a
savings of $2,700,000 in salaries that have been paid to these ineffective
staff members.
The MPS Department of Indian Education is legislatively mandated,
so the department must be maintained;
but current staff should be evaluated for effectiveness, mostly
dismissed, and replaced with a reduced staff contingent matching the
requirements of a department to be overhauled to na
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Addressing Lagging Student
Academic Proficiency Rates
Currently there is very little assertive action being taken to raise academic proficiency for the majority of students lagging below grade level.
As the locally centralized school district of the Minneapolis Public Schools takes the measures necessary to overhaul curriculum and teacher quality, with a new superintendent and a new senior academic officer capable of overseeing the transformation, assertive action will be taken to raise all student academic proficiency rates to grade level.
One hour a day will be set aside in preK-5 classrooms to provide enrichment opportunities that meet student need:
In the case of those few students are functioning at grade level,
the hour will be provided for the child to explore some area of driving
interest in mathematics, natural science, history, government, geography,
economics, literature, music, or visual art.
In the case of the majority of students functioning below grade
level, the hour will provide the instruction necessary to raise academic
proficiency rate in mathematics, reading, and natural science to grade
level; upon achieving grade level
performance, and with steady attention to maintenance of grade level skills,
the student will be given the opportunity to use the hour for the exploration
of some driving interest.
The objective will be to ensure that all students move from the preK-5 years to middle schools with skills indicating grade level proficiency. For those few students who may still be lagging below grade level as they make the transition to middle school, at least an hour a day will be set aside for the instruction necessary to raise academic proficiency to grade level; and like opportunity be provided for those very few high school students still needing raise academic proficiency rates to grade level performance.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Creating a Minneapolis Public
Schools Department of Resource Provision and Referral
Almost half of students enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools
receive Free or Reduced Price Lunch;
currently, the figure is forty-eight percent (48%). In the schools of North Minneapolis, and in
certain areas of Northeast, Southeast,
and South Minneapolis the figure rises to over eighty percent (80%) of students
receiving Free or Reduced Price Lunch.
Economically impoverished households frequently struggle with other issues pertinent to familial functionality, physical and mental health, and an array of challenges associated with life at the urban core. Students and families from such life situations need assistance with their array of life dilemmas, so that the young person arrives at school ready to receive the benefits of the academic program newly overhauled for knowledge-intensive curriculum and teacher quality.
Toward meeting these student and family needs, and in the context of eliminating those ineffective bureaucratic entities given above, a new Department of Resource Provision and Referral will be created, staffed with people comfortable on the streets and in the homes of students struggling with dilemmas of finances and functionality. Such staff will with great sensitivity connect with people living at the urban core, treating them with the respect that they deserve, providing direct assistance when possible and otherwise connecting them to whatever services they need to address their life issues.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Complex organizations are created to serve certain functions, the
original nature of which may dim in memory and recognition as time passes.
The only reason for existence of a locally centralized school
district such as the Minneapolis Public Schools is to provide excellent
education to young people of all demographic descriptors.
With the overhaul of curriculum and teacher quality, overseen by a
new superintendent and senior academic officer with the comprehension and
ability to take the necessary measures;
and the strength of the ancillary measures detailed in these concluding
comments, the Minneapolis Public Schools will bring knowledge-intensive,
skill-replete, logically sequence curriculum, imparted by newly training
teachers of excellence, to students of all demographic descriptors.
In so doing, the Minneapolis Public Schools will become national
and international model for the provision of excellent education, in fulfillment of the most important most
important mission imaginable: the
creation of excellent life prospects for all of our children and the adults
that they will become, and thus the opportunity to live lives as culturally
enriched, civically prepared, professionally satisfied citizens of great
knowledge and high ethical standards.
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