Article #4 >>>>> >Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota<, Volume XI, Number One, July 2024

Insubstantial Credentials and Failed Performance of Yusuf Abdullah, Another Likely Key Aide to Sub-Mediocre New Superintendent Lisa Sayles Adams

 

With the ouster of Rochelle Cox and Aimee Fearing, the quality of advisers that will remain on staff at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) under sub-mediocre new superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams will be greatly diminished. 

 

Three cabinet members who are likely to remain as advisers to Sayles-Adams are Shawn-Harris-Berry, Yusuf Abdullah, and Laura Cavender.

 

Abdullah will remain as an associate superintendent position.

 

Abdullah moved to the Davis Center (MPS central offices, 1250 West Broadway) during the Graff administration (2016-2022) from a position as building principal of Henry (now Camden) High School.  He has very humble academic credentials, as do almost all of those having responsibility for academics at the district:  teachers, principals, Davis Center academic division staff, associate superintendents, and superintendent.  And Abdullah was a failure as principal at Henry, as the academic proficiency rates of students indicate.

 

Peruse, then, Adullah’s insubstantial academic credentials (which feature no graduate degree in a key subject area field [i.e., mathematics, physics, history, government, economics, English literature]) and review the abysmal academic proficiency rates at Henry High School, including those recorded during the years of Abdullahs’s tenure as principal.

 

Yusuf Abdullah (Associate Superintendent)

 

Academic Degree/Credential

 

Superintendent License/Educational Leadership (General)

(St. Cloud State University, January 2022-August 2022)

 

Educational Administrator License

(St. Cloud State University, 2008-2010)

 

M.Ed. Urban Education and Leadership

(University of Minnesota/Duluth, 1999-2006)

 

Bachelor of Applied Science, Health and Physical Education

(University of Minnesota/Duluth, 1994-1999)

 

 

Henry High School

 

 

School Data by Comparison to Districtwide Data

 

             School  District

Native American                3%        5%

African American             52%      35%

Asian American               24%        5%

Hispanic American         13%       65%

White American                8%      19%

Receive ELL Services      17%      17%

Free/Reduced Lunch      69%       48%

Special Education           19%      15%       

 

Henry

 

Reading

 

2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2021  2022  2023

 

 50%   33%    32%  31%   75%    63%   63%   43%  65%

 

(241)  (218)  (28)   (7)      (8)      (19)   (16)     (7)   (31)

 

Math

 

2014  2015  2016  2017   2018  2019  2021  2022  2023

 

 46%   52%    59%    14%   -----     -----    43%   5%     -----

 

(214)  (181)  (17)     (7)      (---)     (7)     (---)   (21)    (---)

 

Science

 

2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2021  2022  2023

 

 20%   31%    29%    29%   57%    57%  20%   7%    48%

 

(174)  (42)  (14)       (7)      (7)       (7)   (10)    (14)  (14)