We are awaiting results at this point on student performance on
the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) measure of academic achievement
for spring 2018; advanced word is that
there is a bit of incremental student academic improvement in a few schools,
but for the most part student performance will remain flat and for some
categories will actually show continued decline.
The pattern for African American males during the period when
the Office of Black Male Achievement has been in existence (excepting spring
2014 results, recorded before the creation of the office in autumn 2014) has
been generally downward. This is true
for African American females in mathematics;
for reading, the results are essentially flat for the four years
indicated:
African American Students Demonstrating Grade Level Achievement
Math
2014
2015 2016 2017
African American
Male 22% 23% 21% 18%
Female 22% 22% 21% 19%
Reading
African American
Male 19% 19% 19% 18%
Female 25% 24% 23% 25%
The staff composition of the Office of Black Male Achievement is
as follows:
Office of Black Male Achievement Staff Members, August 2018
1) Michael Walker, Director
2) Office Specialist, Senior – Cierra Burnaugh
3) Andria Daniel, Family and CommunityInclusion specialist
4) Corey Yeager, Educational Equity Coordinator
5 ) Jamil Jackson, Community Expert Classroom
6) Richard Magembe, Social
Studies Teacher
7) Marjann Sirdar, Social Studies
Teacher
Director Michael Walker receives $125,468 per annum in
salary; other salaries in the department
total approximately $400,000, so that in remuneration alone the Office of Black
Male Achievement costs the district over a half-million dollars.
The Office of Black Male Achievement serves only 348 students
and four years into its existence is still at the pilot program stage in a school
district whose African American males number approximately 7,000. There is no way, therefore, that this office
is going to raise overall achievement levels of African American males
throughout the Minneapolis Public Schools. Office staff researchers cite some gains in
grade point averages for participating males, as well as indicators signaling
likelihood of high school graduation.
But such measures mean little when objective measures indicate such low
academic skills, even for the tiny percentage (5%) of the total African American
male student population who participate.
Multi-year figures for academic results and number of students
served do not support the continuation of this office. African American history and culture should
be an integral part of a logically sequenced, grade-by-grade, knowledge
intensive curriculum throughout the K-12 years.
The functions of this office should be subsumed for now in the
Department of Teaching and Learning, which also should be greatly reduced as
teachers are trained for the delivery of a knowledge-intensive curriculum.
For Native American/ American Indian students, academic results
for years ending in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 are as follows:
American Indian/ Native American Students Demonstrating Grade
Level Achievement
Math
2014
2015 2016 2017
Native American/ American Indian
Male 20% 16% 16% 18%
Female 25% 22% 21% 17%
Reading
Native American/ American Indian
Male 18% 14% 15% 19%
Female 24% 26% 26% 27%
Department of Indian Education Staff Members, August 2018
1) Anna Ross, Director
2) Terry Bignell, School Success Program Assistant
3) Jodi Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment
4) Tracy Burke, Counselor on Special Assignment
5) Braden Canfield, Social Worker
6) Miskwa-Kukwa Desjarlait, Youth Engagement Specialist
7) Ida Downwind, District Program Facilitator
8) Alicia Garcia, Social Worker
9) Tami Johnson, Counselor on Special Assignment
10) Elaine Kopischeke-Trejo, Office Specialist
11) Gary Lussier, District Program Facilitator
12) James Kukelich, School Success Program Assistant
13) Christine Wilson, Family Engagement Specialist
14) Odia Wood, District Program Facilitator
Department of Indian Education Director Anna Ross receives $116,509 in
salary per annum; salaries for other
staff members total approximately $975,000;
thus, in salaries alone this department costs the district over a million
dollars. By state law, this department must be part of
the locally centralized school district in Minnesota. But the department
has not been effective in raising American Indian student achievement. Director Anna Ross should be replaced, the
entire staff should be reevaluated, and
staffing for the department should be reduced to a legally acceptable
minimum. American Indian history and culture should be an
integral part of a logically sequenced, grade-by-grade, knowledge-intensive
curriculum throughout the K-12 years, and staff reductions should proceed apace
as the Department of Teaching and Learning oversees overhaul of curriculum for
logically sequenced knowledge intensity and teachers are trained for the delivery
of knowledge-intensive curriculum that incorporates diverse ethnic history and
culture into curriculum imparted to all students.
Superintendent Ed Graff has overseen the elimination of a
separate Department of Communications and the jettisoning of much dead weight
in the Department of Teaching and Learning and the Department of College and
Career Readiness.
The Office of Black Male Achievement and the Department of Indian
Education should be next in this rationalization of central office staffing at
the Davis Center (1250 West Broadway) at the Minneapolis Public Schools.
