Remembering the Search Process that Resulted in the Unfortunate
Selection of Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Sayle-Adams
The Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) represents a locally centralized school district in decline.
From the perspective of enrollment, the figures running from 1937 to the present year of 2025 are daunting, indicating a drop over the years from 80,000 to the current approximately 29,000 students enrolled:
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Students Enrollment Figures for the Minneapolis Public Schools, 1937-2021
Year Number of Students Enrolled
(nearest thousand)
1937 80,000
1941 67,000
1945 65,000
1949 63,000
1953 70,000
1957 72,000
1961 70,000
1965 73,000
1967 73,000
1969 72,000
1973 55,000
1977 40,000
1981 37,000
1985 40,000
1989 42,000
1993 45,000
1997 50,000
2000 50,000
2001 49,000
2005 35,000
2008 34,000
2009 37,000
2013 39,000
2015 40,000
2017 39,000
2019 34,000
2021 28,000
2025 29,000
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And for many years academic proficiency rates as measured by the annually administered Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) have been essentially flat; only the aggregate figures are available for the current academic year 2024 (and the MCAs have not yet been administered in the current academic year ending in 2025), because the Strategic Initiatives Department under Executive Director Sarah Hunter is in such disarray that disaggregated data have not yet appeared on the district Data Report Card site (an unprecedented occurrence in my eleven years of intensive investigation into the inner workings of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Consider the lamentable data:
Minneapolis Public Schools
Academic Proficiency Rates
Years Ending in 2014 through 2024
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
All
Students
Math 44% 44% 44% 42% 42% 42% 35% 33% 35% 35%
Reading 42% 42% 43% 43% 45% 47% 40% 42% 41% 40%
Science 33% 36% 35% 34% 34% 36% 36% 33% 31% 32%
Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs)
Student Proficiency Rates
Academic Years Ending in 2014 through 2024
Note: Data given for the academic year ending in 2024 in the category of “All Students” only; disaggregated data for that year will be forthcoming, as will number of students tested for all categories.
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
African
American
Math 22% 23% 21% 15% 18% 18% 9% 10% 8% ---
Reading 22% 21% 21% 21% 22% 23% 19% 18% 16% ---
Science 11% 15% 13% 12% 11% 11% 11% 8% 6% ---
American
Indian
Math 23% 19% 19% 17% 17% 18% 9% 9% 10% ---
Reading 21% 20% 21% 23% 24% 25% 20% 22% 19% ---
Science 14% 16% 13% 12% 14% 17% 9% 9% 7% ---
Hispanic/
Latine
Math 31% 32% 31% 29% 26% 25% 12% 12% 12% ---
Reading 22% 21% 21% 21% 22% 23% 19% 18% 16% ---
Science 17% 18% 21% 19% 17% 16% 10% 11% 9% ---
Asian
American
Math 48% 50% 50% 49% 50% 47% 46% 39% 25% ---
Reading 41% 40% 45% 41% 48% 50% 54% 49% 33% ---
Science 31% 35% 42% 35% 37% 40% 43% 36% 27% ---
White
Math 77% 78% 78% 77% 77% 75% 62% 61% 61% ---
Reading 78% 77% 77% 78% 80% 78% 74% 71% 72% ---
Science 71% 75% 71% 70% 71% 70% 61% 60% 59% ---
All
Students
Math 44% 44% 44% 42% 42% 42% 35% 33% 35% 35%
Reading 42% 42% 43% 43% 45% 47% 40% 42% 41% 40%
Science 33% 36% 35% 34% 34% 36% 36% 33% 31% 32%
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The Missed Chance to Establish the Uniquely Talented Rochelle Cox Becoming as Long-Term Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendents from the 1980s include Richard Green, Robert Herrera, Peter Hutchinson (officially, his organization [Public Strategies Group] constituted a collective superintendent), David Jenkins, Carol Johnson, Thandiwe Peebles, Bill Green, Bernadeia Johnson, and Ed Graff. They have all been failures; in particular, none of these superintendents articulated a viable plan for providing necessary skill acquisition for students facing grave economic and associated challenges; but further, none of these superintendents succeeded in providing knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum for MPS students as a whole.
Teachers and administrators in the public schools of the Twin Cities area (and throughout the United States) have very limited training in key academic subject areas.
Elementary teachers tend to have no academic subject area degree at all, receiving all degrees from education programs.
Middle and high school teachers tend to have an undergraduate degree in a key subject area, but most receive all graduate degrees in education programs.
Superintendents whose teaching certifications were for elementary education tend to have followed the same pattern as elementary school teachers, plus licensures and degrees in educational administration.
Superintendents whose teaching certifications were for secondary education tend to have followed the same pattern as middle and high school teachers, plus licensures and degrees in educational administration.
Consider the very limited formal training in key subject areas for these superintendents in the Twin Cities area >>>>>
Ed Graff (Superintendent, Minneapolis Public Schools, 2016-2017 through 2021-2022)
M. A., Education Administration
University of Southern Mississippi
(online degree)
B. A., Elementary Education University of Alaska, Anchorage
Joe Gothard (Superintendent, Madison Public Schools)
Doctor of Education, Edgewood College, Educational Leadership
Master of Education, Edgewood College, Educational Administration
Bachelor of Arts, Edgewood College, Biology Education
Cory McIntyre (Superintendent, Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools)
Principal Certification
(University of Minnesota/Twin Cities, January 2013)
Superintendent Certification
(University of Minnesota/Twin Cities, July 2010)
Program Administrator/Director of Special Education Certification
(University of Washington/Tacoma, 2003)
Program Administrator/Director of Special Education Certification
(University of Washington/Tacoma, June 2003)
M.S.. Education/Specialist Certification in School Psychology
(University of Wisconsin/LaCrosse, August 1996/May 1997)
B.S., Psychology and Biology
(Minnesota State University/Mankato, June 1995)
Kim Hiel (Osseo Public Public Schools)
Educational Administrative Leadership (Doctorate)
(St. Cloud State University)
Educational Administrative Principal License (Educational Specialist)
(University of St. Thomas
Educational Leadership (Masters of Education)
(Hamline University)
Elementary Education (Bachelor of Science)
(University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
M. Ed., Organizational Leadership and Administration
(University of St. Thomas)
B. A., Education
(College of St. Benedict)
David Law (Superintendent, Minnetonka Public Schools)
J.D. (Juris Doctorate)
(William Mitchell College of Law)
Superintendent License
(University of Minnesota/Twin Cities)
B.A. Mathematics and Education
(Hamline University)
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Academic training in key subject areas for all of the superintendents given above, with the exception of David Law, is very slim. All of their graduate training is in academically insubstantial programs in departments, schools, or colleges of education.
Consider also these cases of lamentably trained and academically insubstantial superintendents:
Eric Gallien (Note >>>>> Gallien was dismissed by the Charleston Board
of Education with a $359,000 contractual buyout after just four months)
(Superintendent, Charleston SC)
Ed. D., Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
University of Wisconsin/Madison
M. A., Curriculum Development and Educational Leadership
Alverno College
B. A., History Education
University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee
Crystal A. Hill
(Superintendent, Charlotte-Mecklenburg)
Ed. D., Educational Leadership
Gardner Webb University
M. A., Instructional Technology
North Carolina A&T State University
B. A., Elementary Education
Denise Watts
(Superintendent, Savannah GA)
Ed. D.,
Wingate University
M. A., School Administration
University of North Carolina/Charlotte
B. A., Elementary Education
Elizabeth State University
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The history of failure of locally centralized school districts in Minnesota made the ascendance of Rochelle Cox to interim superintendent at the Minneapolis Public Schools from spring 2022 through January 2024 a development of supreme importance.
Cox possesses the typical official certifications necessary for a superintendent, but she has genuine academic interests and vision for excellence.
Cox created a substantially new cabinet that includes an entirely new contingent of associate superintendents who were given a directive carefully to monitor academic programming and results at the specific schools for which each is responsible. She and Academic Core and Instruction Senior Officer Aimee Fearing implemented a new math curriculum (Bridges/Number Corner) that for the first time in recent memory was implemented across all grade levels at all schools. And for reading/language arts, a similar uniformity of implementation was guided by the primary curriculum (Benchmark Advance), with students facing particular struggles at schools that have confronted such challenges for years receiving highly intentional skill development on the basis of programs known as Groves, PRESS (“Pathways to Reading Excellence”), and LETRS (“Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling”). Cox and Fearing also engaged the firms of Carnegie and Axiom to provide explicit ACT training, and they launched online high-dosage tutoring for students struggling academically; the latter program was considered as a precursor to the provision of in-person tutoring in the years to come.
At the behest of Cox, Senior Academic Officer Aimee Fearing, Deputy Senior Academic Officer Maria Rollinger, and Director of Strategic Initiatives Sarah Hunter led an effort to bring subject area substance to grades pre-K through 5, so that student verbal skills will be developed, as they should be, in the context of logically sequenced readings in history, government, geography, multi-cultural literature, and the fine arts; accordingly, students will develop vocabulary across a multiplicity of subjects that lie at the core of advanced reading development.
Online high-dosage tutoring and ACT training constituted powerful initiatives during this (2022-2023) academic year; during academic year 2023-2024, in-person highly intentional tutoring featured 133 three-person professional teams (one licensed teacher, two trained Education Support Professionals [ESPs]), each team responsible for addressing the academic needs of 75 students lagging below grade level and having not experienced growth in reading or mathematics skills for two successive quarters.
Rochelle Cox was a district leader who, along with the staff that she motivated to be innovative in launching the new initiatives, with a chance to provide an unprecedentedly high quality of education for students at a locally centralized school district, particularly those facing challenges born of a brutal history that has created and maintained conditions of cyclical familial poverty for many decades at the urban core.
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As MPS Interim Superintendent, Rochelle Cox positioned herself to move forward with her highly promising initiatives to bring knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum and enhanced teacher quality to the Minneapolis Public Schools, potentially projecting MPS as a model for other locally centralized school districts throughout the nation, with implications for public education internationally.
Cox is a unique force among school leaders, realizing as she does the importance of academically substantive curriculum across the liberal, technological, and vocational arts and now implementing a program that promises to send forth knowledgeable and skilled graduates capable of living as culturally enriched, civically prepared, professionally satisfied citizens ready on this one earthly sojourn.
Strictly from a logical and ethical point of view, the Directors of the MPS Board of Education should have foregone the typical superintendent selection process and voted to offer Cox the three-year contract typical for superintendents.
An objective review of Cox’s distinguished 25 years of service to the Minneapolis Public Schools, her stellar performance as interim superintendent, and the prospects for improving academic programming that has began under her tenure, should have impelled the Directors of the MPS Board of Education to select her as the next long-term superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools.
And given the ineffectiveness of education policy and institutions at the federal and state levels, so that real change must come at the level of the locally centralized school district, the phenomenon of transformation at the local level would have become a major historic event, with implications for students throughout the nation and for the creation of a citizenry capable of addressing the momentous challenges of the 21st century and beyond.
But the MPS Board or Education, presenting a level of incompetence unrivaled in the history of United States public education, bungled the superintendent selection process, in the end burdened students and staff by extending the contract offer to Lisa Sayles-Adams, an even worse selection that typically made by school boards across the nation.
The articles in this edition of Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota review the superintendent selection process that failed the students of the Minneapolis Public Schools so badly.
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