Candidate questionnaire:
1.
The
Minneapolis Public Schools have struggled for some time to raise the
achievement of low-income students and students of color.
a. What in your
opinion are the most important factors in raising student achievement?
The Achievement Gap is not a
problem unique to Minneapolis Public Schools. As an urban school district, with
a decreasing budget, decreasing enrollment, a majority of students under the
title 1 umbrella, a significant homeless/highly mobile population, and a diverse
population with various needs like NLL/ELL, MPS cannot look at one path to
closing the achievement gap. However, we can reach a goal of all
students college ready when they graduate high school. To do so, the District
MUST:
· Research & utilize best practices from other like urban
school districts that have had success in closing the achievement gap
· SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF SUCCESS to our students! Teachers,
staff, and administration must BELIEVE that our students can achieve, graduate
high school, attend college, and plan their future.
· INCREASE PARENT INVOLVEMENT – parents MUST play a role by
taking an interest in what their child does at school, reading with their
child, doing homework with them, volunteering at school if possible, connecting
with their teachers on a regular basis, and also communicating expectations and
opportunities of higher education to their child!
· Providing Professional Development for teachers and
strengthening and broadening our Teacher Mentor program is critical so
that all of our extraordinary teachers can differentiate in their classrooms,
working with each individual student to achieve a school year’s worth of
academic progress and celebrate all of our student’s individual academic
achievements!
b. What measures
should the school board take to improve student outcomes?
The MPS School Board is tasked
with overseeing the district’s budget, curriculum, personnel, and facilities.
With that in mind, the Board must be diligent in following up with the
curriculum in the schools for all groups of kids K-12, Special Needs, ELL/NLL,
etc. Was it implemented properly? Is it the right fit for our schools? Are we
following up with professional development for our teachers and are the
teachers supported? The Board must require that all teachers and staff perform
to high standards, gauging performance of teachers by the achievement of their
students. Not by standardized test scores that rank students against their
fellow students, locally and nationally, but by a variety of means that measure
an individual child’s academic growth in a school year. Finally, the MPS School Board
needs to stay apprised of best practices from other urban school districts with
the help of our Superintendent in order to constantly work towards improvement.
A great curriculum and awesome teachers and staff are part of the solution.
However, we must be diligent in tracking the success (or failure) of the
programs we implement and the teachers and staff that we hire.
c. If the school
board follows your suggestions, how soon would you expect to see significant
results?
Implementing my suggestions
would go a long way in achieving academic progress throughout the district.
However, some of my ideas are a shift in culture for MPS, and habits die hard.
Parent involvement alone is a daunting task, especially with the recent
negativity towards the district after CSO, special ed. program shifts, and the
federally mandated “transformation” of our lowest performing schools. I have no
doubt that our teachers want their students to achieve. So how do we re-train
the way we do things to embrace the idea that all of us are a team – students,
parents, teachers, staff – and we must work together, using a common language
of achievement, showing our students on a daily basis that we believe in them
and in their ability to be academically successful. We do it through district
wide professional development and district wide community engagement. We do it
by setting an example from the top down. The most common thing I have heard
from IB teachers about transitioning to IB is the difficulty and awkwardness of
learning the “language” of IB – profiles, units of inquiry, etc. However, after
several months, or by the end of a school year, it is second nature and has
transformed how they teach. I think that my suggestions will cause a similar
reaction, and significant results will occur within one to two years of
implementation – but the parent involvement piece is key.
2. Some people are
concerned that focusing on academic achievement for low-income students may
lead to insufficient attention being paid to the needs of average and higher
performing students. How do you respond to that concern?
As a parent of three children in
three MPS schools at three different educational stages (high school, middle
school, kindergarten), I can certainly relate to the frustration of your child
being left to work independently because he/she has already mastered the
curriculum or is already reading above grade level. This is where
differentiation in the classroom works brilliantly and successfully. We need
more professional development and teacher mentoring to implement this teaching
style throughout the district. We need to work hard to keep classroom sizes
manageable or offer support to teachers with larger class sizes.
3. It has been suggested
that certain provisions of the teachers' contract make more difficult the
staffing of schools adequate to meet the needs of all students. What is
your view?
The history of the teachers union and their relationship
with the District is not something of which I am well versed. However, in our
financial and academic climate, MPS must have the flexibility to put teachers
where they fit and move teachers when the opposite is true. Schools that
require specialized teacher training, like IB, Montessori, and Open, must be
able to hire certified teachers for their programs to remain viable and
successful. On the flip side, teachers need to have confidence in their job
security if they are performing to high standards, and their students are
achieving.
4. One idea to
improve student outcomes is to have a longer school day or a longer school
year. Do you favor increasing learning time for students, and if so, how
would you like to see that happen?
I favor a longer school day and school year, but it is
NOT the answer to our achievement gap problem. I moved my children from a
district in Austin, TX that had an IB Middle School and an IB High School with
longer school days and eight class periods. The High School was on block scheduling
(more like a college schedule). When our schools are considered for IB status,
one factor is our shorter school day and the six period class schedule in high
school. It is very difficult to achieve an IB diploma with this schedule. Also,
I think that if kids are in school, they are learning and they are in a safe,
nurturing environment (at least I expect that to be true). Those factors ALONE
are a convincing argument for a longer school day and the benefit to MPS
students. A three month break in the summer creates a hardship on a lot of dual
working or single parent households. Students do not retain what they have
learned in school after such a long break. Of course, both of these require
longer and more school days for teachers and staff which would require an
increase in wages.
5.
Early
childhood education is often offered as an important strategy for addressing
the achievement gap.
a.
What
are your views on investing in early childhood education?
PLEASE invest in early childhood
education. Those little brains are so eager to learn. They absorb EVERYTHING,
and they are so willing to please. Toddlers and preschoolers want social
interaction, want to explore and learn. Equally important is the early
intervention that can occur if special needs are caught at a younger age and
addressed appropriately.
b. How can
there be better alignment between pre-k programs and the K-12 system?
Working within the public school
system to offer early childhood education is ideal because the district knows
what would help a child to be successful in kindergarten and beyond. The
district also has the resources to intervene if there is a special need. Early
childhood education programs should mimic the learning style of the school site
in which they are located. Montessori, IB, Open teaching, etc. should be
implemented at the early childhood education level in order to create smooth
transitions.
6.
Some
people suggest we need more flexible or innovative models of delivering
education.
a. Do you
favor or oppose charter schools?
I favor successful learning institutions. Different
models work for different students. Charter schools, run with integrity and
accountable for student outcomes, are good alternatives for some MPS students.
Also, successful Charter schools can lead to innovation in teaching and
increase parent/community involvement in their child’s education.
b. What
should the relationship be between the charter schools and MPS?
MPS and charter schools should work together to serve the
community. Each fills a need, and student achievement is our common goal.
Charter schools under contract with MPS should be held accountable for their
contract which allows them greater autonomy in return for student achievement.
d. Do you favor
or oppose self-governed (teacher-led) schools?
Again, I favor any learning
institution model that is successful, accountable, and creating students who
are college ready upon graduation. With our diverse community, there is no ONE
type of school that fits all the needs of our Minneapolis children.
7. A group of
Northside residents have formed a Northside Achievement Zone, aiming to
replicate some of the outcomes experienced by the Harlem Children’s Zone in New
York.
a. How should
the School Board respond?
This is a wonderful opportunity
to reach out to this community and reconnect with them. Parents are a huge
resource. They know their kids. They bring many skills and talents to the
table. The Board should engage with these parents and address their concerns, value
their initiative and work alongside them to improve their school communities.
Whether that ends up looking like the Harlem Children’s Zone in NY or not, the
Board and District is now engaged with, listening, responding, and valuing the
community which creates trust and dedication to their MPS school.
b. Is it
appropriate for the School Board to make special efforts or investments in a
particular portion of the city?
Financial needs throughout the
city of Minneapolis or not the same. When we can unequivocally point to an area
of the city that contains a large percentage of the lowest 5% performing
schools in the state, then we must act to “reinvest” in that community and make
a commitment to truly “transform” their school programs, with community and parent
support, and the necessary financial assistance to produce desired outcomes.
8.
With
65% students of color, the Minneapolis Public Schools face significant
challenges with regard to integration. Some people prioritize integration
efforts, while others argue that that it is more important to improve the
quality of schools in low income neighborhoods. What is your opinion on this?
Do you favor efforts to increase integration in the city schools?
If yes, what steps would you take to make that happen?
I believe that integration IS
improving the quality of schools in all of our neighborhoods. It goes hand in
hand with student achievement and our students’ success in the future. We must
learn to live in a global society, to react to one another as people, as unique
individuals, not as black and white and Asian and Hispanic. This benefits NO
ONE! However, it is not entirely up to the school district to make this happen.
There are other boundary and neighborhood planning issues that are not within
the control of MPS. We must partner with the City and Park Boards and other
Minneapolis government agencies to address the issue of city-wide integration.
9. Improving
governance of our public schools is a big topic of discussion.
a.
What
in your opinion are the main governance challenges for public education?
How do you measure success and
create accountability within a public education governing body? There are a
number of factors beyond the control of any governing body that create
roadblocks to achieving goals and stifle efforts to deliver positive change. As
long range planners for a school district, many times results aren’t realized
for a considerable length of time, making it difficult to evaluate decisions
made by these governing bodies. Another challenge is the significant pressures
and “blame” directed at individual members of a governing body who are, on the
most part, volunteering their time.
c. Are there
different governance models that you believe are worth exploring?
There are a number of different
governing models that other urban districts have utilized with mixed results.
Mayoral control, elected school board, board of directors appointed by a mayor,
an elected school board that has one full time paid Chief Operating Officer are
a few examples. I would explore models that have been implemented for a decade
or more in urban school districts, look at the effect the model has had on
student achievement, and look at community support and involvement in the
district.
d. The Governor
has recommended that the Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts be managed
by the cities’ mayors. What is your opinion of this recommendation?
The research I have reviewed
does not see an impact on student achievement with this model. It seems that
governance from the top of the city government food chain would create a lot of
bureaucracy. How would the Mayor function within
the district, attending parent advisory committee meetings, attending area
meetings, reaching out to parent organizations, etc. There is an advantage to a
business model for running a school district, however, tens of thousands of
children, parents, and community members want to have input in their child’s
education. I imagine there would still be individuals appointed to work in the
school district on a micro level, as the Mayor hardly has time to take on that
task. Elected school board members are typically engaged with their community
and have state government mandated authority to run the district’s public
education system – they have no other governing responsibilities like the
Mayor.
10. Your role in
the school board
a. How do
you define the role of a school board member?
The Minneapolis Board of
Education not only governs the schools. It is the tie that binds all the
Areas/Zones and schools together to create interconnectedness within our
District. Although we divide ourselves into three areas/zones, we are one
district with a goal for all of our students to achieve academic success.
Equality of education within MPS must be addressed at the school board level. I
see my role on the school board as a strategic planner, a support system for
our Administrative staff, an advocate for our District, and part of a
collaborative effort – with students, parents, communities, teachers, and staff
– to do what is best for MPS. I do not micro manage. I must have faith in the
Administrative staff, teachers, and school site staff to govern and teach to
the highest standards. The School Board must be forward thinkers, long-range
planners, and we should be community builders, working within MPS to engage
parents.
b. How
much time each week do you expect to spend on school related
matters?
I would expect that I spend
between 10-15 hours a week (on average) on school board related matters.
11.
Finally, what does success in the Minneapolis Public Schools
look like to you.
Integrated
schools, increased student achievement using better ways to measure this
achievement, financial stability, positive teacher/district relations, higher
standards for our teachers, staff, AND students, and a much higher level of
parent and community support and engagement within MPS.
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