Achievement
Gap 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?
·
Qualified classroom teachers who can
teach children with different learning styles
·
Engaged parents or caring adults
·
Wrap around social and health
services readily accessible to the students
·
Community institutions actively
engaged as partners with the schools in support of student learning
·
A system that holds all participants
in the educational process accountable for measureable outcomes
b.
What
measures should the school board take to improve student outcomes?
·
Implement and accountability systems
that can adequately assesses the performance of all parties involved in
teaching and learning
·
Set policies that will promote
training and development of teachers qualified and capable of teaching students
of diverse racial, social, economic and languages backgrounds
·
Aggressive strategies to improve
student attendance and lessen student mobility
·
Provide the resources needed to
achieve the goal
c.
If
the school board follows your suggestions, how soon would you expect to see
significant results?
·
I would expect immediate changes in
student performance from those students who have good attendance records
·
Initially I focus on individual
student progress as compared to previous performance
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?
·
I don’t see that as an issue. I
think we have the capacity and the commitment to accomplish both. In fact there
may be way to connect the two and look for ways to engage the higher performing
students in working with the lower achievers. It has been done before.
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?
·
It can be more challenging when
schools cannot select the teachers believed to be the best fit for a particular
school without consideration of contract provisions. MPS is partially
addressing that issue through a Memorandum of Understanding with MFT to allow
for Interview & Select. This allows and individual school to interview and
hire the teachers it feels are a good fit for the school.
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?
· Research shows that there is a positive correlation between
student learning and the amount of time on task. The challenge is find a way or
ways to increase the opportunity for more time on task. That could be done by
restructuring the current school day creating more time on task or by extending
the school day or school year. I would opt not to prescribe a fix, but allow
for experimentation and overtime select what works best.
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?
·
I believe in and support expanded
early childhood education as the most viable long term strategy for closing the
achievement gap.
· More affluent families routinely
provide early childhood education for their children often through daily
routines and rituals common to the families using their own resources. A parent
is the child’s first teacher and parents who are more knowledgeable about what
it takes to be ready for school will do better in preparing their children. For
other parent support may be needed for helping them prepare their children.
b. How can
there be better alignment between pre-k programs and the K-12 system?
· Co-locate pre-k programs in MPS
schools so that children will begin to experience the school culture early and
the provider have a sense of the relationship between pre-k and K-12.
6. Some people
suggest we need more flexible or innovative models of delivering education.
a. Do you favor
or oppose charter schools?
·
Charter schools are an important
part of the public education system and the focus should not be on whether I
support or oppose them, but how can we make the a more effective tool in the
overall delivery system of public school education.
b. What should
the relationship be between the charter schools and MPS?
·
I think it should be one of
collaboration and cooperation. There should be curriculum sharing. The mobility
between charter schools and MPS make it imperative that MPS and charters have
shared understanding of curriculum so that proper assessments can be made of
students as they move from one system to the next.
c.
Do
you favor or oppose self-governed (teacher-led) schools?
·
I support it. The School Board
recently approved a teacher-led self-governed school.
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?
·
Find ways to embrace, support,
collaborate and participate in the effort.
b. Is it
appropriate for the School Board to make special efforts or investments in a
particular portion of the city?
·
As the opportunity might present
itself, yes.
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’m a life-long supporter of integrated education. It’s in
my genes, but I’m a realist. There no longer is neither moral nor legal
imperative to work toward integrating our schools. In the absence of such
imperatives, the more logical approach is to apply a regional strategy to
school integration. Minneapolis demographics make integration highly
problematic because it would require massive bussing of students. Historically
students bussed for integration have been students of color. White students are
reluctant to attend schools where they are not the numerical majority. Think
one west-metro school district. There are several examples across the U.S.
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?
·
Stability and continuity in school
board membership
·
Communications among school board
members
·
Accountability
b. Are there
different governance models that you believe are worth exploring?
c.
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?
·
Not much. There is no evidence that
mayoral appointed school boards are any more effective.
·
It certainly does not take the
politics out of it.
10. Your role in
the school board
a. How do you
define the role of a school board member?
·
The school board a governing board with the responsibilities
of selecting a superintendent and setting policies that govern the work of the
District. It is responsible for approving the superintendent’s annual work plan
and assessing the superintendent’s performance. Each board member shares
equally in the process.
c.
How much time each week do you expect to spend on school
related matters?
·
The time that one spends doing board work may vary, but
expect to put in a minimum of 10 hrs. per week, which can escalate up to 20 or
more hrs. per week.
11. Finally, what does success in the Minneapolis Public Schools
look like to you.
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