Jenny Arneson
Achievement Gap Committee
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?
Raising student achievement is clearly complicated and a number of
factors impact success. I do not believe there is one silver bullet solution,
but rather a variety of considerations that vary depending on student
population and school. There are three main factors that I would like to
address around this issue:
a. Parent and Community engagement. We know children
do better when their parents are involved. I have been successful on a
local scale in engaging parents and the greater community with our schools and
believe we can apply that model district-wide. For example, I created a popular
parent's forum for the Spanish-speaking population at Waite Park Community
School in Northeast Minneapolis, which increased Spanish-speaking family
involvement by over 50%.
b. To achieve their full potential, kids benefit from having
adults in the room ready to work with them. That means keeping class sizes as
small as possible but even more importantly, offering one on one assistance for
students through Education Assistants (EAs), Associate Educators (AEs) and
volunteers from the community. There will always be limited resources,
but if we focus our attention on children, we can get better results. If
we effectively connect with our community, we can access additional time and
talent to help in our efforts.
c. We know that schools achieve better results with a strong
leader. MPS needs to ensure that our principals are effective managers
and have good relationships with teachers, students and families.
Currently, this is too often not the case.
b. What measures should the school board take to improve student outcomes?
In connection to the factors named above:
a. Support schools in finding ways to connect with their
families. This may mean community building events or teams making home visits.
The administration and union should collaborate together to manage time for
these projects.
b. We can allocate a small amount of resources for a big impact
with effective volunteer coordination. In addition, our schools should work
with a mindset of community engagement – i.e. building a relationship between
schools and neighborhoods. In addition, continue to utilize support from Vista
and AmeriCorp to bring extra staffing resources to schools.
c. We should invest in comprehensive principal training which
focuses on leadership skills, administrative training and organizational
behavior instruction. This can be achieved through cooperative agreements
with our area institutes of higher education, such as the University of
Minnesota and other Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. MPS also
needs to put a comprehensive system of evaluation in place for all of its
administrative leaders, particularly principals.
c. If the school board follows your suggestions, how soon would you expect to see significant results?
I would expect some results to appear within a year. For example,
staff evaluations can be developed quickly and acted upon. Raised student
achievement comes more slowly, we know. I would expect to see a gradual
increase each year.
2. Some people are concerned that focusing on academic achievement
for low-income students means that insufficient attention is being paid to the
needs of average and high performing students. How do you respond to that
concern?
First, I would challenge the assumption that low-income students
are not necessarily also average and high-performing students. The
connection between poverty and lack of academic success is due to many factors
that we as educators cannot control. That said, the needs of low-income
students are often different than those of students who have more support
provided from home and community.
Enrichment opportunities should be provided equitably throughout
our city. This includes utilizing Art for Academic Achievement programs, gifted
and talented programs and extracurricular activities, such as those provided
via our Community Ed and Minneapolis Kids programs. With the cooperative
implementation of educational support professionals, teaching staff and
volunteers, classrooms can work in smaller groups that allow different levels
of learning.
3. It has been suggested that certain provisions of the teacher’s
contract prevent the administration from staffing the schools adequately to
meet the needs of students. Please comment on your opinion of the current
teacher’s contract.
First and foremost, all Minneapolis Public School employees should
feel that their work is valued and respected. Contract negotiations are an
opportunity for two sides to discuss their ideas about working conditions. In
order for the process to be effective, both sides must listen and compromise.
Seniority is one aspect that is often discussed regarding the
teacher’s contract. I recognize that seniority is an important piece of worker
protection and I do not believe we can discard it completely. The interview and
select model is a useful compromise that works both for school administrators,
students and the teacher’s union (MFT). In addition, I believe that MFT is
interested in cooperating with administration in instances of poor performance.
An open, collaborative relationship with teachers will ensure that we
meet student needs, and that the needs of students remain the primary concern.
4. One idea to improve student outcomes is to spend more time on
task. That might mean 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?
Increased learning time can be an effective way to boost student
achievement. That said, I believe it is important to implement additional time
in a way that minimizes pressure on students and families. I favor a
model where school is in session for a couple of months followed by a short
break. Learning time is more consistent and eliminates the need for extensive
“review time.” In order for this to be truly effective, it would be best
if multiple districts did this – it is a burden on families in “year-round” schools
when their children’s’ break do not coincide with other families.
5. Early childhood education is often offered as an important
strategy for addressing the achievement gap.
- What
are your views on investing in early childhood education?
Research shows that children start kindergarten with an
achievement gap already in place. Investing in early childhood opportunities
will not only help the children in our city, but benefit our district by better
preparing kids to enter our K-12 system. I agree that early childhood
education is one of the most effective ways to eliminate the achievement gap.
The district has been inconsistent in the past regarding its support for
Community Education programs, ECFE, and High-5 throughout the city. More
resources need to be allocated to these programs, and the promotion of early
childhood opportunities in areas of high poverty, in order to effectively
challenge the achievement gap.
- How
can there be better alignment between pre-k programs and the K-12 system?
To
better align the two programs, we can begin by planning for all ages in our
system. When considering space I think it is important to allocate space for
the 3 and 4 year old programs. Placing early childhood programs as an
after-thought and not keeping them housed in established schools makes it far
more difficult for these programs to thrive. For a program to effectively serve
the population, people must know they exist. Our elementary schools can easily
identify younger siblings who could benefit from these programs – how much
easier to hook in those families when the program is right on site and easily
accessible! When my community advocated with district administration to address
capacity issues and ECFE, we were told that ECFE and the administration had
never talked about space planning together.
6. Some people suggest we need more flexible or innovative models of
delivering education.
- Do
you favor or oppose charter schools?
Charter schools are a reality in our school system and neither my
favor nor opposition will change that. In some cases, charter schools serve a
need that Minneapolis Public Schools do not and every family needs to determine
the best fit for their student. While some charter schools thrive, in some
cases, charter schools have not served their students well. That said, I see my
school board role as a steward for Minneapolis Public Schools and charter
schools do compete against our system. I am especially concerned about a system
that simply allows families with the highest parent involvement to opt out and
create a school of their own, leaving our public schools with students with
even more disadvantages. In addition, most charters do not utilize union
teachers and as a result, tend to have high teacher turn-over rate – such a
system is not sustainable for the vast majority of our schools.
- What
should the relationship be between the charter schools and MPS?
Charter schools and MPS should continue dialogue so that we can
learn from each other. In addition, with high mobility in our city, it is in
everybody’s best interest to collaborate so children can move seamlessly
between systems.
- Do
you favor or oppose self-governed (teacher-led) schools?
I understand that MFT created the movement for self-governed
schools in Minneapolis and won approval from the state legislature to proceed.
The main idea is for teachers to be in a system that is removed from excessive
bureaucracy and allows union teachers the freedom of working in a system that
they can control. A French Immersion self-governed school was just approved and
is scheduled to open next fall. I am interested in watching how this new effort
plays out.
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?
The Northside Achievement Zone is community driven response to a
neighborhood need and the school board should respond positively and
collaborate with its members.
b. Is it appropriate for the School Board to make special efforts or investments in a particular portion of the city?
Absolutely. Our city is a diverse place with different communities
needing different things. It is responsible for the school board to recognize
this and respond with individualized school efforts.
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?
Minneapolis is a segregated city and I believe that past efforts
to integrate our schools with busing proved that our school system alone cannot
solve this problem. I believe that integrated schools are ideal and in
fact, many of our schools within MPS are successful in this measure. I favor
taking a holistic approach to decreasing segregation in our city. Our schools
can play our part by making sure our neighborhood schools are high quality in
every neighborhood. A key advantage to keeping families close to their schools
is that family involvement is much more accessible.
9. Improving governance of our public schools is a big topic of
discussion.
- What
in your opinion are the main governance challenges for public education?
Funding is a major challenge for all public school districts and
it is difficult to operate in a state that continues to under-fund public
education. Effective communication between schools and parents is always a
challenge and in particular, building meaningful relationships with families who
do not seek out the schools. Outside society issues - housing, healthcare,
mental illness - all impact children and families and it is a challenge for
public education to ignore these factors, but often overwhelming for schools to
address adequately.
2.
Are there different governance
models that you believe are worth exploring?
Collaboration between multiple governing agencies is the most
reasonable approach. Children and families work with multiple systems and our
schools should work with those other entities to more effectively serve our
children.
3.
The Governor recommended that the
Minneapolis and St. Paul school district be managed by the cities’ mayors. What
is your opinion of this recommendation?
I believe the school system and mayor’s office ought to be kept as
separate entities.
10. Your role in the school board
- How
do you define the role of a school board member?
There are three main points in our school system:
administration, teachers/school staff and parents/community; a school
board member should be connected to each point and help bridge the connection
between each entity. As a district candidate, I believe it is my job to
bring a unique connection to and knowledge about NE/SE to the board to ensure
that community is part of the equation when making policy.
In addition, I see my role, always in conjunction with community,
to develop vision for our district and hold staff accountable to implement that
vision.
2. How much time each week do you expect to spend on school related matters?
I expect school board to be the equivalent of a full time job and
am prepared to spend at least that much time on it. I am fortunate to be in a
position where I do not hold another outside job and can dedicate my time to
this position.
3. If elected, how many terms do you plan to serve?
It is impossible to predict the future of this position, but I see
this as a long-term commitment and as my children are young, I will be with the
Minneapolis schools for many years.
11. Finally, what does success in the Minneapolis Public Schools look
like to you.
I envision equally strong neighborhoods and schools supporting
each other. Families will embrace living in our city and willingly send
their children to Minneapolis Public Schools; they will see this as an opportunity
to embrace, not something to be feared. Our schools will offer rigorous,
equitable programming to all students. Parents and community will be embraced
as assets and partners and will support our students in learning.
How can I verify the validity and reliability of these survey questions ? I hope to utilise it in another study, referencing this page,
Posted by: Kathy | 01/24/2011 at 07:03 PM