Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/education/page/11/)
Recent results of the biannual National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) show that Minnesota students continue to be among the most proficient in the country at reading and math.
“They drown-proofed us repeatedly.”For Minneapolis North High School graduate Dr. Ronda Chakolis, learning how not to drown in deep water, literally, was an important part of the North High magnet program, called Summatech, that she attended. Chakolis remembers being taken to the pool at nearby Franklin Middle School and getting tipped over in a canoe, in an exercise designed to teach students to survive a potential drowning.In a less literal sense, Chakolis remembers her whole high school experience in the Summatech program as being about “drown-proofing.” Summatech, which was prominent at North High in the 1980s and ‘90s, was built around a hands-on math, science, and technology curriculum. For Chakolis, who was always interested in these subjects, attending Summatech also meant learning not to drown by being immersed in the real-world coursework of scientists and academics, and learning how to succeed.Dr. Rhonda Chakolis Today, Chakolis is a pharmacist in Minneapolis, and she is part of a group of Summatech graduates who would like to see the program restored to North High, as part of the school district’s Five-Year Enrollment Plan. For Chakolis, one key aspect of Summatech was the way the teachers, especially the three African American women in the program who were science teachers, taught science-based protocols to their students. For example, Chakolis says she was taught dissection, how to properly dispose of materials, and how to use chemical equations, which are the kind of practical skills and knowledge she still uses today in her work. Peter Jirak Her fellow North High graduate, Peter Jirak, also vividly remembers his time in the Summatech program. Continue Reading
Sore subjects abounded at a November 20 “listening session” at Washburn High School in Minneapolis. Beginning with an apology letter from school board member Carla Bates, the meeting addressed the proposed $40 million expansion of Southwest High, as well as questions of overcrowded classrooms, school choice vs. community schools, and gifted and talented programs. The meeting, led by Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Associate Superintendent Cecillia Sadler, was held to inform the Area C community of southwest Minneapolis about the school district’s latest Five Year Enrollment Plan ideas. For related stories on Five Year Enrollment Plan, click here.The first issue emerged before the meeting started, when participants arrived at Washburn to find an unsigned letter placed on seats in the school’s auditorium. It was soon evident that the letter was from school board member Carla Bates, who was not in attendance. The letter addressed controversial remarks she had made at the November 12 school board meeting, when she said she made a “misstatement” when questioning the district’s plan to spend $40 million to add on to the over-crowded Southwest High School.At the school board meeting, Bates asked why the district would invest such money in Southwest, saying, “the most important kids we want to invest in are not even there.” This statement rippled through the Southwest community and Bates wrote the letter to “apologize for speaking so poorly,” because she believes “all of our kids are ‘the most important kids.’”What she intended to say, according to her letter, is that she believes investing heavily in adding on to Southwest is short-sighted for these main reasons: Washburn has more room for additional space, Roosevelt High School is gaining steam as a strong high school option, and her view that investing more in “high tech, individualized learning models” throughout the city makes sense.Some parents in attendance seemed to agree with Bates that adding on to Southwest was a short-term solution at best, since the school is already over-crowded, and more space is needed for the students who are there now, let alone those who are part of the expected enrollment growth in Area C.However, Area C parent Blaire Hartley was not sold on the idea that online learning options will help ease overcrowding at Southwest. Continue Reading
As we recognize all veterans and active duty military for their service, the best way to honor them is to remember what they fought for. I was privileged to serve my state and country as part of the Minnesota Army National Guard. Throughout my time, which included a deployment to Iraq, I met many individuals who took on tough challenges with a tremendous amount of tenacity and pride. They did this work so we could all have an opportunity to chase the American dream.Central to this dream is the promise that all children have the opportunity to receive a high quality education. After all, an exceptional country most certainly demands an exceptional education system. Continue Reading
Farview Soccer Shout-Out: “Yeah Blong Yang!!”North Minneapolis Hmong soccer players have some special reasons to cheer the election of Blong Yang as Minneapolis’ first Hmong councilmember: not only is he their new alderman, he is also the founding league coach for their Farview Park soccer team.As the van picked up Farview soccer players Saturday for indoor soccer, they were asked what they thought of Blong Yang’s election.“I think Blong Yang will be a good councilmember, because he was a good coach,” says Ab Vue.Je Yang gives his thumbs up to Blong as councilmember “Because he is a Yang like me.”“Blong will have some new ideas,”, says Yeng Vang, “and he speaks Hmong, so he can talk with my parents.”Tou Wang Lee is proud that “Blong is the first Hmong elected in Minneapolis.”Coach Blong Yang with 2006 Farview Park 14u soccer teamIn 2006, Blong Yang coached the Farview Park 14u soccer team. This team literally came out of nowhere: 18 months before, all but one of the players were living in a Thai refugee camp. The players were small and scrawny, and the players from the other teams towered over them: But with Blong’s drive and guidance, they won their first game 6-1, and went on to an undefeated regular season and league championship in the Minneapolis Parks Soccer League. Coach Blong talks strategy with his soccer playersBlong coached Farview teams for three more years, and each year his team won the league championship. As their coach, Blong heard about the many problems his refugee players had in their schools: getting hit, lack of bilingual teachers, overcrowded classes. And he also heard about criminal attacks suffered by the refugee families: doors busted down while the families were inside, a robber pointing a gun at children in their house and threatening to blow their heads off, assaults on the street, thefts and car break-ins. Two Farview soccer players were hit with stray bullets – both survived. Blong also knew that these refugee families spoke very limited English and would face challenges getting their voices heard. Blong Helps refugee families explain to Minneapolis Public Schools officials that a 45 student classroom is too bigHe came to meetings and supported families when they said their 40+ student classes were overcrowded and needed to be cut. Continue Reading
This past summer Texas bluebonnets were still blooming when Senator Wendy Davis stood and spoke for nearly eleven hours to stop a bill predominantly supported by male senators. Men telling women they had no right to health care. No right to make reproductive decisions for themselves. Men would decide for them. “A war on women,” it has been called.I could not help but wonder how many legislators nationwide, on both sides of the political aisle, hypocritically promote a male-dominated industry that deprives women worldwide of rights. Continue Reading
St. Paul Federation of Teachers (SPFT) president Mary Cathryn Ricker spelled out her union’s new proposal, called the “Schools St. Paul Children Deserve” at an Achievement Gap Committee (AGC) forum on October 23. Ricker handed out the proposal at the forum, and explained that it is based on seven core principles, which were developed over the course of a few months by the union and citizen groups in St. Paul. The SPFT has been using the “Schools St. Continue Reading
Should we, as a society, shift our focus from “standards-based reforms” in our schools to a “supports-based” approach?Dr. John Jackson, president of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, thinks so. On October 22, at the invitation of Parents United for All Public Schools, he gave a talk in St. Paul that outlined his argument that our schools need supports-based solutions for students just as much as they need standards.A crowd of around one hundred people, including state legislators and the heads of both the Minneapolis and St. Paul teachers’ unions, turned out to hear Dr. Jackson speak, and introduce the Schott Foundation’s latest initiative, called the “Education Declaration.” This declaration has a distinctly pro-public school bent, stating, for example, that, “We believe good schools are essential to democracy and prosperity—and that it is our collective responsibility to educate all children, not just a fortunate few.”On the topic of our “collective responsibility” to educate all children, Dr. Jackson spoke about how, according to another Schott Foundation report, in 36 out of 50 states, African American males have the lowest high school graduation rates; in the other 12 states, they have the second lowest rates, just above those of Latino males.While these numbers are disturbing, Dr. Jackson made the point that race is not to place blame for these low success rates. Instead, he spoke of states such as North Dakota and Vermont, which have very low populations of black students; in these states, where students can not be as easily segregated by race because of their low numbers, black students have graduation rates equal to that of white students.Therefore, Dr. Jackson asked the audience to think about education in terms of the opportunities and support we currently provide to students, and what we must begin to provide for them, if we want all students to succeed. Continue Reading
“We all feel like a family.”“My teacher is distracted by other children.”“What adults do you live with?” (Followed by a list of options)These are examples of the questions and statements given to all Minneapolis Public Schools students, in grades K-12, last year, as part of the district’s use of the Tripod Project. The Tripod Project, which is based on Harvard Professor Ron Ferguson’s work, is a survey given to students in order to gather information about students, their teachers, and what goes on in classrooms across the district.Ferguson originally created the Tripod survey as a way to assess whether what he called the “7Cs Framework of Effective Teaching” was taking place in schools. These “7Cs” are based on what Ferguson sees as important teaching practices, such as showing “care” for students, practicing good “control” in the classroom, and delivering lessons that “captivate” students. The Tripod survey grew out of this framework, and asks students to agree with statements and answer questions, such as the ones listed above.For Minneapolis Public Schools teacher Flory Sommers, asking students how they feel about school is a good idea, but she has been critical of the approach favored by the district, through the Tripod Project. For Sommers, telling kids we “care about what they think,” and then giving them a survey that has no open-ended questions, and, in her opinion, many values-laden, leading questions and statements, is problematic.Sommers, who has been a teacher for 32 years, and has worked both at Emerson Spanish Immersion School and Barton Open School as a Spanish and language arts teacher, vividly recalled a kindergarten teacher describing what it was like to give the survey to her young students: One boy, when asked who he lived with, burst into tears, and told the teacher that his father had just moved out. Continue Reading
I didn’t start out on the education reform side. In fact, if you had asked me about the achievement gap 10-12 years ago, I sounded a lot like the teachers’ union. Because I think personal stories are important, here’s how and why I changed. First, a brief history: I grew up in Arden Hills, MN, graduated from Mounds View Public Schools. Got my first union card in high school. (Thank you, Amalgamated Meat Cutters.) Went to college. Continue Reading