PART 4
The WORLD’S BEST?
“Achievement and Integration”
THE CULTURAL FOUNDATION OF EXCELLENCE TODAY inside South Washington County School District 833
A FIVE PART SERIES
PART 1
“A&I” DEFINED
The Districts Pathway to Equity
PART 2
“A&I” SPEECH
TRUTH in QUALITY of LIGHT
PART 3
“A&I” SOCIAL
FORCE against Family
PART 4
“A&I” RESULTS
The WORLD’S BEST?
PART 5
“A&I” GOALS
Unquenchable THIRST
( coming soon )
THE TRANSPARENCY SERIES
An Introduction
Dear Reader,
You have not seen much published by me in the last month of February. “The World’s Best?” is all about numerical statistics, and the data is pretty depressing. I have spent some time meeting with people and schools in person over the course of writing this article. It is a necessary part of my process because 1) I need to be in the real world in order to keep my sanity, ha! and 2) Besides scripture, there is no better way to gain understanding, in my opinion, than from talking to other people … even those I don’t see eye to eye with.
As it turns out now though, there is way too much content to publish in just one article. This keeps happening with THE TRANSPARENCY SERIES. I just have to go with it. I am, once again, splitting up the series.
“Politics and Culture” is moving out of the A&I Series and into the general TRANSPARENCY SERIES category. PART 4 has been replaced with “The WORLD’S BEST,” and PART 5 will break down the district’s “A&I GOALS.”
Writing is such a fluid process, and I want to tell you up front because I don’t want to jeopardize your trust. This blog is not your typical blog, I know. I kind of like how unpolished my blog looks… it is not intended to be perfect, despite my perfectionist tendencies 🙂 It is more like a journal whose purpose might change for each reader. To be clear, the content won’t change once an article has been published 24 hours, but the design and organization might change, as it is in this case. Added content will read, “Update.”
JAiME Kokaisel
author and designer of JAiME for SCHOOLS
The World’s Best Workforce
Honestly, my mind just goes numb after reading the language of equity all day long. It feels like a perpetual state of misery, shame and torment. It is a cycle of grievance with no end in sight. How do our poor teachers do this every day all day?
There is no reward for the increasing workload and stress in the public schools. Academic results have remained stagnant for over twenty years. The Cultural Foundation of Excellence Today likes to blame all of America’s problems on the “dominant race” (along with the dominant gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, and citizen status). While the United States focuses on pointing BLAME and confusing reality, the countries at the top are focusing on finding SOLUTIONS and steering straight.
The one who needs help doesn’t need hands that push others down. The one who needs help NEEDS HANDS TO LIFT THEM UP!
In 2011, Woodbury High School was ranked 3rd in the State of Minnesota. Today they are 47th.
As our little seedlings turn 18 years old, are they able to move out of the house? Are they able to transplant themselves firmly in the harsh community garden with its heat, wind, rain, shade, pests, disease and animals? Our children are the future. Are we, as parents and schools, raising up competent and productive members of society? Are they able to overcome challenges more than their grandparents? Are they survivors?
Or has the greenhouse produced a crop of plants who are dependent on the government for money, shelter, food and health?
The public school system has operated under the prioritization of equity, inclusion, integration, cultural competency, left-wing policy, secular compartmentalization, and social contagion … all while behind closed doors and in the comfort of SECRECY. They have done it long enough now that we should begin to see the fruits, if any, of their labor.
I am happy to take a break from A&I for a moment to look at RESULTS overall.
This final article in the Achievement and Integration series is “The Worlds Best” after Minnesota’s World’s Best Workforce statute that all 330 MN school districts must report.
One Combined Report to Address Two Needs :
- The Worlds Best Workforce : Initiated by the Minnesota Department of Education in 2013, WBWF is a structure for school districts to set measurable academic goals for “ALL students,” to create a strategic framework for supporting those goals, and to report results back to the state at the end of every fiscal year. SoWashCo has no control over the goals as they are written because statute defines them.
- Achievement and Integration : A supplement for most school districts, A&I is an optional addition to WBWF that is intended to help close the achievement gap. The only time A&I is a requirement is for those districts MDE has designated “Racially Isolated,” which SoWashCo is not. From what I can tell, WBWF addresses theGap in a peripheral sense, whereas A&I is a centralized approach. SoWashCo has control over the type of Goal and number of Goals (unlike WBWF). Each Goal must fall under one of three categories: 1) Achievement, 2) Integration, or 3) Teacher Equity.
Since MDE uses a title that implies our performance shall be measured “BEST” by comparison, then lets look at RANKING. And, since their title specifically identifies this comparative scope to be the “WORLD“, then let’s begin there.
The WORLD
of Nations
How has the UNITED STATES performed in the world?
The most current report available
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a global program. Every three years around 600,000 students from different countries are tested on their skills and knowledge in science, reading and mathematics. The students are 15 years of age, and they come from 70-80 nations (or 90% of the worlds economies).
CHINA tops the chart across Math, Reading, and Science and on every data reporting platform I have been able to find since the ESSA and WBWF began.
The UNITED STATES of AMERICA
2022 = ? / 85 countries
2018 = 25 / 71 countries
2015 = 31 / 70 countries
2012 = 36 / 64 countries
2009 = 17 / 75 countries
In 10 years the U.S. has dropped below GERMANY, the U.K., SWEDEN, DENMARK, and SWITZERLAND.
The PISA study has been carried out every three years since 1997. The most current one should have been completed in 2021, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, PISA 2021 was postponed to 2022. Their study of 85 participating countries wrapped up in September, and typically the report is available by December of that same year but is still not done.
PISA 2009 ranking
In The News
12 . 03 . 2013
After 2012 PISA study
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,
“American students are performing far below most other developed nations on this triennial international test. In fact, they’re actually performing worse today than before. But that’s not the big problem, Duncan said. A more pressing concern, he claims, is the fact that American students are standing still, while other nations are advancing.”
“The hard truth is that the US is not among the top performing OECD nations in any subject tested by PISA,” he added.”
Angel Gurria, the Secretary-General of the OECD
“25 percent of American students did not reach the PISA baseline for “level 2” in math proficiency, which requires using “basic algorithms” to solve problems with whole numbers, Gurria said. Comparatively, only about 10 percent of students in countries such as Canada, Korea, Shanghai, and Singapore, failed to reach that benchmark.”
US News and World Report,
“American Students Fall in International Academic Tests, Chinese Lead the Pack” (Link HERE)
Decade after decade and billions of dollars later, will this string of education over halls ever make it’s mark? No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, the Common Core State Standards, the Every Student Succeeds Act. Is Barack Obama’s 2015 ESSA going to succeed in the global landscape?
How have government lock-downs throughout the pandemic effected education? There are many of us anxiously awaiting the latest results of the PISA study. According to The Nation’s Report Card it’s not looking so good.
“Reading and mathematics scores decline during COVID-19 pandemic”
“In 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a special administration of the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments for age 9 students to examine student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The Nation’s Report Card
The United STATES
How has MINNESOTA performed for her Nation?
State Ranking
This ranking by US News and World Report is about average for the findings. MINNESOTA is consistently positioned around 18 out of 50 states. MASSACHUSETTS is normally in the top 3, and MISSISSIPPI is normally at the bottom 3.
“Pre-K-12 Rankings -Measuring how well states are preparing students for college”
Image Source: US News and World Report. Unknown publish date with data from 2019. (Link HERE)
Most Educated States
Post-secondary education is important to consider in relation with K-12 since the vision for Minnesota’s “World’s Best Workforce” goes beyond high school.
MINNESOTA ranks 9th out of 50 states overall. The state with the highest percentage of high school diploma holders is MONTANA while CALIFORNIA comes in last.
“2023’s Most & Least Educated States in America”
“In this study, WalletHub compared all 50 states across 18 metrics that examined the key factors of a well-educated population: educational attainment, school quality and achievement gaps between genders and races.” Results are based on a 100 point scale.
Image Source: WalletHub, published Feb. 13th, 2023 with data from what appears to be 2022. (Link HERE)
Funding
The national average per pupil is $15,487. MINNESOTA spends just over $450/pupil above the national average.
Contrary to what our current DFL politicians like to claim, MINNESOTA does fund its public schools. It’s like in real estate, you never want to have the biggest house on the block. At this point in time, our spending is in the middle.
MASSACHUSETTS ranks 1st in math and reading skills, according to US News and World Report, and they spend $2,550 over the national average. MISSISSIPPI by the same metric ranks 44th, and they spend $4,550 under the national average.
Image Source: 2021 Education Law Center’s “Making the Grade” report with data from 2019 (Link HERE)
Follow my Blog.
The State of MINNESOTA
How has SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY performed for Minnesota?
SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY School District ranks #35 in the STATE out of 409
“The 2023 Best School Districts ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more.”
On Niche, #1 is WAYZATA School District, #2 is MINNETONKA School District, and #3 is EDEN PRAIRIE School District. Those three school districts also made the Top 1000 Best High Schools in the NATION. Most schools that make the national list are private schools, so I think it is quite noteworthy that these three MN public high schools were 3 of only 4 in the state to achieve such national recognition.
The MATH and SCIENCE ACADEMY is a 6-12 charter school in Woodbury, and they rank #1 Best High School in the STATE AND they made the Top 1000 High Schools in the NATION. The ST CROIX PREPARATORY ACADEMY School District is a charter school in Stillwater, and they rank #8 Best School District in the STATE.
School Digger below is a second source of information. Rankings differ from Niche, but within the same platform School Digger allows you to look at past rankings for comparison.
SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY School District ranks #141 in the STATE out of 446
“SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Minnesota Department of Education. School Attendance Areas provided by ATTOM”
2022
The South Washington County School District has dropped 53 places in 13 years, from 88th position in 2010 to 141st in 2022. There have been 56 more districts added to the list in that time, so a percent would be a more accurate comparison… SoWashCo has dropped in rank by 10 percent in 13 years, from 22nd to 32nd percentile.
2010
I REQUEST at this time for the District to consider looking at models of education that have been proven effective rather than experimenting with harmful emotional learning styles. The current direction you are taking SoWashCo is failing your community, your teachers, your parents and your students. I am familiar with the Minnetonka District’s VISION, and it is something I have asked Superintendent Nielsen to recommend our school board members look into. Minnetonka’s School Board is much more involved in the direction of their district, and the results are proving their strategy effective. They also communicate that vision to the public very well. SoWashCo might consider using them as a model. They are of a slightly different demographic than SoWashCo, I understand that, and they are a bit smaller. There is still value in looking at how other districts, charters and even private schools are able to eliminate distractions in the classroom and communicate their intent to the public in a way that benefits everyone.
The School District of SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY
How have WHS – ERHS – PHS performed in SoWashCo?
WOODBURY High School ranks #18 in the STATE
EAST RIDGE High School ranks #20 in the STATE
PARK High School does not rank in the state
“… based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education.”
Minnesota High School Rankings
School Digger below is a second source of information. Rankings differ from Niche, but within the same platform School Digger allows you to look at past rankings for comparison.
EAST RIDGE High School ranks #26 in the STATE
A DROP from #17 in 2011
WOODBURY High School ranks #47 in the STATE
A DROP from #3 in 2011
PARK High School ranks #272 in the state
A DROP from #105 in 2011
SOUTH WASHINGTON ALTERNATIVE High School ranks #451 in the state
A GAIN from #459 in 2011
The World’s Best Workforce
of South Washington County School District
SoWashCo NOT ON TRACK in all 5 categories
Literacy, Math, School and Career Readiness
2022 Minnesota Statute 120B.11 SCHOOL DISTRICT PROCESS FOR REVIEWING CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT; STRIVING FOR THE WORLD’S BEST WORKFORCE.
Definitions
WORLDS BEST WORKFORCE : striving to 1) meet school readiness goals, 2) have all third grade students achieve grade-level literacy, 3) close the academic achievement gap among all racial and ethnic groups of students and between students living in poverty and students not living in poverty, 4) have all students attain career and college readiness before graduating from high school, and 5) have all students graduate from high school.
View WBWF Minnesota Statute 120B.11
Academic Achievement has taken a back seat to Equity and Inclusion. In the three years since I have been listening to meetings more carefully, I have rarely heard the word “reading” “math” “literacy” mentioned. It was nice to hear this discussion in November 2022.
Tekel: you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;
Daniel 27
I finished the book of Daniel two weeks ago when I began writing this post. I am always inspired by the many ways the Bible remains as relevant today as when it was written, 2000 years ago. The public schools have become unsafe for children physically, mentally, and spiritually. The public schools have become a detriment to our future workforce.
We should NOT allow this.
As I write this article, in February 2023, SoWashCo is currently in Year #3 of their second 3-year A&I plan. FY22-23 will wrap up the district’s 3-year plan on June 30th, and I believe those results will be presented to the public and to members of the board in November 2023. On July 1st the district will enter into its third 3-year plan, and the school board approved the A&I Plan just this past Thursday with a 5 to 1 vote.
2020-21 Finance Report
Standardized Testing Rates
Pulled from a 128 page Financial Report, this is another piece of information that the district should not be burying on the 117th page. This is why we are not on track for GOALS 2 and 3.
| 2012 | 2018 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCA READING (3rd) | 85% | 66% | 53% |
| MCA MATH (3rd-11th) |
Updated 03/10/23 : The first row represents WBWF goal #2 -3rd grade literacy. The second row originally represented 3rd grade math scores (now crossed out) until I realized WBWF does not measure by one grade alone. Since goal #3 calculates the average for multiple grades, I corrected the second row to reflect the measurement WBWF uses. All scores in these two rows were calculated based on ISD#833 2020-21 Finance Report.
Here we are today.
We have a greenhouse in our community by the name of South Washington County Schools. We built it, we fund it, and we share it.
The greenhouse holds our future.
Yet the school district no longer seeks to serve us. I have to wonder if it even seeks to be GREAT anymore, with so much emphasis on correct social etiquette. For being so concerned over respecting student identity, this district seems to have lost its own.
District 833 now serves a worldview outside our local control which functions without community insight, oversight or approval. They require local community dollars, unearned trust, and blind allegiance to an undefined mission.
The greenhouse of South Washington County Schools is built with a one-way, tinted piece of glass.
The community pays for the framework, the energy bill, the light, the water, and the fertilizer in order to support its own future plant stock in the community garden outside. The greenhouse feeds the gardens future health and survival like a school district feeds the prosperity of America.
Why does it matter?
Without a strong vibrant workforce, America becomes weak, unstable and vulnerable. Of course we have the right to know what we are paying for, because the consequence of not knowing, and then failing, are devastating! Currently the taxpayers fund a school district that does not give them eyes to see, ears to hear, or clarity to understand. The district leaves the community blind to their process, and they do it with a smile and the claim of good intentions.
Well, that’s not good enough.
Taxpayers of the South Washington County School District have funded Achievement and Integration for 23 years now. We should know by now …
Is the Achievement and Integration program succeeding to close the academic and achievement gap? NO
Is Obama’s Every Student Succeeds Act producing a more effective crop of teachers? NO
Is the Bridges Math curriculum improving elementary math proficiency? NO
Is Social Emotional Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching decreasing the level of violence in our schools? NO and the next article will cover this.
Is Socializing School working? NO
Is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion benefiting public school students? NO, it sure does not look that way.
There seems to be confusion by District 833 over THE PRIMARY GOAL, whether that is student achievement or student integration, but whichever one it is, WE ARE FAILING. The result of Achievement and Integration are coming up next on “A&I GOALS, Unquenchable THIRST.”