Before anything else, close the ‘b...

As we pursue social justice in education, and consider excuse-free options for improving Minneapolis Public Schools, we may encounter a vexatious truth: MPS may not have the teachers required to get the job done. It isn’t training or education or insight that MPS teachers lack. Clearly, the district has what is likely the world’s most educated and experienced teaching pool. If teachers with advanced degrees translated into proficient students MPS would be milling Rhodes Scholars like Chipotle makes burritos. So, what’s the problem? Ask teachers and they...

Minneapolis teacher contract negotiation...

Sitting in as a monitor on Minneapolis teacher contract negotiations is clarifying for me why the district faces a number of leadership challenges. It is now clearer than ever that the teacher’s anthem is “you’re not the boss of me.” Like the most petulant student, they don’t want to be told what to do, when to do it, how to do it….etc. They don’t want management deciding policy, practices, or pedagogy. They don’t want principals to tell them…anything. Listening to their angst about district leadership sounds as if they want the right to be insubordinate...