Minneapolis school leaders: Reform is working

As leaders of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), we are often surprised but pleased by the number of people who fervently follow the ebb and flow of teacher contract talks. We need more people paying attention to the critical issues of public education.

We commend the intelligent public discourse on these issues and hope the enthusiasm people have for this work continues.

Now is the time when the systems, the people and the passion are aligned. Knowledgeable input can only help us in our necessary work to change state and local policies and develop practices that yield positive outcomes for the city's youth.

Yet while reading articles, blog posts and editorials, we sometimes wonder if people truly understand the complexities of our work. Education reform -- what does that really mean? It is so much more than making adjustments to the teachers' contract.

In 2007, MPS embarked on a transformational journey with our strategic plan as our roadmap. The plan laid out many core strategies needed to raise every student's achievement, close the racial and income achievement gaps and deliver on our vision to make every child ready for college and career.

Our plan was aggressive and we knew it would have broad implications for our community, from policymakers at the state to our own staff members to citizens at large.

We are proud of our efforts. This year we approved a new comprehensive academic improvement plan and are working with urgency to close the achievement gap with proven strategies. We have an eight-year trend of improving graduation rates and we have increased post-secondary enrollment rates.

The teachers' contract is only one piece of a large, complex puzzle. Teacher negotiations get much of the attention, but it is also the district's reform work over the past several years that will improve academic outcomes. Reforming schools will require transformational shifts across the district.

Some might perceive that Minneapolis is lagging behind with aggressive contract negotiations. But we continue to work alongside our teachers' union on many substantial reforms that will convert MPS into a model urban school district.

With the support of the Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi Foundation, we are at least two years ahead of most other districts in implementing a comprehensive teacher evaluation system that recognizes exemplary teachers and provides specific professional development opportunities for teachers who may need additional support. Our system will be a strong one that we hope will be used as a model for the state and country.

Collaboration with the teachers' union over the past several years has enabled our schools to retain instructional staff members who best fit program needs, place uniquely qualified staff in difficult-to-fill positions and create greater stability for programs that need extra support.

Through negotiations, we agreed to eliminate seniority-based realignment and implement a process to place teachers based on mutual consent of the teacher and the school site.

Through negotiations, we increased stability by enabling teachers to make three-year commitments at schools receiving new program status.

We will continue to be forward-thinking in negotiating future contracts that advance our institution's work and support reforms that help yield the greatest outcomes for our students.

We have many examples of transformational work designed to close the achievement gap in non-traditional ways. We are implementing focused instruction to align what we teach with how we teach -- and with what we assess.

We are championing a collaborative approach to working with high-quality charter and autonomous schools, focusing on how practices can be replicated to continuously improve our system.

We are working to use time in new and better ways, increasing time for learners and making sure that our teachers get the necessary time to plan for effective instruction and the training to be successful.

We have collaborative working relationships with national foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joyce Foundation that are shaping the work across the country. We have been at the table to help lead the way on reform in our state and we are receiving local and national recognition that validates our efforts.

In the last year alone, our team contributed expertise and support in securing early education funding from Race to the Top, as well as Promise Neighborhood funding for the Northside Achievement Zone and $3 million from the McKnight Foundation to improve early literacy. In May 2011, we received major investments of more than $13 million from Target, Cargill, General Mills and Medtronic to help further MPS strategic plan priorities in areas across the pre-K-12 academic continuum.

These investments represent the best of what makes Minnesota great -- a strong partnership between the private and public sector on behalf of our children's futures.

There is no silver bullet. While many in our community are looking for the perfect 100-percent solution, the reality is that the answer to reducing the learning gap is spread among many solutions. The little things we do and the incremental changes we implement make the difference.

This is about putting together many critical components of a plan; changing laws, policies, structures and strategies; and, most of all, having the right people in place. That's when the magic happens.

Families, faith communities, service organizations, businesses and policy makers: We all can support the achievement of our students. No matter who you are, you can make a difference.

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