Sunday, July 28, 2019

JPS Has a Plan

The Better Together Commission and JPS rolled out a five-year strategic plan to improve Jackson's public education last week.  The Kellogg Foundation funded the plan.The plan sets several goals for Jackson's young scholars to reach by 2024:

* All students have access to pre-K education.  There are only 580 seats available now.
* 40% or more should score proficiently (Level 4 or 5) in reading and math for grades 3-8 and high school end of course exams.  Only 25% score proficiently in English and 20% in math right now.  
* 50% or more should score proficiently in reading and math by end of third grade.  Only 30% reach such scores in English while only 21% do so in math. 
* Double the percentage of students performing proficiently in reading and math by end of eighth grade.  Only 16% score proficiently right now. (KF: Ouch)
* Increase the average composite ACT score from the current 15.6 to 21 or above.
 * Increase graduation rate from 71% to 80%.
 *Suspend fewer than 10% of JPS students per year.  15% are suspended per year right now.
 * Decrease chronic absenteeism from the current 26% to less than 20%.

JPS will also establish a Parent Academy and a Teacher Academy for teacher assistants.

The plan really isn't a plan but rather a collection of education buzzwords and five-year goals.   The "plan" doesn't say how JPS will reach those goals.  The following passage is representative of the "plan":

We commit to the following key initiatives:
•    Developing a district performance-based management system for all team members based on
measurable goals in the Strategic Plan
•    Developing structures and processes to consistently celebrate high-performing team members
•    Establishing structures for high-functioning leadership teams throughout the organization
•    Developing transparent practices to provide equitable access to district resources across all schools
•    Developing operational structures and processes that are more efficient and responsive to the needs of scholars, family members, and schools
•    Developing conditions that will invite and cultivate innovative practices
Similar language is used throughout the "plan" while concrete measures or methods are seldom mentioned.The plan is posted below. 

Kingfish note: It doesn't mention the one factor that has the largest impact on the "scholars" : the unwed birthrate that is greater than 80% in Jackson.  This little problem is conveniently ignored by JPS and the Commission. 









47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Single parent households are the largest issue facing JPS... Me a that 4% of African American households with a mother and father are in poverty. That speaks volumes. Up until welfare discouraged women to get married black households had better economic standard s and less violent crime in the neighborhood. Say what you want to but Lanier at one time had more national merit semi finalist than most schools in Mississippi. Oh, it was an all black high school that put out doctors lawyers and many other successful business owners. I guess people were fooled by the plantation mentality of politicians.

Anonymous said...

KF, that's a neat little dog whistle you blew at the end there. I can't wait to read the bile from the bible humpers, riding their white high horses.

Anonymous said...

The so called problem here has far less to do with the school system and far more to do with the family system. And until Democrats realize and admit that, they can come up with all the strategic plans they want and it will have little if any effect.

Anonymous said...

More competition is the answer... charter schools make JPS step up to compete for students. The real enemy are the liberal whites that treat blacks like pets and tell them well your doing your best we will give you lower test score requirements and affirmitive action so you can find employment and get into college. Actually this was a great handicap if African Americans.

Anonymous said...

what happens if they don’t meet the goals? people fired?

Anonymous said...

Just "feel good" words.

The culture in Jackson is the problem.

Violence in the home, criminal activity, the rewarding of bad behavior, a broken justice system, pathetic leadership and on and on.

Unless you transport the school children away from this culture, nothing will change.

Anonymous said...

What was their previous five-year plan?

Anonymous said...

C'mon KF, you know if you mention unwed birthrate its a racist dogwhistle (except that it isn't, it's just a statistical fact).

Anonymous said...

Not a plan. It’s a wish list.

Anonymous said...

I can hear it now. "For this plan to be successful we need 65 million dollars. " I smell another bond referendum being pushed. Remember it's for the children.

Anonymous said...

1:18, since you seem to be the authority; isn't it more racist for you to assume that the majority of unwed births are black? Just like it's racist for Trump to call out a member of congress for being an unprofessional bully while not tending to his district - there was NO mention of race in Trump's post, but y'all just can't help yourselves to conflate race and incompetence - now tell me, who's more racist?

Anonymous said...

Wouldn’t it have been wonderful had blacks be treated like equals after the civil war and during the Jim Crow era. No white Mississippi decides that they would rather have separation and unequal standards when it came to the African American community. If that had happened there would not have been a need for “the Great Society” and federal government intervention which has ruined the black community. Well the chickens have come home to roost so you reap that which you sow! Enjoy white Mississippi!

Anonymous said...

It's a culture problem.
They can't or won't acknowledge it.
Jackson is lost.

Anonymous said...

Custer had a plan too

Anonymous said...

Didn’t Stalin have 5 year plans? How did those work out?

Anonymous said...

The only way to turn JPS around is convince white residents to send their kids there instead of private schools and get other European Americans to move back in the city. Let’s be honest as that the only way and everybody knows it but to say that brands you as a racist. The “denial is not a river in Egypt” approach won’t work. The Guv had his chance to get the “adults in the room” involved but punted for being scared of being labeled a racist....err, I mean for political reasons.

Anonymous said...

I went straight to the comments on this post. I didn't read the plan as I am sure nobody else did either before they started posting the same old stuff.

Anonymous said...

If the state and feds stop financially subsidizing "single motherhood" and dooming those children, then single motherhood would become avoided 90% of the time. You'd really see just how many of them truly "want" to be mothers....right now, it's something to do and get paid to survive, while the child(ren) suffer......and who do not ask to be born.

The Truth Hurts, Because it Should! said...

"Pre-K" is taxpayer funded baby sitting.

"K" is taxpayer funded baby sitting.

//sarcasm on// Maybe the JPS needs to sell some more bonds. //sarcasm off//

Anonymous said...

You can’t change people unless they want to be changed. Their community is eaten up with, as 3:13 put it, government intervention. 3:13, do you have a plan? Good gosh if we dare say welfare should be eradicated we are called racist.

Anonymous said...

How about a requirement that all teachers be certified to teach?

Anonymous said...

FUBAR

Anonymous said...

Ronald Reagan's quote "The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan" comes to mind.

Anonymous said...

The captain of the Titanic had a plan too.

Anonymous said...

Did you hear the uproar in Madison when some official hinted that maybe Canton schools should merge into the county district?

Haha, want to help the kids in JPS? Shut down JPS and bus the kids into the suburbs. That's the only real fix is to mainstream them into functioning schools and that's why Phil Bryant didn't want to take over JPS.

Anonymous said...

Terminate welfare unless you are over 65.

Anonymous said...

“Sir! I have a plan! [standing up from his wheelchair] Mein Führer! I can walk!”
from Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. 1964.

Anonymous said...

Don't overlook the purposefully placed word 'should' in many of the goals, instead of shall or will. That is not accidental.

I will run a four and a half minute mile by the end of November. That is a goal. WILL carries weight...like a promise to myself. Will sets up a challenge and sends an encouraging vibe up my spine.

I should be able to run a four and a half minute mile is a meaningless suggestion.

Here's another meaningless, yet questionable 'goal': Suspend fewer than 10% of JPS students per year. In reality maybe the goal should be to suspend 20% or left out altogether.

Anonymous said...

I agree with most of the above comments. On a national level we need a serious study of the correlation of the rise in welfare programs and the rise in the % of unwed mothers. If the study shows what many of us think it will show, how about a new law that says, the taxpayers will help you out with two children. After the second one you must either have regular birth control injections given by the government or forfeit any welfare claims for subsequent children. Your choice.
The goal that allows a maximum % of suspensions is in direct conflict with most every other goal. Once I have suspended all the kids the goal allows, what am I to do with the remaining kids who are disrupting my class and causing us to miss all the other goals?

Anonymous said...

@3:13
How do you explain the decline of the black family after welfare was introduced. The success of the black family was much better in the 50's then massive decline. Like I said earlier. Black immigrants came here with much less and do much better. Your not making a very good argument... in fact it doesn't equate at all.

Unbelievable said...

At least be realistic in your goals. Increase ACT score to 21- when the average in Miss. is 18.6!! Not realistic!
Increase math and reading by 2X or more! Not realistic!
Who are they trying to impress with this “plan”?

Anonymous said...

A Plan is just a road map. If my vehicle is broken my map is just a piece of paper. Toilet paper. Until you make the dysfunctional parent-student-school relationship functional they are in no position to follow a plan to success. Not system wide. There will be some individual success stories, there always are, but the majority will fail. The key is parental responsibility, that comes first. A plan to fix that vehicle is needed, but the so-called leaders (hustlers) have no interest in that kind of work. They would rather peddle toilet paper.

Anonymous said...

@3:13

While you might be correct the fact is your scenario did not happen. You know, if it had not rained so much in the upper Mississippi basin this year the Delta wouldn't be flooded. A possible solution to ease the situation, the pumps, did not help because they are not finished. The solution to the school problem is not to blame events of 150 years ago but come up with "today" solutions. One thing I noticed in the plan is to reduce the number of suspensions. Correct me if I'm wrong but suspensions in grade schools are due to violation of school rules/policy, not for poor grades. For suspensions to be reduced one of three things must happen. #1 the standards of behavior are going to have to be lowered. #2 the misbehavior of students will be overlooked. #3 the behavior of students must improve. #1 and #2 are the solutions JPS is most likely to adopt and they will continue to keep JPS in failure mode. #3 is the only way JPS can improve and survive. This will lead to a better classroom learning environment. Until students AND parents understand that school is a place for one to obtain an education and that it not a baby sitting service or a place for thugs to act out nothing is going to get any better. Discipline MUST be enforced before the learning process will improve.

Anonymous said...

Everyone makes decent points but one that hasn’t been made is the horrible conditions of the schools. If the schools were even in manageable conditions that would help a lot.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen any mention of cutting administrative staff, which continues to increase even as enrollment decreases.

Kingfish said...

Galloway and Forest Hill are fairly nice buildings. Look at their ratings.

Coffee and Donuts in The Back.. said...

Someone compared this thing to a 'roadmap'. I don't see that. A roadmap is a factual representation of driving surfaces in a given area. And using a thing called a road map can get you from point A to point B, if that's what you want to do. A road map is precise, proven and accurate. Negotiating one, however, is another matter.

Meeting in a government building, ordering in drinks and sandwiches and reimbursing mileage, while calling yourselves a 'focus group' and throwing statements at the flip chart or wall board is an exercise in nothingness.

It's like the old groups we met in years ago to come up with Mission Statements. At the end of the week we even had them printed and framed for placement on various office walls. Goals? No. Exercises in nothingness? Yes. But the sandwich shop that catered the events was really happy that we met.

We SHOULD conclude our work by Thursday and SHOULD plan to meet again in three weeks to review our goals and continue our strategizing. Our busy work SHOULD convince others that we are engaged in problem solving.

Anonymous said...

@ 3:13
Your either confused or racist for assuming black Americans need handouts claiming they need to be told by whites they can't do as well or perform at a certain level as Asians whites or Hispanics... your mentality is to blame for the recent decline of blacks in this country. It's shameful.

Anonymous said...

I have an anecdote to add to your "unwed mother" comment

I have a friend who is semi-retired and part times at a factory in Jackson as a contractor. He describes the revolving door or young black male hires at this factory.

All of these new hires have to start out training on the machinery under the direction of an older more experienced male. Due to the demographic nature of this Jackson factory, the pairing is always a young black male being trained by an older experienced black male. Only 2 in 10 of these young men make it through the training because they cannot tolerate taking orders from another man.

My friend's theory is that this behavior is learned from being raised by sassy single mothers in fatherless homes.

Anonymous said...

It comes from a lack of authority or proper structure. Look at the JPS junior high or high schools. This is the reason for installed panic buttons.

Anonymous said...

http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2018/07/mississippi-awash-in-unwed-births.html

Getting your freak on doesn't pay the bills.....

Anonymous said...

“Give me a few hundred Mexican kids temporarily separated from their criminal parents at the border and I'll give you a front page national disaster in every (MSM) newspaper and TV network in the country. Give me hundreds of thousands of black children condemned to lives of perpetual poverty and ignorance everyday all over this country and NOBODY gives a damn other than making money on them when they're young and them being guaranteed Dem votes if they live long enough. This is a total atrocity.”

July 16, 2018 at 10:36 AM

I want black people to learn how to lead and succeed so they won’t have to use a race trap. We’re not all racist just because we don’t agree.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, 7:06, for taking this debate out of the purely-theoretical realm.

Anonymous said...

10:16,
The crazy thing about that expample is that those new hires are the ones with High School diplomas or GEDs and could pass a drug test and background check. So they arent the dregs of Jackson. Factories are dangerous. The wrong screw up can cost you a limb or even your life. You can't stare at your phone while on the factory floor.

Anonymous said...

7:06 you and your friend said a mouthful there! Until we get to the root of the issue, we will always have the same problem. Young men need structure and young men need to have men in the homes teaching them how to be men. How to respect other men in authority. How to value themselves and others. We keep looking at the fruit and not getting to the root. God's plan for our lives involved order and it is good to have order. But the children must learn it somewhere and if they are not learning it at home, their teacher/education becomes the streets.

Anonymous said...

I have been around long enough to see numerous "plans", etc. from JPS officials, Parents for Public Schools activists, consultants and politicians. They have great intentions but never work. Real reform is needed but that will never be allowed by those with a ve$$$ted intere$$$t in the current cesspool. And Gov. Phil Bryant punted when given an opportunity to demand real reform.

The first step in helping JPS is to get rid of all of the unneeded employees, administrative staff, consultants, bond lawyers, public relations agents, etc. JPS is a trough for the well connected. They hire so many unneeded entry level employees just to help the children of the connected. That is where a large part of the money is going.

Anonymous said...

As Willie said: po ol whooped down Mississippi. Homonsapiens pretty sad bunch on the whole. Cash donations accepted



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