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Council of Black Minnesotans Community Issues Forum on Educational Disparities June 11, 2009

Council of Black Minnesotans Community Issues Forum on Educational Disparities June 11, 2009 By: Emmanuel Dolo, Ph. D Research Director Minnesota Minority Education Partnership. DEMOGRAPHICS. Diversity Expanding Among Students of Color and American Indian Students.

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Council of Black Minnesotans Community Issues Forum on Educational Disparities June 11, 2009

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  1. Council of Black Minnesotans Community Issues Forum on Educational Disparities June 11, 2009 By: Emmanuel Dolo, Ph. D Research Director Minnesota Minority Education Partnership

  2. DEMOGRAPHICS

  3. Diversity Expanding Among Students of Color and American Indian Students Representation of Non-English Language Global Regions Among MN K-12 Students Source: Minnesota Department of Education 2007

  4. Poverty and Students of Color and American Indian Students in MN K-12 Public Schools Eligibility for Free and Reduced Lunch Source: Minnesota Department of Minnesota 2008

  5. The Poor and Poverty Rate in Context According to Tom Gillaspy, State Demographer, “The poor are those unable to purchase a minimum adequate market basket of goods and services.” The poverty rate in Minnesota is 9.2% The poverty rate in Minneapolis/St. Paul and Inner Suburbs is 12%

  6. What’s at Stake? Why Shall I Care? • MN will not be producing enough skilled people to satisfy workforce demands. • Adults without college education are less likely to participate in civic activities, volunteer for community organizations, or pay taxes. • They are more likely to be unemployed, incarcerated, or in poor health. Source: Learnmoremn.org

  7. Poverty Declines As Education Increases 2005 ACS. Rates for population age 25 and older. Differences significant at 90% confidence

  8. Academic Outcomes

  9. Significant Reading Disparities 2008 MCA Reading Results Grades 3, 7, & 10 Percent of Test Takers at Proficiency or Above Source: Minnesota Department of Education

  10. 1600 American 1550 Indian Asian/Pacific 1500 Islander Hispanic 1450 Black 1400 White 1350 1300 1250 1200 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Persistent Outcomes Gap – Even with Scores Rising for All Student Groups Third Grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment Reading Scale Scores 1999 - 2005 Source: Minnesota Department of Education

  11. What’s at Stake? Why Shall I Care? • Minnesota’s competitiveness will diminish as would its quality of life • The inequality gap will continue to widen between the affluent and the poor • The middle class would shrink Source: MMEP’s Experience and Predictions

  12. Significant Math Disparities 2008 MCA Mathematics Results Grades 3, 8, & 11 Percent of Test Takers at Proficiency or Above Source: Minnesota Department of Education

  13. 1650 1600 1550 American Indian 1500 Asian/Pacific Islander 1450 Hispanic Black 1400 White 1350 1300 1250 1200 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Persistent Outcomes Gap – Even with Scores Rising for All Student Groups Third Grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment Math Scores 1999 – 2005 by Ethnicity Source: Minnesota Department of Education

  14. Serious Disparities in High School Graduation Rates Source: Minnesota Department of Education

  15. Disparities in High School Drop Out Rates Source: Minnesota Department of Education

  16. Framework for Addressing Math Disparities • Environment as Integrated Context (EIC) is a product of a cooperative of 12 states including Minnesota, premised on the notion of interdisciplinary, collaborative, student-centered, hands-on and engaged learning. • “When I taught the kids math skills measuring, in the classroom, they forgot it. When students had a chance to use these skills on our nature trail, they not only learned better, but could apply and remember the math skills longer.” Kim Flynn –Math Teacher-Jackson County Middle School, Kentucky

  17. Aspirations: High across all racial/ethnic communities 2007 Minnesota Student Survey Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota Department of Health 2007

  18. Pursuing Opportunity Percentage of ACT Participation Compared to Enrolled 12th Graders Source: Minnesota Office of Higher Education 2008 (ACT)

  19. College Readiness Source: Minnesota Office of Higher Education, 2008

  20. College Participation Rates Source: MN Office of Higher Education 2008

  21. Most Students of Color are Likely to Enroll in Two Year Colleges Source: Minnesota Office of Higher Education

  22. WHAT IS THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP? • Poor minority students as a group score lower on achievement measures than middle class and non-minority students • The achievement gap means different things to different people. • Could mean disparities between White and Black students or minority students in general; males and females; or ELL and regular students

  23. WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP? • The causes are complex • Research attributes it to two major causes: • Factors related to social economic status • Factors related to the school and school environment

  24. Framework For Closing Achievement Gap [Environment as an Integrating Context Learning Framework] Access: Equitable access to basic enabling conditions, including qualified, effective teachers, rigorous curriculum based on state standards, safety nets and accelerated interventions. Culture and Climate: Safe learning environment, promoting sense of belonging, fostering strong positive relationships among students, staff, and between school and home community Source: www.etap.org/media/pdf/EIC_AFrameworkforlearning_Final_3_30_06.pdf

  25. SOCIAL ECONOMIC STATUS • Living in pervasive and persistent poverty • Poor health • Frequent changes in residence and transferring from one school to the other • Parents with low level of education and thus low level of involvement with school work • Institutionalized racism

  26. BEST PRACTICES • Invest in high quality pre-K programs for low income people • Improve alignment between educational systems from pre-K to college • High expectations for students • Rigorous curriculum and robust instructional and social supports to students • Cultural congruence in instruction to enhance identity development

  27. BEST PRACTICES • Smaller class size • Higher teacher quality • Summer enrichment program • Increase parent involvement • Make closing the achievement gap and continuous academic growth benchmarks for judging school and district performance • Recruit, retain, support and reward highly qualified teachers especially in schools that serve high percentages of low income students

  28. BEST PRACTICES • Provide culturally-relevant professional development for all school personnel • Professional development should also focus on the use of data to guide reforms • Share successful practices • Change structure of state school financing to target more resources to schools and students that need it the most • Invest in continuous state-specific research on the causes of and solutions to the persistence of the achievement gap

  29. Policy Recommendations • Develop and adopt policies that require schools to measure the growth of students from individual starting places but set goals that assure that each child reaches standard • Establish measurable goals for closing the achievement gap for each school and for the district as a whole and report progress to the public on a regular basis. Source: Debora Boeck – www.wssda.org

  30. Policy Recommendations • Use measures to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies implemented by schools to close the achievement gap • Establish comprehensive data management system to collect, disaggregate, and provide continuous targeted feedback to improve or close the achievement gap. Source: Debora Boeck – www.wssda.org

  31. Discussion Starters • How does the school district collect, analyze, and disseminate student performance data? • What’s the data and assessment literacy among community members? • What is the community’s understanding of existing student achievement data? • How is the community using the assessment data to accelerate students’ academic achievement?

  32. Discussion Starters • How is community addressing issues related to parent engagement practices? • Have the school learning environment been assessed? How? • Do students view their teachers as approachable? • What do discipline statistics say about practices? • Does the community have specific strategies for supporting effective teaching?

  33. What’s behind the academic disparities? No single cause This is a social justice issue: to be addressed by the entire society This is a personal responsibility issue:to be addressed by the children, families and leaders of particular communities This is a school performance issue: to be addressed by public school systems All of this needs to be informed by sound research based on the knowledge and desire that exists in communities of color. Source: Dr. Ron Ferguson, Harvard Achievement Gap Initiative

  34. What do we Need to Do in MN to raise achievement for all students AND eliminate “gaps”? Use a multidimensional response This is a social justice issue which requiresnew Policy frames This is a personal responsibility issue which requires new Perspective This is a structural issue that requires new Practice All of this needs to be informed by sound research based on the knowledge and desire that exists in communities of color.

  35. THE END The State of Students of Color and American Indian Students Report 2009 • “We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends." • Mary McLeod Bethune African-American educator (1875-1955)

  36. Selected Sources Used • Closing the achievement gap: Report of Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s California P-16 Council (January, 2008) • Partners in closing the achievement gap: How charter schools can support high-quality universal pre-K. Democrats for Education Reform (2008). • Deconstructing the discourse of the achievement gap: In the Middle School closing the achievement gap inquiry group. • Rich Jones. (2006). The Bell Policy Center – Policy Brief. Understanding and closing Colorado’s achievement gap. • Andy Hartman (2002). The Bell Policy Center. Neither English Immersion nor bilingual education alone will close achievement gap. • Jennifer Sharp-Silverstein (2005). The Bell Policy Center. Understanding Colorado’s achievement gap: An analysis of student performance data by race and income. • National Center for School Engagement. (2006). Parent engagement in Jacksonville: partnering to help at-risk students achieve. • Ron Haskins & Cecilia Rouse. (2005). Closing the achievement gap. Brookings & Princeton. • Closing the achievement gap: Focus on Latino students. American Federation of Teachers (2004). • Veda Brown. (2006). National impact: The real gap in closing the academic achievement gap: Parent accountability and No Child Left Behind.

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