Thomas B. Fordham Institute - Advancing Educational Excellence

The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?

November 1, 2006

The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. It finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science. In addition, most states making significant achievement gains--including California, Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas--are national leaders in education reform, indicating that solid standards, tough accountability, and greater school choice can yield better classroom results.

View the press release for this report

Contents

Minnesota

 

 


 

Lake Wobegon Woes

In a state where the women are strong, the men good looking, and the children all above average, bad news is surely hard to take. But here it is: According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Minnesota's African-American and Hispanic children are performing poorly and have made zero progress over the past 10 years. And Minnesota's current reform efforts don't appear to be up to the task of turning this situation around.

To be sure, there is some good news: Minnesota's low-income eighth-graders posted the second-highest scores in the nation in math on the 2005 NAEP, for instance. But African-American and Hispanic students perform abysmally, and dropout rates are cataclysmic. Fewer than half of the state's African-American students graduate from high school within four years-a figure that puts them in the lowest quartile among states nationwide. 

Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota, said these results show that "Minnesota has a lot of work to do. There are certainly examples around the country where states are doing a better job educating African-American and Hispanic students, and we need to learn some lessons."

The state's standards aren't helping all that much. Although Minnesota was among the first to adopt state standards, the quality of those initial efforts was lackluster. Even with recent changes, the state's standards rate only a C+ according to Fordham's reviewers-a fair grade, according to State Representative Mindy Greiling.

Minnesota's early attempt, she notes, was "too broad" and too focused on process-things such as "working in a group," "service learning," and "mentorships."  Senator Steve Kelley, chair of the state's education policy committee, agrees. The original state standards were "widely criticized" and "too general," he said.

The standards were repealed in 2002 around the time that Congress enacted the No Child Left Behind Act. By 2003, the state was deep into work on new standards in reading, math, and world history. Former Education Commissioner Cheri Yecke gave special attention to the history standards, which are now recognized as among the best in the nation. But this one improvement hasn't been enough. Says Kelley, "We have to think about what we have to do differently to make sure students are ready with the right requirements."

State leaders have some ideas for improving student achievement. A senior advisor to Governor Tim Pawlenty points out that the state now requires Algebra I to be taught to all students by eighth grade, and Algebra II-along with either chemistry or physics-will be required to graduate from high school. The new policy takes effect with students currently in third grade.

In 2005, the state legislature expanded the Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate programs with $4.5 million in new funding. An additional $1 million was allotted to expand AP testing. This should help the state to raise its middling grade of C for the percentage of students passing at least one AP exam (currently 11.5 percent).  But not only are Minnesota students taking college-level work in high school, some high-school students are actually attending college. "More than 7,000 students in the state are participating in post-secondary options," Nathan explained. Many students are taking "really challenging classes and passing them."

"Options" has long been a watchword in Minnesota education reform. Charter schools, for instance, are one of the state's bright spots. In 1991, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to adopt a charter school law. And it was a pretty good one. Charter schools are given special public funds for facilities, according to Eugene Piccolo, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools-freeing them to focus on academic achievement and not fundraising. Moreover, the state allows dollars to follow students who opt out of traditional public schools into charters. For these two reasons, the state garners an A grade for having the lowest funding discrepancy in the nation between charter and public schools.

With 132 charter schools in operation today, Minnesota can no longer lay claim to having the most of any state in the union. But charter advocates pride themselves on the "organic nature" of their schools, which are mainly located in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and serve predominantly minority populations. Among these are the Hmong, refugees from Laos and Cambodia who came to the United States  following the Vietnam War. They make up 40 percent of St. Paul's charter school population and present special educational challenges. Most notable is that the Hmong culture has no written language, making learning English an even greater struggle. The state also has a large Somali population that is served by charter schools in the state's urban core.

Post-secondary options and charter schools are not the only initiatives to expand choice. The state also provides tax credits and deductions for students attending private schools, though these come with heavy restrictions.

In the area of alternative teacher certification, there has also been movement, albeit modest. The state now offers a pathway into the classroom that's portfolio-based, according to program coordinator John Melick. Individuals with prior teaching experience in another state or at a private school, for example, may present the Department of Education with a portfolio proving they meet Minnesota's requirements. The portfolios, says Melick, must show that the candidate has the same knowledge and experience as a graduate of a school of education. While this is better than nothing, many other states are moving faster to encourage professionals from outside teaching to enter the classroom in a streamlined manner, boosting teacher quantity and quality.

Minnesota's greatest education problem might be complacency. With high average ACT scores and "Lake Wobegon" optimism, it's easy to understand. But averages can be deceiving and the data do not lie: If it wants to provide all of its students with an opportunity to succeed in 21st Century America, Minnesota can't afford to rest on its laurels any longer.

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