State of Student of Color and American Indian Students Presentation September 11, 2009

1. State of Student of Color and American Indian Students Presentation September 11, 2009 Association of Metropolitan School Districts St. Paul, MN By: Emmanuel Dolo, Ph. D. Research Director Minnesota Minority Education Partnership

2. Minnesota Minority Education Partnership and Minnesota College Access Network: Vital Community Resources www.mmep.net www.mncollegeaccess.org

3. DEMOGRAPHICS

4. 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

5. 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

6. The Poor and Poverty Rate in Context Tom Gillaspy, State Demographer says: “The poor are those unable to purchase a minimum adequate market basket of goods and services.” • Poverty rate in Minnesota is 9.5% Poverty Rate in St. Paul: • Below the poverty line = 18.9% Source: City-Data.com

7. 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

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

9. Academic Outcomes

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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

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

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

17. 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

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

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

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

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

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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. Culturally-Based Teaching Practices • Pedagogy that recognizes and integrates students’ culture, values, and life history. • Draws teaching strategies that not only preserves student’s cultural knowledge, but also to fosters academic achievement. • Teachers ought to affirm students’ cultural strengths whether they are indigenous members of the culture or not.

28. Cultural Sensitivity & Proficiency • Important part of educators’ attitude. • Makes students and stakeholders feel welcomed • Integrates students in school environment.

29. Components of Academic Achievement Proficiency in three Rs Intercultural Competency Identity Development: Putting pieces of one’s life history together Proficient in reading writing & math Understands other cultures and interacts in diverse settings High self-concept Puts missing pieces of personal & group life history together

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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?

36. 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?

37. 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: Ron Ferguson, Harvard Achievement Gap Initiative

38. 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.