When the discussion comes up about the achievement gap, many people look at schools where there is a huge disparity between different groups of students. After that, researchers examine these schools to see what they are doing wrong, and what they could be doing better, but what about schools and regions where we see a drop in the achievement gap? Instead of looking at schools that are failing, maybe the solution is to study schools where the gap has decreased, and use strategies that helped these schools subside the gap.
Minnesota’s Statistics
Examining states across the country, none have worked harder, and have actually gotten results to closing the achievement gap between whites and minority students. Looking at the graph below, you can see that not only students of different races have improved their graduation rates, but people from different socio-economic backgrounds, specifically those students that are more disadvantaged financially have seen their graduation rates increase. Even not shown in the data, white student’s graduation rates are increasing as well, so this shows that certain groups of students aren’t doing worse to make the gap smaller, but instead, white students are improving, and minority and disadvantaged students are improving at an even faster rate to close the achievement gap, but still raising the achievement of the whole state.
Source: NBC KARE11
The Pre-K to Grade 3 Initiative
One of the most important practices that Minnesota has used to combat the achievement gap is their Pre-K to grade 3 initiative. The purpose for this program is to not only improve quality of schooling, but to help children learn when they are out of school, mainly in the home. Reading the Coleman report, it is clear that much of a child’s learning comes from outside of the school, but many families are not equipped to deal with that extra job. Examining the Minnesota Department of Education website, they outline many options. For example, an increase parent-teacher conferences so parents have a better understanding of what their child is doing in school and what they can do to supplement their learning at home is a great first step to closing the gap between students. Another reason for the effectiveness of this initiative is the fact that the state offers workshops for the teachers and the administrators. For the teachers, one of the new philosophies that has been recently adopted is the use of oral expression in classrooms, which, according to the Minnesota Department of Education website, is “essential for student engagement and success in literacy and mathematics.”