By MayKao Hang, June guest blogger
If we are going to improve the quality of education of all children, we need to think about the achievement gap as an opportunity gap and become highly dissatisfied with the status quo. The source of power to fuel the economic engine of our community lies on more than the wonderful commercial products we create to improve the lives of people; it lies with growing, and then retaining, all the talent and creativity that exists within all of us. Regardless of background, we must believe and expect that we can unite and work to fill the opportunity gap that is eroding the ingenuity that has created companies such as 3M, St. Paul Travelers and Best Buy.
Back when Amherst H. Wilder was still alive 105 years ago, the majority of residents within the City of Saint Paul were immigrants. Most came to seek a better life in Minnesota and were able to turn challenges into entrepreneurial enterprises. According to a recent study commissioned by the Minneapolis Foundation and completed by Wilder Research, immigrants start businesses at three times the rate of those who are native born. In the City of St. Paul in 2010, 45% of the children were English Language Learners. While this may be down somewhat from Amherst’s time, the fact is that somehow throughout our history we have figured out how to get ahead.
I admit I am one who is dissatisfied with the seeming complacency with the fact that we are far behind other states and regions that we have long outperformed. If we expect to regain our standing, we must close the achievement gap that continues to be the overriding issue for Minnesota’s schools.
On May 31, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Dayton’s Bluff Achievement Plus School, a school that, until bold steps were taken, had only 12% of its students at proficiency. Today, Dayton’s Bluff performs to state levels despite despite high mobility, high poverty (more than 90% free and reduced lunch) and many from non-English speaking homes.
How is Dayton’s Bluff beating the odds? Achievement Plus began in 1997 as a model of comprehensive school reform that would develop, test, and disseminate more powerful instructional programs, effective student and family support services that address barriers to learning and extended learning strategies. No experiment can be without failures and successes when working to ensure excellent outcomes for children living in the lowest socio-economic areas of our city. After nearly 15 years of doing this, we share a few of our learnings:
- Perhaps nothing has been more fundamental to success than setting explicit and high academic standards and providing rigorous instruction.
- Providing teachers with the support and training to teach effectively to these high standards is essential.
- Evidenced-based practices that target and effectively mitigate barriers to learning for children and families are available. It pays to intervene early.
- Extended learning opportunities must be targeted to the specific gaps in childrens' knowledge and be tightly aligned with the school curriculum in order to show any effect on student achievement.
As we move forward with the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood initiative, an effort to create cradle to career success for children living in a diverse, high-poverty, 250-block area of Saint Paul, we will weave what we’ve learned from Achievement Plus into the effort. And, we are learning from residents, subject matter experts, institutional leaders and other stakeholders what they see as essential investments in our children. We must commit to making those investments.
The only way that improvement of the human condition has ever occurred has been the belief that as a community we have what it takes to hold onto the promise for achievement and greatness in all children and then to act as adults to make it happen.
I hope you will all be with us as we work together even more closely to ensure that we stay a vibrant and productive community.
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