The Achievement Gap: The Civil Rights Issues of Our Time Intro: This session began with an overview of some concerning facts about the achievement gap and what it means for the future of our state. Our ability to solve many issues 10-20 years from now will be largely dictated by our ability to fix the achievement gap today. This is especially true for Minnesota when you look at these facts:
Minnesota has the second largest gap in the country between African American and White Students in 4th grade reading test scores. African American students in Minnesota have the second lowest 4th grade reading scores in the country, behind states like Alabama and Mississippi. Only 10% of African American 4th graders read at grade level. Only 8% of African American 11th graders are proficient in math, whereas 78% of White Minneapolis 11th graders are proficient on the same test. High School Dropouts are 47 times more likely to be incarcerated than a college graduate. Governments will lose $50 Billion annually as a result of high school drop outs ages 18-67. If we had closed the global achievement gap between the US and the world in the 1990’s our GDP would be 1.3-2.3 trillion dollars today.
For a full list of facts as well as sources, look at the end of the document.
Discussion: Next, we participated in a group discussion on 3 topics, here are some reflections on each category. Thanks to all of the fantastic contributions from those that participated. What jumps out at us the most about this issue? What angers us, frustrates us, what are we most motivated to do something about?
Being able to quantify in dollars the effects of poor achievement is very effective because it is something that affects all of us. The international comparison’s that show us underperforming certain countries is also effective, especially when we perceive those countries to be worse off than we are. One frustrating thing is that nothing really has changed and in some cases outcomes have been getting worse. With the way demographic trends are going (toward a majority minority), how much worse off will be we in 20 years if the achievement gap continues? Another shocking thing is just how early (4th grade) we can identify these trends. It is difficult to perceive 4th graders as high school drop outs with a good chance of going to prison, but that is unfortunate reality. Along the same lines, documenting this by telling the stories of real students is an effective way to tell this story.
Next, we want to have a quick discussion about current efforts specifically for emerging leaders. What are groups you are currently involved with doing about education? How do we feel about that?
There seems to be some awareness of direct service/mentoring organizations that directly assist teachers and students in the classroom ie. Rockstar Supply Co., Admission Possible mentoring, etc. Not many people were aware of ways to get involved with policy advocacy for education issues, or other ways they could help. There was also not much awareness of what other emerging leaders groups are doing about this issue.
Next, we talked about what could we do to contribute to this issue? How can we make a difference on this issue as emerging leaders? What tools do we need?
Because education is such a big issue, it is important to think about ways to connect people interested in this issue to things they are passionate about. Ex: Policy advocacy, student mentoring, school operations support, increasing public awareness, etc. This is definitely something other organizations are thinking about as well. How do we connect the dots and engage individuals in education? We need to work to identify the different change levers for the system that emerging leaders can effect and figure out opportunities for people to pull them. For people who ask the question, “Where am I needed and how can my talents be utilized?” there should be a way to answer that question. We need to raise awareness about the issue and opportunities for people to get involved and contribute in a meaningful way
Next Steps: Thanks again to all of the of the amazing contributors to this session! Here are some next steps we can pursue from our conversation:
We need to work at raising awareness among emerging leaders and the general public about the achievement gap and what it means for our state. This is effectively done through discussing the economic costs of poor student achievement as well as connecting educational stories to real people. We need to figure out opportunities for emerging leaders to get involved with education and make a difference on the Achievement Gap. This would include many different opportunities that could utilize varied interests and talents. We need to develop a central location
This is work that a group of us will be getting together to discuss. It is important work that can have a significant impact on the future of our state. Please contact Dan at wick.dl@gmail.com if you are interested in getting involved.
Concerning Facts about the Achievement Gap and the Dropout Crisis in Minnesota and Nationally Minnesota has the second largest gap in the country between African American and White Students in 4th grade reading test scores. Source: (Minnesota Department of Minority and Multicultural Health Health Status Report, Populations of Color in Minnesota
African American students in Minnesota have the second lowest 4th grade reading scores in the country, behind states like Alabama and Mississippi. Source: NAEP Data Explorer
Only 10% of African American 4th graders read at grade level. Source: Children’s Defense Fund- Kids Count 2008
Only 8% of African American 11th graders are proficient in math, whereas 78% of White Minneapolis 11th graders are proficient on the same test. Source: Minnesota Department of Education
35% of African American and 25% of Hispanic Students Graduate in 4 years from Minneapolis Public Schools. Source: (Minneapolis Foundation Community Indicators 2011)
Globally, African American Males are the worst performing subgroup of all the countries participating in international assessments, lower than the country scores of Mexico, Chile and Turkey . Source: (2009 PISA results.)
High school dropouts have 3X the unemployment rate of a college graduate (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2010 unemployment data; Current Population Survey (left); Digest of Education Statistics, 2009
High School Dropouts are 47 times more likely to be incarcerated than a college graduate. Source: NY Times, 10/9/09
75% of the State prison population is dropouts. Source: (Harlow, C.W. (2003). Education and correctional populations,bureau of justice statistics special report. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.)
More than Half of African American Males that drop out of high school will be in prison by their early 30’s. Source: Western, B., Schiraldi, V., & Zienberg, J. (2004). Education and incarceration. Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, p. 1.
Only 9% of low-income students will earn a college degree compared to 77% of upper income students. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, J.P. Morgan Summit on U.S. Education, 2010
College graduates earn $800,000 more than high school graduates, much more than that for dropouts. (Source: LearnMoreMN)
High School drop outs cost our society $260,000 each in lost taxes, wages and productivity. Source: (Harlow, C.W. (2003). Education and correctional populations,bureau of justice statistics special report. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.)
Governments will lose$50 Billion annually as a result of high school drop outs ages 18-67. Source: Rousse, C.E. (2005, October). The labor market consequences of an inadequate education. Paper presented at the symposium on the social costs of inadequate education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY.
High school dropouts will cost 24 Billion annually in welfare and crime costs. Source: (Thorstensen, B. I. If you build it, they will come: Investing in public education.)
If we had closed the global achievement gap between the US and the world in the 1990’s our GDP would be 1.3-2.3 trillion dollars today. Source: (Tilson, Whitney, A Right Denied Power Point presentation)