There's much test-score fretting in the North Star state:
Minnesota students are traditionally among the nation's top performers on key standardized tests. Unfortunately, the statewide averages mask an embarrassing reality. Students of color consistently score far below their white classmates.
This disparity in academic performance between groups of students is known as the achievement gap. It's a national problem. But Minnesota's gap is particularly wide.
A recent report from the Education Trust, Inc., highlighted the issue. Minnesota eighth graders ranked first in the nation in math on the 2003 National Assessment for Educational Progress. The average score among the state's white students (291) topped the list. The average score for African American students in Minnesota (251) ranked 22nd among the 50 states. Only Wisconsin had a wider gap between white and black scores.
I can't find the report on the Ed Trust site, although there's a lot of other good information on there. I particularly liked this article entitled "Good Teaching Matters," although that's another "duh" statement as far as I'm concerned.
But I digress:
The low test scores are a point of frustration to some; a source of anger for others. The Rev. Randolph Staten of the Minnesota Coalition of Black Churches says state officials have failed to adequately address the educational disparities.
"We wonder why it is with so many of our children being destroyed we have not declared an emergency in the state of Minnesota," Staten said.
Achievement gaps are often attributed to income level and home environment. Low-income families often have few educational resources at home. Recent immigrants don't always have the English language skills needed to keep pace in school. Some experts also point to low classroom expectations, peer pressure and teacher quality as key factors.
Nice to see that the tests aren't vilified here. And few reporters will touch upon the hot button of peer pressure and testing, even though at least one study suggests that peer pressure is more highly related to test score performance than is family income. It's more PC to blame the tests than to blame the negative peer pressure and low expectations that abound in poor schools.
Anyway, I tried to find out more about what's being discussed, and done, in Minnesota. (Note to self: Avoid future Google searches using "Minnesota score gap" as keywords, since this produces an avalanche of Packers articles.)
I found some 2003 NAEP data which suggests that the gap between fourth-grade boys and girls is increasing in reading; on the other hand, the black-white gap decreased slightly in fourth-grade math. Eighth-grade gaps between black and white students did not appear significantly changed from the previous year - which is good, because they're wide in both math and reading. If anyone knows of other articles that examine the Minnesota gap, let me know.
Posted by kswygert at September 20, 2004 01:01 PM