NEAT > News Desktop > NEWS Archive	Print View

Hmong students in St. Paul graduating at same rate as whites, but are we truly equals yet?

Assessing the numbers recently released by the St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS), it is easy to get excited by most of the results measuring academic indicators such as standardized test scores, attendance and the graduation rate.

In general, the charts tell a story about the vast improvements that Hmong students have been making in St. Paul.

Upon a closer inspection, however, there are a number of key areas that show Hmong students lagging behind and not showing any sign of improvement, prompting some to ask: “Are Hmong students getting any smarter?”

First The Good News

Comprising nearly a third of the total student population, Asian-American students (90% of which are Hmong) now outnumber all other racial groups in the SPPS, edging out black students by 189 students and white students by 1,300 (see Chart 1).

Not only do Asians / Hmong students outnumber everybody else, but they also attend school at a higher rate as well, topping the attendance trend with 94% of Asians / Hmong students attending school on a daily average.

More importantly, the number of Asians / Hmong students who are graduating in four years has risen above 70% while the number of students continuing in high school is slightly above 90% (see Chart 2), improving on their own numbers by 10% since 2002.

While the Caucasian four-year graduation rate remains the highest at 75%, the Asian / Hmong rate far exceeds their African-American counterparts who graduate below 50% in four years.

In the classroom there are a number of indications that point to remarkable gains among the Hmong. Measuring the 10th grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) Reading performance, the numbers show that in 2005 Hmong students are achieving at the same rate as the rest of the district whereas in the 11th grade MCA Math performance, the Hmong are exceeding the district by nearly a 5% higher rate.

If participation in honors courses is a measurement of academic ambition, then the Asian / Hmong students seem to consistently rank high in ambition with 43% of Asian / Hmong students enrolled in honors courses during the 2003-04 school year. In contrast, only 20% of African-American students are enrolled in honors courses.

Now The Bad News

Ambition and attendance, however, does not automatically equal performance. Take the Advanced Placement (AP) numbers, for instance.

In 2005, while 58% of all AP exams taken by Caucasians students achieved passing scores, only 15% of the Asian / Hmong students passed, placing them as the group with the lowest percentage of passing scores (17% of African-Americans passed their AP exams).

What is disturbing isn’t even how Asians / Hmong students fared against other groups, but rather how they have continuously been going down in this category from year to year. In 2002, for instance, 28% of the Asian / Hmong students passed versus the 15% in 2005.

In terms of attendance, the numbers are a bit skewed. While it is true that overall the numbers of Asian / Hmong students attending school on a daily basis is higher than the rest of the district, that number does not hold true past the 10th grade.

It would seem (see Chart 3) that after the 10th grade, there is a significant increase in the numbers of Asian / Hmong students who are absent from school that in fact exceeds the district average by nearly 5% at this point on.

Perhaps the most upsetting numbers come when looking at how the Asian / Hmong in St. Paul do in the ACT Assessment (a nationally recognized test given to students usually in the 11th grade to determine college placement).

Asians / Hmong in St. Paul score an average of 17.7, remarkably lower than their national Asian counterpart who score an average of 22.1. Their Caucasian counterpart in St. Paul score an even higher average of 23.8 which is higher than the national Caucasian average of 21.9 (see Chart 4).

While Tom Watkins, Director of Research, Evaluation and Assessment at the SPPS, does point out that these scores do include Asian / Hmong students who are in the ELL program, the question still remains (as initially proposed at the HND presentation by Dr. Zha Blong Xiong from the University of Minnesota): Despite the improving numbers, are Hmong students getting smarter?

Moving Forward

Beyond the charts and numbers are the real world situations during and after high school. While there aren’t conclusive numbers that could be found to determine where the 2004 graduates ended up, it is safe to say that more and more Hmong students are choosing higher education as opposed to marriage or entering the workforce as their parents did 20 years back.

What is also encouraging are the numbers of parents who are getting involved with their children’s education. According to Kathleen Klumb, president of St. Paul Network of Education Action Teams (NEAT), “More and more Hmong parents have increasingly become involved at the schools.”

Looking at the schools themselves, it’s also very healthy to see significant numbers of Hmong students being involved in extracurricular activities such as sports, student council and in the military programs offered at the schools.

While the numbers are a good indication of how our students are doing, it is perhaps even more important to know that our students are excelling in not just academics but all aspects of citizenship and community involvement. 
 
http://www.hmongtoday.com/displaynews.asp?ID=2198