Updates
October 2007 - The Family: America’s Smallest School - Family characteristics and home conditions influence children’s cognitive development and school performance, Educational Testing Service (Press Release).
October 2007 - Bridging the Gaps: A Picture of How Work Supports Work in Ten States - Analyzes the gaps in public policies intended to support low-wage working families, and shows how policy could be designed to give all working families the opportunity to bridge the gaps between their earnings and a basic standard of living, Center for Economic and Policy Eesearch.
March 2006 - Tackling the achievement gap head on, Wilder Foundation. (Full Report) (Summary) Note: The Wilder report above has more current information than these Web pages until updates are made.
November 2006 - The Minnesota Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity 2005 2006 - Assesses the performance of the Minnesota Legislature and the governor during the 2005–2006 biennium on policies that address and strengthen racial equity and opportunity in the state, Organizing Apprenticeship Project. Note: This report is about state level issues, but describes many local impacts.
January 2006 - Report to the Saint Paul City Council on Mind the Gap: Reducing Disparities to Improve Regional Competitiveness in the Twin Cities, City of Saint Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development.
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November 2004 - How is Saint Paul doing with respect to the Achievement Gap? Saint Paul Network of Education Action Teams (NEAT)
As the first step to answering this question, we needed to ask, "What are the contributing factors?" Otherwise, we wouldn't know what data to look at. The October 2003 study Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Tracking Progress identifies both school-based and community-based correlates of student achievement (see right sidebar).
In November 2004, NEAT used this study as the framework for a public forum about the Achievement Gap in Saint Paul. The decision to use the Parsing the Achievement Gap study was based on recommendations contained in the April 2004 (updated May 2005) Wilder Foundation report, Tackling the achievement gap head on, a background and discussion paper for community groups interested in helping all children succeed in school.
The goal of the event was to provide a starting point for discussion by asking the question, "How is Saint Paul doing on these contributing factors?"
- With the help of Saint Paul Public Schools, we were able to track down current data on some (but not all) of the school-based variables.
- With the help of the Wilder Research Center, we were able to track down current data on some (but not all) of the community-based variables.
The effort was exhausting. Both in terms of the amount of data we looked at, as well as in terms of trying to figure out what the data was telling us. In the end, it felt like a beginning—that we’d finally found a way to ...
- Use the data
- To identify needs
What we need to figure out next is how to carry the learning forward in a Call to Action ...
- To implement strategies for improvement
- To measure again
- In an ongoing cycle of improvement
Only by completing the cycle will we see results.
This portion of our Web site captures the information provided in the report and makes it "updatable" as new information becomes available. It presents a starting point for ongoing efforts to address the variables contributing to the Achievement Gap in Saint Paul. Each page represents a variable identified in the Parsing the Achievement Gap study, and:
- begins with the definition of the variable provided in the study
- lists the "Ways to Measure" identified in the study, and
- "Additional Ways to Measure" identified locally
- provides "Local Data" - when available, and offers
- "In this Section" - additional notes, resources and parenting tips as they are found and developed
Our hope is that parents groups, site councils and principals will use this information to guide school-based efforts and, when they see systemic issues echoed in their schools, get involved with NEAT to work on the issues on a citywide basis.
By focusing on what's most important—closing the Achievement Gap in Saint Paul—parents can participate in the substantive work of education reform.
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