An Absolute Crisis

By Asad Zaman, Fellow, November 17, 2011 at 4:00 pm

"The Achievement Gap has grown from being a problem to being an absolute crisis", said MNSCU Chancellor Steven Rosenstone at the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership (MMEP) Annual Meeting held today. Minnesota has the highest achievement gap of all the states in the nation. This gap has persisted over the last two decades.

Although communities of color comprise about 14% of the Minnesota population, students of color currently comprise almost 25% of K-12 education enrollments. Speakers and attendees at the annual meeting highlighted the importance of closing the achievement gap to the success of the entire state.

MMEP Executive Director Carlos Mariani called for urgent efforts to turn the tide, saying that his organization has been advocating for minority education before NCLB and long before such advocacy became fashionable.

Chancellor Rosenstone pledged to conduct a detailed mapping of the workforce needs of the Minnesota economy, sector by sector in an effort to prepare graduates for the real world.

Chancellor Rosenstone described how education spending by the state of Minnesota has declined significantly in inflation adjusted terms since the year 2000. "We cannot cut education any further and expect good results", he said.

Having the largest achievement gap of all the states is not a distinction to be proud of. It is high time for the state to focus on closing the achievement gap and to reinvest in education.

Posted in Education | Related Topics: K-12 education  Achievement Gap  NCLB