Study Gives District 196 Schools Low Grades for Achievement Gap

Students of color at Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan schools are doing slightly better academically than minorities in many districts across the state—but the percentage of District 196 minority students meeting proficiency standards is a whopping 38 percentage points lower than that of their white classmates, according to a new study.

While Minnesota's public schools excel in test scores, the achievement gaps between white kids and students of color—and low-income and high-income students—are still significantly larger than national averages.

Black and Latino eighth-graders lag 37 percentage points behind their white peers in math. Low-income eight-graders trail their richer classmates by 32 percentage points.

In a March report, the Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now (MinnCAN)  sliced and diced public school data and published "report cards" for every school and district in the state, grading them in five categories:

• Student performance (average percentage of students who are proficient or above across reading and math)
• Subgroup performance (average percentage of low-income, black and Latino students who are proficient or above in reading and math)
• Achievement gap (average difference between the percentage of low-income and minority students and percentage of non-low-income and white students who are proficient or above in reading and math)
• Performance Gains (average one-year change among a cohort of students who are proficient in reading and math)
• Four-year cohort high school graduation rates

Take a look at MinnCAN's ratings for District 196 below or look at individual school grades on MinnCAN's website.

MinnCAN Grades for District 196 Schools

Percentage of students scoring proficient on The Nation's Report Card (2011)

Fourth-graders
(reading)

Eighth-grade proficiency achievement gaps in math (2011, in percentage points)

Eighth-grade proficiency achievement gaps in reading (2011, in percentage points)