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Minnesota's education achievement gap among largest in nation

Minneapolis, Minn. — (AP) Minnesota has the largest gap between the passing rates of white students and black students among states that require high school exit exams, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center on Education Policy.

Just 33 percent of Minnesota black students passed the math Basic Skills Test on their first try - 45 points behind the passing rate for white students. And black students' passing rate lagged 38 points behind white students on the reading test, one of the most substantial gaps among states reporting exit exam results.

Based on where I sit, being on the school board, being a pastor, we have gotten away from the African-American community having a culture, an environment that says education is important.
- Rev. Albert Gallmon

While officials at the Washington D.C.-based center found that high school exit exams have led to improvements in teaching and curriculum, they also have contributed to disproportionately low pass rates for minority, poor, and disabled students and for English language learners across the country.

State Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke said educators remain perplexed by Minnesota's wide achievement gap. She said she hopes that the testing requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and new efforts by Minnesota schools will help better diagnose and cure the reasons black students are falling so far behind.

"What the root cause is, we don't know," Yecke said. "But we do know that it is a challenge that we have to meet."

To the Rev. Albert Gallmon, head of the Minneapolis branch of the NAACP and a former member of the Minneapolis school board, the report is more bad news - and more proof that the achievement gap is a pervasive and persistent problem.

"Some people will say you're blaming the victims," he said. "But based on where I sit, being on the school board, being a pastor, we have gotten away from the African-American community having a culture, an environment that says education is important.

"The sound way, the best way, to get up and out is to have a good education. That piece is no longer the bedrock for the African American community," Gallmon said.

Achievement gaps exist in all the 19 states now using high school exit examinations, officials said. Of the 12 states reporting 2003 data, most showed passing rates of minority students and students living in poverty 20 points or more lower than those of white students.

Yecke said the state government is planning to highlight those schools that are showing the most promise in closing the achievement gap. The state Education Department expects to issue a report soon that shows some of the most successful approaches to raising the achievement of minority and limited English-speaking students.

"We need to share those lessons with other schools," Yecke said. "This is a challenge. There are schools that are facing this challenge and there are schools that are meeting the challenge."

She mentioned one school that is giving students an extra period each day to work on areas where they need help. Others provide baby-sitting and meals to encourage parents to come to parent-teacher conferences.

But Yecke acknowledged that much of the problem may be outside the schools' control and schools must forge better partnerships with parents to address some of the underlying issues - such as poor attendance or homework troubles.


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