My Personal Candidate Forum, Chapter 2: the Second Question
From now until the November 6th election day, I will answer a question each day here on my blog, reposting the answer also on my Facebook page. Please revisit my website often to see all the questions and answers. If you have a question for me, please send me a message and I will strive to answer it here.
Imagine an interview, a discussion between me and the moderator. No time limit. You are the audience. And here is the second question:
1. Do you feel the district is doing a good job of educating the students and preparing them for post-secondary education or the entry into the workforce? Why or why not?
Yes, absolutely. If the student is white.
As reported by the Minnesota Report Card website (https://rc.education.state.mn.us/#), Osseo School District’s overall graduation rate is 84%, which slightly higher than the state average of 83.7%. But if you dig deeper, you will see that this figure is misleading on two levels. For white students the graduation rate is 91.5%, followed by Asian (90.7%), Black (71%), and Hispanic (67%). Fewer students of color graduate in our schools compared to their white peers. But that is not as concerning to me as the proficiency levels of our graduates.
According to 2018 MCA/MTAS test score data, 74.8% of our white 10th grade students met or exceeded reading standards. In comparison, 57.4% of Asian, 41% of Hispanic, and 36.7% of Black students in 10th grade met or exceeded those standards.
Again, per 2018 MCA/MTAS reported test score data, 62.6% of our white 11th grade students are considered competent in math. At the same time, 41.9% of Asian, 23.2% of Hispanic, and an abysmal 16.8% of our Black students are considered proficient in math. We are graduating students that can’t do math. We are failing to prepare our students of color for functioning in the real world. As a school board member, I will implement what we need to do in our schools to change these scores for the better!