Minneapolis schools chief says some goals not met, but urges patience

Green gave community members a glimpse of the district's progress toward its academic mileposts.

By PATRICE RELERFORD, Star Tribune

Last update: October 3, 2008 - 12:09 AM

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Minneapolis Superintendent Bill Green told district staff, city officials and nonprofit leaders Thursday that the school district has fallen short of some of its academic goals but asked for their continued support as it moves ahead with ambitious reforms.

City students made modest improvements on recent state and district exams but didn't meet district-wide targets in four of five academic areas: kindergarten readiness, third-grade reading scores, eighth-grade math scores and college readiness. It exceeded the targets in one area: graduation rates.

"Yet in some of our testing from 2007-2008, we almost kept pace with, met or even exceeded the Minnesota state average," Green said. "The difference is, we have to move faster and further -- and jump higher -- than any other district in the state."

Green's address at the downtown public library comes as Minneapolis public schools embarks on the first complete academic year of an ambitious five-year strategic plan to eliminate the achievement gap between white and minority students.

Next month city residents will head to the polls to decide the fate of a $60 million levy referendum. District officials say the money will help keep class sizes down, improve the math and science curriculum, fund early grade literacy initiatives and buy new textbooks and technology.

On Thursday, Green provided the following summary of the district's performance in five key academic areas during the 2007-08 academic year:

• 59 percent of 5-year-olds met kindergarten assessment goals; the target was 64 percent.

• 53 percent of third-graders were proficient in reading; the target was 64 percent.

• 35 percent of eighth-graders were proficient in math; the target was 43 percent.

• 30 percent of 10th-graders earned a 21 or higher on the ACT/PLAN exam; the target was 39 percent.

• 73 percent of Minneapolis' high school students graduated within four years, exceeding the target of 69 percent.

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395