St. Paul school district must act urgently, leader says

The interim St. Paul superintendent says the district is applying many strategies to raise student achievement.

By GREGORY A. PATTERSON, Star Tribune

Last update: October 13, 2009 - 10:19 PM

The St. Paul Public Schools must act with urgency, collaborate and be accountable in order to close the achievement gap and prepare students for leading the city in the future, said Suzanne Kelly, interim schools chief.

"If St. Paul is to prosper, our future citizens and leaders must be able to read and write fluently, compute and think critically, create new artistic designs and sounds, and respect cultural and racial diversity," Kelly said at the annual "State of the District" luncheon Tuesday in downtown St. Paul. The need to close the achievement gap, where white students perform better on statewide tests than students of color, Kelly said, is a personal "moral imperative."

Kelly, who became acting superintendent after Meria Carstarphen left the post in June to lead the Austin, Texas, schools, has continued to push forward on student achievement, setting a goal of boosting test scores by an unprecedented 10 percentage points this year.

She responded to complaints that the district has focused on students who were close to passing at the expense of others. "To clarify -- targeting only a select number of students to meet our goal has never been my message, or my intent," Kelly said. "Our goal is to change the unconscionable truth that for all of our demographic groups -- except our white students -- more than half are not proficient."

Kelly wants the school staff "to know the name and face of each student who is not performing at grade level," she said.

"By any measure, state reading tests, graduation rates or juvenile court data, there are children in our community who are not being equipped to enjoy America's promises of liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Kelly said. "We cannot continue business as usual."

She didn't go deeply into specifics about the needed changes but did say the district's leadership is asking all principals and teachers to incorporate reading skills and math concepts into all content areas and to promote nonfiction writing.

The district also is working to develop a teaching staff specifically trained to work with urban students, using teacher coaches and encouraging collaboration among teachers. In another initiative, the district's foundation is partnering with the Twin Cities United Way to provide literacy tutoring for more than 3,000 students in kindergarten through third grade.

"If we want to increase economic development, decrease our reliance on law enforcement and corrections, and control the rate of health care costs," Kelly said, "there is no greater investment than in education."

Before taking over as interim superintendent, Kelly was chief of staff for the district, after holding other education posts. Before that, Kelly was a reporter and editor at the Star Tribune.

Gregory A. Patterson • 612-673-7287

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