The Minnesota Business Partnership is an association of the CEOs of the largest businesses in Minnesota. Since 1977, the Partnership has sought to ensure that Minnesota's economy remains strong, globally competitive and enabled for growth. So it is not surprising that the leaders of Minnesota's largest companies have identified education and closing the achievement gap as leading business priorities.
For the past five years, to underscore the need and to highlight schools closing the achievement gap, the Partnership has presented the Minnesota's Future Award to a public elementary school in the Twin Cities that serves a high percentage of low-income and/or minority students and is closing the achievement gap.
This October 14th, the Partnership honored Concordia Creative Learning Academy at the Partnership's Annual Dinner before nearly 800 business, community and political leaders. Earlier John Stanoch, Minnesota president of Qwest and chair of the Partnership's Education Policy Committee, presented the $10,000 Minnesota's Future Award check at the charter school's assembly.
Speaking about their decision, Jim Bartholomew, Education Policy Director of the Partnership noted that:
- Overall, Concordia's students posted consistent improvement in both reading and math over the past three years and now exceeds the statewide average.
- African-American students, which account for more than 40 percent of the school's students, consistently outperformed African-American students statewide and were often on par with overall statewide performance.
- Nearly 90 percent of Concordia students come from low-income families. These students not only outperform low-income students statewide but are performing higher than the overall statewide average in reading.
Like great educators everywhere, Mary Donaldson, Director of Concordia Creative Learning Academy attributed the success to the students and staff. "The children and staff of Concordia Creative Learning Academy deserve this recognition for their hard work" she said when asked to explain the source of their success.
Looking into the Concordia story, I was struck by the positive messages that surround the students on the classroom walls, such as, "Believe- I believe in you, believe in yourself". At the Academic All Star ceremony, all students get a t-shirt that says "I Can" on the front and the year they will graduate on the back. It's evident that the team of educators at Concordia are helping their students master the academics by creating a loving, caring, school family.
