Minneapolis schools not meeting goals set in plan

In under five years, Minneapolis schools will raise test scores for all students, close the achievement gap and boost graduation rates. That was the plan anyway.

But the lofty goals of the district's Acceleration 2020 strategic plan are running into the cold, hard numbers of statewide standards. This week's math and reading test results laid bare just how far short of expectations the district is falling. The district said 52 percent of all its students would master state reading standards by this year, but just 43 scored proficient on the exam.

While educators say many school districts also set ambitious goals and struggle to reach them, Minneapolis school leaders say it's time to take a hard look at what they realistically can deliver.

"[Our] strategic plan is amazing," said School Board Member Tracine Asberry. "What is missing in that plan is the accountability to ensure that we live up to those commitments we have made."

This school year, Minneapolis officials say they will re-evaluate their plan, which sets out the goals for test scores, graduation rates and more than 40 other measures.

Two years after the plan was approved, some of the measures still do not have stated goals, something that concerns some board members and educators.

"That's a natural part of this work," said Eric Moore, the district's director of research and evaluation. "We will look at the strategic plan and determine if the focus areas still get us where we want to go."

Former Minneapolis Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson and her top administration crafted the Acceleration 2020 plan. The school board approved it in 2014.

In it are 47 areas designed to achieve six major goals: increasing student graduation rates and college readiness, eliminating disparities, improving community involvement, allocating more resources directly to schools, creating financial stability, and developing school staff members.

On the academic side of the plan, district officials said schools would begin to see a 5 percent increase every year on math and reading test scores. For students of color, leaders wanted those standards to increase by 8 percent each year, so that the achievement gap would narrow. And all high schools would increase their graduation rates by 10 percent each year.

They coined a catchy and easy-to-remember phrase for the goals: 5-8-10.

Minneapolis met its goal of increasing graduation rates by 10 percent in its first year.

The goals to increase MCA scores weren't met. Neither were the targets for the percentage of students scoring 21 or higher on the ACT or the number of students who are reading at grade level in third grade.

"The transparency comes by explaining why 5-8-10 is reasonable," Asberry said. "Or if it's not reasonable, we need to figure out why that is."

That will be the new superintendent's job, and Ed Graff said that has been his priority during his first few weeks on the job.

Even before he was selected to be superintendent, Graff spoke to staff members about the district's long-term goals. During his interview with board members, he said many of the people he talked to were not able to articulate what was in the plan.

After getting the job, he and his leadership team conducted a survey. They found that just 55 percent of the district's employees understood the plan and that only 45 percent believed it would help boost academic achievement.

He said he and his staff will re-examine everything in the plan. They will look at the curriculum the district uses, how tax dollars are budgeted and what training teachers get.

They'll also make sure that the plan has target goals.

Of the 47 areas, about a third still do not have measurable goals attached to them.

That led Board Member Josh Reimnitz to vote no on this year's budget. In addition to setting academic goals, the plan is supposed to be a guiding document for how the district allocates its dollars.

Reimnitz said he could not approve funding for programs when there was still no clear way for evaluating if those programs would improve academics.

Amoroso said it is not uncommon for districts to continually adjust their strategic plans, and it's not surprising if districts like Minneapolis do not meet their goals. Districts that are striving for big changes often set goals that are unattainable, he said.

"We all want everything done today, but it takes longer than a day," Amoroso said. "The important thing is to see that we [districts] are making progress."