Minneapolis Public Schools reported fall math and reading assessment data that show overall students remain behind where they were before the pandemic. The assessment data was presented to the school board at its Committee of the Whole meeting on Oct. 22.

In math, 42% of second through eighth grade students are proficient at grade level and in reading 48% of students show grade level proficiency.

The proficiency rates are lower than last year, despite the district spending $30 million of federal pandemic aid on academic interventions last school year.

The average data masks differences between subgroups of students. White students have returned to the same levels of proficiency in reading and math as in 2019. Students receiving special education services and American Indian students have surpassed 2019 proficiency rates in both math and reading. Asian and Hispanic students remain below the 2019 proficiency rates in both reading and math. Black students have nearly recovered in reading but remain below 2019 proficiency rates in math.

Fall Fastbridge aMath assessments for second through eighth grade students in Minneapolis Public Schools for 2019-2024. The last three categories on the x-axis are English language learners, special education, and homeless/highly mobile students. Data from Minneapolis Public Schools, complied by Melissa Whitler

The district continues to have wide disparities between white students and students of color in both reading and math.

In math, 75% of second through eighth grade white students are proficient. Students who identify as two or more races are the only other group where more than half of students are at grade-level.

In reading, 80% of second through eighth grade white students are proficient at grade level. As in math, only students who identify as two or more races have more than half of students proficient at grade level.

Fall Fastbridge aReading assessment results for second through eighth grade students from 2019 through 2024. The last three categories on the x-axis are English language learners, spedical education, and homeless/highly-mobile students. Data from Minneapolis Public Schools, compiled by Melissa Whitler

“These data reveal the need for both continued urgency and a sustained commitment to implementing the practices that work,” Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams said at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Oct. 22. “There are many things public education is expected to do, but we must prioritize learning, especially the basics in reading and math.”

School board members Collin Beachy, Lori Norvell and Abdul Abdi expressed their frustration with the assessment data that continue to show the majority of the district’s students are not proficient at grade level in reading or math.

“I don’t want to come back next year and have the same thing,” Abdi said.

For the second year in a row, the school board has prioritized reading and math instruction as one of five strategic plan strategies for the district to focus on. Maria Rollinger, the district’s executive director of academics, said the Academics Department has seven initiatives it is working on this year to improve students’ academic outcomes.

The reading instruction initiatives include the State required training in the science of reading,, adoption of a new foundational reading skills curriculum for kindergarten through third grade students, and development of an English Language Arts curriculum for middle and high school students.

The district has two initiatives to improve math instruction. This is the third year the district is using the Bridges/Number Corner curriculum for elementary math, and teachers have been asked to incorporate eight “culturally sustaining” math practices this year as part of their instruction.

This is the first year of implementing new math curricula in middle school and high school. The iReady curriculum for middle school students includes a diagnostic assessment that teachers administered this fall. According to Rollinger, those assessments show 11% of students are working above grade-level in math, 15% are at grade-level, 20% are one grade-level below, 9% are two grade-levels below and 44% students are three or more grade-levels below.

Rollinger said that the district is now focused on instructional coaching for middle school math teachers on how to balance delivering grade-level material to all students, while differentiating instruction for students who are working above or below grade level in math.

The initiatives in math and reading are designed to standardize the curriculum and instructional practices across district classrooms. Rollinger said that this is a new practice for the district.

Last school year district elementary schools were using 16 different literacy curricula. Now there are just two, with the majority of schools using the newly adopted UFLI curriculum.

“In the past, our system has had times when we have purchased a curriculum, but then we haven’t had a really clear, deep implementation plan,”  Rollinger said.  

The lack of curriculum implementation meant that teachers were left on their own to decide whether to use a curriculum and how to deliver instruction. The experience for students would vary across classrooms and school.

“We are ensuring consistency, high expectations, accountability and progress-monitoring,” Rollinger said of the new academic initiatives.

The district will share winter assessment data with the school board in February. The February data will also include whether or not students are making adequate growth in addition to proficiency rates.