by Joe Nathan

Don’t ignore or obsess. That’s how parents and educators should react to the new Minnesota state ratings of each public school. Despite denials from some educators, the new ratings contain important information. But whether it’s a school, car or community, do a handful of numbers tell the full story? Of course not.

Minnesota’s results show, once again, the positive power of schools. All over the state, schools with significant numbers or percentages of low-income students, or students who don’t speak English at home, passed the test. With the right combination of strong curriculum, effective instruction and cooperation between home and school, great things happen.

A few examples:

∑ Twin Cities Academy, a St. Paul charter public school with 25 percent low-income students. This middle school received a “5 Star” rating in reading and math. More than 90 percent of its students passed the state’s 8th grade reading and math tests this year. TCA has a higher percentage of students who passed those tests than many suburban schools enrolling a much lower percentage of low-income students, or minority students.

∑ Harvest Prep, a Minneapolis charter enrolling more than 70 percent low income students and whose student body is 100 percent African American. The state’s third and 5th graders compiled a better record than virtually all Minneapolis schools, and many suburban schools.

Other examples – both district and charter – are available around the state.

We ought to be learning and sharing what these schools do. Some educators are concerned about including special education and limited English speaking students in these rankings. Let’s think for a moment about the state driver’s license. There are certain standards every driver is expected to master. These standards apply to all Minnesotans, to people whose families have lived in Minnesota for generations. They also apply to people who have arrived in the last year. These standards make sense. But some people need more time to gain skills and knowledge necessary to pass the driver’s test.

Congress and the President decided a few years ago that every state must do several things:

∑ Develop standards for students in reading and math

∑ Test virtually all public school students in those areas

∑ Report results via a report card showing how each public school is doing, using tests, attendance and graduation rates

Educators and families also should look for progress. New Commissioner of

Education Alice Seagren is a big fan of the “value added” approach to testing.

She’s right. “Value added” measures where students start, and how much progress they make.

Hopefully, in the next few years, this information will be added to each school’s report card. Good information helps us know how youngsters and schools are doing. But these numbers don’t measure important qualities like student’s integrity and persistence, or percentages of students ready for college. So while the new state report cards provide important information, they should be part, but only part, of the way we judge schools.

Joe Nathan is director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He can be reached at jnathan@hhh.umn.edu.