Study Gives St. Louis Park Schools Low Grades for Achievement Gap

St. Louis Park students perform better than most in the state—but the difference between white and minority students is also bigger, according to report cards the Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now (MinnCAN) released last month.

While the state as a whole has a 34.4-point difference between white and black students at the high school level, St. Louis Park has a 40.3 point gap.

The achievement gap is a persistent problem across the state. While Minnesota's public schools excel in test scores, the achievement gaps between white kids and students of color—and low-income and high-income students—are still significantly larger than national averages.

In a March report, the MinnCAN sliced and diced public school data and published "report cards" for every school and district in the state, grading them in five categories:

• Student performance (average percentage of students who are proficient or above across reading and math)
• Subgroup performance (average percentage of low-income, black and Latino students who are proficient or above in reading and math)
• Achievement gap (average difference between the percentage of low-income and minority students and percentage of non-low-income and white students who are proficient or above in reading and math)
• Performance gains (average one-year change among a cohort of students who are proficient in reading and math)
• Four-year cohort high school graduation rates

The news wasn’t all gloom and doom for St. Louis Park. Aquila Elementary ranked fifth among elementary schools in the performance of Latino students.

Click here to take a look at grades for individual schools.