Recently the Minnesota Department of Education released data indicating that 1,048 out of 2,303 schools in Minnesota are not making ‘adequate yearly progress’ according to the standards of the No Child Left Behind law. This is almost half of the state’s schools. Minnesota’s achievement gap for students of color leads the nation.
However, Minnesota is also home to one of the best-performing schools in the nation, and we should learn from what they are doing well, especially in closing the achievement gap for students of color. The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), a charter school in Inver Grove Heights, was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation for growth in student achievement by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and honored with the 2009 NWEA Growth in Achievement Award. The Star Tribune ranked TiZA’s performance No. 1 in the state for “beating the odds” in reading in 2009 and in math in 2008. More than 80 percent of TiZA students are under the poverty line, and more than 70 percent are learning English as a second language.
Most of the news about TiZA has been negative and has focused on the intense scrutiny of the school by the Minnesota Department of Education and the litigation the school faces. In the 18 months between January 2008 and June 2009, TiZA was visited, inspected or investigated 18 times by the education department. Five of these were surprise inspections.
In fact, recent media coverage reported that the Minnesota Department of Education spent $30,000 to hire a private investigator, (Caveon, a Utah firm) to examine TiZA’s test answer books for any signs of cheating among the students or staff. The education department also monitored TiZA students taking the state tests this year. Neither Caveon nor the department found any evidence of testing irregularity at TiZA. Now that TiZA’s excellent academic results have been confirmed by the Minnesota Department of Education, the school is happy to share its methods with anyone — and in fact received a federal grant to do so (which MDE is withholding).
Also, according to a recent Pioneer Press report, due to allegations of teacher licensure violations, the Minnesota Department of Education is attempting to withhold $1.4 million in funding from TiZA, an action that may force the school to close. This would be ironic and unfortunate; at the very time when Minnesota schools are struggling to keep up with federal standards in the area of student learning, one of the schools with the strongest track record of success is threatened with closure. We are concerned that TiZA may have been the target of discrimination.
Our suggestion is simple. Instead of withholding funds from TiZA, and possibly forcing one of the best-performing schools in the state to close, the Minnesota Department of Education should look into how TiZA is closing the achievement gap and attaining outstanding student achievement— and provide that information to underperforming schools in the state.
Terence Nichols is a professor in the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas. Nathaniel Khaliq is president of the St. Paul NAACP. Eric Mahmoud is founder of the Minneapolis charter school Harvest Prep Academy and of SEED Academy.
