“Because our students are counting on us and because who we are as educators, I know we are going to make sure that we are progressing with our students and our families and our communities.”

Minnesota consistently ranks among the highest-performing states when it comes to education quality, but there are persistent, significant gaps in the achievement of certain groups of Minnesota students as compared to others. Here, we’re digging into some of the state-testing data and leading research to provide a 30,000-foot view of this complicated, controversial issue.

When I graduated from college in 1989 and hired for my first teaching job, I thought I knew everything there was to know about lesson planning, quality instruction, and classroom management. My first year of teaching was a fast wake-up call, and since then I have focused my energy and attention on those students who are not successful.