Latin@s & Education in MN - Waiting for Súper Policy

In Minnesota, when it comes to education for Latinos, long-time trends are slightly improving but continues to fail many of our students. Minnesota is a great state but our racial disparities are persistent. In addition, demographic shifts will push Minnesota off the cliff if current trends do not change. We have talked about this for many years now—retirement rate, more jobs than workers, healthcare needs, failing of students in the only communities growing, less college degrees earned, etc., are some of the reasons we must be alarmed and acting for change. Now.

This blog attempts to look at Latin@s and education in Minnesota trends based on different points of data and personal experience in education.

Minnesota Public Radio and the Chicano Latino Affairs Council will be hosting a conversation around Latinos and Education June 9th 2015 and co-hosted by Chris Farrell and Alberto Monserrate. The discussion will also feature guests Elia Bruggeman, former Sleepy Eye, Minn., school principal, and Michael Muñoz, superintendent of Rochester Public Schools. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event starts at 7:00 p.m. Free registration available here.

This blog attempts to look at Latin@s and education in Minnesota trends based on different points of data and personal experience in education.

Latinos by the numbers In Minnesota, the growth of the Latino community is especially noticeable in the last two decades. Between the 90s and 2000s, the Latino community grew by more than a 100%. In the last decade alone, Latin@s grew 75% compared to 7.8% growth in the overall state population. An updated 2002 US Census report estimated the Latino population to be 158,752 and 257,000 in 2010, making the Latin@ community 5% of the state’s population (Pew Research Center, 2011). According to the Minnesota Humanities Center and Chicano Latino Affairs Council (2010), projections for growth will continue; by 2030, Latinos are expected to reach 492,000 (a 182% increase between 2010 and 2030).

The 2010 US Census indicates that the majority of Latin@s in Minnesota were born in the US (60% with a median age of 14) and a vast majority are of Mexican origin (72%). In 2010, there were 71,000 Latin@s in the state’s K-12 system and 71,849 or 8.4% of overall student population in public schools during the 2014-2015 school year (Minnesota Department of Education, 2015). 30% of Latin@s spoke English at home while 157,000 or 70% spoke another language other than only English (Minnesota at a Glance, 2011 http://pewrsr.ch/...).

The Education of a Latin@

Today, a Latin@ kid might go through the school system without ever having met a teacher who shares her culture or speaks her dad’s native tongue, especially if she lives outside the metro area (most teachers of color work within the metro area and in 2012, Latino teachers made .11% of teachers statewide (Mn Dept of Ed, 2013 http://bit.ly/...), a .4 increase since 2007(MN 2020, http://bit.ly/...). At third grade, her reading is more likely to measure as not-proficient and in 8th grade math, you can tell the same story (34.9% of Latin@ student read proficient by 3rd grade and 49.7% are proficient in math by 8th grade; 66.6% of white 3rd grade students read proficient and 68.1% are proficient in math by 8th grade) (Mn Dept. of Ed. 2015). I, for example, never had a professor who identified as Latin@ during college and in high school, the Latina teacher I had was in the English Learner program—a trend you see everywhere: bilingual teachers are often working only with students learning English or Spanish.

[I think the testing used to measure student performance is too problematic but there is little data on other indicators that could tell more about our students]

In 2014, some 81.2% of all students graduated high school, up from 79% in 2013. Latino students graduated at a rate of 63.2% in 2014 compared to 59% who graduated in 2013 (MN Dept. of Education, 2015). There were 12,039 Latin@ students in undergraduate schools in Minnesota and made up 5% of all students (Mn Office of Higher Education, 2015). In 2013, 49.1% of Latin@ students who graduated high school enrolled in post-secondary options compared to 47.9% of white students. Between 2009-2013, Latino students had the highest participation (53%) of any racial group or all combined (49%). While these numbers seem promising, do not forget the 26.3% gap of between white (85.3%) and Latin@ (59%) students who graduated high school in 2013.

 

Where are we headed?

Over a cliff.

In Minnesota, when it comes to education for Latinos, and you squeeze us all into data statistics, long-time trends are slightly improving but continues to fail many of our students. Minnesota is a great state but our racial disparities are persistent. In addition, demographic shifts will push Minnesota off the cliff if current trends do not change. We have talked about this for many years now—retirement rate, more jobs than workers, healthcare needs, the failing of students in the only communities growing, less college degrees earned, etc., are some of the reasons we must be alarmed and acting for change. Now. [We should just care for all students so everyone can have a decent quality of life; but for those who need economic reasons, it is time to freak out—we cannot afford to not do more. This needs to be treated with urgency. Period.]

What do we do? FREAK OUT and more importantly, DO SOMETHING.

Education is complex. We cannot stay stuck however. Following are some ideas I found that could help us ramp up learning for students. A recent study looked at different programs that have closed educational attainment for Latin@ students in different communities around Minnesota. These are themes that point out what can work for Latin@ students across the state (CLAC & HACER, 2012: •    Building strong relationships between staff and students and providing individual attention to each student; •    Fostering motivation in students by helping them identify and achieve their own goals, and offering encouragement; •    Providing exposure to career and higher education opportunities; •    Creating an environment of high expectations, academic rigor, and promoting upper level academic opportunities; •    Ensuring a welcoming and respectful school environment; •    Recognizing and placing value on students’ cultural identities and needs; •    Encouraging family involvement by building mutually respectful relationships and addressing the needs of parents and families; •    Utilizing partnerships, collaboration, and community involvement to engage students.

According to MN Compass, "While the root causes of disparities lie in historical experiences of oppression and exclusion, many gaps illustrated by current data can be explained by insufficient income, unhealthy environments, and inadequate access to opportunities." Craddle to career efforts in Minneapolis are another great tool. Generation Next's goals for the metro area seem to be helpful too: Goal 1: Each child enters kindergarten with the literacy, social and emotional strengths needed for successful learning. Goal 2: By end of 3rd grade, each student meets key benchmarks for success in reading and reading comprehension. Goal 3: By end of 8th grade, each student is on track to meet benchmarks for success in math. Goal 4: Each student graduates from high school ready for college and career. Goal 5: Every high school graduate earns a post-secondary degree or certification.

I also think teacher programs must change. I went to college to become a teacher but dropped out of the program. We have all heard the horror stories by students going through these programs and surveys have shown that teachers often do not feel well equipped to teach in the classroom (I will write more on why teacher programs are barely changing another time). We need more teachers of color. Teachers need more incentives than just making a difference in a child’s life.

The demands on a teacher are astronomical too; I do think teachers are super s/heroes but they are also human beings and instead of getting more people into classrooms, the current system seems to be a meat grinding where the few survive or feel they have a say in their work. I also think the profession has changed too. Today, we expect teachers to be teachers for the rest of their lives like many of our older teachers, but I do not think that is what younger people want. We move jobs and want to have different professional experiences. When you are a teacher, there are little outlets to do something else and people often feel their skills are not appreciated outside the classroom (people who do not teach are often wrong about their perceptions of what teachers do).

Also, if we want to accelerate learning for all students, more attention needs to be given to each student. This also means that the job to educate a kid is everybody’s job; learning happens outside of the classroom too. YouthPrise is doing great work to ensure all kids have high quality out of school learning opportunities in Minnesota.

I tried to keep this more general but other things we have to think about is how we localize efforts to better support students who represent different demographics based on income, immigration status, age, language proficiency, gender, and the list goes on. For example, the Mn Dream/Prosperity Act passed in 2013 and the ELL bill in 2014  will continue to make a big difference for many students.

The politics around education are so toxic, it often feels you cannot have a conversation with anyone about anything. It has become about adults and their camps instead of it being about students. We need to come to terms with the fact that our Minnesota is dramatically changing and must invest more in giving everyone a high quality of life. There is no such thing as a super policy that will address educational and other disparities. We must start seeing each student as an asset, give her the attention she deserves, change unjust systems that go beyond the classroom, and make educating all of our students possible because it is possible. And it is up to us.

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Juventino Meza is an internationally recognized champion for human rights, a non-profit executive and leader in civic engagement.  Juve speaks regularly to classrooms and conferences on Latinos, Higher Education, LGBT issues, New Americans, Immigration Reform and Democracy. +++ Initially dropping out of high school, Juve went on to earn his bachelor's degree in Peace & Justice Studies at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. He co-founded NAVIGATE MN, a leadership development program for young immigrant students and worked at the Citizens League as a Policy Coordinator focusing on issues related to immigrant students and higher education. Juve's work on building a strong coalition to pass the MN Dream/Prosperity Act in 2013 led to access to higher education for undocumented youth across the state.

Juve Meza is passionate advocate who has worked tirelessly to change the conversation regarding immigrant and LGBTQ rights in Minnesota. Named one of the "25 Under 25" by OutFront Minnesota in 2012, he continues to share his story in order to inspire young people and put a face to the issues that have profoundly shaped his life.

Juve serves on the scholarship selection committees for the Latino Economic Development Fund, the Mexican Consulate's Institute of Mexican's Abroad Fellowship Program and Dream.Us.

In 2013, Juve became the youngest recipient of the international Ohtli Award, Mexico's highest recognition for Mexicans living abroad, and received the Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association Immigrant of Distinction Award. He was chosen as a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in 2013.