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Staff Focus Means Gains for Native Americans

Students in Cloquet (Minnesota) Independent School District # 94 performed well overall, but school officials were concerned about lower achievement by Native American students. Focused professional development led to improvement. Included: Approaches to helping Native American students succeed.

Overall, students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in Cloquet (Minnesota) Independent School District # 94 perform quite well compared with other students in the state, and the district has no schools in school improvement. All of Cloquet's teachers also meet the state criteria for being highly qualified. District officials feel that what they are doing to implement the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act greatly exceeds what is expected by the state -- even with new regulations that have been put into place.

At the same time, school officials remain concerned about the academic performance of Native American students, who represent about 15 percent of the district's enrollment. Some continue to lag behind their white peers. Students from the Ojibwa reservation attend Cloquet's schools. The reservation operates its own school for families of the Ojibwa nation, which enrolls 230 students, but half of the Ojibwa children attend Cloquet's schools.

Staff members feared this achievement gap could become an issue with the NCLB requirement to track adequate yearly progress (AYP) for specific ethnic subgroups. The district focused professional development on meeting the needs of these students and reaching out to the parents of students who were not performing well.

The result s of 2003 testing showed a significant improvement in the academic performance of Native American students. In 2000, Native American students scored 19 percent lower than the district wide average for all students in reading. In 2001, this subgroup scored 26 percent lower, and in 2002, it scored 24 percent lower. In 2003, however, the achievement gap for Native American students was narrowed to a difference of only 8 percent.

District goals for staff development emphasize continued improvement in reading fluency and comprehension, the use of data for making decisions, and the use of state scoring criteria for grading student work. Cloquet staff members also point to the district's extended day learning program, held in both of its elementary schools, as a contributor to high performance. This program provides homework assistance and enrichment to as many as 200 children for two or three extra hours, four afternoons each week. The program is funded from the 21st Century After School Learning program that is now part of NCLB.

A strong level of parent and community involvement also helps the teachers, according to district officials, and that includes a process of shared decision-making with advisory committees consisting of diverse community representatives.

SOURCE: Center on Education Policy

To read the full report, see A Look Inside 33 School Districts: Year 2 of the No Child Left Behind Act.

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