Minnesota is taking aim at social and institutional forces that put the least experienced and least qualified teachers in the state’s neediest schools.

Majority-white schools in Minnesota have half as many nontenured teachers as schools with large numbers of black, Asian, Hispanic or American Indian students, according to the Department of Education.

Low-income, low-performing and especially charter schools also have high percentages of early-career teachers and those who are not fully licensed.

“I think the data did kind of surprise us in some way. The gaps were bigger than we expected them to be,” said Hue Nguyen, an assistant education commissioner.

The numbers come from the recently completed teacher equity plan, which the Obama administration is requiring of all states under No Child Left Behind. The document lays out barriers to equitable teacher distribution and the state’s plans for addressing it.

In the plan, Minnesota set a goal of reducing its teacher equity gaps by half by 2022, with school districts annually reporting their progress.

Officials identified institutional racism and ineffective leadership among the reasons the state’s overwhelmingly white teaching force doesn’t stay for long in high-need schools. They also said teacher licensing barriers contribute to the problem, as well as inconsistent funding for charters and Bureau of Indian Education schools.

The Legislature this month agreed to send more money to charters and BIE schools, but some of the other state-level strategies are on hold after lawmakers killed Gov. Mark Dayton’s $25 million teacher workforce package.

The package would have paid for forgivable loans for teachers who go to work in high-need schools and a grow-your-own program that sought to increase diversity by developing minority teachers aides and other school employees into licensed teachers.

The Department of Education also failed to secure funding for three positions dedicated to educational equity.

Nonetheless, Nguyen said, the department will proceed with creating a statewide equity team and promoting equity work through its Regional Centers of Excellence. Meanwhile, school districts can start making changes now.

“A lot of it has to do with school leadership. It has to do with the school board and superintendent and hiring decisions and placement decisions,” Nguyen said.

Laurin Cathey, human resources director for St. Paul Public Schools, served on the steering committee that helped write the state plan. He said St. Paul’s ability to place good teachers in all types of schools is limited by contract preferences for veterans.

“The contracts in St. Paul right now are very heavily influenced by seniority,” he said. “To kind of take that away from (teachers) might meet a little resistance.”

Denise Rodriguez, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, said the administration has more control over teacher placement than it might seem. Seniority only comes into play later in the hiring process, after most open jobs are filled, and the district has the authority to transfer educators without giving a reason.

Denise Specht, Education Minnesota president, said the key to keeping good teachers is improving the work environment by hiring visionary principals, as well as support staff like counselors, nurses and social workers.

“People want to go to work where they have resources and supports,” she said. When a school does that, “then everybody is going to want to work there.”

The state plan also calls for stronger induction programs for new teachers, more culturally relevant training in teacher education programs and perhaps awarding extra state money based on school and district needs around teacher equity.

Anthony Hernandez, an early-career charter school teacher who helped assemble the state plan, said the group understood that the inequitable distribution of teachers is a complex problem that requires a range of solutions.

“It is a shared responsibility of teacher prep programs, colleges of education, local districts, principal training,” he said. “I think that was really important because there was no one simple solution.”





Green teachers

Minnesota charter schools and those with large numbers of low-income students and minority students have higher percentages of inexperienced teachers:

l Majority-white schools: 12.4 percent

l Majority-Asian schools: 21 percent

l Majority-Hispanic schools: 26.6 percent

l Majority-black schools: 29.6 percent

l Poorest quartile: 19.4 percent

l Wealthiest quartile: 11.2 percent

l Charter schools: 32.9 percent

l Non-charter schools: 12.8 percent

l Minneapolis: 20.1 percent

l St. Paul 12.8 percent

l Outer Metro: 10.6 percent

Source: Minnesota Department of Education 2015 teacher equity plan

Note: “Inexperienced teachers” have taught in Minnesota for less than three years.



The Pioneer Press is a media partner with the Forum News Service