Furthering Reimagine Using Equity and Current Implementation Plans in Minnesota to Improve the Roadmap

Abstract

Educational equity and gaps in achievement between students of color and white students

continue to be a problem for Minnesota school districts. Following the 2015 case of Cruz- Guzman v. State of Minnesota, the Association of Metropolitan School Districts convened to

develop a strategy to address issues of integration, access, opportunity, and educational achievement. The result, Reimagine Minnesota, outlines categories and strategies in congruence with the Minnesota Department of Education’s Achievement and Integration program and World’s Best Workforce bill, passed in 2013. This analysis uses a Critical Race Theory lens to explore the historical impact of segregation on education, compares the strategies of Reimagine Minnesota to the Achievement and Integration plans of four Twin Cities metropolitan area school districts, identifies recommendations to move Reimagine forward based on an historical context and the analysis of the state’s Achievement and Integration plans, and challenges stakeholder framings of equity and strategies of intervention for students of color. Results suggest that broad and ambiguous strategies to address issues of education equity continue to perpetuate a recurring cycle of students of color being left behind.