Advocating for Education Equity: Strategies and Opportunities for Great Expectations

Abstract

Minnesota’s educational disparities are well-documented. In recent years, the state’s sizable gaps in academic achievement have generated increasing attention as the state grapples with racial and ethnic disparities across a range of socio-economic outcomes. The presence of disparities in otherwise high-performing public school districts such as Orono and Wayzata underscores the pervasiveness of what has been termed the “Minnesota Paradox”: While Minnesota is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States, Minnesotans of color, and Black Minnesotans in particular, lag behind their white neighbors in employment rates, wage and household income levels, levels of home ownership, and levels of educational attainment.1The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people of color, combined with the nation’s reckoning around racial injustice, has spurred new urgency among organizations, institutions, and everyday Americans to address racial disparities locally and nationally. In service to this call to action, this report provides the Great Expectations (GE) initiative with an overview of the most salient issues being debated at the state level around educational disparities and inequities in Minnesota. This report also provides empirical evidence supporting specific policy interventions, investments, and advocacy efforts in key areas that are relevant to disparities present in the GE service area. Overall, we find ample evidence that the Orono and Wayzata school districts suffer from many of the same racial and ethnic disparities found across the state, supporting GE’s interest and eventual engagement in advocacy efforts aimed at fostering structural change. Additionally, our analysis highlights substantial policy and legislative interest around educational disparities in Minnesota, providing GE with a number of avenues for policy adoption, new funding and program opportunities, and reasons to engage in future advocacy efforts.