ENOUGH! There isn't an "achievement gap". There is a problem with the achievement level of minorities at this time. Let's call it that, and fix it. It's easy to close the gap......just hold back the ones achieving. We don't want to close the gap, we want all to achieve better! Cut the PC. This is what has caused much of the problem. An unwillingness to call out that it's not finances. It's not race. It's having a mom and a dad at home that is the biggest determinant of school success.

So, the Minneapolis Foundation will waste more money by launching a campaign to close the achievement gap. Wow, the irony. What's wrong with them staying in their lane? So far, everything that they have touched (Tornado Recovery, Target's $300,000.00 grant to north Minneapolis - just to name two) have no successful results. What are donor advised grant/funds? Yes, there's more:

“Many Minnesotans don’t understand how severe the achievement gap is,’’ said Sandra Vargas, president of the Minneapolis Foundation, which is organizing the project with community partners. “The word is just not out there.’’ This is so untrue, false, incorrect. Oh spare me.

More plutocrats using tax exempt money to destroy public education.

How long is it going to take for these foundations to realize that the problem is not one of ethnicity, but rather poverty? I would bet that the majority of the 39% of white students not passing the tests are in poverty, and the real data show that to be the larger predictor of school success. Kids in poverty come to school with already-huge deficits in vocabulary, language skills, and social skills (i.e., behavior). It's the 'elephant in the room' for education - an example would be that we teach kids how to decode words so that they can read phonetically, but children in poverty, having been exposed to EXPONENTIALLY fewer words BEFORE school age, are simply not equipped to comprehend as well.

The studies have been done, the facts are in, the U.S Dept of Education has singled us (Minnesota) out (for having the largest disparities in student achievement in the nation - white kids vs. poor and non-white kids).......what more evidence do we need????? It's time to fix this issue; NOW! And we all need to work together to come up with really innovative solutions. http://davidmartinez.efoliomn.com/Home

There are many social structures that contribute to this issue. Racial bias is one, but few are willing to admit it.

Close the gap- Thank you for your concern about the gap. However Politicians and "reformers" must realize that the gap is based on Culturally biased tests that are not a reliable indicator of student intelligence. They don't realize that students have multiple intelligences and rote memorization is a small piece of skill. The tests do NOT measure creative, interpersonal, oral, problem solving skills, mechanical nor do they reflect one's ability to think for themselves. Please stop using "the gap" as a means to further one's political career.

The Minneapolis Foundation: 1. Tornado Relief 2. North Minneapolis Economic Development 3. $300k Target grant 4. Donor advised giving Do I need say anymore?