State near top in preparing children

By James Walsh
Star Tribune

Minnesota is near the top of the nation when it comes to preparing its children for a successful career, according to a study released Wednesday by Education Week magazine.

The Quality Counts study ranks Minnesota third in giving its children the best chance for success as educated, wage-earning adults. Only Virginia and Connecticut scored higher.

Using 13 indicators, such as family income, parent education, preschool enrollment, reading and math scores and high school graduation rates, the report ranked all 50 states on their educational services from early childhood through the postsecondary years. A major finding? The state or region in which a child lives has a huge impact on his or her likelihood of success in life.

Overall, the study underscores the importance of education throughout a person's lifetime and the need to connect all facets of education better. States that scored the highest have strong early-childhood, K-12 and postsecondary opportunities.

Titled "From Cradle to Career: Connecting American Education from Birth Through Adulthood," the study is Education Week's Quality Counts 2007 project. Officials said that this is the first report that goes beyond the traditional years of public school and explores the span of learning opportunities from infancy to adulthood.

Minnesota showed particularly well in several key areas, including:

Family income. More than 72 percent of Minnesota children come from families earning 200 percent or more of poverty level. Nationally, just 60 percent of Americans earn at that level.

Parental education. Nearly 55 percent of Minnesota children had at least one parent with a postsecondary degree. The national average: 42.5 percent.

Parental employment. More than 76 percent of Minnesota children had at least one parent working full time, year-round. Nationally it's 71 percent.

Elementary reading. Thirty-eight percent of Minnesota fourth-graders were proficient on the National Assessments of Educational Progress. The national average is just under 30 percent.

Middle school mathematics. Forty-three percent of Minnesota eighth-graders were proficient on national math tests. That compares with 28.5 percent nationally.

High school graduation. Minnesota's 79 percent graduation rate is 10 points better than the national average.

Adult educational attainment. Forty-four percent of Minnesota adults have a two-year or four-year degree; the national average is 37 percent.

An area where Minnesota doesn't beat the competition is in early childhood education. Minnesota is right around the national average in children attending preschool and kindergarten.

Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren acknowledged that the state's preschool and kindergarten programs could use some beefing up.

"I think we will be moving in that direction," she said. But Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other leaders also want increased accountability to go with increased funding, Seagren said.

"For too long, we have funded programs and never really followed up," she said. "We need to ask, does this have an impact?"

Marilee Christensen-Adams, who helps manage early childhood family education and school readiness programs for the Anoka-Hennepin schools, said such programs have a clear effect for children who come from low-income families and don't otherwise have the same access to early educational opportunities.

But state funding for those programs has been stagnant, she said. And the preschool-age population in Minnesota has grown 10 percent to 12 percent since 1992.

"Obviously, what we need to be able to serve children well is we need additional funding to make sure that children in poverty and families without other access can still get into preschool programs," she said.

If anything, the report's authors say, the rankings should highlight the work that needs to be done in the areas of life that make an impact on education and success. For example, the report found that such factors as low birth weight, high poverty and low parent education puts children at an early disadvantage in life. Beefing up early intervention, including early-childhood education, can mitigate the effects of family poverty. Improved academic standards and instruction can continue allowing all children to progress, the study found. And more must be done to better prepare young people for success after high school.

St. Paul voters recently approved increasing their property taxes by $30 million a year to help boost early-childhood and postsecondary programs. Meria Carstarphen, St. Paul's superintendent of schools, said the extra money will put all-day kindergarten in every St. Paul elementary school, put programs for 4-year-olds in more than half of those schools and launch programs for 3-year-olds in two schools. The focus on early-childhood programs, as well as adding more challenging courses in the high schools, was the result of much discussion among the school district, the mayor's office, the City Council and the Ramsey County Board, Carstarphen said.

That same kind of coordination is needed across the state, she said. "It really helps to have people in other leadership roles across the state and in your city who get it," she said.

In addition to looking at early childhood, Seagren said Minnesota is revising math standards and putting new emphasis on improving high schools. This report is good news for Minnesota, she said. But work remains.

"We can't rest on our laurels. We can pat ourselves on the back and say this is a good place to live," she said. "Be we don't want to just stop where we are."