New data, published by the Minnesota Department of Education, indicates that most districts and charter schools are on track to cut the achievement gap in half by 2017.  Education Commissioner, Brenda Cassellius, stated that the improvements demonstrate that the 2017 goal is within reach:

“For the first time, we have concrete goals around gaps, and are letting our school leaders know exactly how far they need to go to be fully on track to close these gaps.”

The data measures academic performance by student subgroup: white, black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian, special education, low-income and English language learners.  The data from 2013 indicates that:

• 43% of districts have met their reading target for every subgroup
• 40% of districts have met their math target for every subgroup

Source: http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Welcome/News/PressRel/054190