By Dr. Katie Clarke, Director of Teaching and Learning
WORTHINGTON - Families may have noticed an increase in the amount of paperwork that they were asked to complete at back to school days a few weeks ago. So, what were the extra documents? The Minnesota State Legislature passed the All Students Count legislation that impacts families by asking them to share additional details about the ethnicity data of their students. The legislative purpose is to be able to report graduation rates and Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) by detailed ethnicity for students of color and American Indian students (MN STATUTE 120B.31 subd.3a and 120B.35 subd.3).
Previously, families were asked to report if their child was American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White. The new enrollment process will dig deeper and families will be able to select Hispanic/Latino, American Indian or Alaskan Native, American Indian from South American, Asian, African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and White. After a child is identified as one of these ethnicities, they can further select their ethnic group. For example, if a student selects Hispanic/Latino, they then have additional options to select such as Colombian, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Spaniard, Other or Unknown.
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While all schools will be required to request this information from families beginning with the 2019-2020 school year and beyond, Worthington is one of five districts personally asked by the Minnesota Commissioner of Education to serve as a pilot site. The Minnesota Department of Education needed both urban and rural schools to participate in the pilot, and selected Worthington because of our diverse population of students. Additional pilot districts include Community of Peace Academy, Minnetonka Public Schools, Schoolcraft Learning Community and St. Paul Public Schools.
All families in the Worthington School District are asked to complete this form when enrolling in the school; however, families can decline to complete the form. Dr. Katie Clarke and Mr. Pat Morphew are leading the grant effort for the district. More information about the All Students Count legislation, including a copy of the form, can be found at https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/count/ .
