Before I start off, I'd like to point out that I am a current student in the St. Paul Public School System. As a senior, I have seen that the Hmong students are often neglected. My first point that I will be about the Hmong student population, particularly the achievement gap. (My second point will be posted later) While my main focus is on the Hmong, some of my data is based solely on Asian American students in SPPS. However, of the 31% of Asian American students in SPPS, 20% of them are Hmong. Therefore, data based on Asian American students will closely reflect on the Hmong students.
So what is an achievement gap? It is the disparity of educational measures between different groups of students, particularly by race or ethnicity. In simpler terms, the majority of minority students cannot catch up to the Caucasian students in terms of academics.
How does this relate to our Hmong students? Based on recent data collected by Hmong American Partnership and SPPS, the Hmong are doing poorly on standardized testing, the most important being English reading and writing proficiency. Reading, writing, and understanding English are all highly important factors in doing well in college and the outside world.
According to the 2010 census, 75% of Hmong who are 5 years of age and older are limited in English proficiency. (According to SPPS' less detailed report, only 29% of Asian American students are proficient in English as opposed to the district average of 38%.) The biggest concern about this data is that it does not reflect the student behavior of Asian students. From 2013-2014, on average, only 14% of Asian students have been absent for 11 days or more. In addition to absences, only .8% of Asian students were suspended from 2013-2014. With such low behavioral problems, why is it that Hmong students are still not exceeding in academics?
The reason is that Hmong students are not being supported. Staff are now spending all their time and energy on disruptive students who don't come to school ready to learn. Therefore, the Hmong students, along with many other students, are neglected from their education. There's about 45 minutes per period. 20 of those minutes are spent on dealing with disrespectful and disruptive students. Yet, there are also the ELL, regular, and special needs students who actually do want to learn. Instructional time is then reduced to 25 minutes. But don't forget, everyone learns at their own pace. The teacher then has to go help those individuals one at a time but since time is so limited, they can hardly achieve anything. While I support this mainstreaming policy, I disagree with the method leading up to it. It was poorly planned, leaving teachers with limitations on what they can do.
Another concern of mine that strays away from the achievement gap derives from a Pioneer Press article about how Hmong families are starting to turn to private or charter schools. "It's about: 'They have staff that look like me. I feel welcome when I come in. I feel like I'm wanted there' ". In my opinion, it's not because there are Hmong or Asian staff in charter/private schools. It is because the Hmong population has been neglected from the system for so long! On a broader scale, 31% (approximately 12,000) of students in the district are Asian. Asians are the largest group of students. Yet, only 9.5% (462) of instructional staff are Asian. This means that we are not being represented in the district. Even if it were true that Hmong families turn to charter or private schools because they feel more welcome there, doesn't that mean that the SPPS district is failing to make Hmong families feel welcome?
As a student of SPPS, I am disappointed to see how neglected my people are. I have worked with my peers this year to bring more attention to Hmong students but have seen no results as of yet. I am curious as to how SPPS will better support Hmong students and families in the near future and from here on out.
However, if we, as a people, can stand together for our children's education like how we did against General Vang Pao's court case, like how we did for Sao Lue Vang, then we can improve the quality of education for our Hmong students, and thus bringing us to an even more successful community.
Sources:
However, if we, as a people, can stand together for our children's education like how we did against General Vang Pao's court case, like how we did for Sao Lue Vang, then we can improve the quality of education for our Hmong students, and thus bringing us to an even more successful community.
Sources:
- State of the Hmong Community in Minnesota - 2015 (Presented by Hmong American Partnership and Hmong National Development)
- Asian Students in SPPS (Presented by Lisa Thao for Committee of Board)
No comments:
Post a Comment