By Kim McGuire

Minneapolis Star Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Education has identified 155 high-poverty schools that aren’t doing enough to close the achievement gap between white and minority students or have overall academic performance problems.

The designations were made Wednesday as part of the state’s accountability system for schools, a product of Minnesota’s waiver to the federal education law, No Child Left Behind.

Under that system, “Priority” schools represent the lowest performing five percent of schools that accept federal poverty aid. “Focus” schools represent the lowest performing 10 percent of poor schools that are struggling to close achievement gaps.

Schools that earn those designations must devise a comprehensive school improvement plan.

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools each had 10 schools that earned the “Priority” designation.

“This is not about labeling schools as failing; it is about recognizing what is working and what isn’t, and doing whatever it takes,” Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius said. “Teachers and principals tell us that the collaborative nature of the work is empowering. We know they are already working hard. It’s the focused support — working side-by-side in the classroom rather than top down — that’s helping get better, faster results.”

In addition to identifying struggling schools, the state Department of Education also designated 131 “Reward” schools. These schools are the top performing 15 percent of schools that accept federal poverty aid.

One such school is Atwater Cosmos Grove City’s elementary.

In 2012, the year the state rolled out its new accountability system, the school was designated a Priority school.

Now, the school has been designated a Reward school and on Tuesday was designated a National Blue Ribbon School, one of the highest honors awarded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Superintendent Sherri Broderius has cited state support, offered through the department’s Regional Centers of Excellence as one of the reasons behind the school’s dramatic turnaround.

“I didn’t think this at first, but I’ve come to believe that being named a Priority school was the best thing that happened to us,” she said. “It wasn’t much fun in the beginning, but the hard work of our entire staff is paying off. The Regional Centers of Excellence didn’t do the work for us — instead they worked with us to devise our own strategies to transform all of our schools into high-performing places where all students are learning and thriving.”

The new designations are a product of Minnesota’s waiver to No Child Left Behind. Under that law, about half of Minnesota schools were identified as failing.