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Brooklyn Park, Minnesota

I recently visited a high-performing charter school in a low-income urban area. Like so many others 鈥� like the one my kids attend in Washington, D.C. 鈥� it was founded by members of a local community of color to provide a better public school option for their children, for kids who were being persistently underserved by their traditional public schools.

It鈥檚 an old story, right? Well, sort of.

This one isn鈥檛 built around serving the linguistic and cultural needs of Spanish-speaking families (like my kids鈥� school) or African-American students (like other urban charters). Rather, Noble Academy is a Hmong-language school in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, just northwest of the Twin Cities. And though it was designed by 鈥� and for 鈥� the Hmong community, the school is starting to appeal to other families, as well.

I grew up in the Midwest. Whenever I get nostalgic, I think of this beautiful old line in Carl Sandburg鈥檚 鈥淪ins of Kalamazoo,鈥� where Sandburg writes of travel-itchy Midwestern children who 鈥溾�榳ant to see the world鈥�/And when they have looked the world over they come back saying it is all like Kalamazoo.鈥�

This yearning for the exotic world beyond is an old Midwestern tradition. But after a century of sharing its best people and products with the world, the area now struggles to hold onto young, well-educated workers. The Midwest continues exporting people, but they aren鈥檛 coming back in significant numbers.

Minnesota, however, stands out as something of an exception. It remains one of the region鈥檚 primary destinations for newcomers to the United States.

What鈥檚 more, the children of Minnesota鈥檚 immigrant population are uniquely diverse. While approximately three-quarters of our country鈥檚 English learners are native Spanish speakers, just 40 percent of Minnesota鈥檚 are. Nearly 20 percent of Minnesota鈥檚 English learners speak Hmong at home.

For context, consider that nearly 13,000 of the United States鈥檚 population of nearly 40,000 Hmong-speaking English learners live in Minnesota. These languages are primarily spoken in parts of China and southeast Asian countries like Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

These children are a critical resource for Minnesota鈥檚 future growth and prosperity. But while their families are helping Minnesota to pace the Midwest in terms of population growth, the state鈥檚 education system has had mixed success in helping their children succeed.

A 2016 MinnCAN report found that many English learner subgroups within Minnesota鈥檚 Asian-American and Pacific Islander students are lagging their peers on a range of academic metrics. For instance, while 66.1 percent of Minnesota鈥檚 Asian-American students scored 鈥減roficient鈥� on the state鈥檚 reading assessment in 2011, just 46.6 percent of Hmong-speaking students scored that high. Meanwhile, 80.8 percent of white students scored proficient.

The report鈥檚 findings were no surprise to Minnesota鈥檚 Hmong-speaking community, which had been frustrated by their children鈥檚 progress in Minnesota schools for years. In 2007, these concerns prompted Hmong leaders to start Noble Academy, a pre-K through eighth-grade public charter school focused on helping Hmong students succeed and preserving their connection to their language and culture.

鈥淲e knew there was a hunger,鈥� says Dr. Mai Yia Chang, Noble鈥檚 deputy superintendent of academics.

Minnesota鈥檚 charter school regulations give Noble Academy鈥檚 leadership significant autonomy to construct a schoolwide curricular model that meets their students鈥� linguistic, academic, and cultural needs. Above all, Chang says that the school is built around 鈥渢he belief that all kids can learn.鈥�

鈥淲hen we start making excuses, they will start living out those excuses for us. But when we make no excuses and have high expectations for our staff and students, that magic can happen.鈥�

Xee Yang, a Hmong literacy teacher 鈥� and board member 鈥� at the school, helps students through the Hmong language鈥檚 system of consonants (including 鈥渄ual鈥� and 鈥渢riple鈥� consonants), then its tonal structures, and finally, the vocabulary they need to read and write. She believes that the school鈥檚 focus on Hmong language and culture is critical for helping its students to succeed.

鈥淚 want to help my community preserve the language and culture,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚 do believe that鈥檚 a very important part of who you are as an individual 鈥� since the Hmong have moved to the United States, a lot of children can鈥檛 speak the language, they don鈥檛 understand the culture anymore.鈥�

The school鈥檚 Hmong language focus also helps her engage with English learner students and their families.

鈥淢ost [Noble] parents don鈥檛 speak English, and their students don鈥檛 have the whole English language learned yet. So I try to help them, I speak in Hmong to them to make sure that they can understand and kind of bridge between English and Hmong as well.鈥�

In lesson and unit planning for Hmong literacy, the school intentionally builds connections between its academic content 鈥� math and reading curricula 鈥� and Hmong language development programs.

The teachers 鈥渓ike to engage you in the topics you鈥檙e learning about,鈥� says Felicia, an eighth-grader at the school.

To the extent Noble Academy was designed for Hmong students by Hmong leaders, it appears to be a success story. The 2016 MinnCAN report found that the math and reading proficiency rates of Asian-American ELs at Noble were significantly above the state鈥檚 numbers for these students.

鈥淸Hmong parents] make the commitment to send their kids here because they trust the leadership here,鈥� says Superintendent Neal Thao. 鈥淎t the end of the day, they want to make sure that the kids know how to read and write.鈥�

Over time, the school鈥檚 success has also attracted a number of non-Hmong, English-dominant families. These students get the same Hmong language and culture lessons.

鈥淪ome of them love it, some of them hate it,鈥� says Yang. 鈥淏ut it all starts with you building that relationship with them 鈥� they get excited learning a different language.鈥�

Noble鈥檚 enrollment differs significantly from the state鈥檚. Noble enrolls over six times the percentage of English-learners enrolled across the state of Minnesota, and more than 1.5 times the percentage of students from low-income families.

Meanwhile, Noble鈥檚 schoolwide rates of academic proficiency (or better) in math and science slightly outpace the state鈥檚. By the time Noble students are in eighth grade, they鈥檙e outperforming state proficiency rates in math, science and reading.

Nicole Neidermeier, a Noble teacher and teacher coach, credits the school鈥檚 culture. She says that, at Noble, 鈥淭he cool kids are the smart kids.鈥�

Perhaps unsurprisingly, school leaders say that there were more than 200 children on the school鈥檚 waitlist for the 2017鈥�18 school year.

This is an exciting prospect: A school designed to serve the unique needs of Hmong-speaking students is now becoming a school that鈥檚 meeting the needs of students outside that community. A school built around preserving an immigrant community鈥檚 language and culture is also advancing the linguistic and cultural development of English-dominant children.

So, perhaps now, just as Sandburg described, these Twin Cities children will grow up, head out to find their futures, and find that the whole world is now more like Minnesota than ever before.

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