Minnesota: Minnesota Alliance With Youth

About Minnesota Alliance With Youth: GradMinnesota

The high school graduation rate in Minnesota improved last year to 81 percent, with steady gains in struggling metropolitan districts and significant improvement among students of color. Yet, one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation still remains. For example, while 81 percent of all Minnesota students graduated on time in 2014, only 66 percent of low-income students graduated with their peers. With support from America’s Promise Alliance and Pearson, Minnesota Alliance With Youth (“the Alliance”) will be positioned to catalyze action to close the achievement gap and reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020.

One of the Alliance’s key initiatives, GradMinnesota, is a statewide coalition in partnership with the Governor’s office and the Minnesota Department of Education. GradMinnesota connects individuals and communities to engage stakeholders at all levels to ensure that all young people in Minnesota will graduate from high school prepared for success in postsecondary opportunity, work, civic engagement, and life. The GradMinnesota coalition—youth, communities, schools, government agencies, businesses and families—has developed seven priority recommendations and goals to increase graduation rates including: creating and aligning services to recover and re-engage youth; replacing exclusionary discipline policies and practices with more effective alternatives; and increasing opportunities for mentoring throughout the state. Through public awareness, legislative advocacy, knowledge sharing, and collective impact, GradMinnesota will mobilize stakeholders throughout the state to implement these recommendations.