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About MSAN

The Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) is a national coalition of multiracial, suburban-urban school districts that have come together to study achievement gaps that exist in their districts. MSAN districts have student populations between approximately 3,000 and 33,000, and are most often well established first ring suburbs or small/mid size cities. Additionally, the districts share a history of high academic achievement, connections to major research universities, and resources that generally exceed neighboring cities.

With strikingly similar and disturbing disaggregated achievement data, racial disparities on an array of achievement outcomes demonstrate wide gaps in performance between students of color and their white peers. Since its inception in 1999 MSAN has worked fervently to discover and propose strategies to change school practices and structures that keep these achievement gaps in place. To this end, districts work collaboratively to conduct and publish research, analyze policies, and examine practices that affect the academic performance of students of color, specifically African American and Latino/a students.

District Engagement

MSAN has worked to build a community of learners who engage in common practices across school districts. These include:

Organizational Structure

The direction of MSAN's work is shaped by two organizing structures: the MSAN Governing Board and the Research-Practitioner Council. In addition, the Executive Director and other researchers provide guidance and support to MSAN projects.

Governing Board
The superintendents of MSAN districts serve as the Governing Board. The Governing Board carries out the business and oversight of the organization and, along with the MSAN Executive Director and the Research-Practitioner Council, sets the Network's research and development agenda. The Governing Board has increasingly worked to enhance its skills, knowledge, and insight through planned discussions and activities to further the aims of closing achievement gaps that persist in their districts while ensuring all students achieve to high levels.

Research-Practitioner Council
The Research-Practitioner Council (RPC) is made up of two educators from each MSAN district. These educators may be research or testing staff, equity or diversity staff, principals, or other professionals who influence research and curriculum policy for the district. The RPC is responsible for carrying out the research and development agenda of MSAN. The four focus areas that guide the research and development work of MSAN include: 1) Mathematics, 2) Literacy, with emphasis on adolescent literacy, 3) Teacher/Student Relationships, and 4) Conversations about Race. To date MSAN has generated more than $1 million dollars in foundation, grant, and local district support to explore these focus areas.

Research

In keeping with the vision that research and practice must be developed one in tandem with the other, MSAN has developed authentically collaborative relationships with expert researchers in the areas of student achievement, race, and achievement gaps in schools.

Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Ronald Ferguson and Dr. John Diamond from Harvard University, and Dr. Pedro Noguera from New York University are just a few of the research partners who have collaborated with MSAN over the years. In 2007 MSAN moved from Evanston Township High School District 202 in Evanston, Illinois to the Wisconsin Center for Education Research located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As part of a larger consortium of educational researchers MSAN's capacity for engaging in intervention-focused evaluation projects has expanded exponentially, specifically as the Network seeks answers to the fundamental question "How do we know this particular intervention is closing our achievement gaps?"

Meetings/Conferences

A central feature of the work of MSAN is to build local communities of learners through the holding of meetings and conferences. Convening of representatives from member districts is designed to build a continuous stream of work. While conferences and meetings may include external speakers and presenters they are more appropriately thought of as team development for member districts. This development model is served through thoughtful and purposeful convening of district representatives.

Early in its development MSAN members committed to creating opportunities for students of color to guide their work. Each year a student conference is held where teams of students from member districts a) engage in discussions about the barriers students of color face in their schools and districts, and b) develop action plans that can improve the effectiveness of their schools in educating African American and Latino/a students. This youth conference is an opportunity for students to learn from peers from across the country while constructing valuable messages for the academic leaders of their schools.

For more information about MSAN please visit our website www.msan.wceruw.org or contact the Executive Director, Dr. Madeline Hafner at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison at 608/262-1665 or at mhafner@wisc.edu.

MSAN Districts