Turnaround Arts: Minnesota

Northport has been a school that by all federal and state measures has been considered a failing school for many years. Nevertheless, one of its greatest opportunities is its richly diverse student population: 42 percent African-American, 30 percent Hispanic, 14 percent Asian, 13 percent White, and 1 percent Native American. It also has a large and growing English language learner population (44 percent this year). Eighty-seven percent of students receive free or reduced lunch, and Northport has a high mobility rate of approximately 37 percent. Northport students are highly verbal, creative, expressive, resilient, and they are problem solvers. The principal has a background in music and understands from a deeply personal level how learning in and through the arts helps to build brain power. As a principal she has made sure that arts education is embedded within the school day. Northport has a committed leader and a group of dedicated teacher leaders ready to make the arts an integral part of every child’s daily learning.