English language learners who have attended U.S. schools for seven years or more and have not exited from English Language Development services/programs.

Children, age birth to five years, who are learning two or more languages; acknowledges that very young children are still actively developing their home language(s) along with an additional language. 

(1) the pupil, as declared by a parent or guardian uses a language other than English; and (2) the pupil is determined by a valid assessment measuring the pupil’s English language proficiency and by developmentally appropriate measures, which might include observations, teacher judgment, parent recommendations, or developmentally appropriate assessment instruments, to lack the necessary English skills to participate fully in…

Through school and through acquiring English, these children become bi- or multi-lingual, able to continue to function in their home language(s) as well as in English, their new language and that of school.

The sum of all previously incurred deficits or opportunity gaps in education for American Indians communities and communities of color. The education debt includes four aspects:  1) the historical lack of access to formal public education for certain groups of people (historic debt);t 2) historical and contemporary inequities in school funding, income disparities related to different levels of education, and…

Educational excellence involves achieving the skills and knowledge needed to prosper in Minnesota’s diverse and rapidly evolving social and economic context. It embraces the various career aspirations present among all students ranging from science to the humanities and from the public to the private. In this context, Minnesota Education Equity Partnership (formerly MMEP) understands its work as addressing the “opportunity…

Includes all the way in which people differ, and it encompasses all the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another.  It is all-inclusive and recognizes everyone and every group as part of the diversity that should be valued. A broad definition includes not only race, ethnicity, and gender—the groups that most often come to mind when…

The process by which American Indians and people of color have been stripped of their language and culture through intentional schooling practices (e.g., boarding schools, English-only policies) designed to enforce White supremacy.

Analyzes the tensions and contradictions inherent in the relationship between colonizer and colonized, oppressor and oppressed. In particular, discusses how the colonized/oppressed internalize the ways and language of the colonizer/oppressor, in order to survive within extant social structures. 

Decolonization is the meaningful and active resistance to the forces of colonialism that perpetuate the subjugation and/or exploitation of our minds, bodies, and lands. Its ultimate purpose is to overturn the colonial structure and realize Indigenous liberation. First and foremost, decolonization must occur in our own minds.