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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, February 13, 2012 Page 7 pose of I. S. D. 623 based on its 2015 strategic roadmap developed two years ago and incorporating community, leadership, equity, achievement and resources; and the values of equity, responsibility, integrity, respect, compassion, commitment, sense of belonging, and curiosity. Ms. Gogins highlighted the vision cards used to track performance for each stra- tegic direction by monitoring which areas are proficient and those needing addi- tional attention to achieve key goals to measure annual academic growth for stu- dents. Ms. Gogins noted the racial disparity evident in reading and math profi- ciency, advising that it was state-wide and not Roseville-specific. Ms. Gogins further reviewed how that disparity was being addressed, including one-on-one work by mentors with students. Ms. Gogins touched upon the nine (9) comparative benchmark districts similar to the Roseville District and rankings in state-wide testing. Ms. Gogins announced that U.S. News had recently honored Roseville Area High School with its silver award as one of the best high schools in America, one of on- ly 463 silver award winners and one of 11 within the State of MN among 22,000 high schools rated nationwide. Ms. Gogins addressed the District's favorable composite ACT score of twenty- four(24) with 36% of the District's graduating seniors passing at least one (1) AP test. Ms. Gogins advised that ACT testing was another area of focus at the middle school level to encourage students as they moved into high school. Regarding updated demographics, Ms. Gogins advised that the District had expe- rienced accelerated enrollment growth over the last two (2) years at 5%; and that the diversity continues to increase while the number of white students continued to decrease, with Asian, Black, Hispanic demographics increasing, with a 24% in- crease in students of color, consistent for several years, and making up 43% of the student population. While 57% of the student population is white, Ms. Gogins advised that a quarter of the District's students speak a language other than Eng- lish at home, representing fifty-six (56) other languages, 1,650 students out of 6,770 total students; and 1,018 English Language Lerner students served by the District. Ms. Gogins noted that the District continued to see significant success in improving language skills and vocabulary levels; however, she noted that it did provide ongoing challenges. Ms. Gogins advised that those students were incred- ibly motivated,but had a lot to overcome. Ms. Gogins addressed increases in students receiving reduced or free lunches and impacts to funding for that program. Dr. Thein arrived at this time, approximately 6:50 p.m.; and publically acknowl- edged the City's staff in all departments, as well as the City Council, for their