OWL’s Integrated Math 1 students spent the spring of 2025 working in 18 groups on one guiding question: “Does the budget of the state of Minnesota match the values of the state?” On May 5, 2025, they took their findings to the Minnesota State Capitol.

Each group paired a line of the state budget with a measure of how Minnesotans are doing: PreK–12 spending vs. graduation rates and youth mental health, public safety and corrections spending vs. violent crime and recidivism, health care spending vs. the number of uninsured, housing and anti-homelessness spending vs. homeless counts, college grants vs. enrollment, and more. Every page opens with a real Minnesotan’s story, graphs the two data sets side by side, and ends with a clear ask for lawmakers.

So, instead of simply teaching about correlation, we ask: “Does the budget of the state of Minnesota truly reflect its values?” By examining trends in state spending alongside the very issues they care about, they can move beyond abstract concepts and craft arguments grounded in data.

From the letter to readers that opens the briefing book

The Briefing Book

From First Draft to Final

The briefing book went through seven drafts in April and early May. Compare the second draft (left) with the fifth (right) to see how the students’ writing, graphs, and arguments sharpened along the way.

The Posters

Each group also designed a poster that boils its research down to a single claim.

Thanks to the Assistance League of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, whose grant paid for the bus to the Capitol, tripods for the displays, and the covers for the briefing books.

Want to see how the project works from start to finish? The 2023 post walks through the whole journey. You can also see the briefing books from 2026, 2024, 2022, 2019, and 2018 and before.