“This has to change,” says a top business leader after the latest round of test scores shows little improvement in reading and math among Minnesota students, and a persistent achievement gap between students of color and their white counterparts. Charlie Weaver with the Minnesota Business Partnership — a group representing executives from large companies — says Minnesota cannot succeed in a global economy if the situation continues. Test results were released as the state launches a new system to measure schools. Education Minnesota teachers union president Denise Specht says community members will be able to write plans for their local schools and “it will soon be very easy to tell who the politicians listen to.” But Weaver says “special interest groups are more interested in protecting the status quo than supporting needed changes.”