“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
These words shed light on our current reality in Minnesota and across the United States. At Education Evolving, we remain strong in our stance and efforts to ensure all students have the opportunity to experience a curated educational journey, where holistic growth and development is realized. Our policy platform this year includes:
- Protecting equal access to public education for all children;
- Setting sights on a thriving Minnesota with a Model Vision of a Graduate;
- Unlocking community-driven innovation at the school level, and;
- Making statewide assessments more relevant and growth focused.
Protecting Equal Access to Public Education for All (HF 3409)
We are proud to collaborate with partners on the Push Forward Coalition to propose a bill to strengthen the Constitutional right of all students to a free public education in safe learning environments—without fear and intimidation— regardless of real or perceived immigration status. This is imperative as we are seeing mass disruptions in student attendance and learning as well as widespread fear due to aggressive immigration activity.
A Thriving Minnesota, Model Vision of a Graduate
We propose the adoption of a statewide Model Vision of a Graduate to provide a unified vision for the knowledge and skills Minnesota graduates need to acquire practical success and productivity in their future endeavors. This vision sharpens the focus of schools in cultivating skills that are deeply valued by and critical for thriving communities, businesses, and civic institutions.
Unlocking Community-Driven Innovation at Schools
We are advocating for improving the MN Site Governed Schools law (§ 123B.045) to provide site-level teams the flexibility to create student-centered learning designs, coupled with clear expectations for academic outcomes. The current law has strong intent but needs refinement to clarify district and site-level expectations. This statue can be a powerful vehicle for local voice and shared governance—enabling families, educators, and community partners to design the schools in their neighborhoods, while giving school districts a framework to foster strong, adaptive, and accountable schools.
Making State Assessments More Growth-Focused
We propose prioritizing growth in the design of the MCA to provide a more clear, fair picture of student learning, showing progress as well as proficiency. This is needed as a growth measure is a critical “system check.” It recognizes and incentivizes the learning of all students. Additionally, it reduces the economic and racial bias inherent in using proficiency scores to understand school contributions to learning.
We are not allowing this time of unmitigated controversy and chaos to disrupt us in our pursuit of equitable student-centered learning for all students. And we invite you to come alongside us by ensuring that our current and future leaders—students—have an enriching, thriving educational journey.