Over the past 20 years, the number of EL students in Minnesota has increased by 300 percent, making them the state’s fastest growing student group. However, despite the rapid growth, their academic progress, as compared to their non-EL peers, has plateaued. The Minnesota Multilingual Equity Network proposed seven recommendations to MDE for ESSA implementation.
Last Thursday, about 100 attendees gathered to hear and learn about New Hampshire’s first-of-its-kind Performance Assessment of Competency Education state accountability system from two of its architects—Deputy Commissioner Paul Leather, and the state’s PACE curriculum director, Ellen Hume-Howard.
This past week over 4,200 advocates, teachers, policymakers, administrators, consultants, and board members attended the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The conference boasted over 135 sessions, Betsy DeVos spoke, and Success Academy won the prestigious Broad Prize.
Last week, MDE’s ESSA Accountability Committee had their last meeting regarding their recommendations for state’s accountability plan. Over the course of ten months, the Accountability Committee met to discuss the different components of the plan - the state’s measures of school quality and student success (SQ/SS) measures, graduation rates, academic growth, the state’s goals for the academic indicators, and how the bottom five percent of schools will be identified for support.
Last night, Governor Dayton signed the policy and funding bills that laid out Minnesota’s next two-year, $46 billion dollar budget, which includes over $18 billion for K-12 Education. But, what's in it? Read here to find out about some of the key provisions.
The word "innovation" is in vogue. But what does it really mean? Read here about the four different dimensions of innovation and how they can be scaled up in K-12 education. This post first appeared on Rick Hess' blog, Straight Up, for Education Week.
We analyzed the admission and enrollment applications for 47 Minnesota charter schools in order to determine if the state's charters practice unethical enrollment practices. Our analysis found that overall they do not.
On May 4th, the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools presented four Minnesota charter schools with awards for their innovative programming. Specifically, the award categories included increased learning opportunities for all pupils, different and innovative teaching methods, different and innovative forms of measuring outcomes, and new forms of accountability for schools
On Tuesday, the K-12 Conference Committee presented its initial version of the Education Omnibus Bill. Read about the provisions in the bill that relate to the themes of this blog: innovation, charter schools, and the Every Student Succeeds Act state accountability plan.
On April 18th, MDE awarded 6 Minnesota charter schools Startup and Replication/Expansion Charter School Program (CSP) Grants. Read here for descriptions of the winning schools and the CSP Grant program.
