On July 31, President Trump signed the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. The signing follows on the heels of bipartisan support from both chambers of Congress, where the bill advanced on voice votes.
The $1.2 billion Perkins Act provides funding for Career Technical Education (CTE) programs and job training for students, and charges states with setting and making progress on their CTE goals.
This post will cover the history of the legislation,...
Yesterday, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) announced the winners of the spring 2018 round of federal Charter School Program (CSP) Startup and Replication/Expansion grants. The seven winners are below.
On July 11, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) hosted over 100 people for an update on implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). At the meeting, MDE informed the group that they had recently adopted ten Commitments to Equity, as well as provided updates on improvements to the state’s report card and the plan for reporting discipline data.
As a refresher, MDE’s ESSA accountability plan...
Today the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Mark Janus, a child support specialist for the state of Illinois. Janus sued his union, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), arguing that he should not have to pay mandatory dues—or “fair share” fees—which unions charge to workers who choose not to join the union but are still represented by them in collective bargaining. Janus...
This week, over one hundred teachers, administrators, teacher preparation providers, superintendents, and advocates attended the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board’s (PELSB) training sessions on the new, four-tiered teacher licensure system. The two sessions provided general information on the four different teacher licenses, the forthcoming online application system, supports PELSB can provide, and an opportunity for attendees to ask PELSB staff questions.
It’s been a busy few...
When I walked into a sophomore mathematics class at Ron Brown College Preparatory, an innovative high school in Washington DC that serves male students of color, the students were sitting at desks arranged in a circle, deep in conversation, and engaged in their lesson. Projected on the whiteboard was a bar chart of college enrollment statistics in the United States, broken down by race.
The teacher was walking around the...
Earlier this year, Julie Cook published a compelling post about her complicated relationship with teaching—one that ultimately led her to a long-term career at her school.
I was the teacher who left.
Bewildered by the unrelenting demands of the job, and not impermeable to the demoralized banter of my colleagues, I left my 5th grade teaching post—and the teaching profession—after...
On May 10, the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools recognized four schools at the third annual Innovation Awards event. Additionally, under a new award program established this year, one educator was honored with the Minnesota Charter School Leadership Award.
Innovation Awards categories are derived from Minnesota statute (124E.01), which defines the purposes of charter schools in the state:
Deanna Hron—a kindergarten teacher at King Elementary School in rural Deer River, MN—received the Educator Leadership Award at the Community Schools National Forum in Baltimore last week, in recognition of her “strong leadership in advocating for community schools.”
She was one of two recipients for this national honor, and was recognized in front of over 2,000 community schools practitioners, families, youth, nonprofit and education leaders...
On Friday, April 20, the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) met to do final interviews for the three finalists for the executive director position, as well as to go over the new rule draft. The day prior, the three finalists had answered questions that had been provided by the public. The three finalists were: