The Education Evolving Blog

MDE published the ESSA state plan on August 1st, and is hosting a series of public commentary meetings from August 15-26th. Read here to learn about some of the changes that MDE has made to their plan, some of the concerns that have been raised by the public, the locations for where they are hosting their public commentary hearings, and how you can submit public comment.

Over the past few weeks, the growing animosity between different education organizations and advocates regarding the merits of charter versus traditional district schools has dominated the news cycle. However, in recent years, a growing number of districts and charter schools have put aside their political differences and worked together in order to do what’s best for students. Read here to learn about these district-charter collaborations.

Yesterday, the Minnesota House and Senate’s Education Policy Committees held a joint hearing on the state’s ESSA accountability plan. At the hearing, MDE provided an overview of the plan, which they have developed over the past year in community with a wide variety of stakeholders. Read here for some of the concerns that legislators and testifiers raised.

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.