Even though it isn't a budget year, there are still many important and relevant education policy issues being discussed this legislative session. This post will summarize four pieces of legislation that have garnered a lot of attention and that we recommend you keep an eye on.
During the 2017 legislative session, Education Evolving led a coalition that worked with legislators to successfully pass the IRZ Pilot Program. The purpose of the legislation was to “allow school districts and charter schools to research and implement innovative education programming models designed to better prepare students for the world of the 21st century.” This post includes detailed descriptions of each IRZ, as well as future plans Education Evolving has to improve the legislation.
On Friday, March 16 the PELSB hosted a meeting at the Minnesota Department of Education MDE in order to receive public input on PELSB’s rule draft for the new, four-tiered teacher licensure system. This post will discuss two major issues in the rule draft—mentoring and cultural competency—that have so far been a focus of public comment, as well as a timeline for how individuals can provide feedback to PELSB.
On January 3, the US Department of Education issued a notice informing states that they can apply for the Innovative Assessment Pilot, part of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Four states told USDE they are interested in applying to participate in the Pilot. Is Minnesota one of them? And why aren't more states applying?
Last week, the MDE released the four-year graduation rates for the class of 2017, which reached a new statewide high of 82.7 percent overall. That said, when the graduation rates data is examined in conjunction with other data points the success story becomes more muddied and raises the question: Do increasing graduation rates mean more students are doing more rigorous and higher-level work that prepares them for college, career, and life?
Last year we engaged in a visioning process to describe what we mean when we say “student-centered learning”. So, what’s next? This work has given rise to a new question: what learning outcomes and indicators would measure whether student-centered learning has been successful?
On January 10th, Secretary DeVos notified MDE that their ESSA accountability plan has been approved. However, just because MDE’s plan was approved does not mean that their work is done. Rather, MDE has formed a new stakeholder Committee in order to gain input about future improvements to the plan and will have to implement the plan starting in the 2018-19 academic year.
The shortage of Minnesota teachers with special education licensure is particularly problematic given the increasing use of special education services statewide. Read about how some programs in the state are trying to rectify it.
Last week, the Minnesota Management and Budget Office released the November Forecast for the state, which showed a $188 million projected deficit. While the deficit is hardly a cause for concern, the rising costs of special education services is. Education Evolving has long contended schools can use intervention frameworks to reduce the rate of special education-identified students. Read here to learn more.
Guest blogger Julene Oxton reflects on David Osborne's new book, where he provides examples of cities that are reinventing public education, from her perspective as a teacher who started an autonomous, teacher-powered school in a Minnesota school district.
