It’s been a busy few months for PELSB and its staff as they prepare for July 1 deadline for implementation of the new teacher licensure system. This post will provide a refresher on the new teacher licensure system, an update on rulemaking, and information on how teachers and teacher candidates can apply for licensure.
Ron Brown College Preparatory opened its doors in August 2016 to 110 freshmen as part of DC Public Schools’ twenty million dollar “Empowering Males of Color” initiative. The primary purpose of the school is to serve the city’s young African-American and Latino men, two groups who have historically struggled in the district.
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 just two years. Strangely, I even insisted to my now-husband that he not let me teach again. Somehow I knew that I would want to.
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.
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.” But Hron's journey was not without struggle.
On Friday, April 20, 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. This post will go over their deliberations, the new rule draft, and the timeline for rulemaking.
Last week, MDE held the last meeting of their Reporting and Recognition Committee, which was formed after they submitted the state’s ESSA plan to USDE in September 2017. This post will discuss the recommendations from the committee, how Minnesota will deal with a new ESSA provision around fiscal transparency, and some important dates regarding implementation.
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.
