Education

Education coverage includes what's working, what's not working, how our kids are doing, how our college students are paying for their educations, the achievement gaps, teachers, students, parents, district schools, charter schools, private schools — and your contributions and opinions are welcome. 

Our weekly Education Newsletter highlights articles, blog posts, events, and links. For example, look for lots of links to thoughtful discussions of education issues from Beth Hawkins at MinnPost and Diane Ravitch at Education Week.

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Click here to see current and archived issues. 

Pre-K, ECFE, talent testing concerns aired at St. Paul school board listening session

By Lauretta Dawolo Towns, TC Daily Planet

“We were fooled,” said one parent at the April 24 St. Paul school board listening session.

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Prospects of state aid for undocumented immigrant students 'looking really, really good'

By Cynthia Boyd, MinnPost

Rally-goers marching to the Minnesota State Capitol following passage by the Senate Wednesday afternoon of the "Path to Prosperity Act." (Photo by Juve Meza)

Wednesday was the third time over the years that the Minnesota Senate has passed a bill that would allow Minnesota’s undocumented college students to pay in-state tuition. Before, similar measures have died for lack of support outside that body.

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Northside Achievement Zone hiring mostly Northsiders, nontraditional approach seeks workers already 'connected to the Zone'

By Vickie Evans-Nash, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Lucretia Gill (Photos courtesy of NAZ)

Lucretia Gill is a connector. She talks to families with children in North Minneapolis to determine their family’s goals, and then she connects them to the organizations that can address the challenges hindering them from reaching their goals.

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Food, dancing, and cultural awareness at the Feast of Nations

By Etta Harkness-Bartholdi, Corcoran News

When I first walked into the South High School commons on the evening of March 29th, I smelled many different kinds of food and heard Latin music. This array of sensory delights was organized by Diane Bagley, and was South High’s first annual Feast of Nations.

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Interest on common federal student loans could double if subsidization law expires June 30

By Janice Bitters, The Minnesota Daily

Students could pay more to borrow federal student loans as early as this summer if a deal isn’t reached in Congress.

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Minnesota Senate passes financial aid for undocumented immigrant students

By Cynthia Boyd, MinnPost

Thalia Estrada is 17, a senior at Central High School in St. Paul with a 3.5 GPA and the dream of becoming a neurologist. (Photo by Roberto Palma)

You likely don’t know Thalia Estrada or Karen Salas Ramirez, but they’re the kind of young students who can strengthen Minnesota’s economic future.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The Minnesota Senate passed the bill discussed in this article today, May 1.]

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House, Senate to iron out University funding differences

By Alma Pronove, The Minnesota Daily

Both the state Senate and House of Representatives have voted to increase funding to the University of Minnesota, but key differences in their bills still need to be ironed out.

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Latino parents at Green Central upset, fearful over changes in the school

By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet

An interpreter translates for Latino parents. 

A parent meeting at Green Central Park School, the elementary school that’s been embroiled in controversy this past year, had just gotten underway when a group of parents halted the program to show they were unhappy with the situation. After learning just the day before that Principal Catalina Salas, would be taking a leave of absence after being transferred from the school, the parents were incensed. 

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Judging schools' success: Why do we keep coming back to test scores?

By Sheila Regan, Behind the Story

Photo by Shannan Muskopf (Creative Commons)

Any time I write a story about a school, I look for test scores, which are available to the public on the Minnesota Department of Education website. I know that scores can’t give the whole picture, but they can be useful from a reporting perspective. MDE’s site allows you to compare different schools—to see how a particular school compares to others in the same district or the state. The website also allows you to look at how particular groups of students—such as high-poverty students, English learners (EL), or those from a particular race or ethnicity—are faring.

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House passes higher education budget that would freeze tuition

By Sarah Lemagie, Session Weekly/Session Daily

Rep. Gene Pelowski, chair of the House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee, talks with Rep. Kathy Brynaert before the start of session April 25 where the omnibus higher education finance bill was debated. (Photo by Paul Battaglia)

In a vote that some lawmakers hailed as a first step toward curbing the rising costs of college, the House on Thursday passed an omnibus bill that would freeze tuition for two years at both of Minnesota’s public higher education systems.

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