Alleen Brown

Alleen Brown's picture

Biography

About me

Alleen Brown was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her journalism degree came from the University of Minnesota. Her second language came from Buenos Aires. And her loyalty to frigid Minnesota came from a childhood spent in the shadow of the State Fair. Alleen's work has been published in the Pioneer Press, MinnPost.com, In These Times magazine and Huffington Post. She can be reached at alleenbrown [at] tcdailyplanet [dot] net

Favorite Places: 
Her back balcony, her front porch and her side garden
Twitter: 
AlleenBrown

Wonk time: An insider's critique of new Minnesota school rating system

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

Students at Maxfield Elementary school (Photo by Alleen Brown)

St. Paul accountability chief Matt Mohs isn’t sold yet on the new Minnesota system designed to identify schools that are succeeding and failing.

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When tests tell teachers nothing: Special needs not met by standardized tests

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

David Junwirth is a student at Bridge View (photo courtesy of Rachel Peulen)

Every spring at St. Paul’s Bridge View school for students with significant special needs, teacher Rachel Peulen spends two to three weeks administering a test that she knows will tell her next to nothing about her students.

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At St. Paul's Maxfield Elementary, low ranking masks real transformation

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

John Bjoraker teaches his third graders a reading lesson from the Mondo curriculum. (Photos by Alleen Brown)

Two conflicting stories are being told about Maxfield Elementary school in St. Paul.

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Winner or loser? Test scores for Minneapolis' Kenny elementary school say both at the same time

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

Kenny Principal Bill Gibbs with posters showing Kenny test scores (Photo by Alleen Brown)

Kenny elementary school principal, Bill Gibbs, is pleased but puzzled.

Under Minnesota’s new  Multiple Measures Ranking system, which rates how effective schools are at coaxing high test scores out of their students, Kenny holds two conflicting labels. It’s both a struggling “focus” school and an excelling “celebration eligible” school.

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St. Paul teacher: Too much testing hurts kids who need help most

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

Kaye Peters (Photo by Alleen Brown)

For St. Paul English teacher Kaye Peters, the standardized tests her Central High students take throughout the year are an annoying distraction.

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One teacher's story: Testing makes teaching a nightmare

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

Students made a collage showing hopes and dreams (photo by Alleen Brown)

For some teachers, the years since No Child Left Behind passed have been times of great personal and professional loss.

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Adoption article provokes heated reader responses

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

On November 16, the Daily Planet featured a Q and A with Sarah Hamlin, an adoptive parent who volunteers with an organization called Adoption Option, which encourages young women to consider adoption if they find themselves pregnant and unprepared.

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Adoptive parent urges: If you're not ready to parent, consider adoption option

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

Sarah Hamlin and family (Photo courtesy of Sarah Hamlin)

Sarah Hamlin dreams of the day when it’s socially acceptable for unprepared mothers-to-be to put their children up for adoption.

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MN VOICES | Betty Ellison-Harpole: Teaching beyond the recipe, living outside the box

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

Betty Ellison-Harpole moved to the Midwest in the 1950s from segregated Memphis, Tennessee.

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Minnesota adoptions: Success stories and waiting children

By Alleen Brown, TC Daily Planet

Brianna, Tia and Mia.  (Photo by Robb McKindles, used courtesy of Tia Vasquez. Other photos in article by Alleen Brown.) 

Brianna’s mom, Tia Vasquez, always hoped to one day adopt a child, but she didn’t know it would be a 15-year-old who’d spent more than a decade being raised by the foster care system and state inst

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