| 2008 News |  | Links to media coverage about public education issues.
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One Bad Deal
6/27/2008 12:00 AM
John Van Hecke, Minnesota 2020 Journal
Last week, responding to my kohlrabi column, my colleague Lee Egerstrom observed that anything drenched in enough sour cream, horseradish and dill will be edible. With that in mind, I'd like to reconsider the single most significant legislative act of the past ten years: Governor Pawlenty's 2003 biennial budget and revenue restructuring deal. |
Schools get poor marks for readying kids for work force, poll finds
6/27/2008 12:00 AM
Nancy Zuckerbrod and Trevor Tompson, Associated Press (Star Tribune) WASHINGTON - It's not much of a report card. Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force. Even more feel that way about the skills kids need to survive as adults, an Associated Press poll released Friday finds. |
Dakota County / Schools tighten their belts
6/26/2008 12:00 AM
Maricella Miranda, Pioneer Press
Burnsville surplus an exception to projected deficits. Fewer teachers, more expensive activity fees and depleted savings are part of the upcoming school year's financial outlook for south metro school districts — and it could get worse. |
Pawlenty visits EP Chamber, touts education reforms
6/25/2008 12:00 AM
Leah Shaffer, Eden Prairie News
“I believe that the disruptive effects of technology are about to be visited into education to a degree and in a manner that is going to mimic the way that technology has invaded and destroyed and recreated entire sectors of our economy already,” [Governor Tim Pawlenty]. |
Higher Education: The Importance of Investing in Our State
6/19/2008 12:00 AM
Joe Radosevich, Minnesota 2020
With bridges in bad shape from Winona to Duluth, and strapped school districts across Minnesota, it is important to remember we have a lot to celebrate too. Minnesota's comprehensive network of accessible state colleges and universities is a system we cherish, and shows the vital importance of investing in our state and building on what we already have. |
Low-income student growth has impact on college participation
6/19/2008 12:00 AM
Minnesota Private Colleges
While the low-income population has been growing, Minnesota has seen a dip in the likelihood that these students will go to college. ...If low-income student participation rates remain low while the percent of students coming from low-income families continues to increase, Minnesota will feel the impact. |
'Diploma Counts' Brings Clarity to Achievement Gap, Education Needs
6/18/2008 12:00 AM
John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020
The key to Minnesota's future is an effective workforce. The key to creating this workforce is education, and a quality education requires coordination between early education, K-12 and higher education institutions. It also requires a cure for the achievement gap, which keeps a quality education away from some students. |
Nearly 90 percent of 9th graders pass writing test
6/17/2008 12:00 AM
Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio
State education officials say nearly 90 percent of this year's 9th graders passed a writing exam required for high school graduation. St. Paul, Minn. — This was the second year 9th grade students took the test known as the Writing Graduation-Required Assessments for Diploma. This year's passing rate of 89.5 percent was a slight decrease from 90.8 percent in 2007. |
Voting to raise taxes
6/15/2008 12:00 AM
David Seitz, TC Daily Planet
“As a parent, your first thought is ‘I don’t care about state funding and unfunded mandates, I don’t want excuses, I just want it to be fixed,‘” said Courtney Cushing Kiernat, a Minneapolis Public Schools parent. She was skeptical of the district after class size went up, but now she’s co-chairing the effort to pass a referendum increasing school funding. |
The Student Credit Squeeze Percolates Up
6/13/2008 12:00 AM
John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020
The nation's biggest banks are putting the squeeze on students at small colleges. This policy may cut off higher education access to students who need it most. |
Yellow Flagging Reading Test Results
6/13/2008 12:00 AM
John Van Hecke, Minnesota 2020 Journal
Earlier this week, the Minnesota Department of Education gleefully released the state's sophomore graduation reading standard test results. 75% met the requirement, a fact that the department fell all over itself announcing. Clearly, it was victory lap moment for Commissioner Alice Seagren and the department. |
Bush Loyalist Fights Foes of ‘No Child’ Law
6/12/2008 12:00 AM
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times
NEWPORT, Ky. — Margaret Spellings is not running for office — at least, not yet. But in the waning days of the Bush presidency, she is running one last campaign. |
To solve racial disparities, parents, schools call truce
6/11/2008 12:00 AM
Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio
Minneapolis schools are hoping a new cooperative agreement with African-American parents will smooth some of the hard feelings over school closings last year and help close the district's student achievement gap. |
Minneapolis school board, black leaders look to make talk action
6/10/2008 12:00 AM
Terry Collins, Star Tribune
The finger-pointing, raised voices, suspicion and outright distrust reached a tipping point that called desperately for a resolution. Now, a group of black community leaders and the Minneapolis public schools are poised to sign an agreement that commits them to search together for those solutions. |
Power up laptops, but don't unplug schools
6/9/2008 12:00 AM
Star Tribune Editorial
For growing numbers of Minnesota students, heading off to school doesn't mean boarding a bus, catching a ride or getting behind the wheel. Increasingly kids are simply hopping up out of bed and grabbing a laptop. |
3 In 4 Minn. Sophomores Pass New Reading Tests
6/9/2008 12:00 AM
WCCO
ST. PAUL (AP) ― Three-quarters of Minnesota sophomores can begin their summer break knowing they've performed well enough on a state reading exam to satisfy a requirement for high school graduation. |
Slumping Minnesota Job Market
6/6/2008 12:00 AM
Stacy Lilienthal, KAALTV
(KAAL) - Minnesota is no longer at the top when it comes to the economy and living conditions. For six years one group has been crunching numbers comparing Minnesota to the rest of the nation. Minnesota is slipping in nearly all 12 categories including income, poverty, home ownership, education funding and student teacher ratios. |
Group says Minnesota slipping toward mediocrity
6/5/2008 12:00 AM
Duluth News Tribune
Minnesota is slipping toward mediocrity as the state and local governments decrease their expenditures, according to a report released this week by the think tank Minnesota 2020. |
Minnesota's graduation rate is among highest in the United States
6/4/2008 12:00 AM
Norman Draper, Star Tribune
At a time when educators nationwide are working to improve graduation rates by raising the mandatory school attendance age, a new study shows that Minnesota's graduation rate is among the highest in the country.... The study also confirms the education chasm between Minnesota's white and minority students. Smaller percentages of minority students graduate from high school than the national average. |
Prior Lake-Savage school board debates ballot requests
6/4/2008 12:00 AM
Emily Johns, Star Tribune
Silence filled the room of Prior Lake-Savage school board members when Chairwoman Lee Shimek asked, one more time, how much more money per pupil did they think voters would approve come November. |
Report: 'Less investment, less return'
6/4/2008 12:00 AM
Pat Doyle, Star Tribune
Minnesota has slipped behind other states in employment and personal income in recent years as it spent less on education and other government programs, according to a report released Wednesday by a St. Paul think tank. |
Death by Paper Cuts
6/3/2008 12:00 AM
John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020
Gov. Tim Pawlenty is killing public education in Minnesota with a thousand paper cuts. |
African American Community Covenant seeks school change
6/3/2008 12:00 AM
Ariah Fine, TC Daily Planet
The African American Mobilization for Education sees two specific problems in the Minneapolis Public Schools: African American children aren’t being properly educated and the African American community hasn’t been given a voice and opportunity to collaborate to help address this crisis. To address these problems, the AAME proposes a Covenant between the community and the school board. |
Gender Only One Factor in Student Achievement
5/28/2008 12:00 AM
John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020
A new report re-opens a long-simmering debate, suggesting that the gender gap between male and female students can be bridged by assigning teachers to students of the same gender. It's not that simple, say Minnesota educators. |
ACGC operating levy passes by 103 votes
5/22/2008 12:00 AM
Carolyn Lange, West Central Tribune
GROVE CITY – For the first time since 2005, voters in the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School District approved an operating levy. |
Lawmakers Giveth, Oil Companies Taketh Away
5/22/2008 12:00 AM
John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020
Joe Brown, superintendent of Grand Meadow Public Schools, calls the situation a "good news, bad news" scenario: State lawmakers last week found one-time, $51 per student in extra money for the 2008-09 school year. Brown figures this will net his small, southern Minnesota district about $18,000. |
The real reward for teaching
5/21/2008 12:00 AM
Michelle Miron, Press Publications
Seize the Day
Being a teacher must be one of the most grueling and thankless jobs there is, I frequently thought as I saw my mom collapse into the La-Z-Boy chair every day after work. |
Bemidji School Board: Staff reduction decided
5/21/2008 12:00 AM
Michelle Ruckdaschel, Bemidji Pioneer
The library paraprofessionals at the Bemidji School District’s six elementary schools are on track to keeping their jobs for the next school year. |
Voter turnout heavy for school bond referendum
5/21/2008 12:00 AM
Jeff Cagle, Owatonna People’s Press
OWATONNA - Royal Staver rarely goes out of his way to display homemade signs on election day. Wednesday, however, was the exception. |
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