News Cut Category Archive: Schools

Rising by Degrees

Posted at 12:04 PM on November 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Schools

I'm calling your attention to an American RadioWorks documentary, airing at this hour on MPR's Midday program. Rising by Degrees looks at a developing problem. The fastest-growing segment of our society -- young Latinos -- are the least likely to graduate from college. What does this mean for the future of the country?

You'll meet Veder Garcia, who spoke no English when he arrived in the U.S. from El Salvador as a high school junior, and is now completing his Ph.D. in plant biology at UC Berkeley. Community college was a critical step along the way. And the program introduces us to Mike Carvalho, who "always knew he would attend community college. What the 20-year-old didn't know is that he would drop out two years after he started."

If you can't listen, you can find the Web site for the project here.

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Dirty dancing

Posted at 10:51 AM on November 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

I haven't been to a school dance since the days when "dance" meant all the boys stand on one side of the gym, all the girls stand on the other side of the gym.

Apparently, things have changed:

You have to love the solution of one California school. When things get out of hand, they turn up the lights, and play Burt Bacharach "or anything that William Shatner recorded."

Yep, that should kill it.

Last February, MPR's Tom Weber looked at the "situation" in Minnesota, with the classic video using action figures.

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Wangster Day exposes some racial divisions in Red Wing

Posted at 12:06 PM on October 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Race, Schools

Every now and again -- too often, actually -- we get an entry for the "what were they thinking?" file.

Students at Red Wing High School provided a recent entry when they held an unsanctioned activity during homecoming week -- Wangster Day. "Students dressed as gansters and rappers in a way that some students felt mocked black students and emphasized racial stereotypes," the Rochester Post Bulletin reports.

Two weeks ago, African American parents asked the school board to send messages home to parents noting the district's policy against events such as "Wangster Day."

Last night the board declined to take that action. "We have faith in our young people," Red Wing Superintendent Stan Slessor said.

Some students have formed a group called Togetherness and Awareness Makes Greatness or TAG, which will tackle racial issues at the school. The school's senior class president says a diversity club at the school failed in its job before falling apart a few years ago.

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Are you smarter than a fourth grader?

Posted at 10:02 AM on October 14, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (8 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Good news for Minnesota students and educators: you're tops when it comes to the third 'R'.

In Minnesota, the average score was 249 (out of 500) for fourth-graders and 294 for eighth-graders. Both of those scores rank the state near the top, well ahead of the national average in each grade. Fourth-graders ranked third, behind Massachusetts (252) and New Hampshire (251). Eighth graders ranked second, behind only Massachusetts (299).

MPR's Tom Weber passes along a link to a set of sample questions for this year's test. The default set is 4th grade, but there's another tab for 8th grade if you want a challenge to go along with your coffee break.

Don't be shy, post your scores in the comments.

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On Streaking

Posted at 9:04 AM on October 7, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (18 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Boy, they just don't allow any fun at school anymore, do they?

The Pioneer Press reports on a Stillwater student who faces two weeks of suspension for dashing through a homecoming rally wearing a thong.

Stillwater Area High School senior and cross country runner Brian Brochman donned a Bill Clinton mask, running shoes, and an olive-green thong, dashed through the gym during Pepfest and out the door.

The school's CSI unit -- that's Crime of Streaking Investigation -- was quickly set to the task.

Officials figured out the would-be streaker was a member of the school's cross country team -- based on his speed and body type -- and approached the team's coach with a photo. Brochman said he 'fessed up at that point.

His punishment was to spend two weeks in an "alternative to suspension" program called the Youth and Community Accountability and Prevention Program, which is held at the Washington County Historic Courthouse in Stillwater.

So, my question to you, dear readers: Does the punishment fit the crime?

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History or politics

Posted at 1:40 PM on September 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Schools

You let the president of the United States speak to school children and the next thing you know they're singing about him.

The school in New Jersey says the kids were learning a song for Black History Month last winter.

It's become a YouTube sensation in the last few days, even though it was uploaded in June.

New Jersey's education commissioner today ordered a review of the teaching of the song, and wants to find ways to celebrate Black History Month without "inappropriate partisan politics in the classroom."

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The president's speech to students

Posted at 1:08 PM on September 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

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The presidential speech

Posted at 8:58 PM on September 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (24 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Here's the speech President Obama is going to give to schoolchildren whose parents didn't keep them out of the classroom to avoid hearing it.

The irony? He delivers a message that has been a Republican mainstay: Personal responsibility.

The speech accomplishes one thing: It makes those who oppose their children seeing it look silly.

The President: Hello everyone - how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I'm glad you all could join us today. I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday - at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility.

I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working where students aren't getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer - maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper - but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life - I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that - if you quit on school - you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

Now I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in.

So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home - that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer - hundreds of extra hours - to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall.

And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That's why today, I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education - and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you'll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That's OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you - you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. It's the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust - a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor - and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you - don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down - don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

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That's a wrap

Posted at 4:58 PM on September 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Well, that's it, then. Summer is over. Now where did I put that snowblower?

The kids are heading back to school on Tuesday, and Slate.com raises the annual question: Should you have meddled in the decision about which teacher they'd get? You did meddle, didn't you? No, of course not. You left it to your wife. Coward!

I hope I never go down this road. It's the mommy/daddy version of backroom dealing. And it succumbs to the temptation to try to perfect every aspect of our children's lives. As my colleague Hanna Rosin put it about her oldest child's progress through elementary school, "Every year I have thought about lobbying for a particular teacher or to have a particular friend in her class. And every year I have resisted. I never once regretted that. She's had teachers who were, yes, slightly petty, and yellers, and also teachers who favor her. What happened to her? Nothing. She learned that--gasp!--adults are flawed, too."

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The context of test scores

Posted at 11:54 AM on August 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

As a simple consumer of news, I am easily confused. Take education, for example. Stories about test results in Minnesota are starting to become an instant turn-off.

Take the last few months of test-score stories from MPR.

More Minnesota schools not meeting standards

New science test scores show improvement

Some improvement, but Minnesota test scores mostly flat

Latest school test scores show improvement

Just give it to me straight: Are our kids smart or aren't they?

Of course it's all in the packaging. One person's "improvement" can be another's "not quite as abysmal as we used to be." But over the "testing season," the message has generally been that we're relatively mediocre in the big scheme of things. And we can quibble over whether "proficient" is a synonym for "smart."

That's why today's headline caught me a bit by surprise:

Minn. students rank highest among ACT takers

How does this fit with the take-away so far? I posed the question to MPR's education reporter, Tom Weber:

The ACT is a voluntary test, presumably taken by those students who most want to go to college and get a good enough score to attain acceptance to a school. So, what these scores show us is that - within that population of students, Minnesotans score well - and they're scoring better than even last year's crop of Minnesotans scored.

Ed Colby, with the ACT, pointed out that the test is "not just about how prepared they are for college - but also how well they've learned what they've already been taught."

The other stories we've been reporting about in recent weeks are all tied to a different test, the MCA-II, which is mandatory. 100% of Minnesota kids (or just about 100%) took the MCA's, only 68% took the ACT.

But even on MCA test, scores were either flat or higher compared to last year. So, if you want to combine all the test stories into one thought, there's a pattern that suggests students in Minnesota are improving their scores, albeit only slightly in some cases.

Here's a screen grab from and ACT report with some more info that wasn't in my story - it's how Minnesota has performed over the past five years on the test; notice all scores are higher from year to year and consistently above the national average. (click the image to see a larger view)

Finally, here is a link to a sample ACT test to try your skills at home.

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Public education by the numbers

Posted at 4:51 PM on August 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

A Census Bureau report has a little bit for everybody in the school funding debate.

Overall, Minnesota is decidedly middle-of-the-pack among states when it comes to per-pupil public education spending, according to the report released today by the Census Bureau.

The state finished 22nd, spending $9,539 per student in 2007, slightly below the national average of $9,666.

The state was 49th in the amount of per-pupil education expenditures that come from the federal government ($670). But the state's commitment to public education is actually much higher. The state ranks seventh in the country in the amount that comes from the state ($7,679).

$4,329.20 of the state's spending goes for salaries (15th), $400 goes toward general school administration expenses (46th).

Here's the spreadsheet data.

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The revolving school superintendent door

Posted at 2:45 PM on July 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Schools

The Minneapolis school system, it seems, has tried everything. But, like so many other metro school districts nationwide, it can't keep a school superintendent in office for more than a few years; barely long enough to make a difference.

Bill Green announced on Thursday that he will not seek another contract as the superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. He has been the district's interim and permanent leader since 2006. He said he plans to return to teaching and writing as a history professor at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

Here's a timeline of the last 15 years in the city:

1993 - The school board turns over the schools to a for-profit private firm. Peter Hutchinson and his three-person Public Strategies Group operate the schools on a performance-based contract. "We need to make whatever changes are necessary to see all children learn and see that the gap between children of color and white children closes," Hutchinson says. It's the first time a private company took over an entire school district.

1997 - Hutchinson leaves. Some minority groups didn't want Hutchinson as superintendent, and charged him with failing to meet minority students' needs," MPR's Laura McCallum reported.

1997 - Carol Johnson is hired

2003 - Carol Johnson leaves. She became superintendent of schools in Memphis, and superintendent in Boston

2003 (September) - The Minneapolis School Board taps Dave Jennings as new superintendent. "I have confidence because he's shown to be a warrior for public education in the city of Minneapolis. And I think that's what we need," Board member Audrey Johnson says of the ex-legislator.

2003 (October) - Jennings quits after "some African American leaders, who claimed the search process was flawed and Jennings lacked the necessary qualifications," MPR's Tim Pugmire reported. "While the noise is coming from a small group of folks, it is beginning to get in the way of the work, and time is short," Jennings said.

2004 - Thandiwe Peebles is introduced as the new Minneapolis school superintendent, telling people she didn't think things in Minneapolis are as tough as people said they were.

2006 (January) - Peebles resigns, embroiled in controversies over her management style and over allegations that she used district employees to conduct personal business for her.

2007 - Green, an African American, is named interim superintendent. "I would not do this if I felt that we were in a death spiral," Green said. "I do feel we can turn this around."

St. Paul has spun through a few superintendents, too, but they tend to stay longer. Meria Carstarphen left in February after a short tenure. But her predecessors -- Pat Harvey and Curman Gaines -- stayed for a combined 13 years.

Johnson, by all accounts, was brilliant and in great demand. And that's part of the problem. There are apparently so few game-changing school superintendents available, that a small-market city can't keep them.

The average lifespan of a superintendent is three years.

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Inclusion

Posted at 10:30 AM on July 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Schools

There's a documentary coming to Public Television in October that has the ability to change and amplify the debate over special needs in public schools, a debate that is now mostly faceless.

Photojournalist Dan Habib produced the film after his son, Samuel, was born with cerebral palsy. Now he's considering how his son is going to grow up and keep up in public schools.

"What makes inclusion successful? What makes it fail?" he asks.

"Everybody else in life is going to limit him; I can't do it," Samuel's mother says.

Here's a preview:

Related: In its story today about the difficulty young teachers in Minnesota are having getting and keeping jobs in a time of school cutbacks, this lone sentence jumped out:

What's more, with the exception of math, science and special education areas, Minnesota already is overloaded with teachers.

If you have a story to share on the subject, please drop me an e-mail.

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School newspaper flap

Posted at 12:02 PM on June 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Schools

Another flap over the direction of a school newspaper has broken out in the region.

In West Fargo, Jeremy Murphy, the student newspaper and yearbook adviser, has been removed because of "how negative the paper was," according to the Detroit Lakes Online Web site (reg. required).

Murphy, a former reporter, didn't hold back in a letter he sent to the North Dakota Newspaper Association. "Administrators simply want an adviser who will restrain students from reporting on certain topics and I wasn't willing to compromise their freedoms to that extent," he said. "Although they didn't have any specifics, I just think it was the fact that students covered both sides and that negative perspective really wasn't well-received by district officials."

The paper -- The Packer -- won top honors in this year's Northern Interscholastic Press Association competition.

The paper's Web site has a great sample of stories including the bankruptcy of a company that was handling the French class trip, the one-person race for student body president, and a student who's moving to Kenya. Its opinion page features a column wondering why some of the teachers became teachers and one that questioned administrators for canceling a school trip because of blizzard fears.

School newspapers have always presented a dilemma for administrators who balance the teaching of a subject area -- in this case, journalism -- with the needs of their teachers.

In Faribault, Minn., the school district's superintendent closed down the school newspaper last December because the school paper wouldn't let him pre-read an article about a teacher. The students simply started publishing the paper online.

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The top public high schools

Posted at 5:50 PM on June 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Newsweek magazine is out with the top 1,500 public high schools in the U.S. No Minnesota school is on the top 100. "It's only based on advanced placement and international baccalaureate," says MPR education reporter Tom Weber.

The note on methodology attached to the rankings is depressing:

We take the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school in May, and divide by the number of seniors graduating in May or June. All public schools that NEWSWEEK researchers Amy Novak and Dan Brillman and I found that achieved a ratio of at least 1.000, meaning they had as many tests in 2008 as they had graduates, are put on the list on the NEWSWEEK Web site, Newsweek.com.

NEWSWEEK published national lists based on this formula in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. In The Washington Post, I have reported the Challenge Index ratings for every public school in the Washington area every year since 1998. I think 1.000 is a modest standard. A school can reach that level if only half of its students take one AP, IB or Cambridge test in their junior year and one in their senior year. But this year, less than 6 percent of the approximately 27,000 U.S. public high schools managed to reach that standard and be placed on the NEWSWEEK list.

Twenty-eight Minnesota schools made the list. Of the twenty-one Minnesota schools that were ranked previously, only 11 improved from their previous ranking:

Patrick Henry in Minneapolis
Edina
Mahtomedi
Irondale in New Brighton
Century in Rochester
St. Anthony Village in St. Anthony
St. Louis Park
Eden Prairie
South in Minneapolis
Wayzata
South St. Paul

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Test score headlines

Posted at 11:55 AM on June 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

I've written in the past that school test results often seem to be described in overly rosy terms.

The headline of the Minnesota grad standards test results today seems like one such occasion: Latest school test scores show improvements

The reality? Only 57 percent of Minnesota 11th graders who took the math test passed. And fewer than half are proficient in math.

"Like last year's reading results, this year's math results are another clear indication that if we raise expectations, more of our students will accept the challenge and meet those expectations," Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said in her news release.

Eight percent more, perhaps. That's the increase from last year in the percentage of 11th graders declared "proficient" in math. And that number is only 3 percent for black students.

This year was the first year the tests were supposed to determine whether a student would graduate, and we were told the results would be better because the tests "matter" this year. Wouldn't we have expected a bigger improvement if the previous scores were blamed on students not taking the test seriously?

But improvement is often in the eye of the beholder. Here are some tables from the department's press release. You decide.

You may recall that "proficiency" wasn't determined until after officials saw how well -- or how poorly -- the students did.

And most officials in politicians figured they would do poorly. So they removed the test results as a grad requirement.

What headline would you write about these scores?

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Is college worth the money?

Posted at 1:42 PM on June 1, 2009 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

A commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education raises the possibility that college may be the next bubble to burst:

Consumers who have questioned whether it is worth spending $1,000 a square foot for a home are now asking whether it is worth spending $1,000 a week to send their kids to college. There is a growing sense among the public that higher education might be overpriced and under-delivering.

In such a climate, it is not surprising that applications to some community colleges and other public institutions have risen by as much as 40 percent. Those institutions, particularly community colleges, will become a more-attractive option for a larger swath of the collegebound. Taking the first two years of college while living at home has been an attractive option since the 1920s, but it is now poised to grow significantly.

College enrollment, it says, crested this year and will be declining over the next few years. Some colleges are competing for fewer students by freezing tuitions.

(h/t: Andrew Sullivan)

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Live chat: Understanding Minnesota's standardized testing

Posted at 9:08 AM on May 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

MPR's education reporter, Tom Weber, has a story about the state's standardized testing, in which students -- and this is particularly crucial for high school juniors -- need to show proficiency in math and reading in order to graduate.

So at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Tom is going to be here on News Cut answering your questions about the testing which has just been completed.

What sorts of questions? Let's start with this paragraph in his story:

... what Minnesota and at least two dozen other states do is called 'standard setting.' They establish the grade at which is student is considered proficient, it could be 87 or 57. They find that magic number by first reviewing every test question to see how well students did on each. That's key, according to John Willsee, because it lets everyone know how hard the test was. Willsee teaches educational research at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro.

Wait a second! They establish what "proficient" is after the students have already taken the test and "proficient" is based on how well students did on each?

Willsee's view?

"What they want to do is ensure they don't use these rough rules people grew up with, like 90% is passing. That's actually completely arbitrary. they take all this information into consideration in setting an appropriate cut score that will be fair to test takers."

On the surface, it sounds like we're deciding what "proficient" is after we find out whether the students are.

That's my question for Tom. What's yours? We'll see you here at 9.

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Where's?

Posted at 3:28 PM on April 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

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Optimism, pessimism, and the college graduate

Posted at 10:13 PM on March 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, News Cut on Campus, Schools

On Wednesday night I participated in a roundtable with some soon-to-graduate college students. It was the final chapter of the News Cut on Campus project in which we focused on how the economy is affecting the outlook of students.

The roundtable will be broadcast on MPR's Midday one of these days, but I don't believe it's been scheduled yet. Find the broadcast here.

I was asked to provide some observations about what I learned during the project. Here's a few I tossed in along with a few I didn't.

Are you smarter than a Minnesota math student?

Posted at 6:01 PM on March 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (27 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

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The Labor Day standard

Posted at 11:34 AM on March 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (15 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Schools

Go ahead and schedule your Labor Day vacation. A Minnesota House committee killed a bill late this morning that would've allowed schools to start classes before Labor Day.

It's not often that a one-sentence bill at the Legislature can get Minnesota worked up, but HF195, which went before the House Finance Committee today, is one such occasion.

Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 120A.40, a school district may begin the school year on any day before Labor Day only for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.

Labor Day comes late this year (September 7), and some educators say that's too late. Graduations would be held in mid-June, proponents say. Besides, the kids in the band and football teams are already practicing by mid-August, according to Rep. Kim Norton, DFL-Rochester, who is sponsoring the bill and is also a substitute teacher.

But the underlying issue is the economy, specifically the resort industry. If kids are back in school before Labor Day, they and their parents can't be spending the week at a campground or resort. And young summer employees can't be working if they're in school.

"They'll have about a 45 percent decline in booking," Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, said today. He said in 2004, the State Fair lost thousands of visitors because of an early school start date. He predicts the fair could lose up to $2.5 million in revenue if the bill becomes law.

"Labor Day is the largest vacation week in the state of Minnesota," he said. "It's not just the resorts, the airline industry loses bookings when school starts before Labor Day."

But Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan, says the economic argument is a shallow one. "It's a question of whether they're going to spend it at the end of the sumer, or at the beginning of the summer," he said.

"Rep. Norton picked the worst two years to try this," said Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia. "It's the worst years since the Depression. If you stop them from spending on Labor Day weekend, it's going to hurt those resorters. We don't need to put another nail in the coffin for rural Minnesota."

The not-until-Labor-Day policy of Minnesota schools -- Michigan and Virginia are the only two other states with the policy, according to Rep. Norton -- extends back to the state's agrarian history. The kids needed to help out on the farm.

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Are high school sports a luxury?

Posted at 11:48 AM on March 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

On NBC's critically acclaimed -- and little watched -- series "Friday Night Lights," a high school principal, who happens to be married to the football-crazed Texas town's football coach, fights a losing battle between athletics and academics. There's plenty of money and support for a new Jumbotron scoreboard for the football stadium in the down-and-out town. But not much for academics.

In Woodbury, the football field at the new high school, which opens next year, awaits the action. An enclosed press box and lights are part of the amenities. It sits in the shadow of spiffy -- and expensive -- new baseball diamonds, right next to more than a dozen baseball fields and soccer fields at the city's Bielenberg sports complex.

In today's economy, are these luxuries? Is there still a worthwhile purpose for high school sports?

Woodbury has not one, but two youth athletic leagues which run in-house and traveling programs for the major sports. Kids in the city have no shortage of avenues to sports participation. That's not always the case, especially in rural areas of the state.

But a Star Tribune story offers a reminder why schools don't want to get rid of sports, aside from their status as the most sacred of sacred cows. Minnesota allows open enrollment -- school choices. They can go to school wherever they want. Tuesday's story raised questions about whether some schools -- Hopkins was the focus of the story -- essentially employ "ringers." If you don't live in a district, or you only moved their to play sports -- does the whole "community identity" excuse for high school sports still exist.

Woe be to the school district that doesn't offer sports. Their athletic students will jump to another district, taking state funding with them.

Clearly, some district are looking to save money by cutting high school sports. The Minnesota State High School league, at the request of some central Minnesota school districts, considered reducing the number of games the schools play, eliminating classes and divisions in some sports, and getting rid of some tournament games. In the end, it decided to do nothing, at least not yet.

Mark Rusinko, a governor's appointee to the Minnesota State High School League board of directors, suggested that if schools want to cut costs by cutting the number of games played, they could do so.

It's a complicated process, Wally Shaver of Let's Play Hockey pointed out. One school may save money by eliminating a game. Another school may lose $20,000 in gate receipts because of the lost game.

Some schools are raising the fees for participating. Others are scheduling sports doubleheaders so two sports teams can ride the same bus. But there's tremendous pushback -- especially in hockey -- when the subject of reducing the number of games comes up.

But some districts have cut high school sports. Even the liberal Minnesota 2020, which might be expected to lead the cut-athletics-save-academics parade, lamented the loss of football, baseball, track, wrestling, and dance line in the Crosby Ironton district.

On Monday night, the school board in Marshall considered $600,000 in cuts. None of which -- except for cheerleading, which was proposed for elimination -- involved team sports programs.

Should school districts rethink the role of sports?

Let's kick it around in the comments section.

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Proud, deeply committed, deeply honored, and out of here

Posted at 10:54 AM on February 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Meria Carstarphen is accepting the job as the Austin, Texas school superintendent, giving us the opportunity to parse her statement of last week when she said.... well, we're still not sure exactly what she said.

But here's what she said:

"I am proud to be the Superintendent of Saint Paul Public Schools and am continuing to work to serve the District's students, families, staff and community members every day. It is well known that I very much enjoy my job here and remain deeply committed to achieving the vision that we have set forth over the past three years."

SPPS has big work ahead of us in the coming months with preparations for spring testing, Large-Scale System Changes and budget reductions. I am committed to leading those efforts."

And here's what she said today:

"I am extremely honored to have secured the confidence of the Austin School District Board of Trustees that they would name me the lone finalist to become their next school superintendent.

"I am deeply honored to have worked with the St. Paul Public Schools families and staff. It is thanks to their commitment that we have come such a long way in the district in such a short time."

The Austin-American Statesman comments section to the story is not filled with the happy welcome of Austin. It's chock full of the best wishes of St. Paulites.

WOO HOO!! She's your problem now!

Thank god. I am truly sorry for your students, teachers, and community, but this is such a blessing for St. Paul. Carstarphen is a rock star for sure. She is narcissistic and self-absorbed. She come in, surround herself only with yes-men and women, alienate most senior staff and teachers. She will implement many "sweeping" changes, but won't stick around to see them through or be held accountable for results. Remember that her D.C. gig only lasted 18 months, and she was with us less than 3 years. Do not be fooled, this is all about Meria, and not about students or Austin. Yes, she truly is a "Rock Star". Glad you got her!

---

Why does this choice NOT surprise me in the least! I wouldn't even have to see her resume to know that she'd be "highly thought of". __ And by the comments from the people of St Paul, we're in for something LESS than expected

---

I would like to that the citizens of Austin for relieving our school district of a total failure. You will certainly find this out later.

---

This woman is a charter member of the transient club of school supers that bounce from failing district to failing district. They know all the buzz words, they are described as "rock stars". Once she arrives she'll disappear for a couple years and ZERO will change. You will have paid her well over a million for a couple years of nothing and poof she'll be gone to the next stop......

Good luck and a hearty thank you for relieving us of this no results slick talker......

Photo: Jay Janner/AMERICAN-STATESMAN - Dr. Meria Carstarphen, the lone finalist to replace Pat Forgione as AISD Superintendent, says hello to Eydie (CQ) Lugo's first grade class at Zilker Elementary School today.

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Math tests not adding up to graduation for Minnesota students

Posted at 7:26 AM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Minnesota has new graduation standards for math and thousands of Minnesota high schoolers aren't going to pass them. What should the state do? Prevent them from graduating and keep them in school until they get it right? Or change the law and allow them to move on?

The current crop of seniors is the first class to graduate -- maybe -- under the new rules.

"The bottom line is that the majority of Minnesota's 11th-graders are probably not going to meet the proficiency level," Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, told the Mankato Free Press. He's filed legislation to give the two-thirds of the students who took -- and failed -- the test an option to graduate with math remediation.

Not everyone likes the idea. "If we go in this direction, we're largely taking a leap of faith at this point," Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul told MPR's Tom Weber earlier this month. "It's not going to be informed by any data or research. I'm not seeing the rationale behind that, and I don't want to make a decision just to make a decision. I think we have to slow things down and explore things further."

The trouble is the clock is ticking for the class of 2010.

Part of the problem is schools are still developing curricula for the standards that are already being employed.

"Parents don't know this is even coming down the pipeline," Edina School Board member Peyton Robb told a hearing at the Capitol in December. "Basically, they're going to be faced with this result at the end of their 11th grade year. Their senior year is likely to be trashed, in large part, because of the remediation that will be needed."

If you're a Minnesota high school senior caught up in this, please contact me.

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Carstarphen's view

Posted at 12:44 PM on February 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

St. Paul school superintendent Meria Carstarphen released a statement this afternoon following reports she's in the running to be the superintendent of schools in Austin, Texas.

I am proud to be the Superintendent of Saint Paul Public Schools and am continuing to work to serve the District's students, families, staff and community members every day. It is well known that I very much enjoy my job here and remain deeply committed to achieving the vision that we have set forth over the past three years.

In that time, SPPS has repositioned itself to address, not only current, but future needs. We have a strategic plan that takes us through 2011. We have a process in place to develop recommendations for systemic changes that are needed. The Board, the community and the SPPS staff are well aware of the need to continue the change process.

SPPS has big work ahead of us in the coming months with preparations for spring testing, Large-Scale System Changes and budget reductions. I am committed to leading those efforts.

It is my understanding that the superintendent search in Austin is a closed search and I am not in a position to comment on that process. Any questions regarding that process are best directed to Austin.

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Moving on?

Posted at 9:03 AM on February 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Less than three years from the time she was selected as St. Paul's school superintendent, Meria Carstarphen is already thinking of getting out of town, according to reports today. She's a finalist for a superintendent's job in Austin, Texas. The news comes almost three years from the day Carstarphen was selected as St. Paul's school chief in March 2006. A concern at the time was she tended not to stay in one place very long.

The first school officials appeared to hear of her desire to leave was when she put her Summit Avenue home up for sale, although they tried to dampen speculation by saying she only intended to move into a condo instead.

Her predecessor, Pat Harvey, only stayed for 6 years, and considered leaving for Portland halfway through her tenure.

Her predecessor, Curman Gaines, lasted seven years. He, too, let his name be floated for an out-of-town gig (Seattle) halfway through his tenure. But he had spent 25 years in the system, coming to St. Paul as a science teacher in the '70s.

Why don't school superintendents stick around longer? The Pioneer Press analyzed metro school district salaries last year and found them rising faster than teacher pay. It documented how far districts are willing to go to keep superintendents around, usually with car allowances and bankable vacations and unused sick days.

Gaines was considered one of St. Paul's best superintendents. A comment at the time from a teacher's union official might explain why. "He's one of us. He's home-grown. He knows the state and what's going on. We don't want to lose him - and I didn't have to say that," Sandra Peterson said in 1995.

What direction should St. Paul take now? Should it look for someone local or try to attract someone else's superintendent who's ready to move on?

Update 2:18 p.m. - MPR's Paul Tosto, who knows more than a little something about the education beat, sends along this report that shows the average urban school superintendent lasts for three years. In 1999, it was a little over two years.

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How soon should kids get on a career track?

Posted at 9:06 AM on February 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (29 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

"Hey, this would make a good show for Midmorning," I hollered over the cubicle walls the other day while I was writing this post last week about the Governor's Workforce Development Council proposal to the Legislature to require students to develop a plan for their future careers as early as the ninth grade. Some people say it's not early enough; others say it pigeon-hole's kids into a career track.

So Midmorning will take the first 45 minutes of the first hour of the show this morning to discuss the topic.

I'll be in the studio live-blogging the program with Jim Bierma, lead counselor of Minneapolis public schools; Randall Hansen, founder of Quintessential Careers, a career development Web site; and Marc Scheer, researcher, educational consultant, and career counselor with a Ph.D. in counseling psychology. His book is called "No Sucker Left Behind: Avoiding the Great College Rip-off."

None of them is on the Council but we'll be talking about the role of schools and the pros and cons of this idea. That's where you come in. Post your thoughts in the comments section below now or during the show and I'll pull the best ones out to read on the air and ask the guests to address.

9:03 a.m. - We're about ready to go. Jim is describing his work with the Minneapolis Public Schools. We've got some good comments that we can insert into the show if we get a chance. Keep them coming.

9:07 a.m. - Recommended reading: Career and college planning needs of 9th graders.

9:10 a.m. - Jim Bierma says by around 10th grade, students have more realistic plans. But if a student says he wants to be an NBA basketball player, "we go with that." We never tell them they can't, he says, but they emphasize that college will be necessary for that. He favors the career track, saying it helps students become more motivated.

9:12 a.m. - Randall Hansen says the #1 answer of students when asked what they want to do it "I don't want to work behind a desk all day." He says the governor's proposal may be geared to "cost saving." "It just limits people, especially so early to say 'oh, you're on a community college track, if your grades improve we can review that.' It limits the students' view of what's possible."

9:15 a.m. - Bierma says they're not putting kids on a community college track. He says students can change their career plan at any time. He says surveys of parents and students shows support for career plans (tracks).

My question: What if a student doesn't have a plan for a career at the 9th grade. Does this push them to decide something and is that good or bad?

9:18 a.m. - Matt in Luverne, a high school senior calls. Says he had tons of ideas of what to do and it was good to see options. But he didn't like the idea of making kids write down what they might want to do. "It puts undue stress" on the kids.

9:19 a.m. - John from Bloomington says this is the German model of education. He says students are put on a trade track or an education track. He says it reduces student anxiety.

9:24 a.m. - Marc Scheer says he falls out on the side of being concerned about students' financial futures. The current generation of students graduating are Generation Debt. They're receiving lower salaries than they expect. He'd like to see consideration of future salaries become a bigger part of the picture.

Tangent time As you know, I've been talking to kids on campus for the last few weeks, asking them where their "passion" for the choice of their direction comes from. In interviews with 60+ kids so far, I haven't met anyone who says it came from anything that happened in high school.

9:28 a.m. - A parent of a 9th grader calls and says she fears that instead of having a variety of resources available to help kids make decisions, what we'll have is a tracking where people were told at an early age, you should do this or you should do that. She also says there aren't enough counselors in schools, a fact also brought up by several people in the comments section below.

Jim says Minnesota is last in the nation for school counselors per student. "We're also optimistic that we do a lot of things in classrooms. School counselors are all about getting girls in science and math and we do not tell people, 'you cannot do this.'"

9:38 a.m. - Andrew, a high school student, wants to get into the performing arts and he says it's hard to find good information. What's available for him, he asks? Jim says he would show him Web sites for colleges that have strong acting programs.

Is that a decision Andrew could've made in 9th grade? Yes, he says.

9:40 a.m. - A caller says she would've "sold herself short" if she had made decisions in the 9th grade. She also wonders why Minnesota would move forward with this plan without a foundation in place to support it?

Marc says there's a danger students could get locked into something rigid at an early age. "No one wants a 13 or 14 year old to make all their life decisions, but at the same time we need more of a career emphasis in high school."

Jim says school counselors are promoting a program that doesn't lock students into anything.

9:42 a.m. - I'm having a flashback to the mid-90s when there was a worker shortage in Minnesota and businesses were concerned that they wouldn't have enough well-trained workers. It led to efforts to increase emphasis on career tracks in high schools, and caused a debate on what schools are for: to provide "enlightenment" or to make workers for businesses?

9:50 a.m. - Dr. Hansen, one of the guests earlier in the hour, has posted this follow-up in the comments section.

Hi. One thing I wanted to follow-up on from the show this morning is the importance of something Jim said... that I think it is important to tie interests to possible careers and jobs -- so high school students can then do the research themselves and find out information about the type of work, the pay, the values, the job outlook, and so forth about each type of career.

Too often students -- in high school or college -- choose a major, say philosophy -- as Jim mentioned -- and proceed with no clue as to the kinds of jobs they could get with that major... or they assume they will just continue on to graduate school.

We have a section on QuintCareers.com that we call real jobs for real majors -- where students can find a list of jobs for just about any type of college major.

Thanks again for having me on the show.

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Choosing your career path

Posted at 1:06 PM on January 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (33 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

I'll be on All Things Considered tonight with Tom Crann, talking about what I've learned so far during the News Cut on Campus "tour." My theme this evening will be the number of people who wish they'd made different choices when choosing a career path in high school, and the story of one person who wishes her parents had told her she was making a mistake.

(Update: Here's the dance mix -- Listen)

That's why I've taken note today of an idea being considered at the Capitol on the subject of career paths: Requiring students to have one.

On Tuesday, a House committee heard recommendations from the Governor's Workforce Development Council, one of which would require high school students to develop a plan for their future careers as early as the ninth grade.

According to the Legislature's Session Daily report, "Executive Director Brenda Norman presented the recommendation that every Minnesota student, from ninth grade on, should have an annually reviewed plan to guide them down an educational and occupational path of their own choosing."

There are, of course, two schools of thought on this:

Rep. Steve Gottwalt said he was concerned about adopting a European-style plan. "I get awfully concerned when we're talking about mandating things on ninth-graders and graduates in high school...The fact that we might require them to start building a career path too early or too arbitrarily is a bit of a concern."

"Ninth grade, to me, is almost too late to be thinking about where they want to be going," countered Rep. Jeanne Poppe.

This question sent me into the Wayback Machine to my youth, which -- for the record -- was not in Europe. We had two tracks in high school and kids were separated in 10th grade -- the college track vs. the "business" track.

As a member of the esteemed college track, I was told by my guidance counselor that I would be an engineer, because that's where the jobs were in the early '70s, especially in my declining New England milltown. So he loaded me up with a planned schedule that included trigonometry and physics and a whole host of classes for smart people that I had no hope of passing or any interest in attending. Back then, however, I often did as I was told.

That afternoon I showed my mother my planned schedule and her jaw dropped.

"I thought you wanted to be a journalist," she said.

It was a forehead-slap moment. "Oh... right," I said. "I forgot."

It provides a good reminder that lives are changed by parents who'll slap you on the side of the head and tell you when you're being stupid.

And that brings us to the question for discussion. Is your career path a matter of discussion between a student and parents only or should the law require you to choose a career path by a certain point?

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On Campus: The prosthetic and orthotic technician

Posted at 6:22 PM on January 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, News Cut on Campus, Schools

Nathan Green, 33, a Nebraska native, says he saw the economy collapsing five years ago when he was working in a parks and recreation department. Bond issues for swimming pools kept getting put off, he said during News Cut's stop at Century College today.

"I wanted a profession that I could be proud of," he said. He wanted to get into orthotics and prosthetics and said the Minnesota campus is the only program in the country for both.

For three years, he and his then-girlfriend-now-wife maintained a long distance relationship. After they got married, she got a job in New Ulm and they had a less-long-distance relationship for three months.

"I needed to make a clean break so I didn't fall into the same old situation, hanging out with the same old friends trying to scrounge out part-time jobs here and there," he said. He's been working in the practitioner program working with patients, and now he's starting to check out possible residency programs.

"It's looking a little bleak right now because the bigger not-for-profit hospitals maybe had their donors in the stock market. They're getting kind of tight and aren't willing to take the students. Taking a resident costs them money. The benefits of them taking new students might become a little daunting when they need to do what they can to keep the lights on in their facilities," he said.

"I'm a little nervous with Medicare and the different outlooks on reimbursement for insurance," he said. It's cost him about $3,000 per semester and he's not altogether sure that won't go up. He expects MnSCU (Minnesota State Colleges and University System) schools to be the first to get hit with budget cuts at a time when the economy is requiring more people to go back to school.

"(People) worked in the airline profession and are coming back to be different technicians and stuff. These are people who had a life, they're starting a brand new career, how long are they going to be in school before they actually get out in the work force and how long do they have to be out in the work force before they get established in the field?"

Most of the money Green stockpiled for school is gone and he's found it difficult to get a job while going to school because employers don't think he'll be around long-term and they won't give him a long-term job while he's in school.

Green's original degree was in education and therapeutic recreation, working with adaptive aquatics, "saw a lot of people post-op or amputation, special needs children."

"I have a very positive outlook; I know everything will work out and things happen for a reason," he said. "My wife stuck with me so I know there's something there. I don't know if anybody knows what the right answers are right now. You may worry yourself into a hole. Yeah, a job is a big part of that but you've got friends and family, too."

He and his wife are expecting their first child in June, right around the time he'll be starting a residency program. Somewhere.

"I'm not going to live in the kind of house my parents do, with the cars and things like that. I'm not entitled to that. That's something I'm going to have to work for it. I'm hoping I'm prepared for that."

Listen

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On Campus: The information technology pro

Posted at 4:50 PM on January 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, News Cut on Campus, Schools

My hand-scrawled sign at the table I set up at Century College in White Bear Lake on Wednesday said conversations 25 cents. Terrence McBride, 24, of Inver Grove Heights was one of the first in line. He put 25 cents down. I put 25 cents down. "Whichever one of us enjoys the conversation more, the other one gets the money," I said.

"Anybody's life can get out of whack when they're looking at the peak of a mountain," McBride said when I asked him about looking at the challenge he faces in a bad economy. He's one of thousands of students across the state who are pretty sure better times are ahead, because in some ways, they've already arrived. In a challenging economy, he's biting off a daunting task in small bits.

McBride, who admits he "screwed up" when he was a teenager, was working at an auto dealership, performing oil changes when he saw which way the economy was heading. "There were firings and I have a six-month-old daughter and I wanted more job security," he said.

He wants to become an information technology specialist and he talks "when," not "if." He goes to school fulltime and works fulltime.

"How hard is that?' I asked.

"Not hard enough to keep me from doing it," he said. "If something is really important to you, there's nothing that can stop you." His girlfriend is a nursing student and they get by by cutting expenses. "We don't go to movies, we buy movies on demand, we don't go out to eat. I study and I go to work. In the long run, I'm relatively sure it's going to pay off."

Despite the bad economy, McBride says the work will pay off. "You can have any perspective on this whole economy that you want to, but people still have jobs. No journey is impossible if the first step is belief."

That's when I gave him the quarters.

He says two years from now he hopes to be doing an intership in "some sort of conglimerate, slowly working my way up the ranks. I've been down and out myself and I bring more maturity than a normal 24-year old." He says his girlfriend will be in nursing, and his daughter will be in preschool "to get a head start on her education."

"I don't want to raise my daughter as a statistic. I want her to have a choice as to which school she goes to. I want her to have me in her life. I'm a black guy with a daughter and there's so many prejudices about that. I want her to have as good of a life as anybody else," he said.

And what will he says to the kid in the auto dealership when he needs his car's oil changed? "Stay in school. Get into school if you can. Apply for financial aid if you need to. Set a small goal each day. That's what I did. I broke it down to tasks. Check out a school, pick a school, apply for financial aid, get books, arrange my schedule and work schedule, then all the pieces start fitting together."

Listen

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On Campus: Century College

Posted at 10:00 AM on January 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Schools

I'm at Century College in White Bear Lake, the first stop in an every-Wednesday initiative to visit MnSCU campuses to talk about students' outlook and also to hear some of their stories about their journey to the here and now. I'll start at 10:30 and here's how it'll work: I'll just quickly blog about who I'm talking to and indicate something about them that I find interesting.

update 3:04 p.m. - I couldn't get a wiFi signal out of the campus so I couldn't live blog. However I'll be posting a few dozen profiles over the next few hours.

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The 'tour' starts tomorrow

Posted at 7:10 AM on January 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Schools

I'm kicking off a three month experiment on News Cut tomorrow when I visit Century College in White Bear Lake to hear the personal outlook by some of the students there and -- I hope -- hear about their journey on the road to the future.

MPR Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer asked me about it this morning on her program. Listen

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The peanut butter mystery

Posted at 11:29 AM on January 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Schools

On Friday night, the Minnesota Department of Public Health traced a salmonella outbreak to a peanut butter sold primarily to institutions such as nursing homes and schools.

Today, a press release from the the Minnesota Pubic Schools trumpets:

Minneapolis Public Schools not affected by King Nut peanut butter recall

And it takes the honor also for world's shortest press release:

MINNEAPOLIS - MPS Nutrition Services does not serve peanut butter. We are not affected by the King Nut peanut butter recall.

A sign of my age, however, is that I think the big news here is that Minneapolis public schools don't serve peanut butter. I'll bet they don't even have "mystery meat" anymore. The times have changed, you whippersnappers.

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News Cut on campus

Posted at 4:57 AM on January 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Schools

Starting next Wednesday and continuing every Wednesday into March, I'll be visiting a campus of the Minnesota State Colleges and University System to talk to students about their outlook. The economy certainly paints a bleak picture, but young people usually tend to have hope. Is hope still alive? And what journeys have brought people to their particular campus?

I'll have multiple postings each Wednesday evening on what I find.

Here's the schedule. If you're on one of these campuses, I look forward to talking to you. You can find me at the campus cafeteria or student center.

January 14 - Century College. White Bear Lake
January 21 - Vermilion Community College. Ely
January 28 - Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Minneapolis.
February 4 - Winona State University. Winona.
February 11 - Minnesota West Community and Technical College. Duluth.
February 18 - Lake Superior College. Duluth
February 25 - Minnesota State University. Moorhead
March 4 - Hennepin Technical College. Eden Prairie.

I'll be in each location from about 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Meanwhile, posting will be a little light today. I'm on my way to Winona to talk to a school official about the Feb. 4 visit.

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Students get a lesson in 'press freedom'

Posted at 12:57 PM on December 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (17 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Schools

Free speech ends at the school doors, the Supreme Court has ruled several times.

But it's being tested in Faribault today, the Faribault Daily News reports, where the school superintendent has closed down the school newspaper after its journalist-students refused to let him preview a story on the investigation of middle school teacher Shelly Prieve, who has reportedly been under investigation for inappropriate communication with students.

Says the Daily News:

Though the Prieve article is at the center of the controversy, (School Superintendent Bob) Stepaniak said it has evolved into something greater than the words in that story. Instead, he said, it is about the fundamental question of whether a district's administration has the right to review articles prior to publication.

Stepaniak insists he does. Zwaggerman and Hildebrandt insist he doesn't. Each side is backed by legal representation.

Stepaniak points to the powers under a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hazelwood School District vs. Kuhlmeier, that upheld the right of public high school administrators in a suburban St. Louis, Mo., school district to censor articles about teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children from a school-sponsored student newspaper.

The school newspaper's, known as The Echo, faculty advisor Kelly Zwaggerman says she's prepared to be removed from that role.

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Math scores may not add up to graduation

Posted at 6:45 AM on December 2, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

This is quite a conundrum. A new math requirement for graduating Minnesota students may be too hard, and the timing isn't good.

The tests are used to determine whether schools are meeting federal standards, but they also are used to determine whether a student should graduate. The problem is, apparently, that a student wouldn't find out he/she isn't proficient enough to graduate until late in the junior year, leaving only the senior year to learn what he or she needs to learn. Last year, about a third of 11th graders were proficient enough to pass.

Says a story from MPR's Tom Weber:

A new task force, announced at the Capitol committee meeting, will look at possible remedies for the math test. They include everything from moving the math GRAD to 10th grade, to changing the requirement that exams be given at the end of each math course instead of once in the 11th grade, to even tying GRAD scores to drivers' licenses as a way to entice kids to pay attention.

The possibility of not graduating doesn't get their attention?

There's another problem. The state's Department of Education is about six months behind schedule coming up with the test. (See comments section)

Legislators, who caution that they're not changing the standards, are considering moves that would prevent graduating rates from dropping dramatically, giving the state an educational black eye. But they don't appear to know yet what options to pursue, and the clock is ticking.

What would you do?

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Study: Teachers teaching what they don't know

Posted at 2:45 PM on November 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Too many teachers are teaching a subject they know little about, according to a damning report on the ability of schools to prepare kids for careers. It leads to an obvious question, "how are kids going to learn from teachers who don't know the subject?"

The study, from Richard M. Ingersoll of the University of Pennsylvania, was sponsored by The Education Trust, described as a "child advocacy organization." It was based on 2003-04 statistics.

Among the findings:

* In high-poverty schools, two in five math classes have teachers without a college major or certification in math.

* In schools with a greater share of African-American and Latino children, nearly one in three math classes is taught by such a teacher.

Perhaps this goes a long way toward explaining why an average 15-year-old in the U.S. is behind the average 15-year-old in 21 industrialized countries in math.

The problem of unqualified teachers was one of the targets of the No Child Left Behind Law, but it was overshadowed by criticism over the NCLB mandate for standardized testing. It required teachers to be "highly qualified," but left it to the states to determine what "highly qualified" means.

The report said Minnesota classes are taught by highly qualified teachers 98.4% of the time. But teachers reported they were "in-field qualified" only 88.9% of the time. Still, only Rhode Island and Indiana had higher percentages.

Here's the full report.

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High school musicals

Posted at 10:21 AM on October 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

(My colleague, Tom Weber, who probably can carry a tune, sent me this entry)

This Friday marks the theatrical release of the third "High School Musical" movie. This sequel focuses on the teens' senior year, which would suggest this will be the last of the "High School Musical" series - but if anyone can finagle another sequel, it's Disney.

I truly don't understand the draw of this phenom, but that proves nothing except how far removed I am from the target audience. Still, I used the opportunity of the movie's opening to find out what some schools around the metro (and one outstate) are performing this year.

A few notes:

- One high school (Eagan) is doing "High School Musical."
- Centennial is doing "Sweeney Todd," the school edition. Me wonders if the 'school' edition has dulled the show's murderous undertones - but if you take out those themes, what's left?
- Rumors that I portrayed Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls" when I was a senior are actually quite true.
- This was never an attempt to be a complete list of all schools, so if yours isn't listed but know which show they're doing, please join the discussion of this blog entry.

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The racial gap in school

Posted at 3:08 PM on October 2, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

MPR's Tom Weber takes a look at two issues facing Minneapolis -- and many other schools -- today.

His report on the state of Minneapolis schools is about as sobering as it gets. Despite every attempt by administrators to maintain an upbeat attitude, how do you find any hope in the racial and ethnic disparities? (Full report here)

The way girls dress

Posted at 12:57 AM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

A school board member in the Perham-Dent School District has given public voice to something we old curmudgeons have been muttering since the days when we dropped our kids off at school: how do those girls get out of the house dressed like that?

"They looked like they were at a brothel rather than at a football game," said Bridgit Pankonin at a recent school board meeting, as reported by the Worthington Daily Globe (registration possibly required).

The Minnesota State High School League spectator conduct policy says only that attire must cover the entire torso.

In the end, the school board decided not to try to legislate the attire girls -- or boys for that matter -- wear away from school, figuring that merely raising the subject would start a conversation in the district.

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The state plane

Posted at 12:02 PM on September 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his education commissioner, Alice Seagren, are flying around the state today to talk about his education reform proposals for the 2009 legislative session.

The pair drop into an airport, do some interviews with the local media, get back on the state airplane, head to the next stop and do more interviews. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. Flying around the state is a good way to get your mug -- and point of view -- on TV, newspapers, and radio around the state.

How much does it cost?

The governor is using the state airplane, N70MN, a Beechcraft Super King Air 200. You can follow its flight history via FlightAware.com.

It started its day at St. Paul's Holman Field, flew to Moorhead, then Duluth, then St. Cloud, and then back to St. Paul, on to Winona, then Albert Lea, and back to St. Paul.

A 2003 survey put the hourly fuel use of a twin-engine King Air 200 at 106 gallons per hour.
It took 52 minutes to fly to Moorhead, 44 minutes to fly to Duluth, 41 minutes to St. Cloud, and 22 minutes to St. Paul, according to FlightAware.com.

Flight planning software that calculates today's winds shows the plane flies at an average speed of 201-250 miles per hour (it can fly much faster and does in cruise but, obviously, flies slower during takeoff and landing). So its flights to Winona, Albert Lea, and back should last 29 minutes, 28 minutes, and 21 minutes for a total flying time today of about 4 hours. Add in 15 minutes in each location for taxiing and you're left with about 5 hours and 45 minutes at 106 gallons of fuel per hour.

Fuel at St. Paul Downtown Airport (where, by the way, it's ridiculously overpriced compared to other airports) is about $6.50 a gallon or $689 per hour.

Total cost? For fuel: $3,755.05, or about $1,500 more than a teacher can earn in performance pay under the governor's Q-Comp program.

How often is the plane used? Not that often (based on filed flight plans). Total in-flight time in the last 4 months: 47 hours.

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Zero-tolerance policies

Posted at 2:21 PM on September 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (20 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Two cases of box-cutters at school have been in the news this week.

In Blaine, Tony Richard, 17, was suspended for 10 days and could be expelled after a box cutter was found in his car. Richard says it's there because he uses it at his after-school job at Cub Foods.

The school, like many others, has a zero-tolerance policy on "weapons."

What was the school worried about? Probably what the officials over in Sheboygan, Wisconsin were. A 16-year-old student faces charges after his mother called the school to say he planned to "handle the situation" of another kid who chased him with a baseball bat on Monday. He was picked up on Tuesday with a box cutter.

A week or so ago, a kid in Naperville, Illinois was suspended under a zero-tolerance policy. He had a Swiss Army Knife. He was to be expelled until officials considered the fact he's a special needs student.

The American Bar Association has looked at the zero-tolerance movement and found it lacking.

The ABA Journal story noted how unfair zero tolerance policies have become. One private attorney in Virginia observed that children are able to understand that there is a difference between being treated equally and being treated fairly. She said, "Kids are not going to respect teachers and administrators who cannot appreciate the difference between a plastic knife and a switch-blade."

The lawyers association said in a 2001 report that "most current policies eliminate the common sense that comes with discretion and, at great cost to society and to children and families, do little to improve school safety."

Do you favor zero-tolerance policies?

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Follow-up: The Gloucester 'pregnancy pact'

Posted at 1:30 PM on August 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Schools

Remember the story about the high school girls in Gloucester, Mass., who made a pact to get pregnant? It was a heck of a story until people started checking the facts and found no evidence that it was true.

What's happened since then? Plenty. The principal of the school, cited as the source for the pact claim, has resigned effective tomorrow. He says the mayor of Gloucester and other officials slandered him by refusing to invite him to a news conference back during the height of the controversy, and questioning the existence of the pact, a word Sullivan says he never used. As with any small city newspaper, the "comments" section of the newspaper article on the subject provides more insight than the article itself (Worth noting, by the way, that a post comparing Gloucester to the rest of the state and, oddly, Minnesota, could've only come from News Cut).

An editorial in the paper provides a glimpse into the politics of it all:

Sullivan has said he doesn't recall using the term "pact," but then again, he was never really given the chance to confirm, deny or explain. When the media storm broke, Sullivan -- like all other school personnel -- was ordered by (School Superintendent Christopher) Farmer not to comment. He was barred from participating in any of the multiple press conferences. Mayor Kirk spoke for him, saying Sullivan's memory was "foggy," and that he couldn't recall what he had told the Time reporter.
...

Not only was he ordered to remain silent while his reputation was tarnished, but since then he has not been consulted or even involved in the discussions that will eventually lead to policies on birth control and sex education for the school. These may well prove to be policies he might not support, but would be expected to enforce. That is not only insulting, but as Sullivan realized, it made it impossible for him to continue. No administrator can function effectively when he is being undermined and muzzled by his superiors.

Media critic Dan Kennedy writes today that the story here isn't the "pact," it's the poor reporting from a national magazine, that cost a man his job.

Still, it has struck me as exceedingly odd that here, in Oprah Nation, not one of these young women would step forward. Let's not forget, too, that one pregnant 17-year-old Gloucester High student appeared on national television and denied there was any such pact. Rather, she said some of the students became close after they got pregnant, a claim that comports with some inside knowledge I had picked up around the same time.

Time magazine shouldn't just be given a pass on this.

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In summer, kids' thoughts turn to algebra

Posted at 4:50 PM on August 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Minnesota is falling further behind in the No Child Left Behind-motivated ranking of schools making annual yearly progress, according to a story by MPR's Tim Nelson today. In many ways, anecdotal evidence suggests, we've almost stopped being alarmed by the steady drumbeat of bad education news. If you listen to enough politicians -- and talk shows -- you'd swear our kids are stupid, and our teachers are relatively incompetent, and there's not a heck of a lot we can do about it.

I'll see your anecdotal evidence, and raise you one week in Minneapolis where kids have actually chosen to spend the gorgeous weather inside three schools, learning algebra concepts, from teachers who have taken a pay cut to teach them.

The week is being coordinated by Elizabeth Bortke, who's been working on this week's program -- called B.A.S.E. (Believe, Achieve, Support, Educate) camp -- since last March. She talked to more than 4,500 students earlier this year, to convince them that algebra can be interesting, and relevant, and that a week indoors can prepare them for whatever they want to achieve in life. Four-hundred-forty-one kids took her up on the offer. She also recruited 44 teachers.

The state is pushing down the curriculum for math. Kids will have to learn it sooner. "Instead of having algebra taken in high school, now, our 5th graders from last year will be the first class to have to take algebra in the 8th grade," according to Bortke.

Bortke looked for a program that would teach algebra differently "instead of the 2x + 4 = 6 approach." The kids first learn concepts through a visual manner -- they were playing games involving numbers on dice when I was at the Field School this afternoon. Then they learn the formula behind the game, which is -- if you're like me -- the kind of scrawling that gave you bad dreams at night well into your adult years. We had to learn the formula and then try to figure out what that had to do with "real things." These kids see "real things" and then see the formula. (Listen)

"I'm learning a lot," one teacher told me. "I have a classroom of girls and it's interesting to see the difference from a classroom where you have both genders. Girls have their work and they seem to be a little bit quieter and they get down to business. When I've had mixed genders, the girls don't get that opportunity because the classroom tends to be louder with both the boys and the girls together."

More girls than boys are attending this week's sessions.

"I don't think the District is thinking this week is going to change things dramatically, but it's our first baby step in helping our kids improve and arming them with the tools
they need to be successful," Bortke told me. The Minneapolis Public Schools will track the students who attend this week's B.A.S.E. camp over their school years to see how well -- and if -- this approach works.

The kids seem to get it. One 8th-grader-to-be called her cousin to tell her, "you have to be here, it'll give you a step up." While I visited today, the cousin showed up, smiling, introduced herself to Bortke and nearly ran with her to the classroom.

Kids today, eh?

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'There was no pact,' pregnant teen says

Posted at 11:04 AM on June 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Stick a fork in it. The Pregnant Teen Pact story is over.

Lindsey Oliver, one of the pregnant teenagers in Gloucester, Mass., says there was no pact among the teens to get pregnant. She told Good Morning America today that the 18 pregnancies in the high school are a coincidence. She said she was using birth control when she got pregnant.

She also disputed claims that movies like "Juno" are glamorizing pregnancy. She said the claim doesn't make sense because the character couldn't care for her own baby and had to give the child away.

Not that anyone has let the facts get in the way of this story.

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The reluctant teacher of the year

Posted at 5:50 PM on June 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Of all the "teachers of the year" who've been named since I moved to Minnesota in the last century, Carleen Gulstad stood out more than any other, mostly because of the credit she gave her brother at the luncheon honoring her last month. Her brother killed himself when she was 15.

"He was an amazing teacher for me, and taught me about the glaciers and lakes and rocks and all that," Gulstad said. "He took me for walks. He taught me to read, he taught me to love music. And I wanted to carry on his work in teaching. And also, he was a guy that needed somebody to be there for him. And I wanted to be that teacher, to be there for some other kids."

"Because he was the kind of kid who struggled (with depression) and because he was a loner, I think about those kind of kids a lot. So a part of my teaching is to reach out to those kids, too, and to let them know that there's somebody there for them," she told MPR's Gary Eichten the next day.

Gulstad has resigned her title "for personal reasons."

During her appearance on MPR's Midday, Gulstad seemed reluctant to talk about the politics that surrounds teaching. Questioned by a listener, she shied away -- mostly -- from the question of teacher salaries, and put emphasis instead on mentoring programs for teachers, saying that young teachers leave the profession because they feel alone.

She also displayed a neat insight into kids. "Kids are kids," she said, "but now they're developing in a world that's moving faster than ever."

A replacement will be named soon. Presumably they'll come from the other finalists: Joe Beattie of Hastings High School; Rose Regan, Pine Bend Elementary School; Diane Weiher, Lake Harriet Community School; John Bade, Northfield Middle School; Julie Buryska, Wilson Elementary School (Northfield) ; Gordon Westendorf, Proctor High School; Steve Brehmer, Mayo High School; Lynne Meyer, Greenleaf Elementary School (Rosemount area) and Derek Olson, Afton-Lakeland Elementary School.

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Are you a better reader than a Minnesota 10th grader?

Posted at 3:03 PM on June 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Thanks to the communications department at the Minnesota Department of Education, we've got a sample of the Minnesota reading test I referenced in the post earlier today.

This is just one sample question, but try your luck at it . First, read the following editorial from the Star Tribune:

It's pointless at this late date to lay blame for the sports facilities mess Minnesota now faces. Let's just say that no other metropolitan area has amassed a more illogical stadium/arena configuration.

Based on national trends, the optimal arrangement is this:

• A cozy outdoor baseball park with 40,000 seats, real grass and an atmosphere that captures the timeless charms of the great summer pastime in an urban setting.

• A 70,000-seat pro football stadium--either domed or retractable--that delivers adequate revenues to the NFL team and doubles as a convention hall and venue for a variety of big-space attractions.

• A separate outdoor, on-campus football stadium (capacity 50,000) for the local university team that wants to maintain a collegiate atmosphere.

• A single downtown sports arena (capacity 18,000) shared by NBA basketball and NHL hockey teams that doubles as a concert/convention hall.

On this test, Minnesota scores zero; it has none of the above. Rather, it has separate and competing hockey and basketball arenas and a single football revenue (the Metrodome) that satisfies neither its football tenants nor the baseball team that has endured "temporary quarters" for 18 seasons.

Unraveling this mess seems impossible given Minnesotans' fierce change of heart on helping to fund sports venues. Metropolitan Stadium, the Metrodome and Xcel Arena were all built with public money, but the mood now ices up when the Twins or Vikings enter the room. And recently the university has chimed in with a plea for its own oncampus football stadium.

But again, none of this should surprise Minnesotans, given this state's irrational sports setup. The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, designed to bring order, has been unable to prevent chaos. And so teams and cities are left to freelance. The ever-growing popularity of sports has created space issues for the state of Minnesota.

Minneapolis interests continue to investigate a small-scale, privately funded urban ballpark, possibly in the Warehouse District. A financing plan is expected to be announced. . . . The Twins, meanwhile, have their own citizen-based study underway that may, or may not, merge with the Minneapolis effort by year's end.

As for football, the Vikings want a joint deal with the university, but the university worries that a big, domed, ultra-commercial NFL stadium would spoil the collegiate atmosphere it wants. Successful college programs in NFL cities (Boston College, Georgia Tech, Cal, Washington) have been careful to retain their own venues.

To complete the picture, Minneapolis now struggles to afford $30 million of improvements so Target Center can compete with its sparkling new, state-funded rival in St. Paul. And the Metrodome slouches toward monster trucks and pro rasslin' jamborees.

Idealists keep claiming that the public is fed up with subsidizing pro sports; that Americans have finally resolved to say no. But they haven't. Voters in Phoenix, Houston and Green Bay just approved new playpens. Philadelphia last week decided to move ahead on two new stadiums. Eleven are now under construction, adding to the 49 built in the 1990s--with two-thirds of the cost borne by the public. The boom continues unabated.

Perhaps Minnesota's stadium mess cannot be fixed, given the toxic political atmosphere. Fatigue has set in. But Minnesotans must also understand that their sports configuration runs opposite to the national market--and that's why teams and a few die-hard citizens feel compelled to keep pressing for change.

OK, good job, you've read down this far, but did you retain what you read. Let's find out. Answer these questions and ignore the varying formatting: that's just me flunking the state's comprehensive html standards.

Question 1:

Question 2:

Question 3:

Question 4:

Question 5:

Question 6:

But wait! There's more. There's a seventh question that calls for a written answer, with the student stating at least four causes of the stadium mess that the author mentions.

There are 38 questions in all. The full sample, including a scoring system for the "in your own words" answers can be found here.

By the way Education Commissioner Alice Seagren will be Gary Eichten's 11 a.m. guest on Tuesday's Midday on MPR.

(H/T: Randy Wanke, Brianna Chambers)

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