The 11 most interesting teachers of 2014
This year, teacher voices began ringing out loud and clear when it came to driving education policy changes.
Learning Curve
Beth Hawkins writes about education in Learning Curve. Hawkins has covered a variety of subjects for MinnPost since its launch in 2007, but has a particular passion for reporting on education. In addition to her conviction that education is one of today’s most pressing issues on a policy level, she’s motivated by her experience advocating for her two sons in great schools and not-so-great ones.
MinnPost's education reporting is made possible by a grant from the Bush Foundation.
Minneapolis Schools Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson resigns
The resignation is effective Jan. 31. District CEO Michael Goar was appointed Johnson’s interim replacement.
Some painful truths about Minneapolis Public Schools’ academic progress
Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson likes to say that culture will eat strategy for lunch. What if the culture she has been trying to change at MPS for four years has taken a fatal bite out of her once-bold strategy?
‘Almost impossible’: an exit interview with outgoing Minneapolis School Board member Alberto Monserrate
Next month, Monserrate will leave the MPS board after a single term — an experience that caused him to become skeptical that a sprawling institution like Minneapolis Public Schools can be turned around.
How student portfolios can lead to deeper learning — and to college
Called a performance assessment, the process of creating and defending a portfolio of work is designed to gauge a student’s readiness for college.
Harvest Network reinvents itself to deepen students’ skills
At Success Academy in New York, Eric Mahmoud had a pang of insight into how much better the Harvest Network of Schools could be doing.
Going deep on Minneapolis schools’ suspension crisis
If you are tracking efforts by MPS and other Minnesota districts to curb shocking disparities in punitive school discipline, you’ll want to spend a little time reading RiShawn Biddle’s writing.
Tackling discipline disparities: MPS data illuminate possibilities for change
District leaders see this week’s agreement with federal officials as an enhancement to a series of changes already under way.
Mr. Rad’s TedX talk: What if the youngest teachers were the most protected?
“Our newest teachers aren’t learning to teach,” says Teacher of the Year Tom Rademacher. “They are learning how not to get fired.”
MPS leaders’ affidavits shed light on chronology of no-bid CSI contract
If the affidavits supplied to the Senate are accurate, the CSI contract still reeks. But a credible, logical version of events has finally emerged.
In the end, frontrunners benefited from record spending in MPS board race
Incumbent Rebecca Gagnon and former City Council Member Don Samuels won the four-way race for two at-large board seats.
‘Smartest Kids’ author Ripley to keynote AchieveMpls event
Amanda Ripley is the author of “The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way,” a best-seller since its 2013 release.
Unpacking the Strib’s teacher-eval story — and a puzzling MPS response
There is a tremendous amount of chatter on the interwebs. If you can tear yourself away from the election, I commend you to it.
The sea of cash in the Minneapolis school-board race just became a tsunami
According to campaign finance disclosures filed Tuesday, spending in the blazing hot four-way race for two citywide seats likely has surpassed $500,000.
Big money, mean mailers and forgotten races: what you need to know about the Minneapolis school board election
A primer on a stranger-than-fiction campaign.
What education issues are influencing voters? Not all-day-K, poll finds
At the top of their lists are overall school funding, teacher quality, class size and curriculum and standards, a MinnCAN poll found.
The quiet MPS school-board race: Inz vs. Larson in District 5
It’s playing out in the southern half of south Minneapolis, where both candidates are well liked and respected.
Patrick Henry High is the perfect school to host Michelle Obama
There are any number of reasons why Henry deserves the spotlight, including impressive academic indicators. But it’s also because it’s at the epicenter of an effort near and dear to the Obamas’ hearts.
Detroit and needy schoolkids: What if we saw resilience first, instead of deficits?
Educators and education policymakers talk all the time about persistence and grit and culturally relevant pedagogy. What about changing the prisms we look at children through?
Angry groundswell rips MPS board: ‘Stop making excuses,’ ‘We want an audit’
“You all constantly claim you want community engagement,” law professor Nekima Levy-Pounds said. “But when we step up our voices are silenced.”
