Katie Morrow, a distinguished educator and technology integrationist, spoke today at the MREA Conference on the modern day classroom and role choice, challenge and community plays in academic achievement. Morrow works at O’Neill Public Schools, a rural district about 3 hours outside of Omaha, Nebraska. She is a former elementary teacher currently serving as middle school teacher and technology integration … Read More
MREA Recognizes Project REAL
MREA recognizes Little Falls Community Schools’ Project REAL with the Profile of Excellence Award at its banquet on Nov. 12. Little Falls Community Schools put iPads in the hands of 1,450 students last year, marking the largest known one-time roll-out for full-time student use in the state of Minnesota. The district first launched a pilot for Project REAL in 2010 by providing … Read More
Rynell Schock Receives Distinguished Service Award
A respected educational leader in Central Minnesota, Rynell Schock has been dedicated to improving literacy instruction in local classrooms through research-based best practices and high quality professional development. MREA recognizes Rynell for that commitment as the 2012 Distinguished Award Recipient. MREA will honor Rynell at a banquet on Nov. 12 at Cragun’s in Brainerd. As an education specialist at National … Read More
State Board Openings Announced
You can help be The Voice of Greater Minnesota Education by applying for one of the nine E-12 education related state-wide boards that have openings as of Jan. 1. The Secretary of State today announced the vacancies. For full consideration, your application must be submitted by Nov. 27. Some of these require a geographic distribution by congressional districts. E-12 Education Related … Read More
DECISION DAY: What to Expect
With less than 48 hours to go, candidates are scrambling across their districts to get out their vote. The presidential election appears to be tied in national polls and recent Minnesota polls indicate the race has tightened up here with President Obama maintaining a slight advantage. This means there are no big waves to carry down ballot candidates across the … Read More
MDE Recommendations on Key Education Issues Expected by Year-End
November 7-January 5 will be a very active political season. The political ads will disappear, but victorious candidates and the Minnesota Department of Education Working Groups will have busy and consequential schedules. It will be important for you and your district to be engaged. Call up your new or returning legislator and arrange a meeting, have them come to your … Read More
Sequestration Resources Available
At the federal level, the “Fiscal Cliff” looms. Regardless of who is our next President, Senators and Representatives are, the current incumbents must address the federal budget, or sequestration will begin Jan. 1. Weigh in on this issue with your congressional representative and with our state senators. Case sequestration should begin Jan. 1. Here are some resources compiled by the National … Read More
Ravitch Speaks in Minnesota
“Public education itself is at risk,” is how Diane Ravitch began her assertive address at the Ed MN conference on Friday. With a mixture of educational statistics, headlines with the background stories, and attack lines worthy of a Presidential debate, Ravitch called attention to “the agenda of deceptively named groups including Students First, MINNCAN, Democrats for Ed Reform, who are … Read More
MDE Clarifies New Food Guidelines Options
In a previous update, MREA shared that parts of the new federal school lunch guideline may be voluntary, according to a report from the American Association of School Administrators. However, MREA has received this clarification from Deb Lukkonen, supervisor of the Schools Nutrition Programs for the Minnesota Department of Education, regarding options to participate in the Federal School lunch Program. The … Read More
MDE Hosts Funding Listening Session at MREA Conference
Minnesota Department of Education will be hosting a listening session on school funding at the MREA Annual Conference on Nov. 11-12. It is one of only a few sessions offered by the group. The Education Finance Work Group has spent months examining Minnesota’s schools finance system and crafting recommendations about how to reform. The group will share its findings and hear … Read More