Minnesota Could Be Changing How Its Schools Are Evaluated
I’m an adult now, but I still get that old, familiar feeling when mid-August rolls around every year. It starts right around the time I hear the Katydids buzzing outside in the afternoon, ominously signaling that summer is quickly coming to an end. But it really hits at that moment when I walk into a Target and see those displays showing new prices on binders and pencils: school is coming.
GAH.
Now on the bright side, Minnesota is said to have one of the best public school systems in the country, so that lessens the sting of summer vacation coming to an end. But even though Minnesota is near the head of the pack when it comes to a quality education, it now appears that officials are still looking for ways in which to improve. That’s why a new plan will be evaluating schools based on measures like state test scores, graduation rates, school attendance, how many students move up a level on state tests, and the rate of progress for students learning English. This would get rid of the current system where schools instead receive one overall grade.
Underachieving schools will be put on notice and be required to take more action in improving each area of evaluation. Some critics argue that this could potentially force schools to lower the bar in order to meet these new measurements, but the goal is clearly intended to make our schools better than they currently are. Which, yeah, is pretty good for the most part. Whatever allows us to bump up ahead of Wisconsin, currently sitting at #4 to our #7, I say!
Credit: KTTC