This resource was prepared in response to a request for information about the innovations and lessons learned as the result of the investments States have made in transforming their workforce using their Race to the Top -- Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants. These strategies and accomplishments will be helpful to other States as they…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Education Appropriations Bill Signed into Law: U.S. Department of Education to Receive $1 Billion Increase in…

This report provides information about the performance of Minnesota's 2016 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2016. Beginning with the Graduating Class of 2013, all students whose scores are college reportable, both standard and…

This issue brief is focused on policies and practices that improve college and career readiness by strengthening the transition from high school to postsecondary education. The brief is largely based on a February, 2009 American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) field trip to Indiana, and details the cross-system efforts implemented to help more of the…

This report from Public Agenda is a summary of the process and outcomes of the "Difficult Dialogues" that took place in November 2008 at the 4th annual policy summit of the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC). Nearly 200 state legislators, institutional and system-level leaders and governing board members, faculty, executive…

Annually, ACT provides a snapshot of the college and career readiness of ACT-tested high school graduates. This report is offered as a service to inform policymakers and practitioners about selected indicators of effectiveness and how that translates into readiness. It is designed to stimulate discussion, inquiry, and action. This report is…

This report provides information about the performance of Minnesota's 2012 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2012 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in the…

This report provides information about the performance of 2009 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2009 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in the context of…

Recommendations concerning the reading, writing, and mathematics skills that are needed by students entering degree programs in Minnesota postsecondary institutions are offered by a Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board task force. In addition to describing reading skills that students need for most college degree programs, conditions…

The goal of this project was to develop, validate, and utilize a process for vertically articulating curriculum between secondary and post secondary levels of vocational technical education throughout the state of Minnesota. Procedures involved the identification of two areas of staff responsibility: research and development, and service to local…

Dr. Jon Quistgaard, president of Bemidji State University (BSU), is unhappy with the way the national media has portrayed the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota, the nearby city of Bemidji and American Indian life in general. That such coverage is even a matter of discussion is the result of a tragedy: On March 21, Jeffrey Weise, a…

What competency-based instruction is and how it can help improve vertical articulation between the curriculum of secondary and postsecondary vocational-technical education programs in Minnesota is the focus of this booklet. Explanation consists of responses to the following questions: (1) What is vertical curriculum articulation? (2) What is…

Reports on the Minnesota Articulation Project, providing an overview of the projects' three principal working groups: political action, curriculum, and assessment. The article then outlines the theoretical underpinnings of the proficiency-based assessment instruments developed in French, German, and Spanish and describes in detail the content and…

This document reports a model for restructuring secondary vocational education in Minnesota, incorporating state-specified student exit outcomes with local additions. Following an executive summary, part 1 of the document explains the principles that guided the restructuring (integration of basic and higher-order thinking skills into the…

Few matters induce more dialogue among foreign language among educators than the problem of students' transition between levels of language study. Secondary school teachers worry about how best to integrate a diversely prepared freshman population into their curriculum. The aim of this edited volume is to assemble the theory, research, and vision…