Education Notebook

Study reconfirms the importance of early childhood education

I noticed this recent story in MinnPost reinforcing the critical importance of early education, especiall for children born into poverty:

Two items of note appeared in Learning Curve’s inbox over the long weekend, both concerning early childhood education. Both offer further confirmation that the achievement gap begins when a child is born into poverty, can be narrowed by top-flight early childhood education and becomes harder — and more expensive — to try to close as kids age.

The first was passed along by former teacher and voracious reader Ray Schoch who, if hat tips were money, would be taking us all to Bermuda for the next holiday.

The cover story in the Dec. 1 issue of The New Republic, “The Two-Year Window” is behind a paywall, but I daresay it’s worth the price of a subscription. Even if you’re not terribly interested in education or child-care policy, it’s a terrific piece of science writing.

It’s a fascinating story on infant brain development in the first two years of life, a time when adversity can literally reshape the brain for life. Among other things, the story reports the first findings of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, which studied Romanian orphans who have experienced severe neglect and abuse.

 

Education commissioner to host town hall meeting in Rochester Dec. 8

A town-hall meeting featuring Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius will be held Thursday, Dec. 8 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the International Event Center, 7333 Airport View Dr., S.W.
The event is being held to talk about the state's efforts to seek a waiver from No Child Left Behind, a federal law passed under George W. Bush that mandates that all students attain math and English proficiency by 2014.
Minnesota is seeking relief from some of the more punitive aspects of the law.
The town-hall meeting was set up at the request of Casselius, who is traveling the state seeking public comment about the waiver, said Rochester district spokeswoman Jennifer Pozanc. Casselius chose Rochester as the site to hear from people from southeastern Minnesota. The meeting is open to parents, teachers and community members.
"We believe it takes far more than a single test to evaluate how well our students and schools are doing," said Casselius. "What matters more is how students are growing and learning, not just over the course of the school year. but over the course of their academic career."
Cassellius is spearheading a 7-point "Better Schools for a Better Minnesota" plan aimed at closing the achievement gap and using innovative strategies to improve results.

On Monday, PB Dialogues focuses on education

It's a statistic with big implication for Rochester's economy: Seven in 10 high school graduates who enroll at Rochester Community and Technical College need a remedial education course to prepare them for college. The costs to get them up to speed: up to $3 million.

That's the topic of the Post-Bulletin Dialogues community meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Rochester Public Library auditorium. The one-hour event is free and informal, with coffee and snacks offered.

Joining Managing Editor Jay Furst and education reporter Matt Stolle will be Mike Bequette, RCTC's vice president of academic affairs; Dave Weber, RCTC's chief of student affairs and strategic operations officer; Michael Muñoz, Rochester Public Schools superintendent; Brent Bultema, Mayo Clinic director of recruitment; and Jess Ihrke, Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce's vice president of educational workforce development.

Lincoln K-8 Choice School receives Lowe's $65,000 grant

The zebrafish project at Lincoln K-8 Choice School continues to garner attention - and money.

This morning, Rochester Public Schools announced that Lincoln K-8 Choice School had been awarded a $65,000 grant from Lowe's Toolbox for Education, the home improvement firm's foundation.

Officials say the the money has been used to upgrade Lincoln's zebrafish lab, a research classroom created two years ago when Lincoln began apartnership with Mayo Clinic's Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. That partnership began with the Integrated Science Education Outreach (InSciEd Out) program, which involves Lincoln teachers working with Mayo Clinic scientists to design lesssons that enourage a hands-on approach to studying.

The grant has enabled Lincoln to fund improvements in its Zebrafish Lab with new, state-of-the-art microscopes and cabinets, countertops, datalines and outlets. It also expanded the number of workspaces available to the students. The's science classroom has benefited, too, with new lab stations with enhanced electrical capacity and wireless ports. Lincoln will also purchase microscopes and digital cameras to allow students to capture images of embryos as they develop and perform measurements on those embryos.

"As the popularity of our Science Education Outreach program grows, student experiments have become more complex and space in existing classrooms was limited," said Principal Jim Sonju. "The equipment additions will provide greater learning opportunities to our students."

On the eve of Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony, Rochester Catholic School officials have released drawings of the new $30 million Lourdes High School that will be built in northwest Rochester. 

It's an impressive-looking school.

The U-shaped structure, which will be located in the area of Seventh Street and Industrial Drive Northwest, centers on a courtyard around which an auditorium, chapel, classrooms and library, cafeteria and gymnasium are arranged. 

A big turnout is expected at the ground breaking on Tuesday, Oct. 18. It will feature the entire Lourdes High School student body. Music will be provided by the high school band. Students representing classes from 2012 to 2023 will take part in turning over the soil. Bishop John Quinn, who will give the benediction, will also apparently fulfill a lifelong dream of operating heavy construction equipment.

These drawings might be too small to get the full effect of how the building will look (I had to reduce them to get them to fit within my blog). But they do give you an idea why Catholic school officials are excited about the future. Here's how the school is supposed to look from the front: 

And the floor plans: 

Rochester superintendent reads in his PJs

Rochester superindentent Michael Munoz this morning was reading to students at Gibbs Elementary School. Gibbs has instituted a reading program similar to one at Pinewood Elementary School, which depends heavily on getting parents involved and setting aside quiet time for students to read. Here, Munoz stresses the importance of reading - in his pajamas.

Introducing your 2012 National Merit semifinalists

They are among the nation's brightest high school students.

The National Merit Scholarship program announced the names of 16,000 semifinalists in the 57th annual competition, including a strong contingent from Rochester and area school districts.
By reaching the semfinalists' stage, students have an opportunity to compete for some 8,300 merit scholarships worth more than $34 million. The scholarships will be offered in the spring.

Students from Rochester include: (Century High School) Marianna H. Bible, Kirk R. Busche, Paige E. Hazelton, Ryan H. Heath, Riya Madan and Frank J. Peng; (Home school) Thomas W. Nath; (Lourdes High School) Jacob E. Nordman, Michael J. Nowakowski, Victoria T. Smith and Emma C. Tschann; (John Marshall High School) Eduardo S. Cabral and Amy E. McMeeking; (Mayo High School) Hannah M. Findlay, Christina R. Hagan, Michael H. Ishita
ni, Keith Kallmes, Nitya D. Mankad, Gulnar Z. Mirza and Emily C. Voldal; (Schaeffer Academy) Abigail W. Driscoll.

Students from area districts include Joel Torgeson from Pine Island and Amelia R. Brooks from Lake City.

Students enter the annual competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. About 1.5 million juniors took the test. The semifinalist winners represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.

Cassellius to meet with Obama about NCLB

Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius has been invited by President Obama to the White House in anticipation of an annoucement that Minnesota and other states will receive relief from key provisions of No Child Left Behind.

The meeting will take place Friday (Sept. 23) with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and education leaders from across the country in attendance. 

Obama is giving states the opportunity to seek waivers from the federal education law, as long as they pursue education changes backed by the administration.

Cassellius has said she expects the waiver to benefit districts now forced to pay for sanctions under NCLB by freeing up money to spend on new reforms. 

Muñoz to hold 1st listening session

Rochester Superintendent Michael Muñoz, who began work as the district's leader on July 1, is planning to hold his first meet and greet Saturday (Aug. 27) from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at Dunn Brothers Coffee, 120 Elton Hi
lls DriveN.W. Rochester.

Five of the district's seven school board members are also expected to be present. The listening session is the first in a series the superintendent says he wants to hold. Rochester is also gearing up for the first day of school set for Sept. 6. Muñoz is scheduled to address and welcome back
the district's employees at a return-to-school rally at 8 a.m. at John Marshall High School.

WSU fishing team goes to regional championship

As a person who has fished only a handful of times, fishing in my mind has always been associated with quiet lonely vigils where a person can commune with this thoughts.

But there is competitive side to the sport I'm just beginning to learn about. Winona State University students Cade Laufenberg and Zac Cassill are heading to a regional championship hosted by Southern Illinois on Oct. 6 through 8 on Lake Kinkaid. I'm looking forward to interviewing them and learning more about how they got into competitive fishing.

Aside from the enjoyment the sport brings, the competitions offer a chance to win a little money. By taking third in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Central Division last June, the WSU pair earned the WSU Fishing Club a combined $2,000 donation. At the regional championship, they will have an opportunity to compete for $12,000 for the WSU Fishing Club, a $12,500 unrestricted donation and a Ranger 177TR bass boat valued at $25,000.

And should they reach the national championship, they'll get to compete for the really big money.