Tweets about this Legislation.

 HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 is a response to the challenge districts face with diminished funding: gifted programs are cut or replaced by Talent Development Programs.  Those programs are emerging around the state.  The current $13 PPU is insufficient to support a viable gifted program, in some districts.

HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 responds to the challenge and would expect all districts in the state to have viable gifted programs. Gifted students and all students would be engaged in appropriate learning, districts would not have to seek funding from other sources, and parents of gifted students would not have to travel outside their home district for those programs.

 Equity, Equality, Education and the Economy.  HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 address issues facing the economic future of Minnesota. The New York Times recent article suggests that the pandemic has created challenges in those industries tied to service, which typically are low paying.  An increase in automation, especially in service industries, may prove to be an economic legacy of the pandemic.

 Equity, Equality, Education and the Economy.  HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 address issues facing the economic future of Minnesota Businesses from factories to fast-food outlets to hotels turned to technology last year to keep operations running amid social distancing requirements and contagion fears. Now the outbreak is ebbing in the United States, but the difficulty in hiring workers — at least at the wages that employers are used to paying — is providing new momentum for automation.

179. Equity, Equality, Education and the Economy.  HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 address issues facing the economic future of Minnesota. Technological investments that were made in response to the crisis may contribute to a post-pandemic productivity boom, allowing for higher wages and faster growth. But some economists say the latest wave of automation could eliminate jobs and erode bargaining power, particularly for the lowest-paid workers, in a lasting way. “Once a job is automated, it’s pretty hard to turn back,” said Casey Warman, an economist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia who has studied automation in the pandemic.

 Equity, Equality, Education and the Economy.  HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 address the trend toward automation predates the pandemic, but it has accelerated at what is proving to be a critical moment. The rapid reopening of the economy has led to a surge in demand for waiters, hotel maids, retail sales clerks and other workers in service industries that had cut their staffs. At the same time, government benefits have allowed many people to be selective in the jobs they take. 

Equity, Equality, Education and the Economy.  HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 address Automation threatens to tip the advantage back toward employers, potentially eroding those gains. A working paper published by the International Monetary Fund this year predicted that pandemic-induced automation would increase inequality in coming years, not just in the United States but around the world.

HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, once implemented, expects all students, K-12, to be taught the Advanced Thinking Skill of this legislation. This legislation will also expect all districts to have viable gifted programs.  Currently only about 10% of all 311 school district in Minnesota have defensible gifted programs, yet have been receiving $13 for each student per year in those districts for the past 15 years.  This legislation will have an accountability expectation. 

 Impacting the Teaching Gifted Students Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530. All teachers will be impacted.  But accommodations in the implementation will be in place. In the first year of implementation with funding at the $26PPU, teachers will be provided professional development opportunities focused on the nature and needs of gifted students, addressing both the cognitive and affective of these students.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, would result in less time spent test preparation and practice to prepare for the CogAT testing taken each year.  Remember that it would be measuring growth in critical and creative thinking, a core skill of Inquiry Learning and PBL.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 responds to a request from former Governor Mark Dayton, in 2015, suggesting a reduction in testing and test preparation. Once implement our students would be practicing those core skills of critical and creative thinking on a daily basis as they complete their inquiries and solve their problems.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, will have a ongoing impact on state revenue.  A workforce with ample practice in Inquiry Learning, Problem Based Learning, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking and How to Work Collaboratively, during the first four years of this legislation existence, will produce graduates ready for the changing workplace or trade school or college. Those students and those that follow will be on pathways for a life time of higher wage earning resulting in more families of color owning homes, more disabled students prepared for a similar pathway, and will join in the contribution to a healthier and more equitable Minnesota.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, One or two measures taken yearly with the CogAT should satisfy those who believe in the value of ongoing assessment while satisfy those critics who believe students should be learning on a daily basis rather than preparing to take the MCA.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 provides opportunities for our students to engage in complex and deep learning through Inquiry Learning.  All disciplines courses provide a platform for inquiry. 

 HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 does offers a solution to districts who have the well prepared staff.  In that first year of funding, employ that time to find out what your staff is already doing to match the intent of the legislation and fill in the gaps with PD that prepares all teachers.  Then keep it up each year as staff changes occur and more teachers are being hired.

 Impacting the Teaching Gifted Students Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530. That PD will include practice with the advanced thinking skills of this initiative. Teachers will be expected to enhance their teaching and learning to include those advanced skills in all disciplines. 

Impacting the Teaching Gifted Students Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 Impact of this Legislation on Those Professionals Who Work Most Closely With All Students.  While this legislation will impact all students, including the gifted, those professionals working most closely will have different responsibilities in response to the rule. 

 Impacting the Teaching Gifted Students Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530. Teachers of the gifted have been studied. Participants included 63 teachers and 1,247 highly able students. The majority of teachers reported holding advanced degrees in a content area; most were not certified to teach and reported completing no formal coursework in gifted education.

Impacting the Teaching Gifted Students Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530. Impacting the Teaching Gifted Students Results from the MBTI indicated that exemplary teachers were more likely to prefer N (intuition) and T (thinking), as compared to a normative teacher sample. Results suggest that teacher personality and cognitive style may play a role in his or her effectiveness in teaching gifted students.

 Impact of this Legislation:  Impacting the Teaching Gifted Students Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530. The personality types of teachers were in many ways similar to the personality types of the gifted students. These findings suggest that teachers who are judged to be highly effective in working with gifted students prefer abstract themes and concepts, are open and flexible, and value logical analysis and objectivity.

 Impacting the Teaching: Gifted Students Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones. Impacting the Teaching of Gifted Students. Teachers in the regular classroom will need practice in differentiating the content, the processes, and products they ask students to engage in learning.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota.  The 2020 census reports people of color are making up a greater share of populations in every county in the state, partly due to births and migration, but also because of a declining white non-Hispanic population. For example, people of color now make up about 5% of the population in Lincoln County in southwestern Minnesota, up from 2% at the last census. A closer look shows that the county has about 125 more people of color than it did in 2010 and 380 fewer people who identify as white non-Hispanic.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. In the seven-county metro area, the under-18 population is closing in on becoming “majority minority.” About 46% of that group identify as either Hispanic or a race other than white. That’s also significantly higher than the adult population, which is at 27% nonwhite. Young school age people in the rest of Minnesota are also more likely to be people of color than the adults around them, but the rates are much lower.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones, Equity, Equality, once implemented, begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota.  The 2020 census reports people of color are making up a greater share of populations in every county in the state, partly due to births and migration, but also because of a declining white non-Hispanic population. For example, people of color now make up about 5% of the population in Lincoln County in southwestern Minnesota, up from 2% at the last census. A closer look shows that the county has about 125 more people of color than it did in 2010 and 380 fewer people who identify as white non-Hispanic begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. Across the nation the growth stagnation of the nation’s youth population would be even more severe were it not for the contributions of people of color. Because immigrants and their U.S.-born children, together, are younger than the rest of the population, recent decades’ immigration from Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere served to bolster the size of the nation’s youth population. This is evident in the contributions of different race-ethnic groups over the 2010-to-2020 period, which shows that Latino or Hispanic youth, Asian American youth, and youth identifying with two are more races contributed to all of this age group’s population gains.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones, begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. In Minnesota, almost half of our labor force growth in the past decade came from immigrants, which means the new workers of today look a lot different from a generation ago. Yet in many cases, we have struggled to train and integrate immigrants effectively into our economy, leading to pervasive income gaps that stifle growth. That has to change. According to the Star Tribune, (16/2021), This inequality, between racial groups and between the rich and poor, has been simmering for a long time in America. Economists show that we’ve experienced the greatest increase in income inequality of any rich nation in the past several decades. According to the Economic Policy Institute, from 1978 to 2018 CEO compensation grew 940% adjusted for inflation, but just 12% for the typical worker.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. Working people simply don’t get paid enough to support their families. In fact, 80% of the open jobs in Minnesota today pay less than the average state wage, and 37% of them pay under $15 an hour. Combine that with fears over in-person work due to the pandemic and major shortages in childcare, and is it any wonder that job-seekers are being a bit picky about what they do next?

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. If Minnesota is going to address our labor shortage in a meaningful way, we need to be aggressive in adapting to these dynamics. If Minnesota is going to address our labor shortage in a meaningful way, we need to be aggressive in adapting to these dynamics. First, we have to make our economy work for today’s worker. That means employers need to rethink their compensation and benefits packages, and their hiring strategies. Since Minnesota-based Punch Pizza announced a $15 hourly wage in April, CEO John Puckett told me he has seen applications for hourly positions jump 500%. Red Wing Shoes’ innovative new “Hyflex” program allows workers to choose any four-hour block they are available to work during the week, based on their schedules. And Jennie-O Turkey Store pooled investments with other organizations to build a child-care center for workers in Spicer.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. Of course, telling a small business with thin profit margins to raise wages or increase benefits is hard. But most employers will tell you they have no choice, and the market is already absorbing some of the higher prices that can come with it. Government needs to help. The Department of Employment and Economic Development’s (DEED) Good Jobs Now campaign calls job seekers every week, pointing out open jobs with good wages and benefits along with training opportunities. This legislation will prepare all students for these higher paying jobs.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. Second, to address our labor shortage Minnesota must invest more in automation. Not only does automation increase productivity, but it also provides opportunity for higher skilled positions that pay more. Automation accelerated during the pandemic. Orders for robots in North America increased 20% in the first three months of 2021, according to the Association for Advancing Automation. This legislation, with the next four years will produce high school graduates with a much different preparation

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. Some districts are already faced with dramatic changes in the student population. Worthington Public School, with second generation Hispanic or Latino now in their schools, the district’s population continues to change, with over 59% of the student population, Hispanic or Latino and 6.8% black or African-American, while 21% of the students are white. They are not alone.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. St. Paul, with its influx of Asian, Latino and Black or African-American representing almost 86% of their student population, represents a similar challenge. Education and economics are closely related and as this population graduates they will become contributing participants in the state’s economic with higher paying jobs.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to immediately transforms teaching and learning that is personalized, student centered, competency based, learning does not just take place in schools and students take ownership of their learning. Students will be engaged and motivated to learning when teachers as facilitators, tap students strengths and provide choice in learning.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 addresses both creative and critical thinking skills. Taught independently or within PBL or Inquiry Learning, students will be practicing those important advanced thinking skills and there is a positive impact on academic achievement.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 addresses the teaching of creative thinking strategies throughout a student’s experiences in school. Research, a meta-analysis of 120 studies (total N = 52,578; 782 effects) examining the relationship between creativity and academic achievement in research conducted since the 1960s. Average correlation between creativity and academic achievement was r = .22, 95%. In another study, researchers investigated relationship between students’ creativity and academic achievement. The sample size of 72 subjects was conducted to collect data from the student questionnaire and Torrence’s creativity were used. Field of information gleaned from questionnaires and were analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics. These results are captured components of creativity and achievement, and there were positive significant relationships. The Relationship Between Creativity And Academic Achievement Yaghoob Namia, Hossein Marsooli b, Maral Ashouri.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to immediately transforms teaching and learning that is personalized. Students engaged in Inquiry Learning and Problem based learning will have ample experience employing critical and creative thinking strategies, while often working collaboratively with their fellow students.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. Minneapolis public school is experiencing a different balance of demographics in their school.With 55% of their student population, students of color, face similar challenges. Yet this legislation’s advanced thinking skills will prepare all 33,000 students for the changing work world and set them on a pathway to college or trade schools.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. Anoka-Hennepin Public schools with its 38,000 students face a different challenge with 62% of their population are white students. These students will all be challenged and engaged in the learning when all teachers are teaching the Advanced Thinking Skills of this legislation.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to immediately respond to the changing demographics of Minnesota. In that response teacher/facilitators will be introducing these new skills signaling a change in the teaching and learning going on in those classrooms. Will all students embrace this innovative approach initially. Like all new learning some students will thrive and surpass your expectations. Some students, like learning to ride a bike, will need multiple attempts to master this innovate approach.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 addresses the needs of all students, K-12, including the gifted. Scholars agree there are challenges to including all students in the identification practices for screening culturally and linguistically diverse students, disabled students, students of color and those from lower Income households for gifted programming. There is an element of this legislation that expects school districts to include Universal Screening as that inclusive practice. It goes beyond the traditional IQ test and looks at other ways to identify talent.  Consider a portfolio of student work, snapshots of performances, products created by students, all provide a clearer picture of student potential.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 addresses the needs of all students, K-12, including the gifted. Universal screening does open doors for many students often overlooked.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 addresses the advanced thinking skills of this legislation. Inquiry Learning, a learning skill that addresses complexity and depth in learning can be taught to all students.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 provides kindergarten teachers opportunities to introduce inquiry learning to their students and provide the guidance the initial guidance needed to successfully pursue the question, “What happened on the day I was born?” Those 5 year olds would be learning about themselves, their family members and get their first understanding of expert voices that are needed for an inquiry.  

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 opens opportunities for teacher facilitators to engage kindergarten students in rich learning. Maria Montessori, once said, “The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s natural desire to learn.” A kindergartener is on a constance journey to understand their world.  That natural curiosity can be nurtured and satisfied through inquiry learning.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 opens opportunities for all students to find success in learning. The Advanced Thinking Skills of this legislation, when taught with fidelity, will narrow the achievement gap. Research, grounded in Effect Size studies (ES), coupled with a meta-analysis provides evidence of academic growth on achievement measures. An ES greater than .1 suggests 0.2 – 0.4 is a small but educationally significant impact, 0.4 – 0.6 is a medium educationally significant impact and greater than 0.6 is large.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 opens opportunities for all students to find success in learning. Teacher/Facilitators in a classroom rich in inquiry experiences listen to students, seek out their student’s strengths and serve as a guide for the student.

The Advanced Thinking Skills of this legislation, HF 1994 and SF 1700 SF 2523, SF 2530 2408, include Inquiry Learning Strategies. When used in place of a textbook approach, an inquiry-based approach yielded significantly higher achievement for high school students with special needs. Twenty-six junior high school students with learning disabilities studied two science units via an activity-based, inquiry-oriented approach or a textbook approach. Pre- and post-tests revealed that when students were taught by experiential, more indirect methods, they learned more and remembered more than they were taught by more direct instructional methods. When inquirers present their findings to a student audience all students in the classroom are learning.

The Advanced Thinking Skills of this legislation, HF 1994 and SF 1700 SF 2523, SF 2530 2408, include Inquiry Learning Strategies. The research also revealed that hands-on science activities were greatly favored over textbook activities by students who had experienced both.

The Advanced Thinking Skills of this legislation, HF 1994 and SF 1700 SF 2523, SF 2530 2408, include Inquiry Learning Strategies Students were asked about their impressions of the two instructional methods. 96% reported that they enjoyed the inquiry approach more, and over 80% considered the activities more facilitative of learning and more motivating. Scruggs, T. E. and M.A. Mastropieri. 1993. Reading versus doing: The relative effects of textbook based and inquiry-oriented approaches to science learning in special education classrooms. Journal of Special Education 27 (1): 1-15.

The Advanced Thinking Skills of this legislation, HF 1994 and SF 1700 SF 2523, SF 2530 2408, impact student achievement. An inquiry-based curriculum can increase student achievement and narrow the gap between high- and low-achieving students. Middle school teachers who used an inquiry approach increased the achievement scores of African American students, narrowed the achievement gap between male and female students, and found that their students were more interested in what they had to teach. Kahle, J. B., J. Meece, and K. Scantlebury. 2000. Urban African-American middle school science students: Does standards-based teaching make a difference? Journal of Research in Science Teaching 37 (9):1019-1041.

The Advanced Thinking Skills of this legislation, HF 1994 and SF 1700 SF 2523, SF 2530 2408, impact student achievement.Problem Based Learning (PBL), closely related to Inquiry Learning, provides another pathway in learning that engages students and taps their strengths.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 provides teachers opportunities to support PBL with their students.  Problems identified in the community through their high school coursework.  Social issues, Infrastructure challenges, housing, healthcare, peer relationship issues, political issues could all be explored through PBL.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 provides teachers opportunities to support PBL with their students. American businesses need an educated workforce to successfully fill 21st-century STEM jobs, yet 38% of CEOs say at least half of their entry-level applicants lack basic STEM skills. As educators, we must prepare our students for the jobs of the future. We need to ensure that students have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. Project-based learning (PBL) supports 21st-century student-learning outcomes. Research shows that students who learn through PBL are often more engaged in the learning process and develop a deeper understanding of the content and skills required for college, work, and life beyond school.. Preparing Today’s Students for the Jobs ofTomorrow. Education Week Spotlight, 2018.

 Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 provides teachers opportunities to support PBL with their students In a meta-analysis of 82 observational studies comparing PBL to other instructional approaches, Walker and Leary (2009) found PBL was most strongly associated with student gains in strategic thinking and designing solutions to complex challenges. A synthesis of eight meta-studies of observational studies from the past four decades showed transmission instructional approaches lagged behind PBL in the areas of students’ long-term retention and skill development, as well as satisfaction among both teachers and students. Transmission approaches were, on average, more effective for short-term retention, as measured through standardized exams (Strobel and van Barneveld, 2009). However, causal conclusions are difficult to draw from observational studies because teachers who choose to teach using a PBL approach may differ from those who do not—and those differences, rather than the PBL approach, may drive observed associations between students’ exposure to PBL and their outcomes.

Equity, Equality, and Economics. Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 provides teachers opportunities to support PBL with their students. PBL can be conducted as group investigations or individual efforts.  Partners working together also draw students into the learning. Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 provides teachers opportunities to support PBL with their students.PBL is both collaborative and engaging for students as the teacher facilitator guides the learning.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to respond to impending challenges will face technology The technology, media and telecom industry, which the United States currently leads, could lose out on $162 billion in unrealized output by 2030 due to sector skills shortages. As the researchers put it, “These talent deficits may imperil America’s status as the global tech center.”

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to respond to impending challenges facing not only Minnesota but the nation. “In the United States, according to the report, the skills deficit will be come to the forefront by 2020 and become “significant” by the year 2030. The financial and business services sector, which makes up a disproportionate amount of the American economy, will suffer the worst by then, experiencing a talent shortage expected to exceed 1.2 million workers and generating a shortfall of an estimated $436 billion.

Equity, Equality, and Economics.  Once implemented, HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 begins to respond to impending challenges facing not only Minnesota but the nation. “Our study reveals that there already isn’t enough skilled talent to go around, and, by 2030, organizations and economies could find themselves in the grip of a talent crisis. In the face of such acute talent shortages, workforce planning and a comprehensive understanding of the talent pipeline are critical,” said Korn Ferry CEO, Alan Guarino, in a prepared statement. “The acute demand for workers with the right skills that businesses need, rather than the much-discussed domination of technology in business, could become the defining issue of our age.” This legislation is a solution to this challenge.

Equity, Equality and the Economics of Health Care, HF 1994, SR 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, will all impact Minnesota’s Healthcare Challenges. JAMA, reports it has published more than 850 articles on racial and ethnic disparities and inequities. The new issue offers studies on disparities in the utilization of health care services and in overall health spending. Together, the findings paint a portrait of a nation still plagued by medical haves and have-nots whose ability to benefit from scientific advances varies by race and ethnicity, despite the fact that the ACA greatly expanded insurance. Minnesota is no different.

Equity, Equality and the Economics of Health Care, HF 1994, SR 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, will all impact Minnesota’s Healthcare Challenges. JAMA goes on “… we call for investments to create “communities of opportunity”. We use this term to describe the transformation of local communities (that had been historically disadvantaged because of racism and its related systematic under-investments), into places that provide opportunities in education, labor markets, housing markets, credit markets, health care and all other domains that drive well-being. We view the underlying existing inequities as products of racism and the creation of communities of opportunity as a systematic, comprehensive and coordinated national initiative to eliminate the racism that is embedded in policies, procedures and the routine operation of many societal institutions. Improving health of disadvantaged groups and reducing gaps in health requires changing systems to improve conditions that determine health in homes, schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, houses of worship and other social contexts.” A call for systemic change in the way we educate our students by teaching them the advanced thinking skills of this legislation will pay off in dividends.

Equity, Equality and the Economics of Health Care, HF 1994, SR 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, will all impact Minnesota’s Healthcare Challenges. While numerous statistics point to a stark achievement gap (arguably fueled by an opportunity gap), Senior Director, AAMC Dr. Norma Poll-Hunter rejects the notion that the students are somehow less able. “It’s not the students that are the problem – not the young Black boys or young men. It’s the system and how the system treats them along the way.” Indeed, Dr. Nivet also cites George W. Bush’s phrase “the soft bigotry of low expectations” as a major factor that starts as early as kindergarten and continues through their academic career. Dr. Poll-Hunter adds “The systemic issues build on each other over time and create a disadvantage that even the best students can’t overcome because the reality is that the system has embedded within it these biases that often determine what talent looks like and where talent should come from.” This legislation begins to impact students, K-12, from the first year of implementation.

Equity, Equality and the Economics of Health Care, HF 1994, SR 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, will all impact Minnesota’s Healthcare Challenges. One challenge, the near absence of Black Male Doctor has been addressed by the AMA.“While the numbers for African Americans are dismal overall, for Black men they’re particularly tragic. Indeed, AAMC’s data shows that the percentage enrollment for African American women actually increased from only 2.2% during the 1978-79 school year to 4.4% during the 2019-20 school year (5.2% when considering those identifying as Black and another race). This begs the question – over the past forty+ years, why haven’t the numbers gotten significantly better for Black men?”

Equity, Equality and the Economics of Health Care, HF 1994, SR 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, will all impact Minnesota’s Healthcare Challenges. While some may push back on the concept of systemic racism – instead preferring to see inequities as one off aberrations or a result of individual failings – the dearth of Black male doctors in America is arguably a great example of the predictable results of systemic, widespread racism. Arguably, the specific root cause factors are many – all tinged by the reality of racism’s grip on many facets of society including inequities in education, household income, the judicial system, community resources, and many other factors.This legislation with its focus on preparing all students, regardless of color, with the advanced thinking skills needed in our collective future in Minnesota.

Equity, Equality and the Economics is addressed in this legislation.HF 1994, SR 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, will all impact Minnesota’s students differently.This legislation is call for systemic change in the way we educate our students.  The current model of teaching and learning places the teacher at its center.  In the model emerging from this legislation places the students at the center of learning.  Sir Robertson suggests that this is a paradigm shift. Label It systemic change or paradigm shift, our students will be engaged differently. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530. When faced with the rationale included in this legislation and providing evidence of personalized learning, as supported by MSBA, and recognizing that the advanced skills of this legislation would narrow the achievement, you would expect the leadership of MSBA to embrace the legislation. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530. Instead, MSBA decided to pursue an effort to cancel any attempts at a Mandate.  It was also a failure in not recognizing this legislative initiative is a Call for Systemic Change in the teaching and learning that takes place in our schools.   Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530, this legislation once implemented provides expectations that all students would be taught the advanced thinking skills, supporting the MSBA and MASA long term initiative for personalizing learning

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge of closing the achievement gap and brings Personalized Learning to all classrooms in the state. Yet, despite receiving a 2.4% increase in the first year and an additional 2% in the second year, district leadership and MSBA leaders celebrated the wiping out of any accountability through mandates, effectively announcing that they did not want district to be accountable for how those dollars were to be spent.  It appears some agency should be watching.  They do have a poor track record from the recent past. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 an alternative to that opposition. Equity in education has two dimensions. The first is fairness, which basically means making sure that personal and social circumstances – for example school district location, gender, socio-economic status or ethnic origin – should not be an obstacle to achieving educational potential. This legislation addresses equity. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 an alternative to that opposition. Education plays an important role in determining how you spend your adult life – a higher level of education means higher earnings, better health, and a longer life. By the same token, the long-term social and financial costs of educational failure are high. So an equitable and inclusive educational system that makes the advantages of education available to all is one of the most powerful levers to make Minnesota schools more equitable.

Fifty-years after the Marland Act, private enterprise has taken the lead in space exploration.  That initial interest and funding established gifted education in Minnesota and our narrowly selected group students were provided a different education in gifted programs that were launched in the 1970’s. We were preparing students to go into their careers prepared to assist in the rapidly changing workplace. With our rapidly changing demographics in Minnesota and the accelerated change in the workplace in our near future, our current students need a different preparation.  The Advanced thinking skills of this legislation will provide that needed training. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge of the inequities that exist in healthcare, social services, in access to quality and challenging education, in home owning and the ability to pass on wealth to generations that follow. This legislation addresses the environmental challenges facing Minnesota by producing an educated population prepared with advanced thinking skills to reason out current and future challenges to the air, water and land we all share.  

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge of the inequities that exist in our schools.  It would result in eliminating the opportunity gap and promoting success from birth to career pathways enhanced by the mastery of the Advanced Thinking Skills. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge The basic structure of education systems affects equity. Traditionally, education systems have sorted students according to attainment. Evidence from studies of secondary and primary schools suggests that such sorting can increase inequalities and inequities, particularly if it takes place early in the education process. This legislation, once implemented would open opportunities early for K-12 students to experience practicing the Advanced Thinking Skills, including IL and PBL. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge. The socio-economic structure of Minnesota’s education teaching and learning is also important. Secondary school systems where there are large socio-economic differences between schools tend to not equalize educational opportunities for all students and where you live impacts your opportunity to learn. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge: In a recent report from NWEA research suggests on average, “students across most grades (3-8) made reading and math gains in 2020-21. However, students’ outcomes during the pandemic-affected school year were lower on multiple dimensions: Students made gains during the 2020-21 school year at a lower rate compared to pre- pandemic trends, especially between winter and spring. Students ended the year with lower achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines relative to historical trends in math (8 to 12 percentile points) than in reading (3 to 6 percentile points). Achievement was lower for all student groups in 2020-21; however American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Black, and Latinx students, as well as students in high-poverty schools were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades we studied”. Remember in the initial year of implementation, districts will receive half ($26 PPU) of the funding increase to prepare for full implementation ($39 PPU) in the following year.  Professional development will be part of that preparation.  

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge. Inquiry Learning and Problem based learning, rich in practice with critical thinking and creative thinking skills are student centered learning.  The teacher/facilitator is the master of standards.  The learning is student centered.  Students practicing their inquiry and problem based learning experiences, are reading more content. In their presentations the student audience is learning more and reading more.  Teacher/facilitators are recording standards met on the students’ journeys. Payoff is growth in academic achievement for all students. 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 offers solution to the challenge from those unhappy with the label, Gifted.  The term, Gifted, is a social construct that gains meaning in context.  When NAGC voices its opinion, they reference the term. When Minnesota embrace the funding and programming that began gifted education in the state, Gifted, was employed. School district had Gifted and Talented programs in those initial years, while some districts opted the High Potential Program.  Thinking that language would meet less resistance.  Emerging scholars in the late 70’s a tested the waters with labels that more clearly identified specific areas of giftedness, mathematically gifted, artistically gifted, linguistically gifted, spatially gifted, musically gifted.  It appeared to be more appropriate. Later Gifted Services emerged across that state as an accepted label for programming. It was more inclusive in nature and that label spread.  Later, as Gifted Programs began disappearing across the metro area, as well as, greater Minnesota, a few districts opted for the Talent Development Model that for many gifted students it was no programming at all.  Many districts simply chose to have no gifted program, at all.  

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the call from the National School Boards Association report on equity (2106). “Public schools should provide equitable access and ensure that all students have the knowledge and skills to succeed as contributing members of a rapidly changing global society regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, English proficiency, immigration status, socioeconomic status, or disability.” 

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the changing demographics in our state. This legislation includes an expectation to employ Universal Screening as an identification process that tends to be more inclusive identifying more students of color and disabled students.

Opposition to this legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the changing demographics in our state. This legislation includes an expectation to employ Universal Screening as an identification process that tends to be more inclusive identifying more students of color and disabled students.

Inclusive programming for gifted programs would include students of color. The challenge identified in this video points to a common challenge faced by most districts regarding of the lack of Black Male Teachers. Hopefully that condition will change as more efforts by media and state agencies to recruit more adult Black Males to the ranks of teachers in all schools. Universal Screening will be enhanced when identification practices include Black Male teachers. Universal screening with its many tools will become common practice in our schools.

Opposition to this Legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the Differences Encountered In the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. Gifted Students with Disabilities, (2E), are often missed in the identification process in gifted programs. A 2E student’s performance is often masked by the disability. Universal Screening, included in the legislation would be employed and more disabled students would start benefitting from the gifted programs.

Opposition to this Legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One common description of gifted students is their intensity. That intensity may mask the gift that students brings to the classroom that would allow that student to soar academically.

Opposition to this Legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One common description of gifted students is their Overexcitabilities. Drabowski’s Theory, describing this intensity helps practitioners more clearly understand the nature of gifted students and adults. Often those behaviors disrupt learning in the classroom.

Twice exceptional students are unique. No two are alike. Ongoing attention to their cognitive and affective needs is an ongoing demand. For some, social skills mastery will be critical. small groups of 2E students, grouped for those skills, might be considered.

Opposition to this Legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One of the expectations of this legislation is to address the cognitive skills of this legislation through the advanced thinking skills. Another expectation of this legislation is to address the social emotional (SEL) needs of all students, as well. Given the nature of some gifted students with these intensities, ongoing proactive counseling might be imbedded in the day-to-day experiences of these students. On-going proactive counseling with all students should also be considered. Research evidence suggests consistent and supportive attention to the SEL needs of all students pays off in growth of student achievement.

Opposition to this Legislation: HF1994 and SF 1700, SF 2523, SF 2408, SF 2530 positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One of the expectations of this legislation is to address the cognitive skills of this legislation through the advanced thinking skills. Another expectation of this legislation is to address the social emotional (SEL) needs of all students, as well. Given the nature of some gifted students with these intensities, ongoing proactive counseling might be imbedded in the day-to-day experiences of these students. On-going proactive counseling with all students should also be considered. Research evidence suggests consistent and supportive attention to the SEL needs of all students pays off in growth of student achievement.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills for all students. The IL and PBL skills have strong evidence of positively impacting student achievement. IL and PBL experiences provide opportunities for student reflection on the process. Reflection should happen throughout the IL or PBL experience. What worked well? What could the inquirer do differently? What direction might the inquirer follow in their next inquiry?

This legislative initiative addresses address advanced thinking skills for all students might engage in rich and complex learning using IL or PBL. Real world challenges might be studied in depth as students join forces to tackle community and public works challenges facing local communities.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses personalized learning. During PBL and IL experiences, students’ strengths are being addressed while teacher/facilitators guide those students through the learning, offering feedback on the content of what is being studied, what disciplines are being addressed, what platforms are students employing for the presentations, how the project is progressing.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. In earlier posts our messages suggested that in both IL and PBL experiences students were learning more and reading more. But that does not suggest that formal reading instruction is not needed. We recognize some of our students enter school with the ability to read and others require reading instruction. Some of our 2E students enter school challenged by a neurological disorder that left unattended to, would result in ongoing challenges throughout their school experience.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, like Dyslexia, without interventions can results in a lifetime of underachievement and disinterest in reading. With appropriate interventions those 2E students will find success in experiences with IL or PBL.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, like Dysgraphia, can appear as difficulties with spelling and/or trouble putting thoughts on paper. Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder that generally appears when children are first learning to write. Experts are not sure what causes it, but early treatment can help prevent or reduce problems.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses issues of Equity, Equality, and Economics, while it impacts all students, including the gifted. Includes universal screening which would result in more students of color and disabled students identified for gifted programs. The Governor announced October 18-24, 2021, as Gifted Education Awareness Week while so few of the 311 school districts have gifted programs.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. ADHD is one such medical condition. A person with ADHD has differences in brain development and brain activity that affect attention, the ability to sit still, and self-control. ADHD can affect a child at school, at home, and in friendships.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. Emotional behavioral disability (EBD), means social, emotional, or behavioral functioning that so departs from generally accepted, age appropriate ethnic or cultural norms that it adversely affects a child’s academic progress, social relationships, personal adjustment, classroom adjustment, self-care or vocational skills.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. Blind and visually impaired means even after correction a child’s visual functioning adversely affects educational performance. Specific interventions coordinated by special ed experts are required.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Other disabilities require some specific interventions. Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) can mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a type of behavior disorder. It is mostly diagnosed in childhood. Children with ODD are uncooperative, defiant, and hostile toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures. They are more troubling to others than they are to themselves. Interventions are critical.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. Other disabilities, including Autism, hide the strengths of students. Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 54 children in the United States today. With universal screening many ASD students would qualify for gifted programming.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. It is not known exactly why some children develop anxiety or depression. Many factors may play a role, including biology and temperament. But it is also known that some children are more likely to develop anxiety or depression when they experience trauma or stress, when they are maltreated, when they are bullied or rejected by other children, or when their own parents have anxiety or depression. This legislation, with its inclusion of an expectation for addressing the social emotional needs of all students, will serve as a pathway for interventions

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Many children have fears, worries, and may feel sad and hopeless from time to time. Strong fears may appear at different times during development. For example, toddlers are often very distressed about being away from their parents, even if they are safe and cared for. Although fears and worries are typical in children, persistent or extreme forms of fear and sadness could be due to anxiety or depression

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Experts don’t agree whether gifted children become depressed more frequently than children in general. Some say that gifted children are more prone to depression and suicide because of their heightened sensitivities, perfectionism, introversion, overachieving behaviors, existential concerns, and feeling like they don’t fit in. Others contend that no research proves gifted children are more depressed than others their own age. About 10% of gifted adolescents experience clinically significant levels of depression. Suicide attempts occur more frequently among youths who are artistic and creative, unusually sensitive, and who attend highly competitive and selective schools. Proactive counseling professionals with background in the nature and needs of gifted students and mental health coordinators are critical partners for interventions.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Students experiencing anxiety, sadness, stress or trauma, or a disability like, ASD, may at times, need an opportunity for an outlet during the school day. Sensory rooms should be available for these students as the need arises.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Experts don’t agree whether gifted children become depressed more frequently than children in general. Some say that gifted children are more prone to depression and suicide because of their heightened sensitivities, perfectionism, introversion, overachieving behaviors, existential concerns, and feeling like they don’t fit in. Others contend that no research proves gifted children are more depressed than others their own age. About 10% of gifted adolescents experience clinically significant levels of depression. Suicide attempts occur more frequently among youths who are artistic and creative, unusually sensitive, and who attend highly competitive and selective schools. Proactive counseling professionals with background in the nature and needs of gifted students and mental health coordinators are critical partners for interventions.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Proactive counseling, a recommended strategy for all students, including the gifted, pays off when gifted students meet and engage in conversations with like minds, exploring topics of relationships, self-talk, life choices, career pathways and communication skills are elements of that support. Proactive counseling professionals with background in the nature and needs of gifted students and mental health coordinators are critical partners for interventions

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Proactive counseling addresses both the cognitive and social emotional (SEL) needs of all students, including the gifted. In high school and middle school proactive counseling relationships are deeper and long lasting between the counselor and student. Given the nature of some gifted students, and their intensities, that relationship serves as open opportunity for students to seek relief from what challenges them.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. We know superintendents and school board members like this legislation because it is funding and in the first-year school districts would receive $26 PPU with no accountability, allowing district the time to prepare their staff. In the second year of funding school districts would receive $39 PPU with a small amount of accountability. We would be measuring growth in critical and creative thinking skills.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Teachers in different districts across the state support this legislation for similar reasons. Because there exists a cadre of teachers well versed in inquiry learning and problem- based learning could assist other districts in that initial year of funding. After that local talent could serve that purpose.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Accountability, measuring growth in critical and creative thinking, would demonstrate to the public, parents and taxpayers that the money attached to this legislation is being used well. The MDE would also have access to that information to examine the impact of those dollars.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Accountability has always been a part of funding. The MCA is an accountability system to examine student progress. This legislation has an accountability system, as well. Measuring growth of critical and creative thinking provides evidence of students’ capacity to engage those important advanced thinking skills.

This legislative initiative addresses, issues of equity, equality and economics. Imagine if all teachers actually helped all students to identify their strengths by exploring their talents from a young age and growing their capabilities over the 12 years instead of letting them all follow the same routine that will suit them that day but will not prepare them for the world they are facing.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. The advanced thinking skills, taught with fidelity will narrow the achievement gap, while preparing all students for this changing world. It does not mean teachers will be abandoning all direct instruction. All students will need to read and to compute. Some memory tasks will be necessary, including literacy skills and computing skills.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Racially, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different (RCELD) students have historically and quantitatively different experiences in gifted programs based on issues of underrepresentation, misconceptions about their potential and performance and factors steeped in deficit thinking (Floyd, 2021). Proactive counseling for these students can address anxiety many of these students face. Anxiety from being the only student of color in the small group, anxiety from challenges created at home, anxiety from the fear of failing, anxiety from failing to meet expectations.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Here are 10 simple steps to teach your child to read at home: Use songs and nursery rhymes to build phonemic awareness. … Make simple word cards at home. … Engage your child in a print-rich environment. … Play word games at home or in the car. …Understand the core skills involved in teaching kids to read. … Play with letter magnets.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Reading is a complex skill to learn. Background Knowledge (facts, concepts, etc. Vocabulary, breath precision, link, etc. Language Sructures: sytax, semantics, etc. Verbal Reasoning, Inference, metaphor, similes, etc. Decoding: spelling sound correspondences. Sight Recognition of familiar words. Growing capacity in all areas result in a skilfull reader, fluent word recognition and execution and comprehension.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Reading opens doors, takes the reader on journeys, answers questions, informs, entertains, helps one understand directions, resolves mysteries, feeds the imagination, and transforms understandings. Reading is a part of our everyday life. Being read to when you are emerging as a reader, is a model for you to follow. Story telling takes you where you have not been. I read, with my grandson, books by Gary Paulsen. We both learn from Brian, the main character, as he struggles in the North Woods.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills., is a call for a systemic change in the teaching and learning happening in Minnesota schools. Many recognize the importance of this change and support this initiative. Business leaders, parents, students, organizations addressing inequities in healthcare, social services, infrastructure and education all are supporting this legislation. Yet, we battle resistance from MSBA and those opposed to a mandate. But this is not a mandate, it is a Call for System Change.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills., This legislation is in response to the failure of districts across the state to fulfill the intent of the legislature when it comes to funding. Investigative reporting in Star Tribune in 2019, the writer pointed out that districts had not kept track of the $600M coming to the schools for basic skills. Our own effort found less than a quarter of districts across the state follow the intent of law, to develop gifted programs, provide a system of identification for those gifted kids, and provide staff development on the nature and nurturing of gifted kids, K-12, while receiving, over the past 15 years, $13 PPU. That is a lot of funding that no district was held accountable for while this was happening. Not the legislature, not the school districts, not the MDE.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. The ability to measure innovation is essential to the improvement of education. Monitoring systematically whether, and how, practices are changing within classrooms and educational organizations, how teachers develop and use their pedagogical resources, and to what extent change and innovation are linked to better educational outcomes would provide a substantial increase in the international education knowledge base. Policy makers, including the MDE would be able to better target interventions and resources, get quick feedback on whether reforms changed educational practices as expected, and we would better understand the conditions for and impact of innovation in education.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovation in teaching and learning is defined as a significant change in selected key practices in education. How much change counts as a significant change? There is no definitive answer to this question. For example, the degree to which the adoption of the advanced thinking skills by 10% more teachers can be considered innovative depends on the context: it may be considered a more significant change in a district in which 10% of teachers used the advanced thinking skills than in a district in which 70% of teachers already used it. Effect sizes assist the reader in making this judgment. Effect sizes give a standardized measure of these changes and help interpret the relative magnitude of the change: the greater the effect size, the higher the magnitude (and likelier the “significance”) of change over time.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. The status quo is safe. Someone else a long time ago decided what teaching and learning was going to happen in schools for students that no longer works in this fast-changing world. Consider when trains and rails first started appearing in this country. Those with horses said, “Why should I change, my horse will still get me there!” When the auto industry changed how we would move from one place to another with combustion engines, an upstart auto industry suggested we should have electric cars. The auto industry, avoiding innovation early on, decided that electric cars could not be classified as autos. Now they are all embracing the innovation.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. Innovation is a vital component of progress across industries, and education is no different. “Schools don’t exist in a silo, teachers don’t exist in a silo, [and] businesses don’t exist in a different realm,” Reiss Medwed says. “We’re all at a table together, trying to solve the world’s problems. ”Innovation in education means allowing imagination to flourish and not be afraid to try new things. Sometimes these new things fail but it’s awesome when they are a success. Without the right attitude, innovation would just be a word and the art of education would miss out on some great accomplishments.”

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. Innovation in education is especially significant, considering the young minds molded by the education system today will be those leading the charge for innovation tomorrow. And if the rapidly changing needs of the current workforce are any indication of what’s to come for future generations, this investment will be necessary in order to continue making progress at the speed and quality that we are today.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. “Industry is moving at a rapid pace,” Reiss Medwed explains. “We’re living in the space of digital transformation. There are needs in business and in [other] industries that ten years ago, we never anticipated for the workforce, and as that rate of change takes off…we must [work to] catch up.” To catch up, educators must update the outdated processes and approaches defining schools and universities across the country, and introduce practices that better prepare students to function in the future. This includes, most prominently, changes in curricula and hands-on exposure to the expansive digital tools being used across industries today.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills, responds a MN House request that districts be held accountable. The MN House in April of 2019 responded to the Star Tribune investigation on the inability of districts to explain where $600M a year on basic skills training had been used. The House ordered districts to start reporting out how dollars would be sent. This legislation, once implemented, would return to an accountability system so MDE could keep track of the impact of the legislation while the public would be better informed.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. Students graduating after a consistent experience practicing these skills will be on a pathway to better future and increase lifetime of better wages. Better wages could lead to home owning. As Minnesota’s population has changed more inequities to homeowning have emerged. Home owning is one measure of generational wealth. Today, people of color are less likely than their white counterpoints to own a home.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. This legislation expects all students to be taught these advanced thinking skills. These skills, taught with fidelity, would narrow the achievement gap. These skills will engage and motivate students to learn. Parents, community leaders, teachers, school board members and business owners support this legislation. Given that in the first year of implementation districts would receive half of the funding to prepare staff through professional development experiences focused on those advanced thinking skills, districts will be ready for full implementation and full funding in the second year.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. Currently Minnesota is faced with a nearly $8B surplus. Investing into education would change the lives of all students in our schools. Their preparation would create conditions in which students would leave our schools with the skills they need for a productive life, contributing ideas, innovations and along the way more tax revenue to fund healthcare, social services, infrastructure, homeowning and education.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. Federal data earlier this year, revealed Minnesota K-12 public school enrollment dropped by 2.36 percent — roughly 17,000 students — in 2020 compared with the previous school year. This matches up with the yearly fall enrollment report the Minnesota Department of Education released in February which stated public school enrollment dropped by 17,234 students. The MDE also noted that homeschool enrollment increased by 10,254 students compared to fall 2019, amounting to a 50 percent increase.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Private school enrollment increased by 481 students, or 0.7 percent. Kindergarten enrollment in public schools also declined, with 5,888 fewer students registering, or a nine percent drop. Kindergarten enrollment in private schools was up 672 students, or 12 percent. Among older students, public high school enrollment grew by two percent and private high school enrollment declined by four percent. The federal data, from the National Center for Education Statistics, places Minnesota 23rd nationwide in student enrollment loss. Several contributing factors have caused families in Minnesota to switch learning environments — from lack of in-person instruction and frustration over a distance learning model to concerns about the lesson content and political ideology they were seeing in their children’s education (NPR, 02/2021).

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. This decline in enrollment in our schools might change, in the months following full implementation of the legislation, when in all districts in the state’s parents find students in their home school, engaged in powerful learning, motivated to learn and practicing those advanced thinking skills regularly they will be successfully prepared for their future.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills.This legislation addresses issues of equity. That would result in all schools in Minnesota receiving these advanced thinking skills. The impact locally would mean parents do not have choose to go elsewhere when looking for a better education. Open enrollment, which in the past, has pitted one school with its neighbors. With this legislation in place all districts would be offering a similar experience. With all parents knowing this and gifted programs would be available in those schools’ competition for students would be lessened when those skills are offered equitably.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills legislation that is a call for systemic change in the teaching and learning happening in our schools. Systemic Change challenges the status quo. The legislation would result in all students being taught these advanced thinking skills. It is not enough nor equitable just to address the learning needs of those students on free and reduced lunch. It is not enough nor equitable to only serve a narrow population of students in this systemic change. It would challenge many current practices allowed by districts.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislative initiative address issues of equity, equality and economics. When we change our public schools to the teaching and learning that is much more than memorization, students take charge of their learning in the systemic change. Rather than hoping for students’ return to their home schools, this legislation is a proactive step to engage students in the learning and motivating them to learn these thinking skills. That will be the attraction. Rather than seeking elsewhere for where their children will be learning, in an equitable approach to the way teaching and learning is happening in all schools, our parents will choose locally.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills and is a response to an ongoing challenge facing our school, the achievement gap. Districts have failed to make any headway and Minnesota has one of the largest learning gap of all states. Taught with fidelity, these advanced thinking skills would engage all students in the learning and narrow the achievement as students engage in IL and PBL consistently. Accountability is needed.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Every child deserves an opportunity to reach their full potential. But our education system is collapsing under inequity, and it’s mostly because of poverty. Students who experience severe economic obstacles perform worse than students who have access to more wealth. To bridge these gaps and ensure that all children get a real chance at a fulfilling education, we need to address systemic racism and poverty as tangible barriers to learning and future achievement. Every Black or Brown student deserves access to great teaching, equitable resources, and a safe learning environment from grade school classrooms to college campuses. Black and Brown students matter and working on their behalf has never been more urgent today as Minnesota’s school population is changing.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills.. Shantel Gabrieal Buggs, Ph.D., is approaching her fifth year as an assistant professor of sociology and African American studies at Florida State University. She specializes in a variety of areas, including race, racism, gender, feminist theory and queer theory. She also teaches critical race theory, often referred to as CRT, at the graduate level. Critical race theory, explains Buggs, originated from legal studies and, at its most basic definition, is thinking about the ways that racism—particularly.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. White supremacy, anti-Blackness, and various kinds of racialized inequality—is embedded into law and legal practice, as well as other kinds of policy within institutions (NEA). “If we’re trying to make the law more equitable, if we’re trying to make workplaces and other kinds of institutions function more fairly, then we have to consider the ways that racial inequality is literally embedded into how these things were designed in terms of who was recognized as having rights,” says Buggs. What’s happening within K-12 public education in certain areas around the country is a “misrepresentation of critical race theory,” she says (NEA).

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Terry López Burlingame, a Spanish teacher in a small, rural K-8 school in Gilmanton, N.H., worries about the mayhem this would create, if the budget passes with the ban on teaching diverse curriculums. “We honor Martin Luther King Day. We celebrate Hannukah. In the past, we’ve learned about some of our Muslim students’ faith and how they would fast. The kids were fascinated with that,” says López Burlingame, who also questions the bill’s tenets. “It’s called good teaching, to tell truths and have students look at a variety of perspectives and experiences—and a rich landscape of experiences. Otherwise, it’s just propaganda.” – Misty Crompton.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills “Recently, I was talking to my kids about the Running of the Bulls in Spain. I’ve also talked about how Christopher Columbus was not a nice guy and here’s why. I could have a parent dislike all of this or if I talk about Frederick Douglass, which means talking about slavery, or about Native People’s and their contributions. I could be investigated and penalized for this?” “It comes down to total censorship,” López Burlingame says, “and we will not be taking it lightly. We’ve been entrusted with the children of New Hampshire, and that means, we will continue to teach the truth. That means, we will not ignore the past and present experiences of [students of color].”

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. The causes of underrepresentation of marginalized students in accessing gifted education are generally understood. But they manifest differently once students enroll and are confronted with, among other factors, cultural and identity disconnects and a lack of cultural representation within the gifted curriculum. These are all problems that can and should be addressed as part of comprehensive reform that starts with modifying the curriculum and approach to teaching in ways that are culturally relevant.

Elements of HF1994 and SF 1700 and its clones addresses advanced thinking skills. This capitalizes on the strengths each child brings to the classroom. There are lesson plans and gifted program standards that can help educators develop rigorous lessons for diverse gifted learners, specifically Black and Hispanic students, and create culturally responsive curricula that are equity-focused and provide student outcomes and evidence-based practices. Encourage students to pursue IL and PBL projects that explore the histories and experiences of Black and Hispanic people.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Diverse gifted learners need social-emotional support. Successful gifted learners who are developing their personal and cultural identities often attribute their academic success to their relationships with a mentor— especially one who has a cultural connection with them, someone who is like them to get advice from and lean on. A mentor provides needed support and encouragement, enabling these students to develop resiliency and a belief in their abilities — key factors in their long-term success.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. A practical and cost-effective way to increase equity in gifted programs is to focus on providing teachers with professional learning that teaches about how giftedness presents across cultures, best practices for fostering gifted learners and how to meaningfully engage with families and community partners. This type of professional support for teachers can produce a positive change in the numbers of marginalized students succeeding in gifted education (NAGC, 12, 2021).

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills and is a call for a systemic change in the teaching and learning happening in our schools. This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Minnesota’s economic strength is linked to the education our students are experiencing. Changes in technology and the growing demand for new technology is connected to what and how we teach our students for our collective future. Ample evidence suggests that already technology is driving Minnesota’s economic future.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Technology is changing daily. Just examine your auto or your smart phone. Changes are happening in all industries as technology continues to be updated. We need a new generation of critical and creative thinkers. They need to be prepared with learning how to work collaboratively, problem solve and engage in inquiries. In one example, a robot was built to lay bricks and its performance was compared to an adult brick layer. In the initial comparison, the robot was able to lay 6 times the number of the adult. After a number of updates on the coding that directed that bricklaying robot, the ration was 24 to one. And no lunch break was needed.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Technology updates in EV’s is rapidly changing. Battery development received a boost when researchers discovered a novel, lighter way to store battery power employing iron-air batteries, too heavy for cars but better used for battery power storage for renewable electric energy.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. New cars promised by carmakers are being introduced that will demand electric power. With the growing presence of solar arrays appearing on open land around the state, more homeowners can take advantage of the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint without an initial large investment in that energy source. Yet our graduates, looking for well-paying jobs in those industries will have a solid grounding in the advanced thinking skill needed for employability.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Formore than a century, scientists have understood the basic physics behind whygreenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide cause warming. These gases make up just a small fraction of the atmosphere but exert outsized control on Earth’s climate by trapping some of the planet’s heat before it escapes into space. This greenhouse effect is important: It’s why a planet so far from the sun has liquid water and life! However, during the Industrial Revolution, people started burning coal and other fossil fuels to power factories, smelters and steam engines, which added more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Ever since, human activities have been heating the planet.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Average global temperatures have increased by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.2 degrees Celsius, since 1880, with the greatest changes happening in the late 20th century. Land areas have warmed more than the sea surface and the Arctic has warmed the most — by more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit just since the 1960s. Temperature extremes have also shifted. In the United States, daily record highs now outnumber record lows two-to-one. This legislation will prepare all students to address these challenges applying their advanced thinking skills.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This warming is unprecedented in recent geologic history. A famous illustration, first published in 1998and often called the hockey-stick graph, shows how temperatures remained fairly flat for centuries (the shaft of the stick) before turning sharply upward (the blade). It’s based on data from tree rings, ice cores and other natural indicators. And the basic picture, which has withstood decades of scrutiny from climate scientists and contrarians alike, shows that Earth is hotter today than it’s been in at least 1,000 years, and probably much longer. We need our students to experience a different education, one that responds positively to this challenge.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality, the environment and economics. A recent publication, Novacene: The coming age of HyperIntelligence, by Lovlock, suggests, life alters its habitat (eg, as plants seeded Earth’s atmosphere with oxygen) as surely as the habitat alters life. Machines will need organic life to keep the planet at a habitable temperature – it will suit robots to keep us around.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Now, about to turn 100, Lovelock is looking forward to humanity being overtaken in cleverness by its computer progeny. This will usher in the end of the “Anthropocene” – the era in which humans became able to make large-scale alterations to the planetary environment – and the beginning of the “Novacene”. The new age will be marked by the unpredictable marvels to be unleashed by robots (or “cyborgs”, as Lovelock prefers to call them, but of a purely electronic sort) that can think 10,000 times faster than we do and will program themselves and their descendants in ways that will be beyond all human understanding. And it is already happening.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Technology is rapidly changing. What is new today becomes obsolete when the improvement arrives. In all industries technology improvements keeps those companies profitable. A well-prepared graduate with 12 years of practice with those advanced skills of this legislation, will be ready to replaced less skilled workers. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Consider new developments impacting the challenges we face with methane. Tawny brown, compact and muscular, they are Limousins, a breed known for the quality of its meat and much sought- after by the high-end restaurants and butchers in the nearby food mecca of Maastricht, in the southernmost province of the Netherlands. In a year or two, meat from these dozen cows could end up on the plates of Maastricht’s better-known restaurants, but the cows themselves are not headed for the slaughterhouse. Instead, every few months, a veterinarian equipped with little more than a topical anesthetic and a scalpel will remove a peppercorn-size sample of muscle from their flanks, stitch up the tiny incision and send the cows back to their pasture.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. On the opposite side of the building, other scientists are replicating the process with muscle cells. Like the fat filaments, the lean muscle cells will be transferred to large bioreactors—temperature- and pressure-controlled steel vessels—where, bathed in a nutrient broth optimized for cell multiplication, they will continue to grow. Once they finish the proliferation stage, the fat and the muscle tissue will be sieved out of their separate vats and reunited into a product resembling ground hamburger meat, with the exact same genetic code as the cows in Farmer John’s pasture.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills.That final product, identical to the ground beef you are used to buying in the grocery store in every way but for the fact that it was grown in a reactor instead of coming from a butchered cow, is the result of years of research, and could help solve one of the biggest conundrums of our era: how to feed a growing global population without increasing the greenhouse-gas emissions that are heating our planet past the point of sustainability. “What we do to cows, it’s terrible,” says Melke, shaking her head. “What cows do to the planet when we farm them for meat? It’s even worse. But people want to eat meat. This is how we solve the problem.”

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Cattle are the No. 1 agricultural source of greenhouse gases worldwide. Each year, a single cow will belch about 220 pounds of methane. Methane from cattle is shorter lived than carbon dioxide but 28 times more potentin warming the atmosphere, said Mitloehner, a professor and air quality specialist in the Department of Animal Science. With over a billion head of cattle world wide, this alternative is real possibility that will change our eating habits.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Technology updates in EV’s is rapidly changing. Battery development received a boost when researchers discovered a novel, lighter way to store battery power employing iron-air batteries, too heavy for cars but better used for battery power storage for renewable electric energy.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics, The ongoing development of technology that seeks solutions to the environmental upheavals we are experiencing will continue to emerge. The Novacene’s era has begun and continued efforts will be needed to save the planet. Education of our student population needs to change in response to this challenge. HF 1994 and SF 1700 and it clones includes the advanced thinking skills for all students, providing a solid base for future work in those important fields that will change our environmental future. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Mathematics is for all students. When students are given the opportunity to choose how they learn and demonstrate their understanding of a concept, their buy-in and motivation increases. It gives them the chance to understand how they learn best, provides agency over their own learning, and allows for the space to practice different approaches to solving math problems. Give students a variety of options, such as timed exercises, projects, or different materials, to show that they’ve mastered foundational skills. As students show what they’ve learned, teachers can track understanding, figure out where students need additional scaffolding or other assistance, and tailor lessons accordingly.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Mathematics is for all students. Communicating about math helps students process new learning and build on their thinking. Engage students during conversations and have them describe why they solved a problem in a certain way. “My goal is to get information about what students are thinking and use that to guide my instruction, as opposed to just telling them information and asking them to parrot things back,” says Delise Andrews, who taught math (K–8) and is now a 3–5 grade math coordinator in the Lincoln Public Schools in Lincoln, Nebraska.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Mathematics is for all students. Student engagement and participation can be a challenge, especially if you’re relying heavily on worksheets. Games are an excellent way to make the learning more fun while simultaneously promoting strategic mathematical thinking, computational fluency, and understanding of operations. Games also foster a home-school connection when they’re sent home for extra practice.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Student success in mathematics is dependent on mastery of the basic facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Early mastery leads to greater self-awareness of the relationship connecting each of these basic skills. Memorization is a pathway to success.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Mathematics is for all students. Provide them meaningful tasks. Kids get excited about math when they have to solve real-life problems (PBL). For instance, when teaching sixth graders how to determine area, present tasks related to a house redesign. Provide them with the dimensions of the walls and the size of the windows and have them determine how much space is left for the wallpaper. Or ask them to consider how many tiles they would need to fill a deck. You can absolutely introduce problem-based learning, even in a virtual world.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Mathematics learning that encourages students to learn is supported in Kahn Academy, an online math program, rich in ongoing assessments, ongoing feedback that guides helps students understand their misconceptions and an element of choice that encourages students to learn.Parents and teachers can easily follow their students’ progress within the program. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Mathematics learning that encourages students to learn is also supported by Noetic Learning, another on-line learning program that challenges all students. It is designed to provide students with problem solving experiences, provides step by step instructions and solutions and provides challenge beyond the regular school curriculum. Both Kahn and Noetic Math rely on support from teachers. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Mathematics is for all students. Mathematics in early childhood helpschildren develop critical thinking and reasoning skills early onand it’s the key to the foundation for success in their formal schooling years. Yet the thought of teaching math can be intimidating, especially for adults who have math phobias themselves.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Mathematics is for all students. For early learners Young children learn best with hands-on experiences, so it’s ideal to make math real by teaching it in the context of children’s everyday learning. The home and classroom are brimming with opportunities to integrate math into children’s routines and activities. Here are a few ideas to get any adult started: Mealtime: Ask the child, What shape is the plate? or Do we have enough spoons? We need four. Clean up time: Ask children to pick up a set number of toys. While picking them up, have the child name the shape of the object. During laundry: Ask the child to sort piles and identify which pile is more or less; ask the child to match socks. Have children count to make sure everyone is present at line-up. Have children cut pieces of string for an art activity and ensure they are all equal. involve children in checking the temperature to see if the weather allows them to go outside and play. Graph peers’ interests and likes to make fair decisions among the group.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Mathematics is for all students.

Establish mathematics goals to focus learning. Effective teaching of mathematics establishes clear goals for the mathematics that students are learning, situates goals within learning progressions, and uses the goals to guide instructional decisions.

Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving. Effective teaching of mathematics engages students in solving and discussing tasks that promote mathematical reasoning and problem solving and allow multiple entry points and varied solution strategies.

Use and connect mathematical representations. Effective teaching of mathematics engages students in making connections among mathematical representations to deepen understanding of mathematics concepts and procedures and as tools for problem solving.

Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse. Effective teaching of mathematics facilitates discourse among students to build shared understanding of mathematical ideas by analyzing and comparing student approaches and arguments. This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills

Pose purposeful questions. Effective teaching of mathematics uses purposeful questions to assess and advance students’ reasoning and sense making about important mathematical ideas and relationships.

Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding. Effective teaching of mathematics builds fluency with procedures on a foundation of conceptual understanding so that students, over time, become skillful in using procedures flexibly as they solve contextual and mathematical problems.

Support productive struggle in learning mathematics. Effective teaching of mathematics consistently provides students, individually and collectively, with opportunities and supports to engage in productive struggle as they grapple with mathematical ideas and relationships.

Elicit and use evidence of student thinking. Effective teaching of mathematics uses evidence of student thinking to assess progress toward mathematical understanding and to adjust instruction continually in ways that support and extend learning.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills.This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Technology is changing daily. Just examine your auto or your smart phone. Changes are happening in all industries as technology continues to be updated. We need a new generation of critical and creative thinkers. They need to be prepared with learning how to work collaboratively, problem solve and engage in inquiries. In one example, a robot was built to lay bricks and its performance was compared to an adult brick layer. In the initial comparison, the robot was able to lay 6 times the number of the adult. After a number of updates on the coding that directed that bricklaying robot, the ration was 24 to one. And no lunch break was needed.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills This legislation addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Technology updates in EV’s is rapidly changing. Battery development received a boost when researchers discovered a novel, lighter way to store battery power employing iron-air batteries, too heavy for cars but better used for battery power storage for renewable electric energy.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills positively responds to the call from the National School Boards Association report on equity (2016). “It goes without saying that students are not likely to learn subject matter they are not taught, We must also guarantee that students have equal access to high-level curriculum.” That High Level Curriculum is delivered with the advanced thinking skills of this legislation imbedded. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills positively responds to the call from the National School Boards Association report on equity (2016). Superintendents around the state recognize the importance of this legislation and when asked to support it and given the research that supports the rationale, they do support, despite the leadership of MSBA whose lobbyist want to main local control.  Local Control results in inequities of opportunities for students across the state. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills began in the fall of 2019. We carried our proposal around the House and Senate offices, secured 46 signatures from both sides of the isle and the pandemic shut us down.Prior to the shutdown the House held a hearing of information we had been sharing, the failure of districts to close the achievement and the on-going demographic changes happening in our schools. We had also remined everyone that the Star Tribune’s investigation into how districts were using the $600M/year for basic skills. The article pointed out that no one had kept track of how those dollars were being spent.The information shared by the state demographer was dated from 2017.  We employed more recent data.  Out of that meeting the House leadership directed school districts to start keeping track of how their dollars were being spent. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Members of the legislature, members of MSBA, school board members, the EDMN representatives joined forces in an attempt to stop this legislative effort. Out of their 12-month journey, they recommend two important delaying tactics. One was to maintain local control, the other was no mandates.  They wanted the dollars but did not want any accountability.  They received a nearly 5% increase in funding over two years.  So, their financial needs have been met.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills addresses challenges. Members of the legislature, members of MSBA, school board members, the EDMN representatives joined forces in an attempt to stop this legislative effort. Out of their 12-month journey, they recommend two important delaying tactics. One was to maintain local control, the other was no mandates. They wanted the dollars but did not want any accountability.  They received a nearly 5% increase in funding over two years.  So, their financial needs have been met.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Public education was established in the early years of this democratic republic. The belief held at the time was in this republic, we needed an educated electorate. So began an education for the 18^thcentury. It served its purpose teaching all students how to read, write, and compute.  That education is no longer appropriate for a productive citizen in this century.  Students graduating from our schools will be able to pursue current and future changes in the workplace, earning a higher salary in meaningful work.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Public education was established in the early years of this democratic republic. The belief held at the time was in this republic, we needed an educated electorate. So began an education for the 18^thcentury. It served its purpose teaching all students how to read, write, and compute.  That education is no longer appropriate for a productive citizen in this century.  Students graduating from our schools will be able to pursue current and future changes in the workplace, earning a higher salary in meaningful work.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislative effort became a Call for Systemic Change in the teaching and learning that was happening in our schools. This legislation, HF 1994 and SF 1700 and its clones, addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Equity means the same opportunities for all students.  These bills expect all students to be taught Critical thinking, Creative thinking, Inquiry Learning, Problem Based Learning and How to Work Collaboratively.  Those skills, when taught with fidelity, will positively impact student achievement.  This legislation also addresses Equality.  One challenge facing Minnesota is the changing demographics, students of color out number white students in many districts.  Our practices in gifted education need to change to a more inclusive model of identification.  Universal screening is an expectation in all districts. Gifted Education will be in every district addressing both equity and equality. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation addresses issues of economic surrounding environmental concerns, health care challenges, home owning equity issues faced by many in our communities and workplace challenges facing our state. The rapid technological changes in those areas demand a different education that will better prepare all students for this technological future. Minnesotans graduating from all our schools in the state will attain a higher lifetime earning potential while contributing more dollars of tax revenue to fund the efforts against these challenges.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. The experts generally agreed that standards for teacher training should be established, that the teacher of the gifted should have state certification and/or an endorsement in gifted education, and that the teacher should have high intelligence, an understanding of giftedness, originality, and self-confidence 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation is a call for a systemic change in the teaching and learning happening in Minnesota schools.  Many recognize the importance of this change and support this initiative.  Business leaders, parents, students, organizations addressing inequities in healthcare, social services and education all are supporting this legislation.  Yet, we battle resistance from MSBA and those opposed to a mandate.  But this is not a mandate, it is Call for System Change.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills This legislation is in response to ongoing challenge facing our school, the achievement gap. Districts have failed to make any headway and Minnesota has one of the largest learning gap of all states.  Taught with fidelity, these advanced thinking skills would engage all students in the learning and narrow the achievement as students engage in IL and PBL consistently. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills The MN House in April of 2019 responded to that report by ordering districts to start reporting out how dollars would be sent. This legislation, once implemented, would return to an accountability system so MDE could keep track of the impact of the legislation while the public would be better informed. 

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislation once implemented provides expectations that all students would be taught the advanced thinking skills, supporting the MSBA and MASA long term initiative for personalizing learning

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills and soffer a solution to the challenge of closing the achievement gap and brings Personalized Learning to all classrooms in the state. Yet, despite receiving a 2.4% increase in the first year and an additional 2% in the second year, district leadership and MSBA leaders celebrated the wiping out of any accountability through mandates, effectively announcing that they did not want district to be accountable for how those dollars were to be spent.  It appears some agency should be watching.  They do have a poor track record from the recent past.

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. Equity in education has two dimensions. The first is fairness, which basically means making sure that personal and social circumstances – for example school district location, gender, socio-economic status or ethnic origin – should not be an obstacle to achieving educational potential. This legislation addresses equity. 

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. Education plays an important role in determining how you spend your adult life – a higher level of education means higher earnings, better health, and a longer life. By the same token, the long-term social and financial costs of educational failure are high. So an equitable and inclusive educational system that makes the advantages of education available to all is one of the most powerful levers to make Minnesota schools more equitable.

Fifty-years after the Marland Act, private enterprise has taken the lead in space exploration.  That initial interest and funding established gifted education in Minnesota and our narrowly selected group students were provided a different education in gifted programs that were launched in the 1970’s. We were preparing students to go into their careers prepared to assist in the rapidly changing workplace. With our rapidly changing demographics in Minnesota and the accelerated change in the workplace in our near future, our current students need a different preparation.  The Advanced thinking skills of this legislation will provide that needed training. 

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. offers solution to the challenge of the inequities that exist in healthcare, social services, in access to quality and challenging education, in home owning and the ability to pass on wealth to generations that follow. This legislation addresses the environmental challenges facing Minnesota by producing an educated population prepared with advanced thinking skills to reason out current and future challenges to the air, water and land we all share.  

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. offers solution to the challenge of the inequities that exist in our schools.  It would result in eliminating the opportunity gap and promoting success from birth to career pathways enhanced by the mastery of the Advanced Thinking Skills. 

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. The basic structure of education systems affects equity. Traditionally, education systems have sorted students according to attainment. Evidence from studies of secondary and primary schools suggests that such sorting can increase inequalities and inequities, particularly if it takes place early in the education process. This legislation, once implemented would open opportunities early for K-12 students to experience practicing the Advanced Thinking Skills, including IL and PBL. 

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. The socio-economic structure of Minnesota’s education teaching and learning is also important. Secondary school systems where there are large socio-economic differences between schools tend to not equalize educational opportunities for all students and where you live impacts your opportunity to learn. 

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. In a recent report from NWEA research suggests on average, “students across most grades (3-8) made reading and math gains in 2020-21. However, students’ outcomes during the pandemic-affected school year were lower on multiple dimensions: Students made gains during the 2020-21 school year at a lower rate compared to pre- pandemic trends, especially between winter and spring. Students ended the year with lower achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines relative to historical trends in math (8 to 12 percentile points) than in reading (3 to 6 percentile points). Achievement was lower for all student groups in 2020-21; however American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Black, and Latinx students, as well as students in high-poverty schools were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades we studied”. Remember in the initial year of implementation, districts will receive half ($26 PPU) of the funding increase to prepare for full implementation ($39 PPU) in the following year.  Professional development will be part of that preparation.  

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. . Inquiry Learning and Problem based learning, rich in practice with critical thinking and creative thinking skills are student centered learning.  The teacher/facilitator is the master of standards.  The learning is student centered.  Students practicing their inquiry and problem based learning experiences, are reading more content. In their presentations the student audience is learning more and reading more.  Teacher/facilitators are recording standards met on the students’ journeys. Payoff is growth in academic achievement for all students. Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. offers solution to the challenge from those unhappy with the label, Gifted.  The term, Gifted, is a social construct that gains meaning in context.  When NAGC voices its opinion, they reference the term. When Minnesota embrace the funding and programming that began gifted education in the state, Gifted, was employed. School district had Gifted and Talented programs in those initial years, while some districts opted the High Potential Program.  Thinking that language would meet less resistance.  Emerging scholars in the late 70’s a tested the waters with labels that more clearly identified specific areas of giftedness, mathematically gifted, artistically gifted, linguistically gifted, spatially gifted, musically gifted.  It appeared to be more appropriate. Later Gifted Services emerged across that state as an accepted label for programming. It was more inclusive in nature and that label spread.  Later, as Gifted Programs began disappearing across the metro area, as well as, greater Minnesota, a few districts opted for the Talent Development Model that for many gifted students it was no programming at all.  Many districts simply chose to have no gifted program, at all.  Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition and positively responds to the call from the National School Boards Association report on equity (2106).  “Public schools should provide equitable access and ensure that all students have the knowledge and skills to succeed as contributing members of a rapidly changing global society regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, English proficiency, immigration status, socioeconomic status, or disability.” 

 

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition.  positively responds to the changing demographics in our state. This legislation includes an expectation to employ Universal Screening as an identification process that tends to be more inclusive identifying more students of color and disabled students.

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative andpositively responds to the changing demographics in our state. This legislation includes an expectation to employ Universal Screening as an identification process that tends to be more inclusive identifying more students of color and disabled students.

Inclusive programming for gifted programs would include students of color. The challenge identified in this video points to a common challenge faced by most districts regarding of the lack of Black Male Teachers. Hopefully that condition will change as more efforts by media and state agencies to recruit more adult Black Males to the ranks of teachers in all schools. Universal Screening will be enhanced when identification practices include Black Male teachers. Universal screening with its many tools will become common practice in our schools.

Opposition to this Legislation: This legislative initiative positively responds to the Differences Encountered In the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. Gifted Students with Disabilities, (2E), are often missed in the identification process in gifted programs. A 2E student’s performance is often masked by the disability. Universal Screening, included in the legislation would be employed and more disabled students would start benefitting from the gifted programs.

Opposition to this Legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One common description of gifted students is their intensity. That intensity may mask the gift that students brings to the classroom that would allow that student to soar academically.

Opposition to this Legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition and positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One common description of gifted students is their Overexcitabilities. Drabowski’s Theory, describing this intensity helps practitioners more clearly understand the nature of gifted students and adults. Often those behaviors disrupt learning in the classroom.

Twice exceptional students are unique. No two are alike. Ongoing attention to their cognitive and affective needs is an ongoing demand. For some, social skills mastery will be critical. small groups of 2E students, grouped for those skills, might be considered.

Opposition to this Legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition. positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One of the expectations of this legislation is to address the cognitive skills of this legislation through the advanced thinking skills. Another expectation of this legislation is to address the social emotional (SEL) needs of all students, as well. Given the nature of some gifted students with these intensities, ongoing proactive counseling might be imbedded in the day-to-day experiences of these students. On-going proactive counseling with all students should also be considered. Research evidence suggests consistent and supportive attention to the SEL needs of all students pays off in growth of student achievement.

Opposition to this Legislation: This legislative initiative is an alternative to that opposition and positively responds to the Differences Encountered in the Classroom and in Gifted Programs. One of the expectations of this legislation is to address the cognitive skills of this legislation through the advanced thinking skills. Another expectation of this legislation is to address the social emotional (SEL) needs of all students, as well. Given the nature of some gifted students with these intensities, ongoing proactive counseling might be imbedded in the day-to-day experiences of these students. On-going proactive counseling with all students should also be considered. Research evidence suggests consistent and supportive attention to the SEL needs of all students pays off in growth of student achievement.

Opposition to this legislation: This legislative initative positively responds to the call from the National School Boards Association report on equity (2016). Superintendents around the state recognize the importance of this legislation and when asked to support it and given the research that supports the rationale, they do support, despite the leadership of MSBA whose lobbyist want to main local control. Local Control results in inequities of opportunities for students across the state.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills for all students. The IL and PBL skills have strong evidence of positively impacting student achievement. IL and PBL experiences provide opportunities for student reflection on the process. Reflection should happen throughout the IL or PBL experience. What worked well? What could the inquirer do differently? What direction might the inquirer follow in their next inquiry?

This legislative initiative addresses address advanced thinking skills for all students might engage in rich and complex learning using IL or PBL. Real world challenges might be studied in depth as students join forces to tackle community and public works challenges facing local communities.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses personalized learning. During PBL and IL experiences, students’ strengths are being addressed while teacher/facilitators guide those students through the learning, offering feedback on the content of what is being studied, what disciplines are being addressed, what platforms are students employing for the presentations, how the project is progressing.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. In earlier posts our messages suggested that in both IL and PBL experiences students were learning more and reading more. But that does not suggest that formal reading instruction is not needed. We recognize some of our students enter school with the ability to read and others require reading instruction. Some of our 2E students enter school challenged by a neurological disorder that left unattended to, would result in ongoing challenges throughout their school experience.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, like Dyslexia, without interventions can results in a lifetime of underachievement and disinterest in reading. With appropriate interventions those 2E students will find success in experiences with IL or PBL.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, like Dysgraphia, can appear as difficulties with spelling and/or trouble putting thoughts on paper. Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder that generally appears when children are first learning to write. Experts are not sure what causes it, but early treatment can help prevent or reduce problems.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses issues of Equity, Equality, and Economics, while it impacts all students, including the gifted. Includes universal screening which would result in more students of color and disabled students identified for gifted programs. The Governor announced October 18-24, 2021, as Gifted Education Awareness Week while so few of the 311 school districts have gifted programs.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. ADHD is one such medical condition. A person with ADHD has differences in brain development and brain activity that affect attention, the ability to sit still, and self-control. ADHD can affect a child at school, at home, and in friendships.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. Emotional behavioral disability (EBD), means social, emotional, or behavioral functioning that so departs from generally accepted, age appropriate ethnic or cultural norms that it adversely affects a child’s academic progress, social relationships, personal adjustment, classroom adjustment, self-care or vocational skills.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Some disorders, require some specific interventions. Some disorders mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. Blind and visually impaired means even after correction a child’s visual functioning adversely affects educational performance. Specific interventions coordinated by special ed experts are required.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Other disabilities require some specific interventions. Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) can mask a talent or gift. Universal screening assists in finding the strengths of these students often ignored because of the disability. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a type of behavior disorder. It is mostly diagnosed in childhood. Children with ODD are uncooperative, defiant, and hostile toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures. They are more troubling to others than they are to themselves. Interventions are critical.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses advanced thinking skills. Other disabilities, including Autism, hide the strengths of students. Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 54 children in the United States today. With universal screening many ASD students would qualify for gifted programming.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. It is not known exactly why some children develop anxiety or depression. Many factors may play a role, including biology and temperament. But it is also known that some children are more likely to develop anxiety or depression when they experience trauma or stress, when they are maltreated, when they are bullied or rejected by other children, or when their own parents have anxiety or depression. This legislation, with its inclusion of an expectation for addressing the social emotional needs of all students, will serve as a pathway for interventions

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Many children have fears, worries, and may feel sad and hopeless from time to time. Strong fears may appear at different times during development. For example, toddlers are often very distressed about being away from their parents, even if they are safe and cared for. Although fears and worries are typical in children, persistent or extreme forms of fear and sadness could be due to anxiety or depression

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Experts don’t agree whether gifted children become depressed more frequently than children in general. Some say that gifted children are more prone to depression and suicide because of their heightened sensitivities, perfectionism, introversion, overachieving behaviors, existential concerns, and feeling like they don’t fit in. Others contend that no research proves gifted children are more depressed than others their own age. About 10% of gifted adolescents experience clinically significant levels of depression. Suicide attempts occur more frequently among youths who are artistic and creative, unusually sensitive, and who attend highly competitive and selective schools. Proactive counseling professionals with background in the nature and needs of gifted students and mental health coordinators are critical partners for interventions.

 This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Students experiencing anxiety, sadness, stress or trauma, or a disability like, ASD, may at times, need an opportunity for an outlet during the school day. Sensory rooms should be available for these students as the need arises.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Experts don’t agree whether gifted children become depressed more frequently than children in general. Some say that gifted children are more prone to depression and suicide because of their heightened sensitivities, perfectionism, introversion, overachieving behaviors, existential concerns, and feeling like they don’t fit in. Others contend that no research proves gifted children are more depressed than others their own age. About 10% of gifted adolescents experience clinically significant levels of depression. Suicide attempts occur more frequently among youths who are artistic and creative, unusually sensitive, and who attend highly competitive and selective schools. Proactive counseling professionals with background in the nature and needs of gifted students and mental health coordinators are critical partners for interventions.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Proactive counseling, a recommended strategy for all students, including the gifted, pays off when gifted students meet and engage in conversations with like minds, exploring topics of relationships, self-talk, life choices, career pathways and communication skills are elements of that support. Proactive counseling professionals with background in the nature and needs of gifted students and mental health coordinators are critical partners for interventions

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Proactive counseling addresses both the cognitive and social emotional (SEL) needs of all students, including the gifted. In high school and middle school proactive counseling relationships are deeper and long lasting between the counselor and student. Given the nature of some gifted students, and their intensities, that relationship serves as open opportunity for students to seek relief from what challenges them.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. We know superintendents and school board members like this legislation because it is funding and in the first-year school districts would receive $26 PPU with no accountability, allowing district the time to prepare their staff. In the second year of funding school districts would receive $39 PPU with a small amount of accountability. We would be measuring growth in critical and creative thinking skills.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Teachers in different districts across the state support this legislation for similar reasons. Because there exists a cadre of teachers well versed in inquiry learning and problem- based learning could assist other districts in that initial year of funding. After that local talent could serve that purpose.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Accountability, measuring growth in critical and creative thinking, would demonstrate to the public, parents and taxpayers that the money attached to this legislation is being used well. The MDE would also have access to that information to examine the impact of those dollars.

This legislative initiative addresses addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. Accountability has always been a part of funding. The MCA is an accountability system to examine student progress. This legislation has an accountability system, as well. Measuring growth of critical and creative thinking provides evidence of students’ capacity to engage those important advanced thinking skills.

This legislative initiative addresses, issues of equity, equality and economics. Imagine if all teachers actually helped all students to identify their strengths by exploring their talents from a young age and growing their capabilities over the 12 years instead of letting them all follow the same routine that will suit them that day but will not prepare them for the world they are facing.

This legislative initiative addresses issues of equity, equality and economics. The advanced thinking skills, taught with fidelity will narrow the achievement gap, while preparing all students for this changing world. It does not mean teachers will be abandoning all direct instruction. All students will need to read and to compute. Some memory tasks will be necessary, including literacy skills and computing skills.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Racially, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different (RCELD) students have historically and quantitatively different experiences in gifted programs based on issues of underrepresentation, misconceptions about their potential and performance and factors steeped in deficit thinking (Floyd, 2021). Proactive counseling for these students can address anxiety many of these students face. Anxiety from being the only student of color in the small group, anxiety from challenges created at home, anxiety from the fear of failing, anxiety from failing to meet expectations.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Here are 10 simple steps to teach your child to read at home: Use songs and nursery rhymes to build phonemic awareness. … Make simple word cards at home. … Engage your child in a print-rich environment. … Play word games at home or in the car. …Understand the core skills involved in teaching kids to read. … Play with letter magnets.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. Reading is a complex skill to learn. Background Knowledge (facts, concepts, etc. Vocabulary, breath precision, link, etc. Language Sructures: sytax, semantics, etc. Verbal Reasoning, Inference, metaphor, similes, etc. Decoding: spelling sound correspondences. Sight Recognition of familiar words. Growing capacity in all areas result in a skilfull reader, fluent word recognition and execution and comprehension.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Reading opens doors, takes the reader on journeys, answers questions, informs, entertains, helps one understand directions, resolves mysteries, feeds the imagination, and transforms understandings. Reading is a part of our everyday life. Being read to when you are emerging as a reader, is a model for you to follow. Story telling takes you where you have not been. I read, with my grandson, books by Gary Paulsen. We both learn from Brian, the main character, as he struggles in the North Woods.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills., is a call for a systemic change in the teaching and learning happening in Minnesota schools. Many recognize the importance of this change and support this initiative. Business leaders, parents, students, organizations addressing inequities in healthcare, social services, infrastructure and education all are supporting this legislation. Yet, we battle resistance from MSBA and those opposed to a mandate. But this is not a mandate, it is a Call for System Change.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills., This legislation is in response to the failure of districts across the state to fulfill the intent of the legislature when it comes to funding. Investigative reporting in Star Tribune in 2019, the writer pointed out that districts had not kept track of the $600M coming to the schools for basic skills. Our own effort found less than a quarter of districts across the state follow the intent of law, to develop gifted programs, provide a system of identification for those gifted kids, and provide staff development on the nature and nurturing of gifted kids, K-12, while receiving, over the past 15 years, $13 PPU. That is a lot of funding that no district was held accountable for while this was happening. Not the legislature, not the school districts, not the MDE.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. The ability to measure innovation is essential to the improvement of education. Monitoring systematically whether, and how, practices are changing within classrooms and educational organizations, how teachers develop and use their pedagogical resources, and to what extent change and innovation are linked to better educational outcomes would provide a substantial increase in the international education knowledge base. Policy makers, including the MDE would be able to better target interventions and resources, get quick feedback on whether reforms changed educational practices as expected, and we would better understand the conditions for and impact of innovation in education.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovation in teaching and learning is defined as a significant change in selected key practices in education. How much change counts as a significant change? There is no definitive answer to this question. For example, the degree to which the adoption of the advanced thinking skills by 10% more teachers can be considered innovative depends on the context: it may be considered a more significant change in a district in which 10% of teachers used the advanced thinking skills than in a district in which 70% of teachers already used it. Effect sizes assist the reader in making this judgment. Effect sizes give a standardized measure of these changes and help interpret the relative magnitude of the change: the greater the effect size, the higher the magnitude (and likelier the “significance”) of change over time.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. The status quo is safe. Someone else a long time ago decided what teaching and learning was going to happen in schools for students that no longer works in this fast-changing world. Consider when trains and rails first started appearing in this country. Those with horses said, “Why should I change, my horse will still get me there!” When the auto industry changed how we would move from one place to another with combustion engines, an upstart auto industry suggested we should have electric cars. The auto industry, avoiding innovation early on, decided that electric cars could not be classified as autos. Now they are all embracing the innovation.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. Innovation is a vital component of progress across industries, and education is no different. “Schools don’t exist in a silo, teachers don’t exist in a silo, [and] businesses don’t exist in a different realm,” Reiss Medwed says. “We’re all at a table together, trying to solve the world’s problems. ”Innovation in education means allowing imagination to flourish and not be afraid to try new things. Sometimes these new things fail but it’s awesome when they are a success. Without the right attitude, innovation would just be a word and the art of education would miss out on some great accomplishments.”

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. Innovation in education is especially significant, considering the young minds molded by the education system today will be those leading the charge for innovation tomorrow. And if the rapidly changing needs of the current workforce are any indication of what’s to come for future generations, this investment will be necessary in order to continue making progress at the speed and quality that we are today.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Innovative teaching and learning is at the core of this legislation. “Industry is moving at a rapid pace,” Reiss Medwed explains. “We’re living in the space of digital transformation. There are needs in business and in [other] industries that ten years ago, we never anticipated for the workforce, and as that rate of change takes off…we must [work to] catch up.” To catch up, educators must update the outdated processes and approaches defining schools and universities across the country, and introduce practices that better prepare students to function in the future. This includes, most prominently, changes in curricula and hands-on exposure to the expansive digital tools being used across industries today.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills, responds a MN House request that districts be held accountable. The MN House in April of 2019 responded to the Star Tribune investigation on the inability of districts to explain where $600M a year on basic skills training had been used. The House ordered districts to start reporting out how dollars would be sent. This legislation, once implemented, would return to an accountability system so MDE could keep track of the impact of the legislation while the public would be better informed.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. Students graduating after a consistent experience practicing these skills will be on a pathway to better future and increase lifetime of better wages. Better wages could lead to home owning. As Minnesota’s population has changed more inequities to homeowning have emerged. Home owning is one measure of generational wealth. Today, people of color are less likely than their white counterpoints to own a home.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. This legislation expects all students to be taught these advanced thinking skills. These skills, taught with fidelity, would narrow the achievement gap. These skills will engage and motivate students to learn. Parents, community leaders, teachers, school board members and business owners support this legislation. Given that in the first year of implementation districts would receive half of the funding to prepare staff through professional development experiences focused on those advanced thinking skills, districts will be ready for full implementation and full funding in the second year.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. Currently Minnesota is faced with a nearly $8B surplus. Investing into education would change the lives of all students in our schools. Their preparation would create conditions in which students would leave our schools with the skills they need for a productive life, contributing ideas, innovations and along the way more tax revenue to fund healthcare, social services, infrastructure, homeowning and education.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. Federal data earlier this year, revealed Minnesota K-12 public school enrollment dropped by 2.36 percent — roughly 17,000 students — in 2020 compared with the previous school year. This matches up with the yearly fall enrollment report the Minnesota Department of Education released in February which stated public school enrollment dropped by 17,234 students. The MDE also noted that homeschool enrollment increased by 10,254 students compared to fall 2019, amounting to a 50 percent increase.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills Private school enrollment increased by 481 students, or 0.7 percent. Kindergarten enrollment in public schools also declined, with 5,888 fewer students registering, or a nine percent drop. Kindergarten enrollment in private schools was up 672 students, or 12 percent. Among older students, public high school enrollment grew by two percent and private high school enrollment declined by four percent. The federal data, from the National Center for Education Statistics, places Minnesota 23rd nationwide in student enrollment loss. Several contributing factors have caused families in Minnesota to switch learning environments — from lack of in-person instruction and frustration over a distance learning model to concerns about the lesson content and political ideology they were seeing in their children’s education (NPR, 02/2021).

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. These bills address issues of equity, equality and economics. This decline in enrollment in our schools might change, in the months following full implementation of the legislation, when in all districts in the state’s parents find students in their home school, engaged in powerful learning, motivated to learn and practicing those advanced thinking skills regularly they will be successfully prepared for their future.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills.This legislation addresses issues of equity. That would result in all schools in Minnesota receiving these advanced thinking skills. The impact locally would mean parents do not have choose to go elsewhere when looking for a better education. Open enrollment, which in the past, has pitted one school with its neighbors. With this legislation in place all districts would be offering a similar experience. With all parents knowing this and gifted programs would be available in those schools’ competition for students would be lessened when those skills are offered equitably.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills legislation that is a call for systemic change in the teaching and learning happening in our schools. Systemic Change challenges the status quo. The legislation would result in all students being taught these advanced thinking skills. It is not enough nor equitable just to address the learning needs of those students on free and reduced lunch. It is not enough nor equitable to only serve a narrow population of students in this systemic change. It would challenge many current practices allowed by districts.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills. This legislative initiative address issues of equity, equality and economics. When we change our public schools to the teaching and learning that is much more than memorization, students take charge of their learning in the systemic change. Rather than hoping for students’ return to their home schools, this legislation is a proactive step to engage students in the learning and motivating them to learn these thinking skills. That will be the attraction. Rather than seeking elsewhere for where their children will be learning, in an equitable approach to the way teaching and learning is happening in all schools, our parents will choose locally.

This legislative initiative addresses advanced thinking skills and is a response to an ongoing challenge facing our school, the achievement gap. Districts have failed to make any headway and Minnesota has one of the largest learning gap of all states. Taught with fidelity, these advanced thinking skills would engage all students in the learning and narrow the achievement as students engage in IL and PBL consistently. Accountability is needed.