Friday, March 26, 2010

Budget bites

Here's a neat website if you want to stay current on state budget issues: MinnesotaBudgetBites.org.

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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

More four-day news

Joe Nathan, education columnist for ECM Publishers, has penned a column based on what he has learned about the four-day week from Ogilvie superintendent Ed Harris. Nathan also spoke to Rush City superintendent Vern Koepp and myself. Also this week, another Minnesota district has approved a four-day week.

UPDATE: At the Post Review, an editorial expands on the Nathan column.

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Friday, March 12, 2010

End of course exams update

In May of 2009, I wrote about the need to move state standard math testing to an "end of course" exam. It's nice to see the state looking at the solution more seriously:
The changes proposed by the state Department of Education would require state tests at the end of algebra II and biology courses. Those courses are required to graduate, and the new tests would be worth a quarter of the grade for the courses. Required exams in geometry and chemistry or physics eventually would be added.
These proposed changes are very much a step in the right direction, in my opinion.

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