March 28, 1997 - Three Native American police officers from Minneapolis are visiting the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota this week to teach residents about street gangs. The officers say Native American gang members move back and forth between the Cities and reservations, so parents and teachers need to know a gang symbol when they see one. Catherine Winter of Mainstreet Radio reports.
April 1, 1997 - Peter Hutchinson from the Minneapolis School District says a systematic community effort is needed to help students be successful. Hutchinson outlined his challenge for increased community involvement in public education in his annual "State of the Schools" speech this morning. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.
April 1, 1997 - Ten thousand delegates are arriving in Minneapolis for National Catholic Education Conference. The event runs tomorrow through Friday at the Minneapolis Convention Center. In Minnesota after twenty five years of declining enrollments, Catholic schools in the state are enjoying modest growth. School officials are scrambling to find enough classroom space and a handful of new schools are under construction. Parental demand is apparently driving the renewed interest in Catholic schools as they search for a spiritual component to their children's education. Rachel Reabe of our Mainstreet Radio team has the story.
April 2, 1997 - SHRINKING BUDGETS IN RECENT YEARS MEAN THERE ARE FEWER ART PROGRAMS IN MANY SCHOOLS..PARTICULARLY IN RURAL AREAS. A FARGO ART GALLERY IS TRYING TO HELP FILL THE VOID WITH ITS SUITCASE ART PROJECT. MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIOS DAN GUNDERSON REPORTS. (SFX) SECOND GRADE STUDENTS IN A SMALL RURAL NORTH DAKOTA SCHOOL LISTEN EAGERLY AS CINDY HALE LIFTS PIECES OF NATIVE AMERICAN ART FROM A SLIGHTLY BATTERED SUITCASE. AS THE CHILDREN PASS THEM AROUND HALE TALKS ABOUT THE NORTH DA
April 4, 1997 - The chairman of the Senate K-12 education budget committee today dropped a small political bomb today (Friday) when he proposed a version of Governor Carlson's school vouchers plan. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: DFL State Senator Larry Pogemiller says his plan isn't a vouchers plan -- it's a "CERTIFICATES" plan. But both plans seem to share the same basic philosophy: the idea that free-market-style competition would be good for Minnesota's schools:
April 8, 1997 - A Minnesota researcher is raising eyebrows in education circles... with a new study that says poverty does not cause children to do poorly in school. Economist Samuel Myers is director of the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice at the University of Minnesota. He analyzed test results in hopes of explaining why minority students do poorly compared with white kids. His conclusion runs counter to what many educators have long assumed. Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen reports. Samuel Myers says he was frustrated with the widespread assumption that poverty causes the poor academic performance of many minority children. 50-thousand eighth graders took the Minnesota Basic Standards Test last year. Bla
April 8, 1997 - Governor Carlson says his proposed education tax credits will enhance, not harm, public education. Carlson spoke to hundreds of school choice advocates today at state capitol rally. The controversial plan would help Minnesota families supplement their children's education in public, private and home schools. Carlson has been turning up the heat on the legislature to pass the plan he says builds on a tradition of expanding choice. Opponents say they object to any attempt to shift public funds to private schools, which are not accoutable to state taxpayers. Minnesota Public radio's Tim Pugmire reports... "Minnesotans for School Choice," invited one thousand private school.
April 9, 1997 - All the talk about bringing America's school students' test results up to the level of those in Japan and other countries is putting a lot of pressure on kids and teachers. The pressure to learn more at an earlier age causes some to worry kids will burn out and lose interest in learning. But that doesn't seem to be happening. An education expert says a bigger concern is not all kids have an equal opportunity to learn because of disparaties in education funding. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson visited a Hopkins school and has more. It's been 40 years since Jack Anderson was a 4th grader, and his memory is foggy on what his parochial and public school teachers in Brainerd demanded that he learn. He knows with a certainty, however, that he is asking a great deal more of his 25 students. tape . . . the exposure they get in school, the techno
April 9, 1997 - D-F-L leaders in the Minnesota House have unveiled their plan for improving public education in Minnesota...but education tax credits are not included. House Speaker Phil Carruthers and members of the House Education Committee say they're committed to working with Governor Carlson on education reform. But their plan omits the specific provision Carlson says he's prepared to fight for. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports... House D-F-Lers say their "Excellence for All" proposal would create greater standards of accountability for schools and students. They reject the Republican Governor's proposed tax credits in favor of spending more on pu
April 11, 1997 - A key Senate committee today (Friday) killed Governor Carlson's latest school vouchers proposal. The Governor has promised to veto all other school spending until he gets a vouchers plan, and lawmakers are steeling themselves for a showdown at the end of the legislative session, next month. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: The Senate K-12 Committee didn't surprise anybody when it voted down the Governor's vouchers plan; their counterparts in the House already killed the bill last week. The Governor wants a law to let students spend state dollars on private education, something he believes would reform the whole school system by making it more "customer-oriented." The Governor has been fighting the Legislatu