By joe nathan Education Columnist In tough, challenging times, more than six million people a year go to a small Italian town on top of a hill. Although I am neither Christian nor Catholic, I was one of those six million recently. It’s easy to see why people come. Yes, it’s beautiful. But there are many [...]
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Joe Nathan
Looking for some family fun? Schedule a visit to a college
By joe nathan Education Columnist Here’s a free, fun, family “back to school” August activity: visit one or more two or four year colleges or universities. Officials representing colleges and universities made it clear last week that they welcome such visits. You and your youngsters can learn a lot. Visiting a campus also can help motivate [...]
A mirror, a choice, a question
By JOE NATHAN Education Columnist There’s a mirror at the end of displays in the Dr. Martin Luther King National Historic site at Atlanta, Ga. As I learned in visiting recently, there’s a question next to the mirror. It’s a quote from Dr. King, who won the Nobel Peace Prize. Just 1.5 miles away at President [...]
School payments should continue
By JOE NATHAN Education Columnist Regardless of the politics, state funds should keep going to schools. That’s my conclusion after interviewing about 20 superintendents and principals, Gen Olson, chair of the Minnesota Senate Education Committee (and a Republican) and Charlene Briner, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). A shutdown may delay in payments [...]
Raised hands, new report – good news
By JOE NATHAN Education Columnist Dozens of raised hands, and a new report from Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius reflect good news. More Minnesota high school students are taking and passing challenging college level classes. Cassellius wisely praised the progress, and stressed the significant work left to do. The raised hands came when I asked [...]
Education head issues challenge
By JOE NATHAN Education Columnist U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was direct when he spoke in Minnesota last week. While complimenting some of Minnesota’s reforms and education accomplishments, Duncan pointed out that we have one of the nation’s largest achievement gaps between whites and students of color. He is “shocked” that Minnesota does not have [...]
Better prepared high school graduates will save money
BY JOE NATHAN It’s pretty simple. Milaca parents, families and students can save themselves thousands of dollars by paying attention to Getting Prepared, a recently-released report by the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. Almost 13,000, 40 percent, of Minnesota public high school graduates who entered a Minnesota public college [...]
Educators offer advice on how to find schools that are good fit
BY JOE NATHAN What advice do educators have for Milaca and other Minnesota families starting to think about what schools their child/children will attend next year? At one point, families had no public school choices. But over the last 25 years, the Minnesota Legislature has given families new public school options via open enrollment, area [...]
Co-op ideas can help education
BY JOE NATHAN For generations, some Milaca area farmers have been members of a co-op. Now that idea is being applied, with encouraging impact, to public school teachers. That’s a central message of a recent report, “Can Teachers Run their Own Schools? Tales from the Islands of Teacher Cooperatives” (charlestkerchner.com/cr/uploadImages/Teacher_run_case.pdf) Written by Charles Kerchner, a [...]
