The Election is just around the corner, November 3^rd and a lot of choices are on the ballots of Minnesotans.  The absentee ballot process in Minnesota has been expanded due to COVID and already over 1 million Minnesotans have cast their ballot.  There are significant races both at the State and Federal levels that will impact our schools and education system.

All 201 Minnesota legislators are up for election this fall, and which puts control of both the House and Senate up for grabs.  The House currently has a DFL majority of 75 seats (68 is needed for control) and they are looking to hold on to their gains from 2018 and add pick up some seats in the outer suburban areas.  The GOP House Caucus is hoping to capitalize on the outstate support of President Trump to win districts in greater Minnesota and take back some of the suburban seats they lost in 2018.

Republicans hold a slim two seat majority in the Senate (35-32).  They will try to expand that number by also looking to seats in the outstate areas the increase their total.  The DFL is looking at seats in the suburbs, specifically in Plymouth, Maple Grove, Burnsville, and White Bear Lake in hopes of flipping the Senate to DFL control.

The projected significant state budget deficit and how it is resolved will be the biggest task in front of the new legislature when it convenes in January.  Additionally, and importantly for the next decade the next legislature will be tasked with redrawing legislative district lines.   A sweep by one party could have big impacts.

Federally, we have all 8 congressional seats, Tina Smith’s Senate seat and of course the presidential election. For Congress seats several seats are being closely watched nationally. In southern Minnesota Congressional District 1 sees first term congressman Jim Hagedorn (GOP) with a rematch against Dan Feehan (DFL).  Hagedorn has been plagued by ethics complaints in his first term but Feehan will need to overcome a district previously carried by Trump.  Congressional District 7 along the western border has longtime Congressman Colin Peterson (DFL) being challenged by former State Senate Michelle Fischbach (GOP).  Peterson will be challenged to once again try and prevail in an area that will likely be carried by a President Trump in wide numbers.

Finally, the Presidential race between President Trump and Joe Biden.  Minnesota was closer than many expected in 2016 but current polls show Biden with a significant lead in the state and nationally.

SciMathMN helped to create and has sustained the existence of the Minnesota STEM Teacher Center (a.k.a. The Frameworks) website since it was created in 2011. The website represents a partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education to explain and provide resources in support of the current math and science standards. What the standard means, how might the standard look like enacted, misconceptions that students may hold, ideas for differentiation, assessments, and links to related resources are highlights of the website.

With the new science standards beginning to be phased in beginning with the 2021-2022 academic year, the question is whether or not the website is essential enough to the K-12 education community to warrant its upgrading and continuation. This survey is attempting to capture who uses the site, for what purposes, and, if changes are to be made, what suggestions are they. The data will assist the SciMathMN board to make decisions about the site moving forward and, if the resounding answer is to move forward, use this data with funders. Any infrastructure upgrades made for the new science standards will be laying the groundwork to support any revisions to the state math standards that begin its review cycle in 2022.

If you are a user of the Minnesota STEM Teacher Center/The Frameworks website, please take a moment to complete this survey.

Code.org, a national nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science education, with a priority for young women and other students from underrepresented groups, released its fourth annual State of Computer Science Education in the United States this month. The report is co-authored with The Computer Science Teachers Association and the Expanding Computing Education Pathways Alliance. The report finds some national momentum in challenging times, Minnesota however lags nationally on a number of measures.

Minnesota has taken an approach to computer science education that places computer science in each curriculum area’s standards as they are reviewed by the state. Code.org has a nine-point policy framework and tests states against their adoption of those policies. Minnesota is highlighted for the Department of Education hiring a STEM and computer science specialist with the hiring of Sarah Carter. Of the remaining eight policies Minnesota only meets one when it allows the substitution of a computer science credit for a math credit for graduation requirements.

In reviewing access to computer science in schools Minnesota has the least number of schools offering a standalone course among all 50 states. Minnesota has increased female participation in computer science courses by 1% over the past three years to 21%. The demographics of Minnesota students closely aligns with the student bodies of schools that offer computer science courses.

The authors point out that the need for collective awareness of “which students have access, which students are recruited into computer science classrooms, and which students are retained in computer science pathways”.

ACT released their report on the performance of the 2020 graduating class today. Minnesota received a very Minnesota report. The good news? Minnesota continues to lead the nation in ACT scores among states that like us test high percentage of students. The bad news? While Students of Color and Indigenous students in Minnesota do better than their peers nationally, we have persistent and significant racial disparities in scores. Overall scores are largely unchanged over the past five years.

Minnesota students averaged a score of 21.3, out of a total possible score of 36, down 0.1 from 2019. Black/African American students averaged an overall score of 17, American Indian/Alaska Native students 17.1, White students 22.5, Hispanic/Latino students 18.3, Asian students 20.6, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students 19.0, students reporting two or more races averaged a score of 20.9.

ACT has four college ready benchmarks in English, Reading, Math and Science. Minnesota students outperformed their national peers with 43% of Minnesota students meeting or exceeding the benchmarks on three or four measures where nationally 37% of test takers met the benchmarks. Additionally, ACT has a more rigorous STEM preparation benchmark for those anticipating entering an engineering or other STEM program in college. On that measure 24% of Minnesota test-takers met or exceeded that measure compared to 20% of the national peers. These benchmark measures are again largely unchanged over the past five years.

One thing of note is that over the past five years Minnesota has seen a somewhat steady decrease of roughly 7,000 students taking the test. This even though the number of 11th graders in the state has increased 4% over that same 2016-2020 time period. While the cause of this decrease in test taking is unknown the legislature did change its policy and state support for ACT test costs by school districts in 2017. Before that the state reimbursed districts for all 11th graders taking the ACT or SAT; a 2017 change limited the reimbursement to only students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch service, a generally used test of poverty.

The Minnesota State Fair Board has made the decision to cancel the 2020 State Fair due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 virus.  This forces the cancellation of the annual STEM Day at the Fair.  We hope to be back in our usual places on opening day of the 2021 Great Minnesota Get Together.

The transition to distance learning for Minnesota schools opens a whole new set of opportunities and challenges for teachers and support staff.  Parents who are home are looking for resources, teachers will be trying approaches, seeing what works, what doesn’t, and then looking for more resources.

The Minnesota Department of Education is providing resources across academic areas for implementing the states academic standards.

The Southeast Service Cooperative in Rochester has developed an extensive Distance Learning Resource Repository. The repository has links to online museums with robust digital learning resources such as the Smithsonian; Chicago Field Museum as well as National Park virtual tours; online museum collections, exhibits; and a long list of STEM specific resources.

The MDE requirement that this new area of distance learning requires that teaching be equitable for all students including those with special needs such as those requiring special education services, English Language Learners, and those with limited or no access to internet services at home.  The PEW Charitable Trust raises concerns and reviews some of the federal Department of Education guidance.  : Switch to Remote Learning Could Leave Students with Disabilities Behind.

Students without access to high speed internet make up 14% of the population according to recent federal statistics.  Reaching those students presents a different set of challenges.  Many districts have been reaching out to families and even providing school purchased devices.  KQED, the San Francisco National Public Radio affiliate has provided 14 Tips for Helping Students with Limited Internet Have Distance Learning.