Stories

As a white teacher, I have a responsibility to develop my own racial competency so I can truly be an ally to students.

Students benefit from excellent teachers who are ethnically and racially diverse, but today just 4% of Minnesota’s teachers identify as teachers of color.

Our understanding of effective teaching is warped. We fail to understand that teaching is a fundamentally relational phenomenon.

As parents, we can’t put all the responsibility in the school’s lap. We also have to roll up our sleeves and pitch in too!

As a shortage of qualified tutors makes in-person services difficult to implement on a large scale, districts have turned to virtual providers.

Solving our country’s literacy crisis will involve a lot more than simply publicizing the large body of evidence suggesting many schools are not deploying the best method of teaching reading. It also will include battling school districts and educators invested in the status quo.

One way to help teachers meet the moment is by overhauling professional development.

By offering intensive wraparound services and a continual coaching model, NWTC is seeing high retention, graduation and job placement rates that provide successful paths for low-income, first-generation college students to break the cycle of generational poverty.

For too long, schools have not been clear with parents that good grades do not necessarily mean that a student is on grade level.  I am not suggesting we need to begin flunking students or that grades should not reflect effort and completed homework assignments. What I am saying is that every parent deserves to know the truth about their child’s academic progress.