St. Cloud School Superintendent Willie Jett joined me today for a monthly update on what's happening in the school district. He discussed the importance of student progress, test scores, their curriculum and what's happening with construction projects.
A number of under-performing elementary schools in the St. Cloud Area School District are making improvements in reading proficiency, especially among non-English learners. But, those same schools have more work to do.
Minnesota third through eighth graders showed big improvements in standardized test scores in math this year and held steady in reading, but math scores for high school juniors declined as more than half failed to meet state proficiency standards.
More Minnesota schools may get a pass on some mandates of the No Child Left Behind law. U.S. Education Sec. Arne Duncan says he will give schools some relief from some federal requirements because he says Congress isn't moving fast enough on an overhaul of the law.
Minnesota students made slight progress this year on standardized tests that determine if they met the state's requirements in math and reading for graduating from high school.