Education News

MPR News keeps track of the latest education news in Minnesota so you can understand the events shaping the future of learning and how it impacts students at any level.

Stay informed about local education events, policies and more happening in schools and colleges across Minnesota.

Aspen Ideas Festival: Jane McGonigal on 'The Future of Imagination'
Futurist and game designer Jane McGonigal suggests we can make better decisions if we develop the ability to "remember the future" and "predict the past." She says Lewis Carroll was right when he wrote in Alice in Wonderland, "it's a poor sort of memory that only works backward." You'll hear her intriguing ideas in an Aspen Lecture given at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.
How to improve sex education at school, and at home
"The talk" should really be multiple talks say Dr. Leslie Walker and sex educator Al Vernacchio.
The Satanic Temple contacted nine public school districts across the country seeking to start after-school Satan programs in an attempt to counter well-funded fundamentalist Christian organizations that it believes are eroding the separation of church and state.
Timothy Olmsted had resigned his teaching position at St. Paul's Heights Community School after students accused him of racial insults and physical abuse against African American students during the 2011-2012 school year.
The importance of getting things wrong
A Harvard professor argues that successful science teaching starts with understanding student misconceptions.
Anthropologist: Let's stop failing our children on evolution
As young-Earth creationism and its "humans and dinosaurs co-existed" discourse continues to be popular, anthropologist Barbara J. King takes a look at how to help kids understand evolution.
Is the student loan crisis fact or fiction?
A new book says the student loan crisis is overblown. Author Sandy Baum says we really need to focus on the small portion of borrowers who are really struggling.
New data: Minn. test scores stagnant, achievement gap unchanged
Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius says newly released test scores have convinced her that schools can't close achievement gaps on their own. She said factors like poverty, homelessness and hunger stall progress.
Good news on student loans ... for some
More students are getting affordable payments, a new report says. But they might not be the ones who really need it.
Why summer jobs don't pay off anymore
The minimum wage is flat, college tuition is up and students are broke: Summer jobs just don't have the purchasing power they used to, especially when you look at the cost of college.