Minnesota Chamber of Commerce hosting education reform summit

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is holding a gathering in St. Paul Thursday aimed at bringing education reform advocates together with legislators and business leaders to discuss approaches to fix the state's achievement gap between white students and students of color.

The chamber's director of education policy, Amy Walstien, says well-prepared students are key to the Minnesota's future workforce.

"We're focused on that pipeline of preparing kids all the way through with a strong academic background, making sure that their maintaining technical skills and soft skills so that they're well-rounded," Walstien said. "We're interested in talking about other states and local ideas, local projects that are working to solve the achievement gaps, opportunity gaps that we're seeing in Minnesota."

Former Minneapolis mayor R.T. Ryback, national education reform advocate Michelle Rhee and former Minnesota education commissioner Alice Seagren are among those scheduled to take part in the conference.