Minnesota Teachers of the Year
October 18th, 2016

Here's the video, and here's a summary
The presenters were: 

• Katy Smith, early childhood family education
• Amy Hewett- Olatunde, LEAP (Limited English Language Proficiency) HS
• Koua Yang, Social Studies at Harding HS 

All spoke of building relationships with the students and families, then communities, as vitally important.  Othe key points:

• Cultural sensitivity training needs to happen for all teachers.
• Students need to identify with people of their ethnicity at schools
• School personnel need to understand that these students often don't have the resources and living conditions that their teachers enjoy.  
• Because of their experiences as immigrants and the current political climate, immigrant students really need to be supported emotionally as well as in the other areas.  
• Early ed. teachers need to interact with parents at the earliest stages.  
• Working with families and communities from birth through High School helps students devleop 'executive function' - skills and mindset that they need to succeed in whatever pathway they choose. 

Principals And Progress
September 13th, 2016

Here's the video.

Dr. David Adney and Jon Millerhagen to speak at our September 13th, 2016 Forum.  
David is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Secondary Principals Association (MASSP). He has had years of leadership experience most recently as Principal at Minnetonka High School.  David has spoken about principal leadership throughout the US, Japan and China.

Jon Millerhagen is Executive Director of the Minnesota Elementary Principals Association (MESP).  He has twenty years of experience as a principal and received the Minnesota National Principal award in 2012.  Jon has testified before the State Legislature and also on Capitol Hill.

Positive Behaviors Lead To Academic Success - Minneapolis

April 26^th, 2016

The Chief of Minneapolis Public Schools and three principals discuss how those schools are led, how they maintain a positive school climate with staff and students, and how this leads to academic and life success for students

• Michael Thomas, Chief of Schools for Minneapolis
• Michael Bradley, Roosevelt High School 
• Yusuf Abdullah,  Henry High School 
• Ronald Salazar, Fowell K-8  

See the video
 

Positive Behaviors Equal Academic Success – St. Paul

March 10^th, 2016

Four principals from St. Paul Public Schools discuss how their schools are led, how they maintain a positive school climate with their staff and students, and how the positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS) practices lead to academic and life success for students.  

• Barbara Evangelist, St. Paul Music Academy
• Mike McCollor, Washington Technology Secondary Magnet
• Stacy Theien-Collins, Murray Middle School
• Michael Thompson, Johnson Senior High School

See the video

Planning for the Future of Patrick, Henry High School

March 18^th, 2016

Yussuf Abdullah, principal of Minneapolis’ Patrick Henry High School, gave a Think Again Minnesota seminar.  This was not an AGC presentation, but it is both good and relevant.

See the video

Education Evolving/AGC Forum 2: What Are Tests For?
Wednesday, October 21st, 2015
See the video

Legislative Session Education Report
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
See the video

• Introduction
• Parents United
• Center for School Change
• Growth and Justice
• African-American Leadership Forum
• Question and Answer Session

• Introduction
• MN Association of School Administrators
• Minnesota Business Partnership
• Minnesota Minority Education Partnership
• Organizing Apprenticship Project
• Question and Answer Session

• Introduction
• Education Evolving
• Chicano Latino Affairs Council
• The Minneapolis Foundation/RESET
• MinnCAN
• Question and Answer Session

• Introduction
• Katherine Page
• Jon Millerhagen
• Breakout Groups

St. Paul Racial Equity Policy

This summer the Saint Paul School Board approved a racial equity policy.

In this video, Michelle Walker, Chief of Staff for the Saint Paul Public Schools, and the SPPS Assistant Director for Equity, Michelle Bierman, tell the story of why and how the policy came to be and how the District plans to implement it.

Executive Function

Due to techncial difficulties we are not able to present a video of Dr. Zelazow's excellent presentation in June to the Achievement Gap Brown Bag series. We're very sorry about that.

Dr. Zelazo gave a related talk at a symposium last February. His presentation is part of the third talk.

Also, there is a wealth of related information at this website.

The NAZ

"If you change everything about a child's life at once, you change a community."

At a Brown Bag on May 10th, Sondra Samuels, the CEO of the Northside Achievemnt Zone, presented a forum on how the NAZ works. You will hear speakers from various organizations, all of whom work together to change families' lives.

See the video here.

Fred Storti Video

Fred's April Brown-Bag presentation about the ongoing efforts to insure good leadership at the individual school level can be seen here.

Lessons from Hiawatha Academies

March 15th, 2013

You can view the entire video, Eli Kramer's presentation, or the Q and A session.

Early Education - Forum II Video

There are several ways to see this video:

Click here to begin at the beginning, or choose:

Bao Vang

Karen Cadigan

Barb Fabre

Or click here to see the Q and A session

Early Education - Forum I Video

There are several ways to see this video:

Click here to begin at the beginning, or choose:

Rob Grunewald

Kathryn Tout

Betty Emarita

Or click here to see the Q and A session

Larry Pogemiller, director of the Office of Higher Education, and Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius talk about Redesigning the Transition from Secondary to Post-Secondary Education.

Dane Smith
September 28th, 2012

Dane Smith of Growth and Justice talked about smart investments in Minnseota's future.

Julie Sweitzer
September 14th, 2012

Julie Sweitzer talked about the Minnesota Principals Academy at an Achievement Gap Brown Bag on September 14th

Misty Sato
April 27th, 2012

Dr. Misty Sato of the University of Minnesota spoke at an Achievement Gap Brown Bag on April 27th.

Luis Versalle
April 20th, 2012

Luis Versalle of the Pacific Educational Group spoke on "Courageous Conversations" at an Achievement Gap Brown Bag on April 20th.

Emily Puetz
April 13th, 2012

Emily Puetz, Chief Academic Officer for the Minneapolis Public Schools, spoke at an Achievement Gap Brown Bag on April 13th.

Robbert Bruininks
March 2nd, 2012

Dr. Robert Bruininks, former President of the University of Minnesota, spoke at an Achievement Gap Brown Bag on March 2nd.

Michelle Walker
February 24th, 2012

Michelle Walker, the Accountability Officer for the Saint Paul Public Schools, spoke at an Achievement Gap Brown Bag at the end of February.

Rick Mills
February 10th, 2012

Rick Mills, the CEO of the Minneapolis Public Schools, spoke at an Achievement Gap Brown Bag in early February. (This was our first attempt at doing a video, and we apologize for the poor quality of the video itself; but it seemed to us you might like to hear Mr. Mills in spite of that.)

Focused Instruction
February 8th, 2011

Presented at the Minneapolis School Board meeting on February 8th, 2011.