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I'm writing to announce the three interim work group of the E-12 Education Committee that have been formed.  I sent a communication to all committee members before the 2007 regular session ended to gauge interest in interim working groups.  Members responded with their interest in participating, and shared topics they would like to consider.  With your input, three work groups have been formed:

School Accountability
This work group will focus its attention on Minnesota's School Performance Report Card.  The 2007 E-12 Omnibus bill authorized the creation of the School Performance Report Card Advisory Group to consider how to "fully, fairly and accurately report student achievement" on school report cards.  While funding to convene this group of experts and stakeholders was not signed into law, our E-12 work group will consider whether the current school report card can be improved.

Members: Kathy Brynaert, Larry Hosch, Sandy Peterson, Kim Norton, Linda Slocum and Lynn Wardlow

Alternative schools
The goal of this work group will be to study Minnesota's alternative schools and how the success of these schools is measured.

The work group will look at who enrolls in alternative schools, and what data we have the educational outcomes of these students.  It will also consider how the success of alternative programs is defined and measured. 

The focus of this group will be on the at-risk students served by alternative programs.  Therefore the group may also want to consider outcomes for at-risk students enrolled in other settings, including charter schools.

Members: David Bly, Jim Davnie, Mindy Greiling, Carolyn Laine

High School Redesign
This work group will consider efforts to align of Minnesota high school expectations to post-secondary success, calls for more rigorous high school coursework, and high school redesign efforts currently underway in school districts across the state.

Members: Robin Brown, Randy Demmer, Denise Dittrich, Sondra Erickson, Marsha Swails, Tom Tillberry

My primary goal for these groups is to create a better, shared understanding of key policy issues.  I believe that this understanding will prove to be a helpful foundation for the committee's future work.

Carlos Mariani
Chair, E-12 Education Committee