Saturday, May 8, 2010. 12:01 am. After a dramatic vote early Friday morning in the House Ways and Means Committee to maintain the ALT CERT language in the bill, supporters of Education Minnesota introduced a new bill, H.F. 3833, very late Friday night, deleting the ALT CERT provision. Despite gallant efforts by our team, this passed. Long-time legislators said they’ve never seen such strong union pressure on any bill — ever. Monday both bills go to the floor. The battle is on.
Friday, May 7, 2010 These are days of decision for assisting the state’s most underserved students. Today’s Star Trib (State needs new paths for teachers. Lawmakers should ignore union blitz on alternative licensing) and yesterday’s Pioneer Press (Open the door to hearty souls who want to teach) weigh in heavily in support of making programs such as Teach for America a permanent fixture in addressing the state’s huge achievement gap.
Thursday, May 6, 2010. Pioneer Press article on yesterday’s press conference and our coalition’s effort to fight back against Ed Minn’s TV blitz.
WEDNESDAY, May 5, 2010. Remarkable press event today on alternative teacher certification at the Capitol. Check out this tv and radio ad released today to counter Education Minnesota’s huge television effort to kill ALT CERT.
Television and radio ads urge lawmakers to pass alternative teacher certification
Education advocates today released television and radio ads to urge the Minnesota Legislature to pass measures that would allow innovative programs, such as Teach For America, to bring more teachers to Minnesota, and ensure that rigorous standards remain in place for qualified individuals to become certified teachers. The ads will start running May 6 on television and radio stations in the Twin Cities metro area.
Click here to listen to the television ad.
Click here to listen to the radio ad.
Minnesota has the second-largest achievement gap in country, with low-income minority students scoring up to 50 percentage points lower than their more affluent white peers on state exams. Research demonstrates that teachers are the critical factor for determining a student’s academic success. This legislation would increase the number of highly-qualified teacher candidates, giving underserved students a chance to succeed.
Daniel Sellers of Teach for America
Senators Bonoff and Saltzman, Representatives Mariani and Slocum lead a broad bi-partisan coalition in support of alternative teacher certification.