Action of the School Board Action of the School Board 03/16/15

Meeting Date:
March 16, 2015

Board Chair
Tom Heidemann

ACTION

of the School School District
Board
Anoka-Hennepin

World’s Best Workforce public hearing held

Prior to the regular board meeting, the district held it’s first annual World’s Best Workforce
(WBWF) public hearing, which is a new requirement of all school districts in Minnesota.
Dr. Jinger Gustafson, associate superintendent for middle schools, led the district’s World’s
Best Workforce team. She noted that the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill in 2013 requiring school districts to develop plans that address five specific goals:

Vice Chair

Marci Anderson

Treasurer
Bill Harvey

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All children are ready for school.
All third graders can read at grade level.
All racial and economic achievement gaps between students are closed.
All students are ready for career and college.
All students graduate from high school.

Mary Olson, director of communication and public relations, provided a brief overview of
district demographics, pointing out that enrollment has been declining steadily since 2004,
due in large part to a decrease in the birthrate and many families remaining in their homes
after their children have grown. In addition, the district has become more ethnically diverse
and more students qualify for free or reduced price meals.

Jeff Simon

Dr. Gustafson described the district’s efforts at continuous improvement and the scorecard
it uses to track progress. She pointed out that Anoka-Hennepin students score higher than
the state average on all tests at all levels, and that the achievement gap between groups of
students is among the lowest in the state. Few students drop out of school and most plan
to attend post-secondary school. She said community surveys find that graduates feel their
experience in Anoka-Hennepin schools prepared them for success in life.

Director

Johnna Rohmer-Hirt, director of research, testing and evaluation, gave an overview of
district results on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments and highlights of various
stakeholder surveys. She said the vast majority of students, parents, community members
and staff feel district schools are safe. Students believe they can do well in school and that
their teachers want them to be successful. Staff feel their work makes a positive difference
to the people they serve, and parents feel their children receive a quality education.

Clerk

William Fields

Director

Nicole Hayes

ANOKA-HENNEPIN
SCHOOLS
A future without limit

Dr. Laurie Resch, director of elementary curriculum, reviewed the process for assessing
each student’s progress toward meeting state and local standards and for evaluating the
effectiveness of curriculum and instruction. She pointed out that effective educational practices integrate high quality instruction, rigorous curriculum, technology and a collaborative culture. In addition, the district’s budget is aligned to learning, with 75 percent spent
directly on instruction.
She stressed the importance of school readiness and highlighted the dramatic progress students in the district’s pre-kindergarten classes make between fall and spring. They are well
prepared for school, which is the first WBWF goal. She also pointed out the large increases
in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding kindergarten benchmarks from spring
2012 to spring 2014.
Regarding the second goal, all third graders read at grade level, Resch said 63 percent of
third graders were proficient in reading in 2014, up one point from the previous year. This
was a decrease from earlier years when a different version of the state test was given. The
new test is based on new, more rigorous standards so scores cannot be compared between