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21st Century Education
Innovation and Breakthrough  


Alberta, Canada, is a pioneer in chartering (from 1994!) with 13 well-established, innovative and thriving charter public schools. With long waiting lists at most of their schools, why doesn't Alberta have more charter schools? Here's what I learned on my recent visit there:   
 
 
 
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In northern Minnesota, not far from our Canadian neighbors, an innovative school in Bemidji was deservedly featured in the Star Tribune on November 7. TrekNorth, a junior and senior high school, is well-known for experiential and personalized learning in class and beyond. Students are taught resilience and courage through mastery of their frozen northland environment and through community service projects.   
 
Students at TrekNorth must meet an unusual graduation requirement: prove they've been admitted to at least one institution of higher education. "There are very clear expectations that if you come here, what we are working toward is going to college," says Principal Dan McKeon.   
 
Now the school is receiving kudos for helping American Indian students soar past their peers statewide. Nearly half of the school's 250 students are American Indian. The school has won attention for excellence and significant progress toward closing the achievement gap between white and American Indian students. The Minnesota Education Commissioner visited TrekNorth as a model for how other schools can use recently increased state funding for American Indian education in innovative ways. 
 
"We are good at fixing what hasn't worked," said Principal McKeon. Some students come there as a last option, he says, because they are "running away from something."
 
Yes, schools like TrekNorth may be great "fixers." In my view, TrekNorth is much more--it is a model of innovative education for schools serving rural and diverse communities. I hope its solid foundation of student success will stimulate more schools like it--as first opportunities for all families, not just as "fixers" or last resorts.  

Warmly,
 
Ember Reichgott Junge
612-750-1262 cell