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NEWS | August 2007 - all articles

This page includes all articles in the August issue of NEWS. Return to summary or go to the NEWS archive.

Urban teaching: reality check
Mayo Scholars Program provides unique research experience
Minnesota students first in ACT scores, but not all is rosy
Briefs

Urban teaching: reality check

When Tien Le teaches reading to his kindergarteners at Adams Spanish Immersion Magnet School in St. Paul, he tries to do a variety of different activities. “I try to keep my bag of tricks full and I am always collecting more. With so many types of learning styles, kids benefit from varied instruction,” he said.

Le’s adeptness in the classroom is due in part to his participation in the Urban Education Summer Scholars (UESS) program, now in its tenth year. Funded by the Travelers Foundation, this summer program for college students of color is a partnership between the Minnesota Private College Fund (MPCF), St. Paul Public Schools and Hamline University’s Center for Excellence in Urban Teaching (CEUT).

Similar programs that specifically focus on “urban education” exist at two other Minnesota private colleges. The University of St. Thomas offers the Collaborative Urban Educator program to bring people with college degrees from underrepresented ethnic, cultural and unique urban backgrounds into the teaching profession. And Concordia University’s Southeast Asian Teacher Program is a baccalaureate degree/teacher licensure program for paraprofessional and non-licensed teachers (especially those of Southeast Asian background) who work in Minnesota school districts.

So what differentiates “urban” K-12 teaching from K-12 teaching in general? Quite a bit, it turns out. Many of today’s classrooms are filled with students from different cultures, languages and economic situations — creating a complex environment for a teacher. Not all of these classrooms are in the city, nor do all city classrooms exhibit these characteristics. What distinguishes them is a concentration of students who may be poor or ethnically diverse and who attend a school with a scarcity of resources or many teachers who are new or teaching in areas in which they aren’t licensed. Urban teachers need to understand the issues facing their students and learn how to be as effective as possible in their classrooms.

"Preparing teachers for urban and urban-like teaching involves developing strategies that enable students to honor their heritage language and culture,” said Sally Bass, director of the Southeast Asian Teacher program. “These strategies enhance the curriculum that meets the state standards.”
 
“We want to change how people think about these schools,” said Frank Hernandez, director of CEUT at Hamline, who believes that there is richness and opportunity in diversity. “We help our future teachers integrate students’ culture and experience into learning,” he said. “They hold all students to high expectations; when a strategy isn’t working, they question their assumptions and teaching practices first.”

Nicole Nelson, a 2003 UESS scholar who now teaches at the Minnesota International Middle School in Minneapolis, sets high expectations for herself as well as her students. “I use every free minute to figure out how best to serve my students,” she said. “I had a student who was having trouble completing her homework and when I talked with her I found out that she was responsible for dinner and the care of younger brothers and sisters when she got home from school. I set up a schedule for her so that she had time to work in class and she showed tremendous improvement,” Nelson said.

Le says he now looks at teaching in a different way, considering it his personal and professional responsibility to make sure kids are learning. “I’m always giving choices, asking questions and assessing how kids are doing,” he said. “It’s a challenge for me to make sure they’re not bored. I want them to have fun and learn.”

“When teachers see that their investment in students pays off, it motivates them,” said Hernandez. Still, he acknowledged that urban teachers must be resilient and committed. “Great teachers have great lives outside of school. They are involved with their families, friends and communities,” he said. Nelson agreed, observing that urban teachers who want to avoid burnout need a drive and passion for the work and support from their families, other teachers and administrators. She noted that former UESS scholars can use a group set up for them on Facebook, the online social networking site, to share ideas, advice and experiences.

Developing competent urban teachers is more important than ever, according to Hernandez. “Our communities are becoming more diverse and these kids are our leaders of tomorrow. We owe them a solid education so that they have choices,” he said.

 

Mayo Scholars Program provides unique research experience

Medtronic key to creating this opportunity for private college students

It wasn't your typical undergraduate research project: last spring, a team of students from the College of St. Benedict and Saint John's University dug into knee replacement technology. Working with an MBA student from the University of St. Thomas, their task was to do a cost analysis of an implant device to determine if it was possible to reduce costs and get the same results.

The students’ unique experience was connected to their participation in the Mayo Scholars Program — a collaborative effort between the Mayo Clinic and staff and students from nine Minnesota’s private colleges and universities. Selected MBA students and undergraduate science and business students evaluated a wide variety of technologies and ideas submitted by Mayo professionals through the Mayo Clinic Office of Intellectual Property. As one student put it, “it was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

In all, 46 students from nine of Minnesota’s private colleges and universities participated in the inaugural 2006-07 program. Other projects involved a new positioning device for shoulder and elbow surgeries, new ideas for agri-medicine and a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. Students were mentored by licensing managers from Mayo Clinic’s Office of Intellectual Property and the inventors, as well as faculty members from their campuses.

Manuel Campos, Ph.D., a biology professor from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, served as a faculty advisor to the knee replacement team. “The project provided the students and me with a unique experience that extended the borders of the classroom,” he said. “In the real world of research and development they will need to work in interdisciplinary teams and this gave us a way to re-create that scenario in an academic setting.”

John Meslow, a retired Medtronic executive and former board member to the Minnesota Private College Council, provided the impetus for the program. About two years ago, he was visiting with the leadership of the Mayo Office of Intellectual Property and learned how Mayo evaluates and pursues new product ideas submitted by Mayo professionals. “I recall thinking immediately that this could be an outstanding learning opportunity for our private college students,” said Meslow.

Meslow and other bio-medical leaders are very aware of the importance of attracting new talent and nurturing our state’s life science industries. Between 1995 and 2005, employment in the medical technology industry grew nearly four times faster in Minnesota compared to the rest of the nation. Employment in the pharmaceutical industry grew nearly twice as fast in Minnesota as in the rest of the nation. And despite the growing number of Minnesotans seeking post-secondary education, Minnesota’s bio-business organizations say that one of the most serious threats to their growing industries is the projected shortage of talented professionals.

"Minnesota is still a dominant player in key areas of bio-business such as medical technology, but we appear to be losing ground to other states," said David Etzwiler, executive director of the Medtronic Foundation. "While the large med tech companies are still hiring and growing, hiring in small, medium and start-up companies has slowed significantly. That means that we're not producing as many new ideas and inventions as before, ideas that can be commercialized and translated into more jobs."

"This unique collaboration between business and education provides real world opportunities for Minnesota's best and brightest students, with the hope that they will remain engaged in some of the state's most important industries, all while potentially uncovering innovation that will have a positive impact on both healthcare and Minnesota economy," said Etzwiler.

The Mayo Scholars Program was developed by the Mayo Clinic and Meslow with financial and conceptual support from the Medtronic Foundation and Mayo Clinic Office of Intellectual Property and administrative support from the Minnesota Private College Fund. The program has three main objectives: (1) to assist Mayo's Office of Intellectual Property in the evaluation of new product submissions by Mayo inventors, (2) to provide research internship opportunities for undergraduate science and business students, and (3) to provide leadership development and research opportunities for MBA students.

“Mayo welcomed the opportunity to provide a meaningful real world learning experience to students,” said Susan Stoddard, Ph.D. from Mayo Clinic Office of Intellectual Property. “We are proud to participate in a program that helps the state of Minnesota grow and keep talent for the state’s ever-growing life sciences industries,” she said.

The Mayo Clinic Office of Intellectual Property serves as the bridge between new medical technology and discoveries and the marketplace. Within the Office of Intellectual Property, Mayo Clinic Medical Devices develops products that are the result of research and clinical use to improve patient care at Mayo Clinic. Each device has been designed to address a clinical need for which nothing was commercially available.

Since 1986 the office has signed more than 660 license agreements, filed more than 2,029 patent applications and received over 590 patents for Mayo Clinic intellectual property. To date, the Mayo Clinic Office of Intellectual Property has been involved in over 30 start-up companies resulting from Mayo Clinic discoveries. Some of the projects studied by students in the Mayo Scholars Program represent opportunities for additional start-ups.

Meslow is delighted with the program so far. “It’s been an exceptional experience working with one of the world’s most prestigious health care systems and I am excited about the quality of the research done by our students and with the collaboration between all of the organizations involved,” he said.

 

Minnesota students first in ACT scores, but not all is rosy

Minnesota high school graduates achieved the highest average ACT score in 2007, according to state profile data released this month. An estimated 70 percent of Minnesota high school graduates took the test and earned an average composite score of 22.5. This is the third year that Minnesota has led the nation in average ACT scores. 

While the composite score is a good indicator of Minnesota’s performance against other states, the report also highlights the college readiness of graduates in four key subject areas. Only 31 percent of Minnesota graduates met all four college readiness benchmarks. The ACT benchmark scores indicate that a student achieving this score or higher has a high probability of success in a first-year college course in this subject area (ACT, 2005).

Minnesota graduates performed the best in English with 78 percent of test takers achieving the benchmark score. Minnesota graduates did less well in other areas: Reading (62 percent), Mathematics (56 percent), Science (38 percent). Minnesota has improved its scores in all areas over the most recent five years. Minnesota also has a higher percentage of graduates meeting each benchmark than other upper Midwest states.

Achievement gap persists
Minnesota graduates of color are not performing as well as their white peers, however. For African American students, only one-third meet the college readiness benchmark in English; 16 percent meet it in Math and 7 percent meet it in Science. 

Ernest Davenport, an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, runs an 11-week ACT/SAT prep course for at-risk students in partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha, a national black fraternity. “Many of the students in our program really have a desire to attend college,” he said, “but the students’ desire doesn’t match with their preparation. One reason that students of color and girls score lower on college admission tests is due to the courses they take — and don’t take — in high school.”

Mathematics course-taking is a good example. The standard sequence for math is Algebra 1 and 2 and Geometry or Integrated Math 1, 2 and 3 — the bare minimum that one should take to go to college, said Davenport. Few of the juniors or seniors in his program were taking math analysis, trigonometry, linear algebra, calculus or honors/advanced placement math. He notes that his ACT/SAT prep course has improved participants’ test performance and given them valuable exposure to role models and mentors. “But students still need to take the right courses,” he said. “If you opt to skip trigonometry, you will miss at least four ACT questions.”

The Minnesota Private College Council supports and has been involved with this program, according to Phillip Miner, director of community initiative. “It has helped many youth improve their scores, but it does make the point that there is no substitute for subject matter knowledge,” he said.

Despite Minnesota’s nation-leading and increasing scores, more needs to be done to ensure that ALL Minnesota graduates are prepared for college and workforce success. "Clearly, Minnesota is on the right track on the college-readiness front," said Susan Heegaard, director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. "However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the competition is global. A deeper analysis of Minnesota's ACT test-takers reveals that just 56 percent of all college-bound students are ready for college-level mathematics and 38 percent are ready for college-level science."

 

Briefs

• A consumer information Web site about private colleges and universities will launch in September. The University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) will provide hundreds of institutional profiles (including several MPCC schools) for use by prospective students and their families.
• Minnesota Private College Week took place the last week of June with nearly 2,200 students visiting our colleges.
• The Winona campus of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota served as a Red Cross emergency shelter for displaced flood victims. No major damage occurred on the campus and move-in weekend and classes will continue as scheduled.
• Many colleges assign first-year students a book to read over the summer. Selections usually try to create a sense of community and engage students intellectually according to a student researcher at Gustavus Adolphus College. This year's top pick: Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, by Tracy Kidder.