High School InitiativesAcademic Excellence :

Governor Tim Pawlenty is leading national and state efforts to improve the high school experience by providing more rigor and relevance in coursework, and providing more meaningful relationships for students. This is the goal of the Minnesota Department of Education High School Initiatives, administered by the Center for Postsecondary Success.

Why High School Improvement?  The department provides data to administrators, teachers and others interested in high school improvement and promotes and facilitates discussions on this effort. Information on this page includes an overview and summary of the National Governors Association Honor States Grant that Minnesota received to support high school redesign efforts and a summary of the Governor's Roundtable Discussion on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Links below also include data snapshots and slide presentations related to Minnesota’s High School Initiative that have been presented to various audiences in the past. See Related Links for national organizations involved in data-driven high school improvement.

Dropout Prevention, Retention and Graduation Initiative.  The Minnesota Department of Education is working to ensure that more students graduate. A recent Alliance for Excellent Education study, "The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools," documented the state-by-state impact of high school dropouts. Read the study. 

Systemic High School Redesign: Building a Minnesota Model was a multi-year initiative from 2006-2009 with a variety of supports for high school redesign. Delano, Fridley, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle and Spring Lake Park were the pilot sites for this program. These high schools were selected because of their work on rigorous and relevant course taking for all students; personalized learning environments; multiple pathways to postsecondary training or college; high quality teacher and principal leadership; and student assessment and program evaluation data used to continuously improve school climate, organization, management, curricula and instruction. See the Systemic High School Redesign: Building a Minnesota Model Framework document below for strategies and resources.

Connecting for High School to Postsecondary Success Initiative
The goal of the initiative is to increase high school student achievement and postsecondary attainment by offering assistance to a select number of Minnesota high schools who are willing to attend trainings and support one another’s work on their initiatives related to one of the Core Components identified in the Systemic High School Redesign: Building a Minnesota Model initiative. (See document below.) High schools are actively engaged in the initiative in four Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) Divisions (Northern, Northeast, Southwest and Central) in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. The initiative has been expanded to four more MASSP Divisions (Capitol, Hennepin, Southeast and Western) in 2009-2010.  For more information, please contact Angie Judd at angie.judd@state.mn.us.

Attention Principals:  Please visit High School Contacts and complete our short request for information so we may add your school's information to our electronic mailing list. Thank you for your cooperation.

Contact Sally Wherry, Supervisor of High School Initiatives, at 651-582-8768, if you would like more information about current data and programs related to high schools in Minnesota.

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