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An update from Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
Vol. 2, No. 7: March 4, 2024
Education on the Holocaust, Genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and Other Genocides Working Group
Applications for the Education on the Holocaust, Genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and Other Genocides Working Group are now open and will close on March 22. MDE is seeking middle and high school social studies and English language arts teachers, pre-service teacher education program faculty with expertise in relevant topics, university faculty with related academic expertise, and representatives of Minnesota-based nonprofit organizations, community groups, and sovereign nations whose missions include educating about and honoring the victims and survivors of displacement, genocide, and mass violence (See below Education on the Holocaust and Genocide of Indigenous Peoples and Other Genocides Working Group Assumptions for Adults). Applicants must agree to the assumptions and the timeline, being available for all meetings from April 2024 to October 2025. In addition to the scheduled full group meetings, there may be additional small group meetings scheduled to draft pieces of the guidance between meetings. Please read the Education on the Holocaust, Genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and Other Genocides Working Group Assumptions for Adults prior to completing the adult application.
Additionally, MDE is seeking current Minnesota high school sophomores and juniors with a demonstrated interest in education on the Holocaust, genocide of Indigenous peoples, or other genocides. Prior to applying, students should read the Education on the Holocaust, Genocide of Indigenous Peoples and Other Genocides Working Group Assumptions for Students, and complete the separate Application for Students. All student application materials should be sent in a single email to mde.academic-standards@state.mn.us with the subject line: Holocaust, Genocide of Indigenous Peoples and Other Genocides Working Group Student Application.
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Ethnic Studies Working Group
Applications for the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Ethnic Studies Working Group are now open. Applications will close on March 22. MDE is seeking teachers with experience teaching Ethnic Studies to students in kindergarten to grade 8, parents or guardians of public kindergarten through grade 12 students, Ethnic studies high school teachers, school board members or school administrators (including curriculum directors or directors of teaching and learning), Minnesota-based college-level faculty experts in ethnic studies, and community members with a demonstrated commitment to ethnic studies or education about Minnesota’s racial, ethnic, religious, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or cultural diversity (See Ethnic Studies Working Group Assumptions).
Applicants must agree to the assumptions and the timeline, being available for all meetings from April 2024 through October 2024. In addition to the scheduled full group meetings, there may be additional small group meetings scheduled to draft pieces of the guidance between meetings. Please read the Ethnic Studies Working Group Assumptions prior to completing the application. MDE is also seeking public school students in grades 11 and 12 during either the 2023–24 or 2024–25 school year. Prior to applying, students should read the Ethnic Studies Working Group Student Assumptions and complete the separate student application. All student application materials should be sent in a single email to mde.academic-standards@state.mn.us with the subject line Ethnic Studies Working Group Student Application.
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Alternate Assessment Coffee Break Series
What: Meet with Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment Division staff and MTAS test administrators and special education staff who administer the MTAS to give feedback and ask questions.
Why: Hear about MTAS Field Audits, see a demonstration of the Alternate MCA Online format that will be available for Spring 2025 for Science, share your feedback and connect with other special education staff from across the state.
When: March 12, 4–5 p.m., and ongoing second Tuesdays of each month
Where: Via Zoom
How: Register for the Alternate Assessment coffee break
Contact: Alt.Assessment.MDE@state.mn.us
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Minnesota Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference
What: The Minnesota Council of Teachers of English (MCTE) Spring Conference is now open for registration.
Why: There will be four keynote speeches and more than 30 breakout sessions, including topics such as AI, the science of reading, implementing Minnesota’s new ELA standards, civil discourse, writing, and teaching diverse literature. Strands include elementary, middle level, high school, and college-level presentations on a variety of literacy-related topics each day.
When: May 2–3
Where: Holiday Inn & Suites, 200 W 1st St, Duluth, MN 55802
How: Please visit the MCTE website for more information.
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Curriculum Directors Virtual Session
What: MDE will be hosting two Curriculum Directors Virtual Sessions in the spring. New and experienced Curriculum Directors are welcome to attend either session as the same information will be provided at each. The virtual sessions are not recorded and CEUs will not be provided as these sessions are additional support rather than a training.
When: May 14, 7:30–8:30 a.m. and 4–5 p.m.
How: Curriculum Directors must register for the virtual sessions, which will be held via Zoom. Choose either the 7:30–8:30 a.m. Curriculum Directors webinar or the 4–5 p.m. Curriculum Directors webinar to register. Details for joining will be provided after registration.
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Teaching For Statistical and Data Literacy in K–12 STEM Education
Rapidly evolving technology has significantly changed statistics education and led to a few new trends in the field. One is the emphasis on data science due to the massive amounts of data that can now be collected, with more of a focus on coding than mathematical computation. Another trend is improved understanding of the ways students learn, combined with technology offering new ways to interact with data, has led to more emphasis on asking students to visualize statistics concepts, where new methods of instruction allow students to access statistics and data content at much younger ages. (Burrill & Pfannkuch, 2023).
With international advances in the area of using “big data,” the committee writing the new Minnesota 2022 Academic Standards in Mathematics realized they needed to consider what academic standards would be relevant for students in the year 2038. Using a number of resources, including Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education II (Bargaliotti et al., 2020) and Computer Science Teaching Association K–12 Computer Science Standards (2017), the first anchor standard emerged with a focus on data science.
This standard reads: “Identify, formulate and investigate statistical questions by collecting data considering cultural perspectives, analyzing and interpreting data and communicating the results.”
Starting in kindergarten, students are expected to “Notice and describe patterns in data-rich situations” (Benchmark 0.1.1.1). This isn’t really anything new for 5-year-olds, but it is now formalized in the Math Standards. As grade level increases, the sophistication of using data also increases.
Research by Schreiter, et al. (2023) found that, overall, teachers think highly of statistics education and using new instructional strategies to improve statistical and data literacy with students. However, teachers need proper training and a stronger foundation in statistical and data literacy themselves, as this is still a relatively new area of concentration for K–12 education. There is little research on the effectiveness of the current instructional methods available, so these methods require further study.
Data is all around us, but where can you get ideas to use in the classroom? One resource is Jenna Laib’s Slow Reveal Graphs website. Based on the research from Kahn, et al. (2022), students of every age can notice and describe patterns that they see. For example, here are the first three slides in a “slow reveal” about where people get their pets.
Slide 1: Ask students, “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
Slide 2: Added is now the percentage scale on the vertical axis. Ask students, “What new information did we just learn? What do you think the colors might represent?”
 Slide 3: Ask students “What new information did we just learn? How come the graph doesn’t go to 100%? (What clues did you have?) What do you think the labels for each bar might be?”
 See the rest of the “reveal” on the Slow Reveal Graphs website.
References:
Bargaliotti, A., Franklin, C., Arnold, P., Gould, R., Johnson, S., Perez, L., & Spangler, D. (2020). Guidelines for assessment and instruction in statistics education II (GAISE II). https://www.amstat.org/education/guidelines-for-assessment-and-instruction-in-statistics-education-(gaise)-reports
Burrill, G., & Pfannkuch, M. (2023). Emerging trends in statistics education. ZDM–Mathematics Education, 56, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-01501-7
Computer Science Teaching Association. (2017). K–12 computer science standards. https://csteachers.org/k12standards/
Kahn, J. B., Peralta, L. M., Rubel, L. H., Lim, V. Y., Jiang, S., & Herbel-Eisenmann, B. (2022). Notice, wonder, feel, act, and reimagine as a path toward social justice in data science education. Educational technology & society, 25(4), 80-92. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/48695983
Liab, J. (2024). Slow Reveal Graphs. https://slowrevealgraphs.com/
Minnesota Department of Education. (2022). 2022 Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Mathematics. https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/Math/
Rosales, L. (2024). Where Pets are Acquired, in Slow Reveal Graphs. https://slowrevealgraphs.com/2023/12/13/where-pets-are-acquired/
Schreiter, S., Friedrich, A., Fuhr, H., Malone, S., Brünken, R., Kuhn, J. & Vogel, M. (2023). Teaching for statistical and data literacy in K‑12 STEM education: a systematic review on teacher variables, teacher education, and impacts on classroom practice. ZDM – Mathematics Education, 56, 31-45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-01531-1.
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Division of Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
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