Schools receive the 2010 Minnesota’s Future Award from the Minnesota Business Partnership

John Stanoch, Minnesota president of Qwest and chair of the Partnership’s Education Policy Committee, presented the Minnesota’s Future Award checks at school assemblies.

“We call this the Minnesota’s Future Award, because quality education is critical to your future and the future of our state,” Stanoch said. “We need to recognize, encourage and learn from schools like Sibley East-Gaylord Elementary and Concordia Creative Learning Academy, which teach us ‘poverty’ and ‘minority’ don’t have to be synonymous with ‘low grades’ and ‘high failure rates.’”

At Concordia, students of color make up 70 percent of the student body, with nearly 90 percent of all students coming from low-income families. But Mary Donaldson, the director of this public charter school, and her amazing team don’t let those challenges get in the way. Over the past three years, the number of Concordia students reading and doing math at or above grade level has nearly doubled. Further, low-income and minority students are scoring at or above the statewide averages – for all students.

The Business Partnership is composed of more than 100 chief executives of Minnesota’s largest employers. For the past five years, the Partnership has presented the Minnesota’s Future Award to two public elementary schools, one in the Twin Cities and one in greater Minnesota, that 1) serve a high percentage of low-income and/or minority students and 2) are closing the achievement gap based on MCA-II reading and math scores. (To view charts with the school's test scores, scroll to PDF below; see charts on page 3.)

Sibley East-Gaylord Elementary and Concordia Learning Academy were honored before nearly 800 business, community and political leaders at the Partnership’s Annual Dinner on October 14. Previous recipients of the Minnesota’s Future Awards include:

• 2009: King Elementary, Deer River, and Dayton’s Bluff Elementary, St. Paul
• 2008: J.W. Smith Elementary, Bemidji, and Ames Elementary, St. Paul.
• 2007: Kelliher Elementary, Kelliher, and Farnsworth Aerospace Elementary, St. Paul.
• 2006: Nettleton Magnet School, Duluth, and Sheridan Elementary School, St. Paul.

The Minnesota’s Future Award includes a $10,000 cash grant and a Young Explorer computer made possible by Deloitte Tax, IBM, Lifetouch, Merrill Lynch, Qwest Communications and Red Wing Shoe Compan

About the Minnesota Business Partnership:  The Minnesota Business Partnership is composed of more than 100 chief executives of Minnesota’s largest employers. Together, MBP members employ more than 1.8 million people worldwide, including 400,000 in Minnesota. Individually, MBP members contribute millions of dollars each year to Minnesota schools and education-related nonprofit organizations. In addition, members support a number of programs, such as the Minnesota’s Future Awards, through the Minnesota Business Partnership Education Foundation, a nonprofit 501 (c) 3.