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North Dakota State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler has announced a new grant program to fund learning opportunities outside of school for students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When you hear the word literacy, you may think of reading and writing. But it is so much more. Literacy involves a wide variety of skills, including listening, speaking, comprehension and problem solving. It is the foundation for lifelong success at home, school and in the community.

BISMARCK, N.D., Sept. 27, 2021 – State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler and Gov. Doug Burgum announced Monday that Bret Dockter, a sixth-grade teacher at B.M. Hanson Elementary School in Harvey, has been named North Dakota’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.

Most of us grew up knowing the ‘3 Rs’ were the foundations of learning in our schools. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are still important, but why not make those foundations stronger with computer science? NDDPI continues to advocate for the value of including computer science and cybersecurity in K-12 curriculum across the state.

What do a college president, an astronaut, a preschool teacher, and a U.S. Surgeon General have in common? Each of these people dropped out of school as teenagers. Years later, they enrolled in adult education to improve their lives. The North Dakota GED pass rate is one of the highest in the nation. For the 2020-21 school year, 453 GEDs were earned, which equates to an 86 percent pass rate.

The North Dakota Department of Human Services (DHS) has introduced a pilot program designed to serve children and families in the year before they enter kindergarten. The Best in Class Grant program is built on over 20 years of research from similar programs across the country.

In 2015, the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction decided to develop more authentic materials for Native American studies. Because Native American students represent the highest minority population in our state, ten percent of K-12 enrollment, the resources needed to be unique to North Dakota. NDDPI brought together tribal elders from across North Dakota in the spring of 2015. They shared their wealth of knowledge and helped to develop the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings (NDNAEU) that would form the basis for lesson and resource development. 

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction has opened the selection cycle for the United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP).Through the program, two delegates will be selected to receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship and will attend the 60th annual Washington Week to be held March 5-12, 2022.

State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said educators will review the progress of North Dakota’s Native American Essential Understandings school instructional project at the state’s annual Indian Education Summit this week.

State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler last week congratulated four North Dakota educators who have been chosen as finalists for the state’s Teacher of the Year award for 2022.