Closing Minnesota's education gap: Meals, money and cell phone policies

NORTHFIELD, Minn. (FOX 9) - Most Minnesota kids went back to school on Tuesday, as summer break is over and study time is here again.

Minnesota’s leaders are hopeful that studying could lead to student improvement, as test scores show more than half the kids are not proficient in reading and math.

First day feeling

An energy buzzed around Greenvale Park Elementary School as kids wandered the halls on the first day of a new school year.

Most of the kids are excited to be back — because their family was driving them nuts, or the free food.

One Northfield school had some special guests serving up pizza and veggies.

"What if I told you that was the lieutenant governor of Minnesota?" a reporter told third-grader Meredith Gordon.

"I never knew if that really was," she said as her eyes and mouth opened wide with shock.

Recently released test scores show Minnesota students leveling off at below 50% proficiency in math and reading.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan says free breakfast and lunch may help with attendance, which is one of the potential building blocks to improvement on testing.

"When kids are in school, they are learning," Flanagan said. "They do better. Having meals at school, both breakfast and lunch, I think is super helpful for getting our kids into school."

Legislative efforts, cell phone restrictions

The legislature directed about $70 million to an evidence-based reading approach through READ Act bills over the last two years.

Researchers say the impact of the READ Act probably won't be seen for five to seven years, but the lieutenant governor says she's hoping the impact of kids with full bellies will come much sooner.

Administrators across the state are hoping new restrictions on cell phones will also improve student achievement.

"It's going to be a very interesting case study about how different schools approach this and learning what is the best," said Northfield Schools Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann.

Districts could institute their own rules this year, so we’re seeing everything from hiding away phones all day to Northfield’s less rigid approach for high school students, letting some of them decide for themselves some of the time.

"They actually have a stoplight method saying, you know, red is we're not using them now," Dr. Hillmann said. "Yellow is at the teacher's discretion. Green is you're free to use your device as needed right now."

Day one is now in the books, leaving kids about 174 more to hit the books and make that improvement happen.