■  Fall 2017 Student Teaching for Special Education Information Meeting: If you are planning on student teaching in Fall 2017 you must attend one of the following sessions:

• Monday, February 27 in Lindell Library room 202 from 5:30 – 7pm or
• Wednesday, March 1 in Riverside Room in Christensen Center from 5:30 – 7pm

Questions? Contact Gretchen Guenter at <guenter@augsburg.edu>.

■  Free NES Essential Skills Prep: The EAST Program along with the Education Department will be providing FREE overview sessions to prepare for the essential skills exam in math, reading, and writing. There is no fee for the sessions, but registration is required. The sessions are open to all teacher candidates. Teacher candidates of color and Native American teacher candidates are strongly encouraged to attend. 

Math Test Sessions, dates, times and location (attend all): 

Saturday, February 11	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104
Saturday, February 18	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104
Saturday, February 25	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104
Saturday, March 4	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104
Saturday, March 11	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104
Saturday, March 25	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104

 Register Here: https://goo.gl/PzC8fd

Reading and Writing Test Sessions, dates, times and location (attend all): 

Intensive Reading, Saturday, April 1	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104
Intensive Writing, Saturday, April 8	9 a.m. to noon	Old Main Building 104

Register Here: https://goo.gl/xb4MVO

■  American Swedish Institute Workshop: The ASI in Minneapolis, is hosting a workshop for teachers titled “Scandinavia during World War II and the Holocaust.”  It will be held on Friday, March 3, 2017 from 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM. This workshop is geared towards Social Studies and English/Comm Arts pre-service teachers and is sponsored by the US Holocaust Museum, Tolerance MN, and the American Swedish Institute. Registration costs $35 and participants will receive lunch and a number of DVDs, CDs, books and teaching strategies from the sponsoring organizations. Registration can be found at <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/scandinavia-during-world-war-ii-and-the-holocaust-tickets-31257767825>.

■  Skyhawks Sport Minnesota Jobs: Skyhawks Sport Minnesota, a local youth sport camp company is looking for applicants for summer coaching and directing positions at their summer caps camps community park departments and school districts in the Twin Cities metro area; Rochester, and Hudson, WI.  Apply online at: <http://www.skyhawks.com/minnesota>.Group interviews/job tryouts will be held on Saturday, March 18th from 9am to 11am in Minnetonka.  Call Lisa M. Damon at 651-263-5159 (cell) for more information.

■  Camp Fire Minnesota Jobs: Camp Fire Minnesota is seeking applicants for a variety of summer job opportunities. More information may be found at: <http://campfiremn.org/Tanadoona/Staff/>.  For more information, contact Brent Cummins at (612) 246-3891.

■ Behavioral Dimensions Jobs: Behavioral Dimensions is looking to hire for applicants for their programs throughout the Twin Cities metro, St. Cloud, Alexandria, Duluth, & the Iron Range. Part time and full time positions are available. If you are interested, contact Jay O’Neill at 612-889-0278 or by email at< joneill@behavioraldimensions.com>.

■ 2017 Urban Scholars Internships: Urban Scholars is a twelve-week paid internship in leadership and professional development providing students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds with distinctive professional experience. This program is open to currently enrolled undergrad and grad students. The 2017 Urban Scholars application is available now until Saturday, February 18, 2017. For more information: <http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/civilrights/urbanscholars/>.

■ Dodge Nature Center Internships: Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul, MN is offering a twelve-month learning opportunity for recent college graduates through their Naturalist Fellowship Program.  They are recruiting now for the next year’s cohort which will begin on September 5, 2017. More information and all application materials are available at : <http://www.dodgenaturecenter.org/ About/Career-Opportunities>. If you have any questions, contact Teresa Root at 651-455-4531.

■ Several Updates Regarding Minnesota BOT Testing:

• The Minnesota Board of Teaching (BOT) no longer requires the ACT/SAT/GRE/Praxis I scores be taken within the past 10 years.  There is currently no time limit.  Keep in mind that the ACT scores must be the ACT Plus Writing which started around February 2005.

SAT recently changed the way they score their tests.  The new scores (and old) can be found on the link to the MN Board of Teaching website: <http://mn.gov/board-of-teaching/beaneducator/licensureexams/>.

•Minnesota Version of NES Now Available: As of August 30th, candidates are now able to sign up for the MN NES exam directly through the MTLE website by using this link:

<http://www.mtle.nesinc.com/PageView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/GENRB_AnnounceBasicSkills.html>

• The passing score for the MN NES is 520 for all three tests (Reading, Writing and Math):

MN NES EAS Subtest Passing Score (on a 400–600 point scale)

Reading=520

Writing=520

Mathematics=520

The test is exactly the same as the National NES exam, it’s just that MN candidates are given 15 extra minutes of time.  Because of the extra time, the score rating had to be adjusted.  The same number of correct raw scores needed to pass is exactly the same on both tests.  The National NES exam is based on a 100-300 point scale and the MN NES is based on a 400-600 point scale. The MN NES scores will be available to view in Results Analyzer starting with the October 7th reporting date.

NOTE:  If candidates sign up and take the National NES exam after August 30th, they will accept the scores if they met the minimum passing score:

NES EAS Subtest Passing Score (on a 100–300 point scale)

Reading=205

Writing=214

Mathematics=213

Also, if a candidate has taken and passed a portion of the MTLE basic skills, they need to register and complete ONLY the portion they have not passed of that basic skills test through NES.  They do not need to complete the whole series of Reading, Writing and Math over unless they did not pass all portions.

A listing of all licensure exam minimum passing scores can be found on the Board of Teaching website at:

<http://mn.gov/board-of-teaching/beaneducator/licensureexams/>

• Free study materials will be available for all MTLE test. There are also expanded test preparation products available for cost. Additional information can be found on their website using this link:

<http://www.mtle.nesinc.com/PageView.aspx?f=GEN_PreparationMaterials.html>

Pearson has also expanded their customer service hours to M-F 7AM-7PM and Sat from 8AM-4PM.

For questions and more information, please contact: Debby Odell, Educator Licensing, Supervisor <Debby.Odell@state.mn.us> or (651) 582-8522.

Submitting news to Augsburg:

• To the Education Department News: Send your news to Joseph Erickson at C.B. 312 or erickson-AT-augsburg.edu.
• To the Augsburg Now published by the Augsburg College Office of Public Relations and Communication: Send your news to C.B. 145 or now@augsburg.edu.
• To the daily A-Mail electronic newsletter: Go to AugNet Home Page and login. Then click on “Submit News and Announcements” link.

Connecting with Alumni and Friends:

Augsburg College provides several ways to stay connected with Alumni and friends. Here are some links to get you started:

• Alumni Information Update: Submit news and contact information changes to the college’s Alumni Office.
• TC2 New Teachers’ Blog

Other Sources of News for K-12 Teachers:

Here are links to some of the very best online news sources for K-12 teachers:

• Education Week
• Teacher Magazine
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (also, subscribe to ASCD SmartBrief, a daily email news resource delivered right to your inbox).