Our Offices and Affiliation

 

On June 1st, 2012, we became an affiliate of EdVisions Schools and co-located at Higher Ground Academy in St. Paul.

Our office address:

Center for School Change
c/o Higher Ground Academy
1381 Marshall Ave
St. Paul, MN 55104

 

Read a recent article on Higher Ground Academy here.

 

EdVisions Schools

 

Here’s our press release from June 2012:

St. Paul, Minn. – The Center for School Change (CSC) will be “returning to its roots” in K-12 education, becoming an affiliate of nationally known EdVisions Schools. The move will take place June 1. CSC has been at Macalester College since January 2010. CSC works with district and charter public schools, community members and policy-makers to help promote higher achievement and broader civic involvement.

EdVisions Schools is a group of innovative district and charter public schools across the United States, based in Henderson, Minn. It features graduation based on demonstration of skill and knowledge in multiple areas, personalized learning, extensive student community research/service and strong family involvement. These are all concepts that the CSC has promoted for decades.

CSC is in a strong financial position, with more than $1 million in assets to carry out currently funded projects.

Sondra Samuels, director of the Northside Achievement Zone in Minneapolis, believes, “The CSC has done important and meaningful work for children who need it most.“

George Latimer, CSC’s Advisory Committee chair and former St. Paul Mayor, notes, “CSC has been, and I think will remain, a major, positive force for improving public schools in Minnesota and around the country. Their work is widely respected because it’s based on careful research, has demonstrated excellent results, and reflects a desire to make a difference, not just to publish documents that sit on shelves (or in computer files). Having known Joe Nathan, CSC’s director, for several decades, I’m pleased to see the continued commitment to realistic, practical reforms.”

“For more than 20 years, the CSC has been at the core of education change and improvement in Minnesota and around this country,” said Tom Nelson, Superintendent of the West St. Paul Public Schools. “Joe Nathan and the CSC have helped create a vision and a climate for real school improvement.”

A Star Tribune editorial reads in part, “The Center for School Change is a unique organization. It is a valuable and timely instrument for constructive change in public education.”

“Macalester has had a productive association with the Center for School Change and its director, Joe Nathan,” said Macalester Provost and Dean of the Faculty Kathleen Murray. “Their new affiliation with EdVisions is a great fit for them. I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”

CSC has received more than $26 million from the U.S. and Minnesota Departments of Education and the Annenberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, Blandin, Cargill, Carlson, Carnegie, Frey, Helzberg, Kauffman, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Target, and Travelers Foundations.

Publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today as well as the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Duluth News Tribune, and MinnPost, have carried stories about CSC work. Nathan has written more than 1,500 newspaper columns and currently writes a weekly column used by the ECM and Sun groups of Minnesota newspapers. Recommendations from a recent CSC report have been endorsed by editorials in the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press and ECM newspapers in Minnesota.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,978 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement.