Two Ph.D. students from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Tracey Pyscher and Maggie Struck, recently co-led three days of seminars at the fourth annual Hormel Foundation Gifted and Talented Education Symposium on the topics of critical literacy and the Common Core State Standards (CSSS) for a statewide K-12 audience of teachers, administrators, G & T coordinators and specialists, and Curriculum and Instruction directors.

Their session, "Rigor and Relevance Beyond the ELA Standards: Standards Based Instruction for Highly Able Learners," explored how standards-based education is grounded in the principles of equity and rigorous learning. Their session focused on developing instructional tools and strategies grounded in critical literacy to support rigorous student outcomes and diverse student needs while developing the knowledge and skills expected for highly-able 21st century learners by connecting learning to the Minnesota English Language Arts Academic Standards and beyond. A generous grant from the Hormel Foundation and collaboration between the Minnesota Department of Education and Austin Public Schools made possible this intensive educational experience.