Two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis proposed over a decade ago that any economic development plan needed to place early childhood development at the top of its strategies because it provided a huge economic return on investment (ROI). To give rural educators and school board members an economist’s perspective on investing in early learning, Rob Grunewald will share his and Art Rolnick’s work at MREA’s 2015 Annual Conference on “Great Beginnings: When Learning Starts Early, Inspires and Applies” Nov. 15-17 in at Cragun’s in Brainerd.

Grunewald and Rolnick are well known for their research with the University of Minnesota on starting education early in life. They argued for a $1.5 billion dollar investment in Minnesota early childhood education toward ensuring that children from low-income families were ready to learn by the time they reached kindergarten, thus leading to higher educational attainment and lower rates of social problems.

Make plans now to attend MREA’s 2015 Annual Conference to hear from Grunewald, Dr. Gera Jacobs, and Drs. Michele Mazzocco and Kathleen Thomas.

Share Your Knowledge

MREA members attend the annual conference to learn from fellow teachers, administrators and board members on practices that are working for your students E-12. Early learning, technology, community support, governance, school climate, student achievement, and career and technical education are all topics of high interest to our members.

MREA welcomes proposals to share knowledge and best practices during our 2015 Annual Conference, “Great Beginnings: When Learning Starts Early, Inspires, Applies.” Learn more about the topics of interest.

The deadline to submit a proposal is 5 pm Wednesday, June 3. Submit a presentation proposal.