ACET, Inc. Blog

The Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University in St. Paul is hosting a conversation about and book showing of HMONG AMERICA: Reconstructing Community in Diaspora, written by Dr. Chia Youyee Vang, on Wednesday, April 27. Dr. Vang will reflect on the importance of Hmong Americans producing knowledge about Hmong history, culture and traditions. Her book will also be available for purchase for $25.00. A book signing will follow Dr. Vang’s talk.

Dr. Vang is currently an associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. ACET has consulted with Dr. Vang on various projects for over 10 years.

Event details:

Wednesday, April 27, 5 pm – 7 pm
Buenger Education Center
Concordia University, St. Paul
275 North Syndicate Street
St. Paul, MN 55104

Our governor, Mark Dayton, has declared March “Reading Month” in Minnesota. The official proclamation lists three specific reasons for the declaration:

“The citizens of Minnesota stand firmly committed to promoting reading as the catalyst for our students’ future academic success, their preparation for America’s jobs of the future and their ability to compete in the global economy”

“Minnesota have provided significant leadership in the area of community involvement in the education of our youth, grounded in the principle that educational investment is key to the community’s well being and long-term quality of life”

“NEA’s ‘Read Across America,’ a national celebration of Dr. Seuss’s 107^th birthday on March 2, 2011, and the acknowledgement of the month of March as ‘National Reading Month’, to promote reading and adult involvement in the education of our community’s students.”

How does one go about building reading skills to students? One way is to engage students not only in the classroom, but also at home with parents. If you are a parent or want to teach parents how to engage their children in learning, Dr. Peter Afflerbach of the University of Maryland’s Literacy Research Center has eight tips for parents to ensure reading success for students:

1. Find ways to create enthusiasm for reading.
2. Encourage children to read different types of texts (books, newspapers, internet content).
3. Ask children questions about what they read.
4. Help children find materials that match their interests and achievement levels.
5. Talk with children about the importance of reading.
6. Try not to communicate any anxiety related to your children’s reading.
7. Ask your child to recommend a book for you.
8. Engage your children in writing.

Here is a link to the full proclamation: http://mn.gov/governor/images/Reading-Month-and-Read-Across-America-Day.pdf

Joseph

Do you have questions about program evaluation? Is there something specific you’d like to see covered on our blog? We encourage you to send us your questions or suggestions. Feel free to leave a comment on any blog post, or alternately, you can contact Cassie at cassie@acetinc.com or at 952-922-1811.

One of our clients, Bolder Options, is a one-on-one youth mentoring program. Bolder Options recently participated in a pilot program called Quality Mentoring Assessment Path (QMAP), which was rolled out by the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota (MPM) in 2010. Bolder Options successfully completed a mentoring action plan and achieved a score of 100% – one of only three programs in the state to score so highly! As a result, Bolder Options was named Expert Partner by the association.

Congratulations to the whole team at Bolder Options!

ClearWay Minnesota℠ and the Minnesota Department of Health recently released results of the 2010 Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey (MATS). Overall, news about tobacco use appears positive: adult smoking rates have continued to decline from 22.1% in 1999 to 16.1% as reported in the latest survey; exposure to secondhand smoke has decreased from 56.6% to 45.6% since 2007; and 87.2% of homes have gone smoke-free – up from 83.2% in 2007.

The results of the survey also pointed to areas of concern, such as a drastic increase in the use of smokeless tobacco products in both cigarette smokers and non-cigarette smokers. In fact, smokeless tobacco use for cigarette smokers has more than doubled since 2007, rising from 4.4% to 9.6%.

To view the full report and a fact sheet, click here: http://www.mnadulttobaccosurvey.org/

Cassie