by Peter Kay
WJON, The Pete & Doug Show
January 31, 2013

The K-12 Educational System in the Land of 10,000 Lakes is one of the leaders in the country when it comes to how much input, influence and interest parents of students have exercised.

The website EdReform.com released it’s yearly Parent Power Index (PPI), a result of combining 5 criteria experts feel create a healthy, inspiring and successful learning and environment. The Index takes into account availability of charter schools, school choice, teacher quality, transparency and online learning. The North Star State came in as the 7th most powerful state, when it comes to parents providing direction for their schools. The Minnesota PPI is at 75%, placing it higher than any other upper Midwest state. Wisconsin is the closest, with a PPI of 74%, ranking it at 9th, just below Pennsylvania.

But it’s more than parents driving the success of the Minnesota educational system, the index is also influenced by school official’s and state government policies.

Today on The Pete & Doug Show, we asked Kara Kerwin, from The Center for Education Reform, which runs the website, what strengths our state has when it comes to education and the PPI.

Listen to the entire interview with Kara Kerwin from The Pete & Doug Show below.