Division considers ongoing funding for Dreamline mentoring program

A reoccurring theme in education is that both teachers and students could use more academic and social-emotional support. One way this can be achieved is through mentoring programs.

Sponsored by Rep. John Huot (DFL-Rosemount), HF1344, as amended, would appropriate $2 million in Fiscal Year 2021 to the Sanneh Foundation to continue its Dreamline mentoring programming efforts. It would also provide ongoing funding beginning in Fiscal Year 2022.

The Sanneh Foundation offers a variety of programs that serve the developmental needs of low-performing and chronically absent students in the state’s metro areas. One way it does this is through the Dreamline program, which embeds coaches or mentors into public schools to provide all-day, in-school and after-school academic and a behavioral interventions, focusing on students of color and students from low-income families.

Rep. John Huot

“Our program develops teachers, supports teachers and supports students. We put three culturally relevant staff in schools that give social-emotional support,” said Tony Sanneh, the organization’s founder and chief executive officer.

The bill was held over by the House Education Finance Division Tuesday for possible omnibus bill inclusion. The companion, SF546, awaits action by the Senate E-12 Finance and Policy Committee. Sen. Paul Anderson (R-Plymouth) is the sponsor.

“We have to find programs that are in areas of opportunity that don’t stop at 3 o’clock, or stop in the summer time,” Huot said. “The Sanneh Foundation has found that. They have really good outcomes.”

According to the foundation’s website, students who participated in Dreamline saw measured improvement in grades, including a 400% improvement in language arts and a 500% improvement in math. Additionally, students received 54% more As, 55% fewer Ds and 18% fewer Fs.

The program has continually received bipartisan support, as well as funding from the 2016 and 2017 Legislatures to the tune of $2.5 million. The appropriations were used to hire and train mentors and help fund mentors pursuing teacher licenses. 

Developing the coaches and creating pathways to teacher licensure is a critical component of the program and its funding. Academic coursework and teacher preparation is done through Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, while the Sanneh Foundation provides intensive social-emotional training and works with school districts to place the mentors. The pathway includes two intensive summers of teacher licensure prep work and the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in ESL or special education.

“It’s a profession that we need to uplift, uphold, support,” Sanneh said. “We want the teachers of the future to be the most well prepared, and have the least barriers to get there and to be celebrated.”