Denise Johnson

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Denise Johnson

Editorial Writer

Phone: 612-673-7320

Denise Johnson has been an editorial writer at the Star Tribune since 1996. Before joining the editorial board, she was a reporter, editor, columnist and editorial writer at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and wrote editorials for the Miami Herald. She currently writes about urban affairs and a variety of other topics, but specializes in covering K-12 education. Johnson has also worked for the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington D.C. and done diversity training locally and nationally. Earlier in her career, she hosted and produced news and issues public affairs shows on Twin Cities public television. The recipient of several journalism awards, she was honored in 2007 with the Frank Premack Graven award for career contributions to public journalism. Johnson lives with her husband in St. Paul, her hometown.

Short take: Naomi Tutu

The daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Laureate, is still searching for the promised land.

Updated: January 20, 2012, - 08:40 PM

Michelle Rhee's effort to change education

Her campaign to educate children isn’t about teacher bashing.

Updated: November 18, 2011, - 01:24 PM

School lockdown: A balance well struck

It's an unfortunate byproduct of our high-tech age: the internet provides new ways to harass and intimidate. The entire Minneapolis school system and several schools in St. Paul learned that the hard way on Wednesday when more than 60 buildings were locked down after shooting threats appeared on social networking websites.

Updated: March 11, 2010, - 03:54 PM

Denise Johnson: King's legacy

The Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery put the legacy of his dear friend, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in perspective Monday with great humor and insight. He covered a range of topics during the 20th annual United Negro College Fund/General Mills Martin Luther King breakfast. The 88-year-old minister, founder and former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and King mentor, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and gave the benediction during the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation's first African-American president. The following are edited excerpts from his speech and news conference in Minneapolis.

Updated: January 18, 2010, - 07:02 PM

Teaching teachers

The research is conclusive: A quality, effective teacher is the most important school-based way to help students learn. That's why the Bush Foundation wisely announced a $40 million grant over the next decade to transform teacher-preparation programs in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Updated: January 16, 2010, - 09:26 PM

Denise Johnson: When schools catch up

There are lessons to be learned from the success stories in Minnesota education.

Updated: September 06, 2009, - 10:33 AM

Denise Johnson: The aggressive educator

Our country has a crisis [in education] -- a real crisis. We have adopted a set of policies that are simply preparing us to be a second-rate nation. We are competing globally against folks who are investing -- people in India and China who understand that the race is not to figure out how much bauxite you can extract from the ground but how many engineers, scientists, doctors, teachers can you produce. And here in this country, we're still acting like it's 1950. We are so far behind the curve. ...

Updated: June 08, 2009, - 07:45 PM

Q & A with Norm Coleman: 'Getting it right is of critical importance'

Norm Coleman met with Star Tribune editorial writers and reporters last week and discussed his continuing legal challenge to return...

Updated: April 18, 2009, - 11:31 PM

Education Secretary Arne Duncan: 'We don't just want status quo'

Minnesota will get $1.1 billion -- about $300 million in Title I, more for IDEA [the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] -- about a 36 percent increase. That is a staggering amount of investment. I feel very good that in really tough times we're able to support what you are doing here in Minnesota.

Updated: March 25, 2009, - 09:14 AM