East metro school briefs

Senior wins Financial Literacy Award Ben Stenberg, a senior at Forest Lake Area Schools, has won the National Financial Literacy Award. The award is part of a new program started this year by the U.S. Treasury Department called the National Financial Literacy Challenge.

Stenberg won for his performance on an online test administered in November to more than 75,000 students nationally. His score placed him among the top 1 percent of those students, which qualified him for the award. In recognition of his achievement, Stenberg will receive a medal sometime in mid-January.

Seventeen other Forest Lake students finished in the top 25 percent of all students tested, and they all were awarded certificates of recognition.

The National Financial Literacy Challenge included 35 questions on basic personal finance. Knowledge and understanding about personal financial responsibility aren't typically part of the ACT or SAT tests, and the topic isn't included on most statewide academic tests. But the Treasury Department is underscoring its importance with the new program designed to reward students who can demonstrate a superior understanding of the concepts behind personal finances.

District establishes Blue Ribbon Panel The West St. Paul, Mendota Heights, Eagan School District has established a "Blue Ribbon Panel" on the future of the district. Given current realities -- economic climate, enrollment trends, increasing demands for school accountability and student achievement -- the district is taking stock of its future, officials said.

The panel will be an advisory citizen task force that will explore a variety of research and data about grade configuration, building capacity and educational programming that best prepares students for a competitive global society. The charge of the panel is to study and provide recommendations that will help ensure that the district:

• ffers educationally sound programming and structures at all levels.

• as attractive educational offerings.

The panel will convene this month and continue its work throughout the spring with the hopes of presenting its findings and recommendations to the administration in June.