On Wednesday, May 6, the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools (MACS) held its annual Awards Luncheon at Minnesota Humanities Center in St. Paul, in which six Minnesota chartered public schools were awarded with 2026 MN Charter School Innovation Awards and one Minnesota chartered public school leader was awarded as the 2026 MN Charter School Leadership Award. Cologne Academy was one of six schools awarded with Innovation Awards.
Cologne Academy received the 2026 MN Charter School Innovation Award in the category of “encouraging the use of different and innovative teaching methods” for a model that embeds occupational therapists directly into K-2 classrooms through co-teaching and small-group instruction. Addressing gaps in fine motor, visual motor and self-regulation skills through the integration of occupational therapy services within the existing classroom structure and school day, the model builds foundational skills children need for literacy, resulting in measurable student gains, decreased behavior referrals and increased teacher confidence while reducing the need for more intensive interventions later on in their students’ academic careers.
The MN Charter School Innovation Awards, established in 2016 in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of Minnesota’s first-in-the-nation chartered public school law, recognizes and documents innovative practices within Minnesota’s chartered public school sector. The award categories derive from Minnesota’s chartered public school law and the five primary purposes of mission-driven chartered public schools: increasing learning opportunities for all pupils; encouraging the use of different and innovative teaching methods; creating different and innovative forms of measuring outcomes; establishing new forms of accountability; and creating new professional opportunities for teachers. Since the award’s inception, MACS has awarded 40 chartered public schools for various innovations, each of which aims to “unleash education from convention.”
