Welcome to Tuesday, folks. As the winter doldrums begin to set in (already), we take a look at your news:

* Media outlets are all buzzing the U of M finding that students get better grades if they get a flu vaccination. Why, you ask? Well, then we college students don’t get sick and miss class as often, hence, better grades. But, seriously, everyone is reporting on this, so I’ll just provide a few links and be on my way: Science Daily, Star Tribune and numerous television outlets. Watch your local news tonight — I bet this shows up.

*We could be seeing less Minnesota kids coming to college in coming years if a new high school math exam has anything to say about it. Star Tribune, and others, report about an 11th-grade math test requirement, which in theory would be good to prepare those 16-year-olds for college … too bad less than half of them passed it last year when it didn’t even count. Anyway, the Strib’s piece says that the Legislature needs to make a decision soon on whether it should still be required or if they should just make the test easier. If they don’t, the number of 2010 high school grads will be low, low, low. 

*More MN education: a U of M study by the Law School’s Institute on Race and Poverty says the Twin Cities’ charter schools aren’t as super-great as we once thought. Although charter schools have a long tradition in the Metro area, the report shows that charter elementary schools performed nearly 10 percent lower on reading and math tests than their public school counterparts, and those discrepancies are greater when racial and economic factors are taken into account because some charter schools cater specifically to those niches. You can view the news release, which goes into further detail, here.

Enjoy your Tuesday, and your Daily Digest. Courtney Sinner Campus editor