Minnesota's current statewide social studies standards are, as education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke bluntly puts it, an "embarrassment." Encouraging, then, that this week Minnesota released a new set of draft standards in science and social studies that are, on their face, terrific.[For earlier coverage of the battle over pitching the Profiles, see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=24#104.] We especially like the social studies standards, which are rich in content, sequentially sound, and historically balanced. Check out these and the new science standards at http://education.state.mn.us/stellent/groups/public/documents/... Now it falls to Yecke and Governor Tim Pawlenty to get the new standards through what promises to be a bruising round of public comment. How important is their success? Later this month, when Fordham releases Effective State Standards in U.S. History: A 2003 Report Card, you will get fresh evidence as to why a social studies upgrade is desperately needed in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
"Academic standards strike nerves," by John Welsh, St. Paul Pioneer Press, September 9, 2003
"New school standards stress basics," by Norman Draper, Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 9, 2003