After a five-year battle to replace Minnesota's disgraceful Profile of Learning standards with a more rigorous set of academic standards and accountability - a fight led by Governor Tim Pawlenty and education secretary Cheri Pearson Yecke-the state legislature finally reached a bipartisan agreement to repeal the standards minutes before the close of this year's session. [For the Gadfly's treatment of this ongoing struggle, go to http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=8#370 and http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=21#129.] This vote, according to Yecke, marks a shift "away from the project-oriented Profile to a more back-to-basics system of learning." Now that the initial battle has been won, of course, the challenge facing policy makers is to write new, more specific and rigorous standards in science, social studies, and art. (Math and language arts standards have already been completed).
"Profile of learning repealed," by Anthony Lonetree, The Star Tribune, May 20, 2003
"New standards win legislative OK on a bipartisan note," by John Welsh, St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 20, 2003