New Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty announced last week that he planned to kill the state's wimpy "Profile of Learning" - a set of academic standards that focus more on hands-on discovery learning projects than academic content - and that he had appointed Minnesota native Cheri Yecke as his education commissioner. Yecke, a strong backer of state academic standards in Virginia, where she served as assistant secretary of education, most recently worked in the U.S. Department of Education on projects related to teacher quality and public school choice. She shares Pawlenty's goal of jettisoning the Profile of Learning and replacing it with academic standards that focus more on content. In an excellent column, Kathy Kersten shows just how bad the Profile of Learning really is.
"Pawlenty promises new course for schools," by Norman Draper, Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 17, 2003
"No amount of tweaking can repair the Profile of Learning," by Katherine Kersten, Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 15, 2003