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Senate committee vote sets up further debate on education standards
by Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio
April 4, 2003

Republican Sen. Gen Olson says proposed standards from DFLers are unacceptable, because they still look too much like the controversial Profile. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)

A Minnesota Senate committee has voted to repeal the Profile of Learning and implement a new set a statewide academic standards for public schools. But the replacement standards differ sharply from the back-to-basics approach approved in the House and favored by Gov. Pawlenty.

St. Paul, Minn. — The Education Policy Committee vote marks the first time a DFL Senate panel has approved a repeal of the show-what-you-know standards. The Republican House has already scrapped the profile for the fifth straight year, and set up a process for developing new standards in core subjects.

DFL Sen. Steve Kelley took a much different approach to crafting new standards, but he says there's still room for compromise. "I think it's possible to get something that works for Minnesota students and that would bring together the administration's view and the views of a lot of the people that have been critical of the Profile, along with the teachers and school districts that have incorporated the Profile into what they do already," he said.

	Sen. Steve Kelley

The current Profile of Learning includes standards in 10 broad learning areas. Kelley's bill reduces the number to six: English, math, science, social studies, arts and literature. The bill also eliminates the troublesome scoring system developed for the Profile. Instead, it sets up a new assessment system that's tied to the new annual tests required under federal education law.

Republican Sen. Gen Olson says Kelley's standards are unacceptable, because they still look too much like the controversial Profile. She says new standards should focus on what students learn, not how they learn.

"Not on behaviors and attitudes and techniques of how you teach. And that was the emphasis And I believe very strongly that much of what is raised and served as a lightning rod for the Profile has ventured into areas that are best left to local decision making and even family decisions," she said.

The committee defeated Olson's version of the repeal bill passed in the House. Several parents and educators spoke out against Olson's bill.

They also criticized state education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke and her fast-track plan for writing new math and reading standards. Her citizens' panel had two weeks to draft the standards before she began a series of public hearings.

Tom Post, a professor of math education at the University of Minnesota, criticized the process and its results. "The standards committees were given an impossible task. Well-meaning members, and 21 of 36 of those were parents, with too little knowledge about learning and research and mathematical content were given neither the additional professional needed resources nor the time to produce an important and very complex document," he said.

Commissioner Yecke announced last week she was delaying her presentation of the final draft of the new standards. She wanted more time to consider the input gathered at the hearings. Her director of governmental relations, Jim Bartholomew, appeared before the Senate Education Policy Committee. He said the Pawlenty administration is concerned with the Kelley bill.

"And our main reason for concern is that we believe the standards should be based on grade by grade specific academic content. Content that allows teachers and schools to to determine what instructional strategies are most appropriate," Bartholomew said.

The bill was referred to the education finance committee before heading for a vote on the Senate floor.

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