Session 2003 Budget and Taxes Business Environment Higher Education K-12 Education Health and Welfare Public Safety Stadium Transportation Audio Legislators review new proposed education standards (story audio) Photos Cheri Pierson Yecke Rep. Gene Pelowski DFL-Winona More from MPR New grad standards released while education budget is debated (04/15/2003) Senate committee vote sets up further debate on education standards (04/04/2003) Winona hosts first public meeting on new K-12 standards (03/14/2003) Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

	E-mail this page			Print this page

Legislators review new proposed education standards
by Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio
April 15, 2003

Cheri Pierson Yecke reduced the number of requirements for kindergarten students. Some demanding 8th grade math standards were moved into higher grades. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)

State education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke has presented legislators with revised math and English standards for Minnesota public schools. She needed to rewrite much of the plan after hearing complaints from teachers and parents. Yecke says pleased with the changes, but lawmakers are still finding flaws.

St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota's education chief presented lawmakers with a first draft of the academic standards over a month ago. She then held a series of 14 hearings throughout the state to gather public input. That often critical feedback helped her revise the grade-by-grade requirements for math and English. Commissioner Yecke told members of the House Education Policy Committee that the revised standards are better and simpler.

"This was because of streamlining, combining standards, moving things to other grade levels. But we went from 479 standards in the initial math document, to 332 in the document you have today. In Language Arts, we went from 635 standards to 447 standards. So a 30-percent reduction in each of those," Yecke said.

Yecke says she responded to several concerns. She reduced the number of requirements for kindergarten students. Some demanding 8th grade math standards were moved into higher grades. And media literacy standards were added in many grades.

"We also were requested to enhance the public speaking standards at the high school level, and we did so. We were requested to organize the high school English standards by concept, much like the math standards are organized, and we did so," she said.

The new documents contain more specific content expectations than the show-what-you-know approach of the profile. Still, legislators are asking for more. Some want dictionaries used in first grade. Others suggest that teaching appreciation for poetry should outweigh the mechanics of poems.

	Rep. Gene Pelowski DFL-Winona

Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, says the standards are missing a formal connection to the state's teacher training institutions.

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to work with the colleges of education, in the private and the public institutions, to ensure that their curriculums will reflect these standards? And that teachers that are going to get degrees will actually use the standards once they go into our classrooms? " Pelowski said.

The Republican House has already approved legislation repealing the Profile and adopting Yecke's new back-to-basics standards. The DFL Senate is considering another set of standards to replace the profile.

Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, based his proposal on a plan Minnesota teachers developed last year to improve the profile. Critics claim it's a rehash of the profile. Kelly says his legislation gets rid of all the most controversial aspects of the current system.

"We do have standards, and we do have tests. That's what the House bill is proposing to have. And the standards in my bill are new standards developed by expert teachers in Minnesota, based on the best understanding of what's appropriate for kids," Kelley said.

Ellen Delaney, a former Minnesota Teacher of the Year from North St. Paul, also had a hand in both replacement plans. Delaney served on Commissioner Yecke's math standards committee, and contributed to the state report on which Sen. Kelley based his standards. She says the goals of the two bills are actually very similar.

"I think that there's a way to compromise between these two bodies. I hope that they will find a way to make this work this year, so that we don't have this eternal roller coaster ride of what the Legislature is going to do to schools," according to Delaney. The Kelley academic standards bill has passed two Senate committees but has yet to face a floor vote.

News Headlines

Related Subjects