Education Reform News Story of the Year:
The Repeal of the Profile of Learning

EdWatch founder Renee Doyle shreds the Profile of Learning, May 22, 2003. (Photo: MN EdReform News)

The Minnesota Senate passed the repeal 64 to 3, with only Sen. Satveer Chaudhary (DFL-Fridley), Sen. Mee Moua (DFL-St. Paul), and longtime Profile advocate Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), voting no. The bill was passed by the House 125 to 9, that body's fifth annual repeal of the discredited grad standards. Governor Tim Pawlenty kept a centerpiece campaign promise by signing the repeal into law on May 21. Activists, led by EdWatch (formerly Maple River Education Coalition), shredded the Profile in effigy in the rotunda of the State Capitol.

Best Name Change

In one fell swoop, the Pawlenty administration drastically cut the Scrabble value and refocused the mission of one state agency, from the Department of Children, Families, and Learning to the Department of Education.

Most Disappointing Web Site Makeover

Under a new content management system contracted by the previous administration from Eden Prairie-based Stellent, the new Department of Education web site became at once more streamlined and automated, and confusing and difficult to navigate.

Biggest Accomplishment by a State Bureaucracy

In one year, the Department of Education received a new commissioner; oversaw the repeal of the Profile of Learning; led the public process to create Academic Standards for mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies to replace the Profile; endured layoffs; overhauled their web site; launched a star-rating report card system for the state's public schools; and supported the new State Quarter Dollar Commission.

Best Grace Under Fire

Wooed from a higher-paying offer from the Sunshine State's Governor Jeb Bush, Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke jumped from posts in the U.S. Department of Education and White House into the fire and ice of Minnesota politics, drawing criticism for her strong advocacy of knowledge-based academic standards, high-velocity change (see above), and recently-published book (The War Against Excellence: The Rising Tide of Mediocrity in America's Middle Schools). At least she has not been criticized for her work to help select artwork for Minnesota's State Quarter—yet. In 2004, she faces confirmation hearings from a chilly, DFL-led Minnesota Senate.