Report on Profile released

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

ROSEVILLE -- A report to be released today indicates that Minnesota's graduation standards are too short on detail and need tighter control at the state level.

The report is a summary of a study conducted by an independent research firm to help the state work on improving graduation standards. It cites both strengths and weaknesses in the system to guarantee that graduates of Minnesota public schools have the knowledge and skills to succeed.

The review gives high marks to the Profile's ideals of teaching problem-solving and research skills. It also says the Profile sacrifices the teaching of important facts in history, literature, and other key subjects, because it emphasizes how students learn, not what they learn.

Within the next few weeks, an academic panel of state education leaders will review the report and make recommendations to Children, Families and Learning Commissioner Christine Jax.

"Seeking this review shows Minnesota's commitment to rigorous, meaningful, public education for our students," Jax said.

The report cites several strengths of the graduation standards, which are part of the Profile of Learning. Included as strengths are the strong commitment to standards-based education; its emphasis on measuring performance on real world problems; and the multiple measures of student achievement.

The report recommends that portions of the standards need to be more specific and more clear. There needs to be more comprehensive accountability systems, and there needs to be more public support for education reform, the report states.

"We have full implementation of the standards at all levels," District 88 Curriculum Coordinator Bill Sprung said. "We have been working on this for about four years now. It was rocky the first year, but it is now worked fully into the curriculum."

Although the report is scheduled to be released today, Sprung has seen a summary, and does not see any of the complaints locally that have been referred to in the report.

"It seems to be working OK in the classroom," he said. "I agree that the standards need detail, because they emphasize high-level thinking skills. It is up to teachers to provide the detail. As schools make this part of the regular program, I think these things will become less of an issue."

Development of deeper levels of thinking causes more work for students and teachers, but the results are positive, Sprung said.

"This doesn't mean everything is rosy for us," he said. "There are areas we need to work on locally as well. That is one of the pluses, though, is that we do it the best we can. We have spent a lot of time doing it well, and we haven't dragged our feet at all."

During the past legislative session, the Legislature gave school districts the option of choosing how many of the standards they would implement each year, allowing more flexibility.

In District 88, the curriculum teams agreed on full implementation, because they were already at that level. To do anything less would be a step backwards for the district, Sprung said.

"It took a lot of work to get us where we are at," he said. "The standards, by their design, emphasize big ideas and leave it up to the schools to fill in the details. We have filled in the details at the local level."

The report concludes that the state of Minnesota has avoided saying precisely what students need to learn in the Profile to avoid being seen as dictating a state-wide curriculum.

It recommends tighter authority over the Standards by the CFL, but it praises attempts to measure what students have learned through performances and projects, rather than exams.

The Profile of Learning was launched in 1998.

The study was conducted by two non-profit organizations, Achieve Inc., and The Council for Basic Education.