Policy Update: Minnesota: Turning Point

Vital Statistics
352	Public school districts
1,786	Public schools
846,000	K-12 enrollment
13.6%	Minority students
14%	Children in poverty
12.4%	Students with disabilities
$5.3 billion	Annual K-12 expenditures (all revenue sources)

The state commissioner of education this year, in fact, is due to present a report to the legislature containing the definition of a "successful school." That definition, to include test-score and demographic data, among other information, is expected to guide policymakers as they wrestle with whether and how to evaluate schools.

The new Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, mandated in 1997 and given to 3rd and 5th graders for the first time last year, are intended to gauge whether students are on track to meet the graduation standards. Starting in the 8th grade, students also must pass basic-skills tests in reading and mathematics to graduate.

In addition, Minnesota high school students entering 9th grade last fall must compile a record on the state's controversial Profile of Learning to get a diploma.

The Profile of Learning aims to assess whether students can apply their knowledge across 10 broad learning areas.

Students must choose 24 of a total of 48 "performance packages," geared to state standards. Teachers can either use packages prepared by the state or create their own. Classroom teachers evaluate students' work, which might include writing a newspaper article about two scientific discoveries of the past or designing, conducting, and reporting on a field study of a local ecosystem.

Although some educators had argued that they needed more time, all districts are offering performance packages in all subjects this school year rather than seeking waivers to phase them in.

So far, the Profile of Learning has enjoyed strong legislative support. Lawmakers last year allocated some $70 million to help districts implement the new standards, including training for teachers.

The legislature added a financial incentive of $14 per student for districts that elected to put all 10 areas of the profile in place for this school year.

In an effort to ensure that the state's students can meet the new graduation requirements, new standards for elementary schools took effect last fall.

High school students also will have to take tests in core subjects, but they won't have to pass them to graduate.

Instead, the tests will be used to gauge whether districts are offering students adequate opportunities to learn the material covered in the Profile of Learning, says Kate Foate Trewick, the assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning, the state's education agency.

Trewick says the performance assessments and subject-matter tests should complement one another.

"On the one hand, teachers are working closely with students and making judgments about their ability to learn, know, do, and apply," she says, "and on the other hand, the test gives us data that are comparable statewide to see where the strengths are and the needs are."

Rep. Becky Kelso, the Democrat who chairs the House K-12 finance division, says the profiles aren't a state curriculum, but spell out a much more detailed set of expectations for academic subjects than the previous course requirements.

The real political test of the system will come, she observes, when high school seniors are faced with the possibility of not graduating under the new requirements.

"Anybody who has been a local school board member knows that when the sheet cake is ordered and the diplomas have not been signed, there's going to be trouble," she says.

While the state is far from intervening directly with troubled schools or districts, the testing program has brought about needed changes, proponents say.

Both the Minneapolis and St. Paul districts, whose students have posted disappointing scores on the 8th grade tests, beefed up their summer school offerings last year. Statewide, 68 percent of the students passed the reading test and 71 percent passed the math exam.

Duane Benson, the executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership, a Minneapolis-based organization of the chief executive officers of some of the state's largest companies, says the educational climate is "much more conducive to change" than in past years.

"What the legislature found out and the governor found out is that you can actually talk about reforms that might not be totally embraced by the establishment and survive," Benson says.

As a case in point, he cites retiring Gov. Arne Carlson's package of education tax credits and deductions, signed into law in 1997 after a bitter political battle. The Republican governor, who is leaving office this month after serving two terms, aggressively promoted the plan, called "Take Credit for Learning."

It allows parents state income-tax breaks and refundable credits for the purchase of computer software and hardware, textbooks, instructional materials, and tutoring services. They also can pay for educational summer schools and camps.

State officials will learn this year how many families take advantage of the opportunity.

All tax filers in Minnesota can deduct up to $1,625 in educational expenses for students in grades K-6 and $2,500 for students in grades 7-12. The deductions can be used for private school tuition.

Families with incomes of $33,500 and below can receive refundable tax credits of $1,000 per child, with a limit of $2,000 per family. The credits can't be used for private tuition, however.

One funding change the legislature made in 1997 already appears to be a disappointment, however.

Efforts to redirect the flow of state compensatory money--which amounts to $2,000 per child in some central-city schools--have fallen short, says Susan Heegaard, the director of intergovernmental affairs for the state education agency.

The law was designed so that the money would go not into district coffers, but to individual school buildings, where parents and community members were to have a greater say over how it was spent. But the shift has proved problematic for Minneapolis and St. Paul, which receive nearly half the aid, because they had long supplemented their general budgets with the money.

"We thought we'd see a lot more progress," Heegaard says. "We're very concerned about it, because those kids are not doing as well."

In other education action in 1998, the legislature approved a measure abolishing the state school board, effective this year. Its powers had been eroding for years, proponents of the change say, and the board ran afoul of public sentiment in trying to craft policies governing how districts and schools should deal with student diversity.

The state also is drawing up policies to overhaul its teacher-licensure requirements, through its board of teaching, and make them more focused on candidates' actual performance of teaching tasks rather than their coursework.