Embattled graduation rule returns to Capitol

ST. PAUL (AP) -- Lawmakers plan to refocus attention Thursday on the Profile of Learning, when a House education panel meets to discuss a consultant's report that identifies shortcomings in the graduation rule.

House Education Policy Chairman Harry Mares said the Achieve Inc. report suggests that the show-what-you-know learning system may need more tweaking.

"It might be a bit too broad and we try to do too much," said Mares, R-White Bear Lake.

Achieve gave good marks to the profile's ideals of teaching problem-solving and research skills, but says the system sacrifices the teaching of important facts in history, literature and other key subjects because it emphasizes how students learn, not what they learn.

The profile has been caught in a political minefield at the Capitol: Some want it abolished and others say problems will disappear as teachers become more comfortable with it.

Launched in 1998, the profile calls on students to prove through projects or performances that they understand what they are taught.

Instead of requiring course credits, Minnesota would require kids to show what they had learned by meeting standards that ranged from interpreting literature and analyzing algebraic patterns to "community interaction" and "interpersonal communication."