Date: September 18, 2003
Subject: Factual correction

I received this from a Minnesota Department of Education staffperson, who clarified a factual inaccuracy in this blog. I post it here with his permission, in the interest of accuracy. Let the record acknowledge that Christine Jax did not create the Profile of Learning, rather it was largely implemented during her tenure as commissioner.

Your excellent and helpful Web log on the new Minnesota Academic Standards contains the statement, "...that is how the previous Commissioner [Christine Jax] created the Profile of Learning." ["Deconstructing Davnie," Sept. 16, 2003] In the interests of historical accuracy, the legislation authorizing the Graduation Standards (later called the Profile) was enacted in 1992, when Arne Carlson was Governor and Gene Mammenga Commissioner of Education. When the legislation requiring Minnesota school districts to implement the Profile by 2000-2001 was enacted in 1998, Carlson was still Governor and Robert Wedl Commissioner of Children, Families & Learning (formerly called Education). It thus appears that former Commissioner Jax inherited, rather than created, the Profile of Learning.

Doug Gray
Office of Communications
Minnesota Department of Education