In a way it is true that public education has gone unchanged. That applies, though, to the district sector, which still for many ‘is public education’. It is true at the same time that Minnesota now has also a significantly different element in its public education. This is just not clearly seen. That is because this innovative sector developed a piece at a time over the last 50 or 60 years, and because its development was not deliberately planned and organized. It happened inadvertently. 

Below are two memos I hope will explain. One contains a rough chronology of the dates at which its elements were added; partly by actions in districts but mainly by actions of the Legislature. The other describes the elements of the innovative sector. What the series beginning today will stress is not the innovations themselves but the significance of the ‘How’ by which it was done. 

The appearance of the institutional innovation that made it possible for people with ideas to set up and run schools different from those in the mainline district sector is by far the most important thing that has 'changed' in Minnesota public education. The series beginning today aims to explain both the new model of schooling that was then developed within that ‘second sector’, and the 'How’ by which this was done.