What's new
After a hiatus since 2002, Minnesota Milestones has been updated for 2010 pursuant to M.S. 4A.11 passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2009. The new legislation calls for Milestones to be updated annually.
About Minnesota Milestones
Minnesota Milestones is a tool to help Minnesotans create the future they want for themselves and for their children and grandchildren. It lays out long-term goals for the state in key areas — the economy, the natural environment, community life, children and families, education, health and quality of government. It also takes periodic readings of the state’s progress toward each of those goals. Minnesota Milestones is coordinated by the Minnesota State Demographic Center.
How Minnesota Milestones Started
Minnesota Milestones was begun by Governor Arne H. Carlson in 1991 to involve
the public in setting goals for Minnesota's future.
In 1991 and 1992, thousands of people throughout Minnesota helped create the
original vision and goals. People attended community meetings, wrote letters,
completed surveys and commented on early drafts of the Minnesota Milestones
report. The public again made suggestions to adjust Minnesota Milestones goals
and indicators during a major update in 1997 and 1998.
The result: a vision for the future, 19 major goals, and indicators of progress toward those goals. Progress has been measured in 1993, 1996 and 1998, 2002 and now 2010. While some indicators have been retained from earlier versions of Milestones, others have been replaced with new ones.
Why measure results
- What gets measured tends to get done.
- If you don’t measure results, you can’t tell success from failure.
- If you can’t recognize success, you can’t reward it or repeat it.
- If you can’t recognize failure, you can’t learn from it.
Milestones is a product of the Minnesota State Demographic Center, a division of the Department of Administration