State Senator Brad Zaun (R-Urbandale) introduces a bill in the Iowa Senate that would essentially roll back Iowa’s standards to what they were in 2006.
Iowa’s Plan for Education Success–Assess, Assess, Assess
The Iowa Department of Education released it’s 2012 annual report that calls for more student assessments statewide which will mean less local control.
Despite Top-Down Standards Iowa Trails in Student Achievement
A new study commissioned by the Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance and EducationNext was recently released. They compared student achievement internationally and among the states. They studied the improvement trend in 41 states from 1992 to 2011 looking at four different U.S. tests specifically looking at performance in math, science and reading of […]
Damage in Iowa’s Education Reform Bill Mitigated
The final version of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad’s education bill looks much, much different than what he passed. Originally the bill was 156 pages and it was whittled down to 33 pages. Consider that a good thing. A quick rundown… The good, a number of provisions within the original bill were thankfully dumped: Expansion of […]
Action Needed on Iowa Education Reform Bill
Below is an action alert from one of our partners – Iowa Association of Christian Schools: Both legislative chambers have passed their own version of Senate File 2284, the education reform bill. The bill has been sent to a conference committee to work out a final bill which will be voted on with no amendments. […]
Iowa Governor Branstad’s Uninspiring Education Remarks
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad in his Condition of the State address on Tuesday said the following about their plan to reform education in Iowa: One, we need a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal leading every building. That starts with being more selective about who can become an educator. A “B” college […]
Branstad’s Blueprint
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad announced his administration’s new education blueprint. The blueprint was written by Jason Glass who is the Director of the Iowa Department of Educaiton, Linda Fandel who is Governor Branstad’s special assistant for education, and Byron Darnall who is Jason Glass’ policy assistant. Some of the main points of the blueprint are […]
Responding to Jason Glass
I would be remiss to not continue with a (online) debate I’m currently having with Jason Glass who is the Director of the Iowa Department of Education. I had to set it aside last week to focus on straw poll activities, but now I wanted to pick it back up. I critiqued a speech he […]
Localization Not Centralization
Jason Glass, the director of the Iowa Department of Education, gave a speech to School Administrators from across the state. What he said in his speech (of which he transcribed his remarks on his blog) I could mostly agree. We agree on the question – “can our schools be better than they are today?” I’m […]
Iowa Governor Branstad’s Unfortunate Praise of Common Core Standards
Those who have read my writing long enough know how I feel about the Iowa Core Curriculum. I think it stinks. It has huge problems. Its history curriculum, in particular, stinks to high heaven. It centralizes education and further removes educational decisions from parents. There is nothing good about it. Iowa Governor Terry Branstad today […]