Thursday, September 8, 2011

Iowa officals unveil ideas for education reform

The Des Moines Register, September 6, 2011

Iowa education leaders unveiled a framework Tuesday for overhauling Iowa’s education system that calls for high school exit exams, doing away with an almost century-old teacher pay system and expanding charter schools.


Also included in the framework is the development of assessments that measure whether students have mastered their subject matter and the creation of an innovation fund that would provide districts with the money to try new things in the classroom. Additionally, Iowa would begin requiring ninth-graders take an international academic exam every three years and 11th-graders take the ACT.


Jason Glass, director of the Iowa Department of Education, and Linda Fandel, Gov. Terry Branstad’s special assistant for education, offered the first glimpse into Branstad’s blueprint for reform, which will be unveiled Oct. 3. Officials, until now, have only said their efforts would focus on three key areas: setting clear and rigorous standards with fair measures for results, improving principal and teacher effectiveness and increasing innovation in the classroom.

Specifically, the current plans include:

  • Doing away with the current teacher pay system that bases salaries on experience and college credits earned. Instead, the state would adopt a four-tiered system that would include apprentice, career, mentor and master teachers. Starting salaries for apprentice teachers would be around $40,000. Teachers would receive large bumps in pay each time they advanced to a different tier, with the maximum earnings around $80,000, Glass said.

  • Eliminating districts’ “last in and first out” layoff procedures, based soley on laying off teachers with the least amount of seniority. Instead, district officials when considering lay offs would recognize teacher credentials and the needs of individual schools.

  • Continuing to refine the Iowa Core, which outlines expectations for what students should know at each grade level. Officials will develop a test that better reflects whether students are meeting those expectations.
  • Expanding the presence of charter schools, although officials are still exploring whether to allow private companies to run them. Operators would have to demonstrate a need for the school and its feasibility, Glass said. If they failed to meet state expectations, they would be closed.

  • Requiring all 11th graders take the ACT college entrance exam. Also, students would have to take a high school exit exam, although it has yet to be determined whether they would have to pass it in order to graduate, Glass said. Schools would start giving the exam to 10th-grade students in hopes of catching those who are struggling early and providing them with extra help before they graduate, he said.

Glass and Fandel did not detail planned improvements to teacher preparation programs and teacher evaluations. They also didn’t discuss how the state would pay for the proposed changes.


State lawmakers will take up the final recommendations during the next Legislative session. They have said there is a momentum for change, but both parties will have to make concessions for the proposal to move forward. It’s unclear how much the reforms will cost and where the money will come.


At stake is the state’s ability to produce the educated and highly skilled workers needed to attract and keep businesses that bolster its economy. Without a qualified workforce, Iowa faces losing businesses to other states and nations, leaders have said.


Branstad made restoring the Iowa’s No.1 standing in education his top priority earlier this year when he took office. He has since traveled the state, meeting with residents and educators to garner input. Education experts from around the country gathered in Des Moines in July for an education summit meant to make the case and spark the conversation for a statewide overhaul.


Iowa has slipped in recent years from topping the nation in education. In 2009, 13 states scored significantly higher than Iowa in fourth-grade reading, while 15 outperformed it in eighth-grade math. Iowa leads the nation in its achievement gap between students with disabilities and their peers and enrolls the fourth-lowest percentage of students in the nation in Algebra I or other higher-level math courses.


Leaders in the state’s reform efforts have said they support measures including teacher evaluations based on student performance and peer review, performance-based pay, high school exit exams, raising teachers’ base pay from $28,000 to $31,500, and requiring all 11th-graders take the ACT college entrance exam. Additionally, they want to strengthen teacher preparation programs. For example, some want colleges to be more selective in who is allowed into their programs and require more clinical time.


The Urban Education Network, which represents the state’s largest eight districts, has also laid out its top three priorities for reform: changing the way schools are financed to allow for more money to flow to the state’s neediest students, developing tests that measure whether students grasp grade-level work, and teacher evaluations that reflect student performance.


Officials from the districts, which include Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Sioux City, Dubuque, Iowa City, Waterloo and Council Bluffs, have worked with state leaders in crafting the blueprint. Those conversations have also included representatives from the Iowa State Education Association, Iowa Association of School Boards and School Administrators of Iowa.


State education leaders will meet with those groups, as well as lawmakers and business officials, Wednesday to further discuss reform plans, Glass said. They also plan to continue traveling the state to gain ideas and feedback before releasing the final blueprint, he said.

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