One of the great things about working in education is that you get the chance to meet so many tremendous leaders who are real practitioners of the servant-leadership concept. One of these tremendous leaders is the Executive Director for Battelle for Kids, Dr. Jim Mahoney.
I had the chance to talk with Dr. Mahoney about my “entry plan” for Iowa being to spend a lot of time up front simply listening. He really liked this approach and he suggested to me a structure for these conversations that includes 3 questions for Iowa education:
1. What should we stop doing?
2. What should we keep doing?
3. What should we start doing?
I hit the ground in Iowa this Friday (1/14) and plan to spend the first two weeks meeting as many people as I can, asking these three questions, and listening. I’m going to take the results from this non-scientific “survey” as a qualitative way of getting a feel for the state’s strengths and concerns.
I won’t be able to meet everybody (though I’m sure going to try!), but if you’d like to have your voice included, please comment to this posting with your answer. If you’d rather not have your list be “public,” please send to my state email at jason.glass@iowa.gov. I won’t be able to respond until after Friday (we have been asked not to send from these email accounts until then) but it is a safe place for me to collect some information.
Thanks for all you do and I so look forward to listening and learning!
Jason Glass
Columbus, OH
Jason Glass
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January 10, 2011 at 5:23 am
Steven Hopper
1. I believe we desperately need to stop our current evaluation system based, in many cases, on just a couple classroom observations each year. The new system should probably include some way of measuring achievement, but I have yet to see how this looks for all teachers (SPED, Arts, etc). More importantly, I think it needs to include more peer evaluation, and possibly even feedback from students and parents. The key is to triangulate our data so that we know the exact strengths of every teacher in our schools…and the exact areas that they need to work on to improve. If they’re not willing to improve, they need to go.
2. We need to keep investing in quality preschool programs. Gone are the days of preschools that serve as “glorified daycare”. Much time and energy has been invested to ensure that all children, regardless of income, are better prepared for their K-12 experience.
3. We need to start taking a more serious look at how technology is transforming our educational system. Right now, there are a number of schools that have taken on this challenge, particularly in the 1:1 network. We need to see this approach adopted at the state level to encourage large urban systems to really examine the role that technology is playing in their districts.
January 10, 2011 at 5:25 am
Jason Glass
Thanks so much for responding Steven. I will share the results from this, and my other conversations, when I’m finished!
January 13, 2011 at 3:03 am
lynn mccartney
1. Stop treating every child as if he/she is a product. Every child is unique, every child is talented and gifted, every child deserves the best we have to offer, every child deserves to be heard, every child needs and deserves love and respect. Our one size fits all mentality is not working and has never worked for all kids.
2. Keep the Iowa Core. It’s not just a common set of standards. It is designed to provide EVERY child the opportunity to learn. It also includes pedagogy on how to be an effective facilitator of learning. The Characteristics of Effective Instruction are research-based, overarching guidelines designed to help change instruction in the classroom. The Universal Constructs are the learning outcomes for all students and they are the lens through which we should evaluate how effectively educators have implemented the Characteristics of Effective Instruction. The Iowa core is not perfect but together we can make it better.
3. We should start using a standards-based grading system to assess student learning. It will take effort and hard work on the part of educators but it’s the right thing to do for our kids. We should reexamine the research on motivation and start praising effort instead of intelligence. We should encourage teachers to intentionally design opportunities for all students to practice creative thinking and a process of ideation. We should start educating the whole child and remember that they are more than their label or diagnosis.
January 20, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Jen Sigrist
I appreciate your first point, Steven. Assessment is huge. I also hope our state can help districts by leading this charge instead of leaving it to each of us to create on own. We have limited resources, mainly human capital and time, to accomplish this work in alignment with the urgency of the need for it.
January 20, 2011 at 9:35 pm
Steven Hopper
Jen, I couldn’t agree more. Jason has made it clear that he wants to bring innovation back to education in Iowa, and I think that changing our evaluation model is one of the best ways to do this. The DE should completely revamp their evaluation guidelines and provide schools with the time and energy to implement the guidelines with fidelity. It doesn’t make sense to talk about an Iowa Core/Common Core curriculum and then leave evaluation so broad that it varies significantly from one district to the next.
January 10, 2011 at 6:02 am
jerridkruse
These are some ideas off the top of my head, so I apologize if they’re not fully developed or completely clear.
1) This first one won’t be popular, but I honestly believe we should stop chasing the technological pot of gold, or at least change how we are doing it. First, learning is an internal process. Second, while access to people and things is important, learning to think critically is more important. Yes, you can use technology AND learn to think critically, but this naively misses the message of media. Even tech advocates recognize that web browsing includes short bursts of attention-kids already get plenty of that. Schools should be helping students to develop the skills and strategies they aren’t developing on their own. While kids do need to be motivated, there is a very important difference between motivation and entertainment.
Additionally, technology does a great job of distracting us. Technology is most dangerous when we think it does not distract us. The fresh coat of paint that technology provides does nothing to the underlying foundation of education. Learning to use contemporary technology is important, but if we make it our focus, we have pigeon-holed ourselves as career prep rather than holistically helping students become healthy, happy, well-rounded, and educated individuals.
If we must follow the technological bunny down the rabbit hole, we should not be buying every kid a laptop. My talks with peers and friends (I won’t name in case they prefer to be anonymous) has shed light on the value of having access to multiple tools. Perhaps each classroom has a set of 5 desktops, 10 netbooks, 10 ipod touches, 10 iPads, etc. Then, the appropriate tool can be chosen for different tasks. There is no reason that kids need to bring these items home. We, as adults, already have enough difficulty separating our work and family lives, how dare we put that on our children.
Technology is not required for fundamental change. In fact, technology likely prevents fundamental change because we think we’ve changed, but haven’t.
2) We’re not so much doing this anymore, but we were. We should remain autonomous, both as a state and as districts. Iowa ought to be a leader in the nations educational landscape, but it seems we’ve started to bend to national pressures (I’m not an expert here, so could be way off). I also agree with Steven about preschools.
3) This is a difficult one. Almost anything I can think of, someone, somewhere is already doing it. I think we need to start rethinking the purpose of school. In our current climate of standards, school is becoming all about acquiring knowledge, but this is only part of an education. If we can articulate a coherent purpose for school, we might have a better direction to guide our decisions at all levels.
Looking forward to discussing my and other responses once you’re in the state!
January 10, 2011 at 6:17 am
jerridkruse
I need a quick addendum: I am not anti-tech in schools, I used technology often in my classes and now teach a university educational technology course. I’m just against making technology the focus of schools. With the many 1:1 initiatives going on and the significant press they are getting, I worry the focus has been placed too much on the technology and not enough on fundamental structures of education (teaching and learning). I just wanted to add this quick addition so I am not dismissed as a Luddite.
January 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Susie
I agree, Jerid. Technology is a tool and our focus must be on effective instruction. Teachers may need help with learning to use the tools of technology well, but in the end it’s what happens between teachers and kids around content (as Elmore would say) that makes a difference in student learning.
January 10, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Allison Berryhill
I want to spend some time thinking on this #SnowDay before answering JG’s three questions, but right now I must thank Jerrid Kruse for articulating MY THOUGHTS in his answer to question #1.
I have come to these concerns not as a technophobe, but as probably the most pro-technology teacher in my building, if not my district. I’ve developed and used a modified 1-to-1 setup in my classroom for four years. In this setting I have seen students use technology as a tool to think deeply and powerfully, and I have also see students hide behind technology as a mechanism to avoid deep & powerful thinking. The gadget does not create the thinking.
Thanks!
Allison
January 10, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Scott McLeod
1. We need to stop pretending that there’s much value (either economic or citizenship) in a fact-regurgitation model of schooling. Sure, kids and adults need to know stuff. But it’s more important that kids can DO stuff with what they know than that they can simply spit back the kind of facts that can be found with Google in half a second.
2. We need to keep focusing on A) moving more of students’ day-to-day work up the cognitive ladder to focus on higher-order, not lower-order, thinking skills; and B) integrating modern digital tools into these higher-order teaching-learning processes in ways that are relevant, meaningful, and powerful.
3. We need to start doing all of these: http://bit.ly/bCHIbz & http://bit.ly/aVZT2H & http://bit.ly/b9pddV
January 10, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Cynthia
Totally agree with Scott McLeod! We need to start doing, we need policies that allow us to do the work that needs to be done, and we need innovative thinkers with a vision of what the world can/will be. We have too many who are stuck in the world that was..
January 16, 2011 at 12:06 am
Shannon Vesely
Scott, I believe that there is much value in your argument to abandon a “fact-regurgitation” model of school. Having worked with the Iowa Core’s Characteristics of Effective Instruction for several years, I can testify to the work that my colleagues and I have done to ensure that Iowa teachers understand and implement all five characteristics in the Core: teaching for understanding (not simple regurgitation), teaching for learning differences, student-centered classrooms (in which students are active–not passive–learners), rigor and relevance, and assessment for learning (formative assessment to guide more effective instruction and student learning). This has been some of the most challenging, yet rewarding, work I’ve done as an educator.
Having taught for 36 years as a secondary and post-secondary English and Education instructor (and more importantly, having grown up under the guidance of a father/Eng. professor who is the best educator I know), I have spent the best hours of my life devoted to everyone else’s children and their education. My goal was to help them leave high school and college as better thinkers, problem solvers, and citizens at large. As such, conceptual teaching, writing to learn, examining a variety of points of view, open dialogue, direct instruction in how to read, write, think, and problem-solve were at the heart of every course I taught. I assumed, naively, that most other educators taught similarly. I was mistaken.
As an instructional consultant, the Iowa Core (Essential Concepts and Skills, Characteristics of Effective Instruction, and Universal Constructs Essential for 21st Century Living) has been vital to reforming low-level, weak instruction. Helping teachers to “teach for understanding” rather than for memorization and rote recall, to “assess for learning” rather than to test indiscriminately, to understand that “rigor and relevance” doesn’t mean simply assigning more work without the quality, direct instruction that is crucial, to create “student-centered classrooms” in which teachers gradually release the responsibility for learning to students, and to teach for “learner differences” by considering a variety of strategies IS the right work.
The Essential Concepts and Skills identify “what” we are to teach in specific disciplines. Without the Characteristics of Effective Instruction, however, it won’t matter much what curricular standards and/or assessments we adopt. The day-to-day instruction will not change, and this is where we desperately need change. Students deserve to receive quality daily instruction in how to think, read, write, problem-solve, etc. The Characteristics of Effective Instruction address “how” we teach with research-based, “best practice” strategies. If we abandon the Iowa Core, I would hate to leave these Characteristics and the years of work we’ve put into them behind. Iowa students would be the ultimate losers.
I hope that Iowans will take the time to study what the Iowa Core contains and to consider the efforts to change instruction before they dismiss it. As a teacher, for years, I heard my colleagues remark that no one should take any educational initiative too seriously, for “this, too, shall pass.” With the help of the Iowa Core and districts who have committed to the second-order change it requires, I have seen genuine changes in the schools I work with. Administrators are telling teachers that this is the right work and it “will not pass.” Abandoning the Iowa Core will make it that much more difficult–if not impossible–to convince districts that they should embrace any educational initiative, law or not. They have seen too many come and go, only to have to start over with a new set of rules that result largely in compliance rather than genuine change.
I think we have an ethical obligation to stay the course and work for the quality change that has already begun. Clearly, we have much work to do, but I can honestly say that the changes I’m beginning to see in entire districts are changes I’ve not seen in my lifetime.
January 10, 2011 at 12:49 pm
EdJones
Did you say why or where you were heading to Iowa?
January 10, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Jason Glass
Hi Ed – I’m the nominee for the state director of education.
January 10, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Dominic Giegerich
1) We should stop going year to year in looking at education funding, structure, etc. Our legislature gets the monumental task of squeezing in consideration of our educational system and what needs to be changed. They really only have time to look at things superficially and make fiscal decisions with little or no consideration to all factors (as illustrated by the Phase II cut of two years ago that greatly effected medium to smaller schools). The Iowa Department of Ed gets their budget slashed and is at the mercy of knee-jerk reactions for Governors and the Legislature while trying to monitor and hold schools accountable to an out-dated, pieced-together code.
2. We should keep re-designing schools and finding more engaging ways to teach students AND develop teachers. Technology for technology sake IS NOT the answer, but the 21st Century Skills as outlined by both national standards and the Iowa Core are essential to re-design. It’s about the skills that are necessary to enter the work force today and earn a better than average wage NOT what we used to do and how WE define school.
3. We need to start looking at education in the state of Iowa together. Not a group here, a school there, the legislature and government using school as a political tool in Des Moines. We need an education summit yearly that brings everyone to the table to QUICKLY develop a plan that considers everyone.
Being a small school Principal, I observe yearly how the excellent education we provide students is often not considered in policy making.
January 10, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Deron Durflinger
1) We need to stop making decisions that are best for the adults involved in education and focus on what is best for the students. If any initiative/change/transformation is deemed best for the students learning, we need to figure out a way to do it and not allow the multitudes of road blocks currently in place for the “protection” of adults continue to keep us for making real changes in public education. Examples include: Dillon’s Rule, Union Contracts, Seat Time/8 hour day for teachers, Lack of desire to look at restructuring schools
2) We need to keep challenging students to learn at higher levels in more collaborative and creative environments, while working with teachers to develop the necessary skills to teach in this ever changing world.
3) We need to start finding more effective and efficient ways to measure student learning. Standardized testing and traditional grades are not the answer.
I could add more, but I will start with this:) Looking forward to working with you Jason as you help lead our state in a positive direction.
January 11, 2011 at 12:52 am
Cathy
I absolutely agree with with Deron in all three responses to the three questions. I will be reading the rest of the comments from others and then add any other thoughts that may not be mentioned.
January 10, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Dave Versteeg
1a. Stop using ITBS/ITED’s as a measure of individual student proficiency. This isn’t an appropriate use of the assessment & isn’t aligned with IA curriculum.
1b. Stop unfunded mandates. Green cleaning, CPR, health screenings, etc.
1c. Stop the competition model for improving education/schools. School improvement isn’t a norm based process but should be a criterion based one. It seems to me that the only reason competition is used, i.e. Race to the Top, is that there isn’t enough money to do it right.
2. Keep doing the work that has been started in IA. Don’t throw out pre-school, IA Core, etc. and start over. Build on these things, morph them if necessary but keep the momentum moving forward. Many people have worked very hard, money has been invested, positive results are beginning to show.
3. Start by developing a comprehensive plan for IA education. What is our vision? What are our goals? What are the action plans? What is the time line? What is the metric? Make it transparent, collaborative and thorough.
January 10, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Jeff Dicks
1) We should stop focusing on “why” we can’t do things. I hear a lot about the DE being restrictive when in fact very few waivers are even presented by districts wanting to try something they see as innovative. I heard Kevin Fangman address this issue at our AEA and told us “the top reason for waiver is early start date and innovative calendars”. This seems to be more about the adults than the kids.
2) We should keep building momentum with our collaborative efforts. Although I understand Jerod’s comments regarding the focus on technology, and more specifically 1:1′s, it is the largest voluntary movement in Iowa right now, and with continued focus on changing teaching and learning, could have the greatest impact in changing education. It is a lever, not the focus.
3) More focus on making school meaningful for students. I know the Rigor/Relevant talk has been really touted, but I question whether it is always possible. As Deron stated, assessment must be addressed as we change the way we teach.
January 10, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Lanny Kliefoth
1. I believe we need to stop doing things just because “it has always been done that way”; like separate classes in separate rooms, traditional letter grades, get rid of grade levels, change how a traditional school day looks, very few if any textbooks. These are just a few and kind of specific.
2. We need to keep searching for and use current tools to teach with. We need to keep networking with others. Ask the students what they would like to see happen with their education. Keep taking risks and do what you feel is right but stop because it goes against tradition.
3. We need to begin putting more emphasis on the “7 Survival Skills, to do more co-teaching and have cross-curricular classes, more detailed reports for parents about student learning, a learning educational plan for every student, a system more like scouts where students move on as an individual because of demonstrating learning not because your grade level does at the end of each year, and problem/challenged based – student/staff centered learning just to mention a few. Students and Staff work and learn together as partners!
January 10, 2011 at 3:28 pm
D. Frazier
First of all, thank you for asking.
1. What should we stop doing?
We need to stop using the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills as our high stakes assessment. We need to keep it, but we need something better for the purpose of evaluating students.
2. What should we keep doing?
The Iowa Core should be kept, but modified and augmented. It needs specificity.
3. What should we start doing?
We need to offer more educational choice.
We need to loosen restrictions on charter schools in the state.
We need to find more efficiencies in school administration.
We need to embrace 21st Century learning.
These are my suggestion in brief. I elaborate on my suggestions on my blog: http://teched4reform.blogspot.com/
January 10, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Brandon Eighmy
Jason,
Congratulations on your appointment and best of luck. Iowa is a great and proud state.
1. While progress is a negotiation – we need to stop making decisions that are best for adults and not best for kids, as Deron stated earlier. This includes undermining the education of 4 year olds. We need to think differently about the structure of our schooling timeframe, which will ruffle a ton of adult feathers.
2. We need to keep having high expectations for our students and schools and keep holding students accountable for their learning. It can’t be argued that the single greatest indicator of student achievement is the teacher in the classroom (Dr. Bill Saunders said something like that right?). This means that we need to take a hard look at our expectations, make them reasonable, and then not stop until our expectations are met.
We also need to continue our voluntary preschool programs as they are. Our program has changed the way we teach students at the elementary level.
3. We should study value-added instruction. We need to make room to compensate our teachers appropriately. Quality salaries attract quality people, and this may also keep our young, intelligent and well prepared teachers from leaving Iowa for more money elsewhere.
January 10, 2011 at 4:07 pm
G Davis
1) Iowa needs to reverse the growing inequities in Iowa education, starting with the increasing digital divide between students that have access to the Internet from home and students that don’t. Education technology goals should not just be centered on the amount of technology in the school… they should consider the student’s access to technology at home. The current education funding formula is biased towards districts with high property tax valuations. This needs to stop.
2) Need to continue with efforts to develop the State’s education data warehouse system.
3) Need to move forward with incentive based compensation models that reward good teaching. The collaborative approach you were involved with in Colorado sounds like a good model to start with.
January 10, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Gregg Cruickshank
1. Eliminate agrarian calendar and move towards a year round calendar with opportunities for remediation and enhancement during interim periods. Common sense dictates that this approach would help improve student opportunity and achievement for all students. This is a tough one to tackle – just look at the backlash in Council Bluffs. Eliminate promotion by grade and instead promote and accelerate students based on demonstrated competencies.
2. Continue implementation of the Iowa Core. Continue implementation of the Authentic Intellectual Work Project. Support universal access to 4 year old public pre-school.
3. Agree with Larry that the 7 Survival Skills are a good framework for looking at what we are doing in terms of instruction, curriculum, assessment, and opportunities for kids. Also, promote technology as a tool to enhance learning and connect teachers and learners in Iowa with teacher/learners and learner/teachers throughout the country and the world. Require additional days of professional development for the Teacher Salary Supplement money that teachers receive from the state. Have a serious discussion about the delivery system in the state of Iowa. Rural schools have been under attack by the editorial board of the Register and urban legislators. The discussion of consolidation/reorganization in rural areas should be coupled with the discussion of decentralization of urban schools.
January 10, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Bridgette Wagoner
1. What should we stop doing?
All the things we currently do either because of tradition or convenience of the system. A few examples:
Grouping students by age. Just because their birthdays fall between September of one year and September of the next year does not mean a particular group of students comprises an effective learning group.
Defining a school year as 180 days in a building. We need to expand beyond the four walls of our buildings and embrace high quality learning anytime and anywhere. Let’s focus on mastery of concepts and skills, not seat time.
Focusing on content. Essentially everything I learned in school I could now learn through iTunesU or YouTube. Content is readily accessible. Let’s get beyond memorizing all the capitals and all the helping verbs. Let’s teach our students how to be thinkers, creators, and problem-solvers.
Thinking between the lines. I’m talking classroom lines, grade level lines, building lines, district lines, and more. We no longer have (and should no longer demand) a funding model to support this kind of isolationist thinking. Education is not a zero-sum game. We sink or swim together.
I could go on, but I’ll end with my pet peeve–Can we get rid of bells? Do we really want to train our students to begin and end work at the sound of a bell. How much more factory-model can we get?
2. What should we keep doing?
Speaking the same language. We need to carry forward our common definitions and common understandings we’ve developed through the Iowa Core. We need to grow our glossary of common terms.
Being a state of outliers and rebels. Iowa has always had a reputation of being rogue in education. Let’s not be influenced by the agendas of the states around us. Let’s get clear about what ‘s right for OUR system and OUR kids and do it regardless of what those around us are doing.
3. What should we start doing?
Embracing change. The only thing that should be commonplace is change and growth. Let go of those lessons, units, courses, and schemas that need to go. Be willing to throw anything and everything on the table.
Embracing failure as the fastest and surest way to improvement. We need to step down from our moral soapboxes and try purposeful new things even if it means we might fail. Our kids will be fine in spite of us–they have been for decades.
January 10, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Ryan Cunningham
1) We need to stop measuring schools and student growth using ITBS/ITED data and properly identify a system of multiple measures to provide formative feedback for school improvement. I believe the multiple measures should include input and output data, with a much grater emphasis placed on data measuring the learning capacity created by schools to empower students to reach the higher-levels of thinking.
2) We need to keep focusing on integrating new learning tools to help students in their learning process. We need to integrate these new tools without losing sight of what is good for kids. This includes an integration that is age appropriate, brain-friendly and helps students leverage information to enhance rigorous and relevant learning.
3) We need to start restructuring schools to revitalize teacher professional development. The teaching to professional learning ratio is way out of balance to help all teachers maintain the ability to learn, implement and reflect on their teaching. We also need to distinguish between managers and leaders in schools. While great managers and leaders are both absolutely necessary, they require a completely different skill set. Separating the roles of leaders and managers will allow us to redefine the role of administrators and will help our educational system to advance more effectively.
January 10, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Ryan Cunningham
By the way, greater in Iowa is not spelled “grater” as written in my last post comment. Not sure what TTED’s are either–But ITED is what I meant. Just getting used to my new iPad:-). By the way, thanks for asking for our input and welcome to Iowa!
January 10, 2011 at 4:47 pm
Jason Glass
Thanks Ryan!
January 10, 2011 at 5:19 pm
tomwhitby
Those three questions together will be a great starting point. My only hesitation is who will be answering those questions. Every educator will have an opinion, but what are they basing it on? I always consider Education as a fairly conservative institution. When we think of needed innovation for education, many educators may not even be aware of the technology available to enable learning. Many might choose the 3 R’s method of education, or if it was good enough for me, it will be good enough for them mentality. Thinking out of the box solutions does not stem from in the box thinking.
January 10, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Jason Glass
Hi Tom – thanks much for replying. Honored you took the time!
My intention is to ask these questions from everyone I can. Kids, teachers, parents, administrators, board members, business leaders, politicians, advocates, associations, community leaders … on down the line.
In my opinion, we should honor good ideas and thinking regardless of where it comes from. Front line teachers who are doing the work and “in the field” are an incredible source of ideas and innovation. We need a mix of ideas from both those “on the dance floor” and those “on the balcony” to give our best chance for positive breakthroughs. Neither should exist without the other.
Thanks again and I’ve really enjoyed your blogging, tweets, and contribution to the national discussion. Keep up the great work!
January 10, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Jared Lange
1. What should we stop doing?
-We should stop pretending that education is a one-size fits all thing. We should stop pretending that all classes must be taken in a certain order at a certain age. Students are ready when they are ready. Stop pretending that no student is going to choose to work in a trade and stop forcing those students to prepare for a four year college if they’re not going.
2. What should we keep doing?
-Keep fighting for our educational independence. Don’t model other states. Let other states model us.
3. What should we start doing?
-Grant multiple types of high school diplomas. Each diploma signifying the extent of your education. Each diploma has requirements which differ in terms of what they prepare you for.
January 11, 2011 at 2:16 am
Becky Goerend
I totally agree with #1 here, Jared. It’s a tough idea though, because where does the decision that a student is not going to college happen? 1st grade? 6th grade? 10th grade? I look around my classroom a lot and wonder…am I really preparing my students for the real world? College isn’t the real world for many of our students.
#3 is an interesting concept! I will ponder that for a while.
January 11, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Elizabeth Huggins
Many of my low level readers (who are highly active, highly social and, more often than not, highly committed to the work they do) would cheer you for this. They feel that their days are being, dare I say, wasted due to a curriculum targeted at college rather than workforce.
Perhaps this is not a decision that is made at a certain age. With curriculum and placements relevant to our students abilities and needs this is a conversation that can be had at multiple points throughout a child’s education. I also think flexibility is the key to a “vocational tracking” system. Some students are late bloomers. When they are ready, lets put them in classes that will lay the foundation.
January 10, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Christine
Welcome to Iowa!
One important area of education that we need to maintain and improve: gifted education. Iowa is one of only 4 states in the US that mandates and funds gifted education. Gifted students learn differently from their peers and their learning is frequently not measured by ITBS/ITEDs because they already knew the material and the tests do not measure out of grade level. Iowa needs to continue to ensure teachers are trained in gifted education and that students at all levels need to be learning every day. Schools should be encouraged to let a child soar and learn as quickly and deeply as he/she is able instead of worrying that a gifted student’s top test scores be kept with his/her age mates in order to deflect the wrath of NCLB.
Gifted education should include a wide range of opportunities because just like all students, gifted students come in all interests and abilities. Also, IB (International Baccalaureate), while a demanding program, is not a gifted program and should not replace AP and gifted education.
I also agree previous posters about changing the structure of schooling–we are no longer an agrarian society needing children in the fields nor are we factory based, needing child labor there. Iowa needs to allow school districts to innovate and try big new ideas, instead of being restricted by Judge Dillon’s law, which says something to the effect of “if the law doesn’t specifically say you can do it, then you can’t”.
Thanks and best wishes in your new job!
January 10, 2011 at 9:57 pm
John Robbins
Hi Jason:
Welcome to Iowa and thank you for the opportunity to provide input.
Start:
a) A process to develop a strategic educational plan for Iowa. A plan that is research-based, involves educators as key participants in the development process, and focuses on successful preparation of all kids for life in the 21st Century.
b) A process to develop reliable and valid assessment tools for the Iowa Core Curriculum.
c) Allowing / encouraging schools to be innovative in determining how/when/where students engage in learning.
d) To make Iowa a leader in world-class education.
Keep:
a) The value of local control alive and well. Not all good ideas come from the legislative “one size fits all” approach.
b) The Iowa Core Curriculum and support full, timely implementation.
c) Authentic Intellectual Work
d) The focus on what is best for students.
Stop:
a) Using the Iowa Tests as the only tool to measure the performance of students, teachers, administrators, schools, and school districts.
b) Making school improvement, via Race-To-The-Top, a negotiated agreement between labor and management.
c) Annual legislative mandates that, on a cumulative basis, dramatically increase the school’s workload, but do little or nothing to improve student achievement (i.e. green cleaning, cpr, healthy kids act, etc).
d) Making constant changes in education based on whatever the current political climate in Des Moines happens to be – i.e. Iowa Core will it be maintained/funded, or not?
e) Being so prescriptive/over regulative. The list of assurances that every district has to sign off on to be eligible for funding, and the compliance checklist for DE Site Visits, keep growing and growing every year with no end in site.
January 20, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Jen Sigrist
I could not keep quiet when I read your point, item c). I hope our state can stop the hoop-jumping, compliance-minded tasks for districts and move to a model that focuses on continuous improvement. It’s one of the biggest strengths of the Iowa Core, in my mind. We have a set of rubrics to guide our work of implementing outcomes for education. Leadership, Community, School Improvement, Curriculum Alignment, Professional Development, and Characteristics of Effective Instruction (collaborative teams) are all important parts of our work that, until the Iowa Core, have been too nebulous, overwhelming, abstract for districts to make headway.
I could not agree more with your point, John. Leading my district through the work of implementing the Iowa Core includes self-assessment and reflection, data analysis and prioritizing, and action planning and is exactly what school improvement is about. Spending my time completing all the compliance reports like the CSIP, AYP, APR, Special Ed Plan, Title I plan, Technology plan, BEDS, EASIER, and preparing the documents for a site visit doesn’t help improve student learning.
January 10, 2011 at 10:06 pm
Sara McInerny
1. What should we stop doing?
• Stop making excuses that certain kids can’t….
• Stop adhering to a structure that drives education as opposed to what is best for kids (Carnegie units, 180 days, grade units, seat time)
• Stop teaching and testing facts
• Stop resting on our laurels and acknowledge we have achievement gaps
• Stop using a norm referenced test as a measure
2. What should we continue doing
• Continue to provide quality preschools for all of Iowa’s children. Only when the QPPS were implemented for our 4 yr. old programs were we assured that preschools were actually meeting standards and were taught by certified staff. Going backwards is not an option.
• Continue to implement and move forward with the Iowa Core. The Common Core is embedded in the Iowa Core and swaying in the wind due to political changes defeats the hard work Iowa educators have put forth thus far.
• Continue to demand that Iowa educators change their pedagogy and insist that only those who are willing to engage in continuous improvement have access to Iowa’s children.
• Continue to provide instruction that focuses on HOT and concept based learning.
• Continue to embrace diversity and work to enhance the teaching skills to meet the needs of each and every Iowa child.
• Continue to implement collaborative teams and learning communities so that teachers become active school leaders and reflective decision makers in the curriculum process.
3. What should we start doing?
• Develop a vision that educators understand and can grab on to.
• Demand that Iowa’s educational leaders become instructional leaders and not merely mangers.
• Ensure that equity exits for all kids regardless of where they live.
• Teachers need to become facilitators, who are called upon to challenge, question, and stimulate students in thinking, problem solving, and self-directed study not dispensers of content.
January 12, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Stacey Snyder
Great ideas, Sara!
January 10, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Drinda Williams
Welcome, Jason, and thank you for this opportunity.
1. Stop making where children live and which schools they attend an indicator of their chances for post-secondary education or employment after high school. This is an equity issue that must be addressed. All of our children deserve and our economy needs graduates who are college or work ready, no matter which schools they attend.
Stop making decisions based on what is convenient or comfortable for adults rather than what is best for student achievement. This means getting flexible with how and when we educate students. It means providing all students the time and support they need to achieve, even if that does not fit into our notion of a “school day” or “school year.” It means educating parents about assessment that is not intended to sort and separate, but is intended to help educators and students adjust teaching and learning.
Stop a professional development system that focuses on individual credits that lead to pockets of excellence, and promote a system that focuses on moving school systems forward in a cohesive fashion.
2. Keep our AEAs fully funded. There is much work to continue, and the AEA system plays an integral role in school improvement, professional development, providing special education services and supporting schools with technology.
Keep moving forward with implementation of the Iowa Core. The work with the Characteristics of Effective Instruction is the right work to be doing. It is changing instruction; it is changing student engagement; and it is changing student achievement. We need to keep working collaboratively to provide each and every Iowa student with a robust education.
3. Start assuring school leaders that the important work of school improvement around the Iowa Core will continue.
January 10, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Scott McLeod
Another key thing that we need to start doing in Iowa (and I alluded to this before in some of my links above) is that we need to greatly expand the number of online course offerings for P-12 students and we need to do so SOON. The Board of Education, DE, the AEAs, and others are working on this but these efforts need to be funded and facilitated politically and policy-wise. Iowa ranks 40th in the nation when it comes to P-12 online enrollment, which makes no sense for a rural state like ours.
January 11, 2011 at 1:43 am
Dr. Trace Pickering
1. Stop. We should stop attempting to reform education. Reform is defined as leaving a system as it is and attempting to change its behavior by modifying the means it employs. Our forefathers built the greatest educational system the world has ever known to address the problems our forefathers faced – the Industrial Revolution. They TRANSFORMED education by defining a new set of goals and purposes and then aligning the means the system employed to achieve those ends. “Americanizing” students, providing basic skills “3R’s”, sorting and selecting the leaders from the workers, creating a day-care system so people could go work the factories, and creating a workforce buffer to hold many out of the workforce as long as possible. While these are largely NOT the overriding goals and needs for the world we face, we continue to try to improve the mechanical-minded, factory-based educational system – in other words, we’ve been busy trying to reform. Our Industrial-Age system did wonderful things for us, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t retire it. Do we have the fortitude and moxey like our forefathers to create what we truly need? So, in short – stop trying to reform education by improving upon what we’ve always done. (Standardized tests, factory-model compensation and supervision systems, a higher value on standardization and conformity than on innovation and customization, batching learners on the assembly line by age, artifically separating the disciplines to make the work (allegedly) easier for the worker (teacher), measuring & evaluating the products (kids) at the end, maintaining the speed of the assembly line and making the product variable (time as constant, learning as variable), rejecting measures unless they are quantifiable (learning is an emergent property, not subject to direct observation or measurement but understandable only by observing its manifestations and must be created in real time.), place more punishment on acts of commission than of omission, award “credit” only if it happens in a class, etc)
2. KEEP. We should keep working to eliminate the bureacratic barriers we face, keep challenging one another to break paradigms and challenge assumptions. We should continue to connect the kindred spirits like we are on Twitter and other communication tools to build the conversation and the community necessary to break the bonds of the old paradigm.
3. START. We should start doing a better job of telling the great story of the history of education and begin to have a “retirement party” for the paradigm. Step one for a community and a person is to understand that rejection of the current model is NOT an indictment of the past but a celebration and honor ceremony. Our forefathers never expected us to carry this model on in-perpetuity and would be embarrassed to see we are still trying to hang on to it. Second, we need to start helping people understand that the future isn’t simply an extension of the past, an unknown and scary thing – that we must employ the one thing that separates us from the rest of the animal world – our ability to both envision a different future and to put into action those things that will make the vision a reality. The future isn’t so scary when we understand that we can play a role in crafting what it will be.
Thanks for the questions, Jason – your going to be a breath of fresh air for Iowa!
January 11, 2011 at 2:44 am
Dr. Trace Pickering
Click on my name above to access a brief powerpoint that might be useful to you in these conversations.
January 12, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Stacey Snyder
Well said, Trace!
January 11, 2011 at 1:46 am
Cathy Molumby
Jason, you will be doing LOTS of reading! Again, thank you for your connection efforts and welcome to Iowa.
What to Stop? The limitations imposed upon learning due to the ‘industrial’ model (as mentioned in a previous posts). I agree with Ms. Wagnoner’s comment about the “unconscious message” we are sending, not only to our students, but also to our communities, that learning ‘begins’ and ‘ends’ (within 9 months; between the times of approximately 8:00 to 4:00; done in isolation and in lock-step grades and isolated coursework; through textbooks that are very likely outdated; and that knowledge is only gained through the distribution by a teacher. The way in which (for good or for bad) students gain access to information is self-directed. Teaching needs to guide students in the skills of quality research and analysis of the knowledge that is “out there.” We should stop under-estimating the power of students and their curiosity WITH the ability to create and produce in innovative ways.
What should we Keep? In Iowa specifically, we need to keep preschool opportunities that have been implemented to ensure quality (vs. glorified babysitting) for ALL families. Additionally, we need to keep the Iowa Core which our state has made great strides in implementing a quality product and process. The Iowa Core has finally allowed districts and educators to start talking the the same talk across the state and it has finally also been understood that the Iowa Core is MORE than just a curriculum (of content). It is also a “process” of delivery that is based in effective, student-centered instructional strategies (and 21st Century skills). We should also keep leadership skills and initiatives provided through AEAs that bring efficient and effective services to all districts across the state. We should keep the support for leadership initiatives in our state including the work of Dr. Richard Elmore with the Superintendent Network and the Instructional Rounds Model and the work in developing Professional Learning Communities (PLC).
What should we Start? We should look beyond ‘traditional’ merging conversations (as a solution to ‘saving money’???) and start looking into delivery of learning providing equitable learning opportunities 24-7 to all students in all our schools in Iowa. We need to support and promote hybrid courses, blended and online coursework. We need to start supporting students in customized learning through learning networks, particularly at the high school level, that include a high school advising teacher, a post-secondary partner, and a business/community mentor in the area of learning interest for each student. We need to provide opportunities for students to “solve” real-world problems in collaborative learning networks, to assess their skills through competency-based experiences and demonstrations. We need to support and promote innovative and entrepreneurial skills and efforts of our students.
January 11, 2011 at 2:25 am
Becky Goerend
1. Grade levels need to stop. A few people have mentioned this already. We need to teach students what they need when they need it and move them along at the rate they need it.
2. We need to continue to question what is best for students and not jump into things until we see that they are best for students. Keep students the focus.
3. We need to start treating our educators like the prestigious individuals that they are. They are the foundation of our community/culture/future. Most of the change has to happen not from admins, state leaders, etc. It has to be a change within the classroom. We need good teachers to do this. We also need to counsel poor teachers out of the profession.
January 20, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Ashley Delaney
“Grade levels need to stop.” Definitely!
January 11, 2011 at 2:33 am
Kim Nelson
Welcome to Iowa! I hope you have the opportunity to gain some insight in our pride as a state that is motivated to be on the cutting edge of education. Thanks for allowing our input:
Stop:
1) Trying to run with the nation and forgetting our state pride in local control.
2) Using ITBS as a measure to determine proficiency.
3) The hoop jumping
Keep:
1) AIW, it has made a tremendous impact on what we do as a school district.
2) PK support so that all students can have the opportunity for quality early childhood education.
3) Our local control and focus on what is best for students.
Start:
1) To motivate all administrators to be leaders by providing quality support in instruction.
2) To expect that all districts are assessing FOR learning, not autopsies
3) To break down barriers for student and teacher learning to become more authentic
January 11, 2011 at 2:55 am
Chad Frerichs
I am going to answer these questions from a purely educational technology angle, because that is what I know.
1. What should we stop doing?
We have to stop looking at technology as a thing by itself. There should be no more computer classes. We should stop teaching applications in a class completely separated from the rest of the curriculum.
2. What should we keep doing?
We should continue to increase the integration of technology into the curriculum. Technology is not a thing by itself; it is a tool that can, if used properly, greatly enhance the learning experience of our students.
3. What should we start doing?
We should start using the technology that we have to start connecting districts and expanding educational opportunities for our students. Why should students be constrained to the courses their districts can offer? Why can’t students utilize technology to take courses in other districts?
I truly believe that technology used by the right people the right way can greatly enhance the learning experience of our students. However, it can’t be about the technology; it has to be about using the tools we are given the best way we can to give the best educational experience to our students.
January 11, 2011 at 1:12 pm
John C. Carver
1. We are ten years into the 21st century and now in the age of imagination and creativity, yet our present education system still operates using 20th century, industrial revolution factory model thinking. Teaching and learning systems/protocols/assessments need to evolve. We need to quickly move away from old thinking and transform/design teaching and learning reflective of what today’s reality is. Our focus needs be on what is best for our students, and not on what is best for the “system”. Important to note is that our students are watching and will learn from us as we deal with change. What will our children learn/see from us?
2. There is something happening in Iowa schools. This is evident by the increase number of Districts embracing technology for learning. In three years schools utilizing 1 to 1 laptop computers has grown from 5 to 15 to 46 with a projection of over 100 Districts by the fall of 1011. New thinking and innovation needs to be nurtured and supported. The direction and focus needs to be what could be and not what is.
3. We are living a “printing press” moment in the history of mankind. It is crucial that we accept this reality and have transparent, reflective conversation with ALL stakeholders (parents/students, educators, policy makers, business and industry). I would suggest that Deming’s thinking be used a framework/starting point.
January 11, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Dr. Trace Pickering
Totally agree, John. Well said! My only comment would be that while Deming is a wonderful model, I think Russell Ackoff’s thinking & frameworks might be better suited. They are complementary, for sure.
January 11, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Art Sathoff
Jason, welcome to Iowa and your new post, and thank you for the lively conversation you have started here. I am looking forward to reading more of what other people have to say but will mention a couple of things here.
1. Stop practices and constructs, such as the funding formula, that punish districts that are providing excellent education programs but are struggling with declining enrollment (as 70% of Iowa’s schools are). Require a quality program and hold schools fiscally accountable without artificial “authority” mechanisms.
2. Keep focused, intelligent educational dialogue going at multiple levels between multiple stakeholders. Keep a problem-solving tone and approach without fragmenting and going into attack mode.
3. Start (or in many localized success stories, continue) practices that involve community partnerships, enhance the flexibility of districts to provide what diverse populations need, encourage innovation, and provide much needed resources.
January 11, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Mark Egli
A couple ideas to add to the many:
1. More Flexibility. It is my understanding that the new DE leadership might consider an alternative to Carnegie units and look at the progression of students based upon competency or mastery. This would be an excellent step. Likewise, allow schools to extend their school years, shorten the school week and otherwise adjust student seat time in favor or student competency.
2. Recognize shared virtual courses as weighted classes rather than reserving weighting only for classes that are shared in the traditional manner. Busing should be replaced by virtual coursework, and there should be incentive for this mode of instruction.
3. Start an Iowa Virtual High School or coordinate virtual offerings through the AEA’s. As it is, AEA’s are across the board in their commitment or lack of it in this area. Iowa is terribly behind states like Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania in providing virtual coursework for its students.
4. To repeat others, move away from the Iowa tests; at the very least put them online. Students much prefer and score significantly better on the NWEA MAP tests for reasons difficult to explain other than format.
January 20, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Ashley Delaney
I agree, Mark! Virtual courses should not be treated differently, especially in funding. Sometimes they are more expensive and necessitate more time and effort than teaching a traditional course.
January 11, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Cari Teske
Mr. Glass,
Congratulations on your new position and your eagerness to listen to those of us who have been in the trenches for many years! As you can see from the previous responses, Iowans are passionate about education!
In response to your questions, I want to pose the same questions to you. What do see that needs changed? continued? started? Here are my thoughts..
1. I agree with many of my colleagues about the need for reform in teacher evaluation. I also think that evaluation change should include administrators. The role of administrators has changed immensely over the past several years. They are no longer just the buffer between the public and the staff. They are needed for their educational leadership now more than ever. Let’s reform the evaluation process to include administration as well.
2. Preschools need to stay a part of the public educational system in Iowa. The process has been put in motion. Let’s support this evolution. With successful implementation it ensures quality education for all families and young Iowans.
3. Take a closer look at the role technology is playing in education and the reform that is taking place. Students are walking into Iowa schools ‘powered up’ and ready to learn. They have opportunities that were not possible a few years ago. Teachers are reaching new levels of teaching that inspire themselves and their colleagues. While technology alone is not the answer, it is a tool that I feel needs to be development and supported as a way to achieve higher levels of learning. Yes, it is a distraction. But, we are not preparing students for our future. We are preparing them for their’s. They will have that distraction and many more that have not been even invented yet. Our job is to help them learn how to deal with them. Our goal should be to support learning with the best tools available and to teach students the benefits and the risks involved with them.
As you will soon see, Iowa has many ‘hidden treasures’! Great educators are one of them. Seek them out and the success they have! There you will find a team of individuals who collaborate, communicate and promote high quality education. They embrace change and evolve with it. Only then will you find the answers to your questions and the vision to put Iowa schools in the forefront!
Best of Luck!
Cari Teske
BCLUW Community School District
January 11, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Todd Abrahamson
Welcome Jason
1. I read a while ago (AASA) we need to stop focusing on changing culture. A school’s culture changes when teachers change from implementing weak instruction to great instruction and when the school’s leaders spend their time building and implementing layers of support for that instruction. An improved culture is a side effect of drastically improving what happens in classrooms. Instead of focusing on changing culture, focus on improving instruction, which will ultimately lead to a more desirable culture.
2. Continue to have an open mind for innovation and creativity. Effective learning involves innovation and creativity – to succeed we need to keep learning from each other. There are many great things happening across the State of Iowa. We need to bring those innovative leaders together to develop a comprehensive innovative plan for Iowa – it can be done!
3. We need to start shifting our current educational system from a summative based to a formative based system – more effective ways to measure student achievement.
Note, we are ten years into the 21st century, it is time for action not continued discussion on 21st century skills – 10 Years!!
January 11, 2011 at 9:40 pm
Kim Swartz
1.) Stop:
• using 180 days of school, within 9 months, made up of a particular number of hours per day as the school calendar. That system was built for a different time period and farming culture. It’s time we start thinking differently about when and where students learn.
• using seat time and Carnegie units as a measure of student achievement and instead start using demonstration of mastery. Student’s individual needs should dictate how much time is required for mastering their own learning.
• using seniority based pay for teachers. Create a teacher evaluation system that promotes teachers that continually improve.
2.) Keep
• implementing the Iowa Core making sure administrators, teachers, and the public understand what it is and isn’t . It is more than just the content of what is taught, the characteristics of effective instruction is changing instruction, allowing students to become more self directed and teachers to become facilitators of learning.
• preschool for all . QPPS has assured that preschools are actually meeting standards and being taught by certified staff.
• strengthening connections to higher education. This is imperative if we are going to move from teacher-centered to student-centered education. We cannot continue to prepare new teachers in the same way we have in the past.
• supporting AEAs and districts to provide professional development, and restructure schools to revitalize professional development for teachers. Just as we have to help new teachers, we must also provide support for all teachers to move from teacher-centered to student-centered education.
3.) Start
• using alternative approaches for all students to acquire skills and knowledge and demonstrate mastery beyond just the regular classroom. Students should be allowed to demonstrate competencies gained through experiences such as online learning, independent study, internships, work study, etc.
• flexibility in teachers’ schedules so collaborative learning is an expectation that can be accomplished within a structure that promotes and provides for this learning environment.
January 11, 2011 at 11:18 pm
Linda Gleissner
Welcome Mr. Glass
What should we stop doing?
• Looking at early childhood education as a place to cut funding. We are making progress! For example: As a result of our efforts to implement quality programs, Iowa’s youngest learners are entering school with stronger skills in key content areas. Children proficient in beginning sounds as measured by DIBELS increased by 9 percent from 2006-2007 to 2009-2010. (See—Iowa Department of Education Kindergarten Literacy Assessment Report, January 2011.)
What should we continue?
• Continue state funding supporting the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of quality preschool programming.
• Support quality professional development that addresses the Iowa Quality Preschool Program Standards, Iowa Early Learning Standards, and intentional teaching that is both rigorous and relevant; and
• Support quality preschool programs through maintaining program standards and achieving Iowa Core Curriculum for preschoolers.
What should we start (in some cases continue) doing?
Design an educational plan that creates enthusiasm and engagement from Iowa’s teachers recognizing their strengths and encouraging quality.
January 12, 2011 at 12:28 am
Pam Elwood
What we need. (What to stop, start and keep to follow)
First let me express my surprise and my interest that you are using this forum to seek input and responding personally to the input. One thing that we definitely need is a collective voice that reflects the children.
I will try and be brief.
We need support to translate research to practice and accountability for that translation.
We need Early Childhood as a critical formative and foundational scaffold for our changing demographics in Iowa.
We need to support teachers that take chances and build relationships with children.
We need to raise critical problem solvers that have access to experts in the classrooms, much as they have access to experts outside of the classroom.
We need collaboration for our best and our brightest to connect with our newest and most energized instructors.
We need inclusion past a definition or a mandate to a common practice.
So really much in agreement with prior posts. access to and expectations for Innovation, Creativity, Problem Solving and Technology and a new standard for Accountability
Pam Elwood
January 12, 2011 at 2:11 am
Nick Sauers
1. What should we stop doing?
We need to stop relying so heavily on the standardized tests currently used in Iowa today. Those assessments do not evaluate higher level thinking skills. The tests, which have become the strongest indicator of a district’s success, have been a driving force behind instruction taking place in our schools. The emphasis of “teaching to the test” has greatly crippled education in Iowa. Assessment certainly has the ability to transform education. With your leadership and the help of other Iowa educators, it could be possible to embrace an assessment tool that positively transforms both teaching and learning in Iowa.
2. What should we keep doing?
We need to keep moving forward and not accept the status quo. Although Iowa has performed fairly well nationally, there currently seems to be a fairly prominent movement in Iowa to truly transform learning in our schools. Many schools have implemented initiatives such as Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) and/or the one-to-one initiative in an attempt to reform their schools. These initiatives have seen mixed results. It is no secret that I am a huge proponent of one-to-one, yet I agree with some of the points Jerrid made in an earlier response. If we simply implement any initiative without focusing on how teaching and learning need to look differently, the initiative will not produce any results different than what we currently have. The state has also focused on reform with the Iowa Core. I first heard about the Core while serving as a principal, and I was very excited about its potential. It seemed like something that could truly transform our schools. I do worry that that focus has changed. I’ve heard educators talk about how they are going to align what they are currently doing with the Iowa Core. That will not produce the changes that we need! We certainly should not drop the Iowa Core, but a renewed and energized vision may be appropriate.
3. What should we start doing?
I have provided 3 points encompassing technology as areas we need to improve. Iowa’s best one-to-one schools may serve as models for the rest of the state if the state embraces technology as a way to enhance education.
We need to stop acting like technology is something “extra”. Teaching technology as a class and not integrating it throughout the curriculum is a big mistake. As schools, our job is to prepare responsible skilled citizens for our society. Can students truly be contributing members of the future in which they will live (not the world we live in) without a firm grasp on technology use? Almost all of the jobs our students have will involve some sort of new technology. Most will also be heavily involved with technology in their personal lives. We can’t expect them to gain these skills without the help of our schools.
We need to embrace technology as a way to teach 21st Century Skills. Tony Wagner’s lists the following seven things as 21st Century Skills:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Collaboration across Networks and Leading by Influence
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
Effective Oral and Written Communication
Accessing and Analyzing Information
Curiosity and Imagination
I will argue until I am blue in the face that the work students are producing in our technology rich schools in these seven areas is almost unimaginable without the technology. The Iowa Core also has a focus on the 21st Century skills. By embracing technology, our students will be much more equipped with these skills.
3. EQUITY! This is an issue that I am very passionate about, but very rarely get a chance to speak about. Our poorest students are at a huge disadvantage because of their lack of access to technology. Unlike their wealthier classmates, they are unable to get online and continue their learning at home. A long time ago, schools figured this out in the area of reading. Elementary teachers would make sure that their young little readers always went home with plenty of books. Schools and communities also arranged book giveaways to help provide a better home environment for students. Most schools have done nothing to close the technology gap between our students. I have strong feelings about all three of my points, but the equity issue is the one that really makes my blood boil. As a teacher and then principal, I worked with many students from very poor families. Those students were at a disadvantage from their peers for many reasons, but lack of access to technology does not have to be one of them. Give them the opportunity to learn, play, and connect with their peers by providing them with access to technology. Obviously, some will not take advantage, but many will. ALL of our students deserve that opportunity!
Thanks for reading! Additional comments can be found at 1to1schools.net
Nick Sauers
January 12, 2011 at 11:01 am
Jen Marshall Duncan
Nick–thanks for bringing up the issue of equity! So many others have already said things I agree with, both as a parent and a teacher. But you have hit my number one issue with your comment.
We need to start leveling the playing field for students who are in poverty and most at-risk–not just in their access to technology at home, but also their access in schools! In our state there are 1:1 laptop schools and schools without enough desktop computers in their labs to accommodate a full classroom for group instruction. We need to recognize that schools who serve students in poverty need more resources. Perhaps there should be weighted funding, as with special education? I am not sure about how to fix the problem, but I do know that in both rural schools (like where I teach) and urban schools (like where my children attend) the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” is growing. We need to do our best to fill that gap and offer ALL students a quality education.
January 12, 2011 at 2:47 am
Laura Stevens
Stop: placing so much emphasis on testing
Keep: preschool programs
Start: enlisting teachers to share the work in districts as teacher leaders
January 12, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Gregg Cruickshank
There are so many great thoughts, ideas, and proposals on this site. I have sent emails to the leadership in the House and Senate to read what is being posted. I encourage all of you to do the same.
January 12, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Elizabeth Huggins
First and foremost, let me say thank you for instigating and participating in open conversation regarding our schools. The future of education will require this mindset from the political sector if we hope to have a united, effective front.
Let’s stop keeping teachers on staff because they are “good people”. I know lots of good people who are terrible teachers. This may seem harsh, but it is the reality. We have to stop letting teachers “get by” with antiquated, out-of-touch curriculum. Our students are suffering for it. That being said, we also have to stop acting like an educator’s effectiveness can be summed up with a single test or less than a handful of evaluations.
There should never be a time to “do what you’ve always done” because the world will never be as it was. We have to stop, stop, stop keeping ineffective, unprofessional teachers in our classrooms. I don’t know the solution, but I would certainly be glad to participate in the process of finding one.
We must keep providing our teachers with time to process and prepare. Today teachers are faced not just with the challenges of curriculum, not just with the challenges of classroom management, but also with the responsibility of acting as parent in abstention to a vast number of students. Teachers need time not only for professional development, but personal development. We need to keep working to make preparation time quality time for teachers to develop as humans.
We need to start providing additional mental health care/social services for our students and staff. Our students often enter the school with so many “eggs” in their “basket” that they cannot begin to add more. The fragile contents of said basket not only prevent more from going in, they cause quite a mess if they are spilled out. Our kids need help. Our teachers need help in order to address the mental health needs of our students. This is a role that schools have begun to take upon themselves and it is not a mantel that can be half-worn. We must offer more efficient support services for at risk and mentally ill students.
I really love my job. I am glad that honest conversations are happening. Thank you to all for your wonderful, though-provoking ideas.
January 12, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Stacey Snyder
Welcome, Jason!
Thank you for the opportunity to post~
Keep
• Learning at the center of education
• High expectations
• Preschool Education
• Some sort of system for mentoring new teachers
Start
• Treating all learners as individuals that learn differently and in different environments and in different timeframes
• Promoting partnerships and communication between all tiers of education (State level, AEAs, LEAs, IHE) so that we speak a common language
• Dialogue about a continuum of learning standards from PK-12 through teacher preparation through induction through career. (InTASC and Iowa Teaching Standards . . . can align but why do we need separateness?)
• Offering increased opportunities for immersion experiences during educator preparation
• Restructuring of the PK-12 teacher work day to include time to collaborate, create and envision as a facilitator for student learning for the next generation of learners
• Encouraging professional learning as ongoing growth and personal challenge for all those that choose to become educators
Embracing environmental education and place-based education as connections to local communities and allows for experiences rich in critical thinking, complex communication, creativity, collaboration, flexibility, productivity and accountability
January 12, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Lori Nelson
Stop: limiting out ability to innovate. Replace seat time with contact time so we can do more online schooling and stop spending so many education dollars on transportation.
Keep: opportunity to access high quality preschool
Start: offering more online schooling options to ensure equity of access for students regardless of the size of their district
January 12, 2011 at 9:40 pm
Kristin Shindelar
Welcome to Iowa and thanks for asking for input related to this topic.
Stop: Enabling.
Keep: Implementing new and progressive strategies and teaching standards.
Start: Holding all parents accountable.
January 12, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Michelle Cowell
Stop ITBS and ITED tests as measures of assessment. These tests are outdated in content and method. We are after complex thinkers and these tests won’t tell us if we have those. We should also stop the 180 day calendar. Farmers have adjusted their schedules and it is time for us to do the same.
We need to keep librarians and guidance counselors. Librarians have been teaching students 21st century skills since the last century. Those critical thinking skills are more important in our world of constant information than ever before. Guidance counselors help students deal with the issues that distract their attention from learning. Losing guidance counselors could very well leave us with a larger number of distracted and disconnected students.
We need to start focusing on the good teachers that we have. Too much time is spent on what to do about the poor teachers. I know of one or two teachers who could use improving but I know dozens of others who are left operating in the shadows of our profession.
January 20, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Ashley Delaney
I couldn’t agree more with your final thoughts. Great teachers are rarely recognized for doing what is expected. Sadly, the same is true of students. Great students are often lost in the shuffle of struggling learners.
January 12, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Brad Buck
Hi Jason – welcome to Iowa! Please know we appreciated the false dichotomy of Hawkeyes vs Cyclones that you posed and recognize it is easily remedied by seeing you in Panther purple and gold.:-)
In thinking about this whole notion of stop, keep and start as it relates to education in Iowa, as well as in the district in which I work, my mind keeps wandering to a number of solid frameworks that exist in terms of improving school districts (and states, and schools and classrooms). As you would well know, these frameworks generally include a well-defined and rigorous curriculum, distributed leadership through all parts of an organization, an emphasis on formative feedback, meaningful connections to families and the community, etc. When that list begins to be made, it sure sounds a lot like what is contained in and intended through the Iowa Core and the associated outcomes.
It seems the bigger challenge isn’t defining the necessary elements, or targeting the innovations, or [fill in the blank]. Rather, the challenge seems to exist in actually implementing what we know to be effective – in EVERY classroom (or perhaps more appropriately, learning environment) in Iowa, rather than in pockets of learning environments across the state.
Now… investigating what tools (especially in the hands of students) can maximize those experiences appears to have value. Likely so does helping districts narrow the focus on the essential elements of the interaction between teachers, students and the content – in relevant and thought-provoking ways. All of which should be occurring in a collaborative environment, in concert with aligned resources to make it happen, with periodic checkpoints of progress at a variety of levels in the system, and differentiated supports that are provided to keep things improving. Again… I digress to the seeming best expectations of the full implementation of the Iowa Core…
I just wonder if the real innovation that needs to happen in schools and districts is to passionately and unwaveringly deliver on those things that we know most improve students learning (stop chasing the silver bullet – excellence is hard work!). And, to make sure that we believe that every child deserves to be and is equipped to leave high school ready for a high skill job and/or continuing education. Not necessarily in that order…
So… what is the role of the Iowa Department of Education in supporting excellence in every learning environment in the state?
Thank you for taking the time to listen! These are exciting times to be in education!
Brad Buck
January 13, 2011 at 4:17 am
Steven Hopper
Dr. Buck,
Well stated, as always. I too am looking forward to seeing how Jason will help to shape a new direction for the DE.
January 12, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Shelley Wach
#1 So much emphasis has been put on test scores. I am so tired of hearing that our school could be put on the “list” if we don’t get our scores up. When are we going to start hearing from the so-called experts in education that we need to get back to plain old teaching? If I hear one more time that my students aren’t proficient because their ITBS or DIBELS or MAP or whatever score is used, I will literally scream!
#2 Keep focusing on the little ones! So many of our preschool age children are in need of a structured learning environment. The days of stay at home, read to my kids every night family dynamics are gone.
#3 When was the last time people who mandate issues and write legislation for education stepped foot in a REAL classroom setting? Let’s start a “revolution” and have those people teach for a week or a day or an hour! It might open some eyes!
January 13, 2011 at 4:12 am
brenna289
Stop: 1) rewarding fiscal irresponsibility with policy or legislation that pays more for spending more and 2) punishing those that follow the rules.
Start: 1) scrutinize all legislation/policy by asking, “Does this initiative promote or does it discourage effective, efficient, and responsible spending?” and 2) expect accountability. An attribute common to all successful organizations is that they know how to manage their resources effectively and efficiently. Expect, encourage, and educate effective school management practices.
January 13, 2011 at 5:09 pm
James Sutton
When Bill Lepley became state chief in Iowa, he asked his staff these questions:
(1) What is do good that you’d never change it? (2) What is so bad that you’d change it tomorrow? (3) What needs changing, but will take a long time?
Put me on your list of people to talk with; I was policy analyst for teachers union for 30 yrs.
January 13, 2011 at 5:51 pm
D. Stegge
Good Morning and best wishes for success in your new position. Some thoughts about your three questions come to mind:
1. Stop-treating students like a product on an assembly line. They all learn differently and have differing needs academically and socially. Stop adding an ever longer new list of initiatives to “fix” education. Let’s try some new things by all means, but let’s work together to do them well, rather than seeing how long our list of “new initiatives can be.
Stop letting people who have no experience in curriculum and school policy make the majority of decisions about those items.
2. Keep: Investing in Preschools. The pay off isn’t always in dollars and cents, but preparation for successful students to come. Maybe there are changes that need to be made in that program, but don’t drop it and make it a hockey puck from one year to the next depending on who is in political office.
Keep the Common Core. Give the education community time to implement well and create understandings about the benefits of a common core. Again no political hockey puck action for who who is in political office.
Keep the movement to incorporate technology as an assistive process to reaching other important goals like teaching students how to reason and think on higher level.s
Start: emphasizing a movement to teach students how to think on higher levels and not just spew facts around. Teach them how to think and write well to articulate ideas.
Really listen to the people who work with students every day-the teaching staffs, administrators, and associates. They may not have all the newest ideas, but they do have a wealth of experience with the people who this is for-students.
I have a concern about T. Whiby’s concern: Not all teachers are buried in how “we used to do things.” Many of us, new teachers and those of us who have been in education for a while, have an openness to new ways and innovation. While we may appear conservative, we have a wealth of knowledge, skills, and assets to help.
Lots of excellent ideas and comments on this site.
January 13, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Shelley Wach
D.Steege!! Very well said!!!!!!!!!!! One of the best I’ve seen!!
January 13, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Duncan
Jason- Welcome to Iowa! We are and should continue to be THE leader in education in America. My advice: 1. Keep local districts in control. This is what every other decision regarding education in our state should be rooted in. Allow local districts to make its own decisions. Any time the bureaucracy assumes control of educational policies, it will never relinquish them back to the individual district. This is why I oppose the Iowa Core. The result of the Core, intentional or not, is to take decision-making and autonomy away from the local districts. NCLB and other non-locally mandated laws or policies rob education from its original and rightful place and that is to be controlled locally. 2. Decrease the power that AEA’s have over reorganization. Once again, these decisions must not be taken out of the control of the local districts. I have more, but my next class is about to begin. Thank you for your time.
January 13, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Brad Niebling
Jason, thank you for the opportunity to respond. My thoughts are below.
1. What should we stop doing?
a. Maintaining the status quo: I have always found it ironic that the field of education, in theory anyway, is about “promoting life-long learning,” yet in practice we consistently work not to act based on what we’ve learned as a field and instead work to make sure we don’t have to change what we do. Especially when we have student outcome data staring at us, yet don’t change our practice.
b. Shouting buzzwords and “you don’t understands” at each other: Any time ANYONE has an audience and uses it to generate fear/anger etc instead of partnering to make the learning environment of schools better for students, we are only serving ourselves or our contingency of like-minded people. This does not move us forward. It just perpetuates “a” above, i.e., maintaining status quo.
2. What should we keep doing?
a. Continue the work of the Iowa Core: I want to be clear on this point: I am not advocating for or against “keeping” the Iowa Core. The Iowa Core started as the Model Core Curriculum several years ago in legislation. The name has changed several times since. We may or may not get legislation regarding the Iowa Core in this new legislative session. What I am advocating for is that the work we as a state do continue to be built on both the foundation and vision of the Iowa Core. It is far from perfect, but it has been in my opinion an incredibly powerful factor in how we go about the business of educating Iowa’s children. I don’t want to lose that momentum.
b. Caring about kids and teachers: In the efforts to improve our schools, it gets very easy to lose site of the humans we are ultimately trying to help. Overall though, the folks I deal with day in and day out really care about taking care of teachers and making things better and better for students. This should be celebrated and reinforced whenever possible.
c. Use data for decision making: Large scale assessments like the Iowa Tests and NAEP take a beating publicly. Some of the criticism is warranted. But these tests are not evil, and can give us helpful information about student learning. There is no one “assessment” that gives us everything we need to know. By the same token, we can’t just complain about the shortcomings of large scale assessments and not propose some feasible additions to the assessments we use. That’s admiring the problem, which isn’t going to get us anywhere other than mad and frustrated, and perhaps with a bit of a superiority complex for having some thoughtfully critical things to say. If we want to see change, we need to base our decisions on information we can count on, assemble all of that information, and figure out our next steps. We do this to an extent. We can do it much better.
3. What should we start doing?
a. Adopting a multi-tiered framework of service delivery: This idea goes by many acronyms: RtI, PBIS, IDM, etc. We have very uneven adoption and implementation of this approach across the state. In my opinion, there is no better decision-making framework to use than this. It’s time we rally behind it as a state.
b. Use technology to promote collaboration and learning: We have started the long journey of ramping up our infrastructure for and skills to use new technologies to improve our professional collaboration and learning (e.g., polycom, skype, facebook, twitter to name a few). If we are going to have to do more/better with fewer resources, we are really going to need these technologies to keep us all connected and learning. As we get better infrastructure and skills, we will likely also get better and using these technologies in our classrooms.
c. Use research to inform our decisions: It is now common to hear folks invoke the words “research” or “evidence” when they advocate for or against different practices. But as a state, we don’t have in my opinion a solid framework for interpreting the extent to which different practice are research/evidence-based or not. We need to involve our state’s best minds on this matter, consult with others nationally, build a framework and use it.
d. Use the scientific method in our daily practice: This point really just sums up points “a” through “c” in this section. We currently aren’t good at this as a system. And it’s not something you can just pick up at a one-day inservice. It’s a way of viewing the world. It takes time to learn how to use it well. And since it is a cyclically improving process, we will always have room to grow and do it better.
January 13, 2011 at 8:24 pm
New Education Director seeks input | AEA 267 Leadership Minute
[...] newly appointed Education Director, is posing three questions to Iowa educators through his blog. Relative to education: What should Iowa stop doing? What should Iowa keep doing? What should Iowa [...]
January 14, 2011 at 1:22 am
Harold J Colsch
Stop pretending that all students being “home-schooled” receive “competent” private instruction. Establish a system of accountablity for CPI that guarantees students their right to a broad-based, rigorous, relevant, and appropriate education.
Keep funding preschool programs that adhere to quality preschool program standards.
Start implementing the Iowa Core! Let’s embrace change and begin the exciting work of preparing students for life as an adult in the 21st century.
January 14, 2011 at 3:37 am
Karen Aldrich
1. What should we stop doing?
We need to stop relying on quantitative methods alone to evaluate our educational system.
Develop a vision of education in the state that will focus on helping children become problem solvers and creative thinkers. I hope our state will continue to support the Iowa Core Curriculum.
2. What should we keep doing?
Continue to develop positive partnerships with communities, families and organizations to meet the diverse needs of our children and youth.
3. What should we start doing?
We need to recognize the richness of educating the social, emotional and cognitive abilities of our children and youth. I would like us to explore ways to address the mental health needs of our students.
January 14, 2011 at 3:39 am
Karen Aldrich
NOTE: This statement belongs under Question #2. Develop a vision of education in the state that will focus on helping children become problem solvers and creative thinkers. I hope our state will continue to support the Iowa Core Curriculum.
January 14, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Tina B
1. We need to stop doing things that just make educators (and students) to go through the motions. Filling out senseless logs and paperwork that is never taken to the next level of learning, just jumping through hoops, is a waste of our time and taxpayers money. Make whatever is required for us useful and a learning tool to help us become better educators, schools and to make our students accel and succeed.
2. I agree with all the posts that say to keep things we’ve spent time and money on in the past couple of years that are good sound practices and showing results – i.e. preschool and Iowa Core. Because, if we don’t then the next couple of years will just be spent learning something else new, spending lots more money on that new learning until someone else is in charge and changes plans (again).
3. We need to start doing things that focus on students as individuals instead of a class. Just because a student is an 8th grader doesn’t mean that they are capable of doing 8th grade work……this concept is ridiculous….and just because that student is an 8th grader doesn’t mean they should do ONLY 8th grade work. Many made comments about moving students on using Standards Based grading – totally agree. It’s more accountable AND parents, teachers and students know then what the student knows and what they don’t know and can focus on that.
January 14, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Lowell Ernst
Jason,
Welcome to one of greatest states in the country to be a kid. Iowa should be proud of the importance we have always placed on educating our children. Our education system continues to help children learn what is possible for them and work hard to realize their dreams.
What should we stop doing:
We should stop the movement to become one dimensional in our educational system. Continual criticism of education causes us to want to prove ourselves through one approved metric. If that metric leaves out the elements that it will take for our students to be successful, we will develop students who are not able to innovate and create in a world that is going to demand more than basic content knowledge. We still need academic excellence, but that definition needs to go beyond content mastery.
To stop doing this, we need to do more than complain about a one dimensional assessment system. We need to take action. If we want to have success defined in terms of the ability to critically think, collaborate to solve problems with undefined solutions, and communicate through writing, speaking, and technological interfacing, we need to to define what success looks like in those areas and develop systems to work toward those definitions. This would include an assessment system that can prove students have the skills that business and industry continue to need.
What should we keep doing:
We should keep working hard to give students relevant learning experiences that engage them. Students who slip through our systems do so when they become disengaged. While we can’t control all of the reasons this happens, we can impact the learning environment that they face in our school systems. This environment starts with the curriculum and how we approach it. It intensifies when we develop meaningful assessments that let them show level of mastery we want students to demonstrate. The circle is completed when we consciously provide meaningful experiences that cause students to participate in the learning.
When you approach the Iowa Core as a continuous improvement model it can accomplish what I described above. We must continue the work of the core but be certain it is not about compliance. It will have to be approached as a method of developing rigorous engaging work for kids. If not, we will not cause the difference we set out to make in the beginning.
What should we start doing:
We need to strengthen our efforts to create student centered classrooms that individualize instruction. Students need to leave our systems with a passion for solving problems that they really want solved. This cannot happen in a one size fits all system.
Businesses continue to have their employees work together to formulate solutions. We need to follow suite by teaching our students how to collaborate to solve problems. We need to teach them how to do this with their colleagues in their classrooms as well as the those from across the country and around the globe. Making this happen will involve technological applications that allow students to be producers of information and not simply consumers. Student engagement will increase when the work becomes real to them. This cannot happen unless we are willing to focus on them as individuals.
Good luck in joining us on this journey.
January 14, 2011 at 8:57 pm
dmourlam
Stop: I think we need to stop testing our students every chance we get and stop using those results to determine if we are being successful. There are better ways to determine our success than a standardized test. I think we should also stop making excuses for not changing. There are too many teachers that don’t want to change and we currently have a system that doesn’t make them change. There are no consequences for teachers if they don’t change to meet the learning needs of their students. If we don’t start changing how we teach on a large scale our students are only going to suffer more. It’s about the students, not the teachers.
Keep: I think we should keep the Iowa Core. I think enough work has been done that it would be such a waste to throw all that away. Why not take the work that has been done and make it better.
Start: I think we need to start being more innovative in education. I hear people talk about change all the time, but we seem to be caught in a culture that does not promote innovation. I think we also need to start evaluating teachers based on their performance in the classroom, rather than based on their students’ test scores. Test scores can be one factor, but it shouldn’t be the only factor. We should also start having year round schools terms. It doesn’t make much sense to take three months off in the summer any more. Students lose too much of what they have learned making it harder once school is in session in August.
January 14, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Gina
I have read with great interest the ideas of fellow Iowans. Thanks for getting us thinking about the state of education with a thoughtful dialogue.
Stop: 1. Running our schools on the 9 month calendar. A three month interruption of skill building and learning makes no sense.
2. Keeping kids busy completing worksheets and memorizing facts.
Keep: 1. Preschool.
2. Iowa Core.
3. AEA’s
Start: 1. Recognizing that nice people don’t always equal a good teacher. Can we evaluate honestly and not make kids pay the price of a whole year with a weak teacher?
January 16, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Marci Dunlap
Welcome, Director. We hope you have time to visit with the teachers, leaders, and community members in Fairfield, IA in the near future.
1. What should we stop doing?
Iowa educational leaders must stop spending valuable cognitive energy deconstructing minutiae of current IA initiatives/legislation, calling the act the first step of reform. It is tedious, biased, and does very little for students in our systems right now.
2. What should we keep doing?
Iowa educational leaders must keep being passionate about education in the state. We must continue to be open to change and to challenge ourselves and our districts to be more, to be better for all involved.
3. What should we start doing?
We need to focus and pick up the pace. From this point forward, every conversation, action, and decision must begin with the end in mind. What do we want for our kids? Education in Iowa is in a state of confusion. Set a path and then collaboration can be focused on student learning. All other specifics are secondary when the focus is on learning.
January 17, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Dr. Alan Meyer
What should we stop doing? Change should not be a political football, too many things being added on within the same archaic time frame. Change should be student focused on what they need and can do.
What should we keep doing? Refine what we have with the ICC, the fourth initiative within the last ten years, do it right with fidelity! Finish something we have started before heaping more onto the plate! Recognize that change is inevitable but recognize the change that makes the most sense, not the most popular. Remember the role of the parent and family in all of this.
What should we start doing? Finish the task and appraise it with appropriate data before tweaking. Reflect on what gets kids involved in the learning process- START. Hit the ground running!
January 18, 2011 at 7:34 pm
Sue Runyon
Jason – Welcome to Iowa and congratulations on your new position. I really value your desire to listen first and reflect on what is the state of Iowa education.
1. What should we stop doing?
a. Making decisions in schools because they are best for the adults, not the children/students.
b. Using standardized tests as the only way to assess whether schools “fail”
c. Using the 9 month calendar and 8-3 model for schools. Students that struggle lose too much over the summer. I really believe that schools should be community centers of learning and this extends the school day and the school year.
2. What should we keep doing?
a. Funding quality preschool for all
b. Expect implementation of Iowa Core content and Characteristics of Effective Instruction with fidelity in all districts and buildings.
c. Continue to fund the AEAs to help make delivery of services equitable for our districts. These services range from technology consulants, content consultants, special education consultants, etc.
3. What should we start doing?
a. Change the way teachers are evaluated and paid. When I had children in school, I felt that their great teachers deserved a higher compensation than the teachers that did the minimum to get paid. Some of their great teachers were near retirement and some were in their first few years of teaching.
b. Articulate a clear vision for Iowa schools. I really believe in the power of focus – sometimes the power of one! Many of our teachers feel that they just start learning and implementing “the latest reform” and then it changes the next year. For example, from everything I hear and have read, AIW is powerful for education. If that is true, then it should not be part of a few districts in Iowa but every district.
c. Iowa needs to focus on integrating technology in education and every teacher should be expected to be a 21st Century learner, along with their students. Technology is a powerful tool to help learning and teaching. I would like to see Iowa a leader in educational technology! I do agree with earlier posts that it shouldn’t be about acquiring lots of “stuff” but about how to facilitate student learning and make teaching more effective.
I really hope that we can find ways to reward and encourage innovation in education. This is truly and exciting time to be involved in education in our state and our country. Let’s seize the day!
January 18, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Diane Pratt
I echo earlier responders with thanks for offering the opportunity to share concerns with you. As you canvass the state, I know you’ll find that Iowa has many caring, knowledgeable, and skillful teachers who want to make a difference in education. To the many exciting suggestions already posted, I would add:
Stop:
*allowing district accountability to be demonstrated solely on paper. A lot of situations can look better on paper than they are in reality.
*Stop assuming that all administrators make good instructional leaders. Many of them left the classroom because instruction was not their forte. Use the skills of distinguished and accomplished teachers.
Keep:
*A funded Gifted Education mandate. Practices in gifted education raise the bar for all learners and instruction. Our gifted learners deserve an appropriate education and are our certain resources for the future. Sadly, we can still say that our gifted students learn the least each year. *Keep state supported pre-school. This, too, raises the bar for all learners. Private preschool is not affordable for many, even for middle class families. Day care is just that, with no expected outcomes.
*Keep our new teacher Mentoring program mandates. New teachers need the support of their colleagues and of their district. This cannot be left to chance, nor should their initiation to teaching be left to chance.
*Keep and expand use of AIW.
Start:
*Start mandating a full course in gifted education (not just a chapter in the “exceptional learner” class) for all teaching candidates.
*Start ensuring that teacher preparation coursework reflects the kind of instruction and learning environment in which we want public school students to be a part.
*Start a re-emphasis of creativity, thinking skills, and problem-solving in the classroom.
*Using input from students regarding teacher quality, learning environment, instructional initiatives. Ask them questions. Are we expecting enough? Are you learning?
January 20, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Ashley Delaney
*Stop assuming that all administrators make good instructional leaders. Many of them left the classroom because instruction was not their forte. Use the skills of distinguished and accomplished teachers.
SO TRUE, Diane! Great comment.
January 19, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Beth Swantz
Stop: Gutting school libraries!
Research shows how important an integrated librarian and library collection are to the learning process- research skills, digital citizenship, literacy, collaboration. These are all integral parts of a librarian’s knowledge base and SO needed in today’s schools – yet our voice is completely lost in the clamor for new and better. We are the voice of literacy and reading yet too often we are not even invited to the conversation.
Keep: Iowa Core
Many have more clearly articulated this important aspect of our curriculum
Start: Narrowing our focus to the essentials – students.
We have removed the face of the child from most of our conversations – they are subjects and items and numbers. We need to begin with who they are today. As others have said, we are preparing them for a world that doesn’t exist. So, we need to start with the skills of flexibility and problem solving. You can’t do that when our testing focused curriculum requires a regurgitation of list of dates.
January 20, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Ashley Delaney
Dear Mr. Glass,
Welcome to Iowa! I hope you are enjoying our state and find the people to be as friendly and delightful as many of us natives do. I am impressed with your experience and look forward to seeing positive changes to Iowa Schools.
I am writing as a secondary teacher for a suburban Des Moines district and a resident and parent of Ankeny Community Schools, another suburb of Des Moines. My husband is also a secondary teacher in a suburban district. Needless to say, our family has a strong vested interest in the state of Iowa education.
What should we stop doing?
• Stop catering to the struggling learner. While I understand the implications, financial, political, and academic; of not serving struggling learners, the higher-level and gifted populations have suffered because of this. In theory, we are simply to put supports in place for these students, but that is not what is practice. Right now we are closing the achievement gap by lowering expectations and requirements. All other students lose learning opportunities because of review and repeat.
• Stop letting parents enable their children’s learning. I do not have a solution for this, but it is devastating our children’s futures. Too often parents are excusing missed work, lacking motivation, and disrespect. It is hugely detrimental to teachers’ work and student success. When children are not held accountable to and for their actions, they do not experience true success.
• Stop preventing kids from failing. Students that experience success every time quit trying because they don’t need to. If success is ensured, why try? We must open the door to challenge that keeps success a possibility and ADDS failure as an option to those that do not exert the necessary effort. We all learn the most when we struggle and try our hardest and relish the most when we succeed in difficult tasks. Letting our kids have easy success is not a good thing.
• Stop praising for speed and perfection. Students need to be praised for effort and content learned. If we praise for speed and perfection, students will assume that is what we value. Speed and perfection indicate the student already mastered the content. Shame on us as educators for wasting that child’s time. We need to praise students for seeking challenging content that takes hard work, time, and missteps to master.
• Stop funding so many AEA consultants. There are SO many that put together powerpoints and provide DRY presentations to teachers. Not only are they breaking all of the rules they are presenting about teaching by doing sit-and-get, often the information is not relevant to their audience. Even worse is when the consultant has NO experience at the level of teachers they are presenting to. In example, many consultants are former elementary teachers presenting to high school staff. It doesn’t work.
What should we keep doing?
• Keep the site visit process. I know it is a ton of work as I have been a part of several. However, they do hold districts accountable and force administrators to notice and address shortcomings.
• Keep
• Keep funding gifted education. Iowa is one of 5 states that fully funds gifted programming. In the era of No Child Left Behind, it is critical these students have services to provide them challenge, affective programs, and opportunities beyond the classroom.
What should we start doing?
• Start adding more charter schools. As the world specializes, so should our students and schools. Let’s open the door to these schools and accept this is not a fad in other places but a viable educational reform movement and option that is best for some kids.
• Start training teachers to be a part of charter schools.
• Start offering the union contract OR merit pay. Good, young teachers do not have an opportunity to be rewarded for their hard work and dedication to their career. It is frustrating to get paid less than a veteran teacher that is a poor educator simply because of time. Allowing teachers to take merit pay and/or pay for extended time with kids rewards those who are putting in the extra time and effort to help kids.
• Raising the bar with little to no risk to schools. Students who already know the concept for the lesson or learned it quickly are too often forced to wait and required to not learn as the rest catch up. Their high-level of achievement compared to the struggling learner has created a vast gap. However, schools are afraid to raise the bar because of the ramifications of student failure. Helen Schinski once said, “Closing the achievement gap by pushing down the top is like fostering fitness by outlawing marathons.” Right now schools are scared away from creating marathons.
• Allow schools to fail to succeed. In order to improve and change policy for accountability, districts must first take a risk of immediate failure and backlash before the new system is successful and working seamlessly. However, the fear of the “bumps in the road” scare administrators away from the drastic change necessary to make a major turn around.
Thank you for allowing us to have our voices heard. I appreciate your time.
Best,
Ashley
PS I also sent these comments via email. Please do not feel compelled to respond to me again. ☺
January 20, 2011 at 8:49 pm
joecrozier
1. What should we stop doing? We need to stop making excuses and move to an educational system that focuses on students and student learning. We must focus on learning and not make excuses about how it was presented (or taught) and students didn’t get it, or that parents are the problem, or any other excuses that can be made. Iowa’s AEAs provide the professional development possible to move the focus from teaching to learning, eliminating the excuses along the way.
2. What should we keep doing?
- We should stay focused on the Iowa Core/Common Core and more specifically on what is quality instruction. The AEA system works to support educators and administrators to implement quality instruction to improve student achievement.
- Preschool, done correctly, will benefit the Iowa Education system in the future. Based on quality preschool, we must change the curriculum in primary and intermediate grades based on that learning.
- Maintaing Local control is important. Less compliance by the legislature, state and federal and more innovation in schools.
- We need to continue to promote the development of professional learning communities by promoting life long learners throughout the education community.
- We need to keep supporting Area Education Agencies to provide the expertise, resources, research and development and professional development for schools to increase student learning and achievement.
3. What should we start doing? We need to look at the things in our system that impede our progress as a state system in improving student learning. If this means we need to change evaluation structure, move to performance pay, change Chapter 20 for bargaining, or other things that might need to be evaluated. We need to have a greater focus on technology, especially instructional technology and how it can change delivery of instruction in the classroom. At Great Prairie AEA we are focusing on the programs and services we are currently providing and not necessarily adding more, but focusing on the things we are doing that have a positive impact on student achievement.
We also need to move to a year round contract for teachers, teachers making $50,000 to $70,000 per year is not a nine month job. We really need these additional days for PD, life long learning and reflection practice.
January 21, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Sally Thorson
Stop: age grades – allow learning to progress as kids master content; if a child at 10 months wants to walk we don’t tie them to a chair and say let’s wait until you’re 12 months; we need to allow kids to learn, test out of materials they already know, and move ahead; don’t restrict by age and grade. Create a passion for learning and not a “wait and see”.
Stop: do not think about merit pay as it’ll kill collaborative work by teachers.
Stop: trying to make everything “so equal” that in the process we leave behind our best and our brightest.
Keep: public preschool funding; we’ve worked for years to get this into place now we don’t want it to be lost.
Keep: online oppotunities through the Belin Blank Center for AP courses
Keep: strengthening courses to challenge learners more; we have too many watered down courses.
Start: pushing differentiated learning more and accelerate learners who have mastered content; sitting in a classroom waiting for others to master is a waste of their time.
Start: training teachers to accommodate high achievers – teachers come out of post-secondary training with little to no idea how to differentiate or challenge a high achiever – instead they teach to the middle and all loose; post-secondary needs to have more than a chapter about challening learning.
Start: increasing funding for Iowa’s talented and gifted and all students will benefit from better instructional methods.
January 23, 2011 at 12:36 am
Donna Hoadley
Thank you, Jason, for seeking this input. It means a lot that you care.
STOP putting so much weight on ITBS/ITED results. As a norm-referenced test, 40% should always test as “not proficient,” and trying to use it as criterion-referenced doesn’t work well. (Not to mention the content problems.)
STOP the double standard that exists when home-schools have few guidelines that can be easily ignored while other schools have ever-increasing mandates, funded and otherwise.
KEEP the Iowa Core, especially focusing on the five characteristics of effective instruction. Along with that, make sure PD is worth the time; just requiring a certain number of days of it doesn’t make it effective.
KEEP AEA funding. AEA’s provide services a school can’t. The PD, media, special ed, and research are great helps. Only AEA’s with increasing enrollment have much for carryover funds and AEAs can’t tax, so cuts can’t easily be afforded (though it would be nice to see fewer supervisors/administrators in them).
START looking harder at college teacher prep programs to be sure they are current.
START looking at Finland; its education is #1 and we could learn from it.
START doing more to educate parents. Students need safe, secure homes so they can come to school ready and able to learn.
START looking at multiple diplomas, the first earned after two years of high school. That would also require a change in thinking about students being able to come back when they see the need at age 19 or 20.
START making this column required reading for Iowa’s legislators. Not once has anyone talked about salary, and many great ideas have been expressed.
January 25, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Brenda Bormann
1. What should we stop doing?
STOP putting so much weight on ITBS/ITED results. As a norm-referenced test, 40% should always test as “not proficient,” and trying to use it as criterion-referenced doesn’t work well. (Not to mention the content problems.)
STOP devaluing the vocational programs offered in the state. I have been a Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher for 37 years and am very proud of the educational value I have contributed to the lives of all of the students with whom I have had contact. Regardless of the career they choose, the life skills offered in FCS are invaluable. If you are immediately thinking cooking and sewing, you need to revisit what FCS is today. The 21st Century Skills are covered in FCS – so many but especially financial literacy. Please value all education.
STOP the double standard that exists when home-schools have few guidelines that can be easily ignored while other schools have ever-increasing mandates, funded and otherwise. And it amazes me that the school the home schooled student is near is then required to fund their college education!! Schools are struggling monetarily, the school was not sufficient for the student’s education, but must pay for it. That is wrong!!
2. What should we keep doing? The AEA’s perform many important functions, many of which assist teachers in ways that we do not have the time or resources to do.
Continue the professional development schools are required to complete with meaningful educational agendas.
The preschools are so important for the sound educational start of Iowa’s youth. Please care enough about our youth to continue this excellent program and NOT WITH VOUCHERS!!
3. What should we start doing?
I’m not sure where merit pay fits but I really want to caution you on merit pay. If it is individual it will pit teacher against teacher. For several years I have traveled the state in the summer and taught teaching strategies to teachers, kindergarten through community college level. I am afraid the willingness to share successful teaching strategies and ideas will lessen if merit pay exists. Also, I suspect vocational teachers, including FCS, will not be considered since we are thought to be “noncore”. I think moral will definitely decline.
If it is enacted, the way I see the least harm occurring is if it is rewarded by school – then the team concept will remain strong.
Thank you for this opportunity to express my concerns.
January 25, 2011 at 9:17 pm
Luann Byerly
1. We need to stop having the state develop mandates and then with each new adminstration or even legislative session it changes. For example: we were suppose to have 10 days of staff development funded by now, instead we no longer have any requirement for staff development (accourding to the DE) We need to stop seeing ITBS/ITED as our ‘state test’ and develop assessments that are more effective, adaptive and more closely linked to our Iowa Core/Common Core.
2. We need to keep on the road to having an Iowa Core Curriculum. Now that the Common Core has been incorporated into the Iowa Core for Mathematics and LIteracy, we are on the right track. A commitment to the social studies and science Common Core will help us be able to move forward in these areas. We need to coninue developing the AEA system to give support to us that are in samll rural schools. When they lose their funding we are encouraging a greater gap between the Urban 8 and the rest of us. I believe more students are in the “other schools” than are in the Urban 8.
We need to continue the use of staff development to improve instruction. To make this feasible it will need to be funded.
3. We need to develop a writing assessment in elementary , middle school and high school. Without an assessment it is diffictult for people to see it as a highly important skill.
We also need to move away from traditional grading towards standards based, then more teachers, parents and students will see our standards as relevant and important.
January 28, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Justin Gross
Jason first of all Welcome to Iowa, I am excited to hear your ideas for Iowa as we move forward and try to prepare our students to be productive citizens that are ready for the demands of an ever changing world.
1. What should we stop doing?
I feel that we need to stop allowing so many non-educators to dictate policy in this state. The Iowa Core Curriculum and Core Curriculum movement are good things and finally have our teachers talking about the right things. Forever teachers have been able to resist change by waiting it out and adopting the mindset that “this to shall pass”. Our teachers have been engaged in a three year process of talking about instruction and clearly identifying what students are suppose to learn in each of their courses. The recent recommendation to drop the Iowa Core will only reinforce the idea that teachers if they wait long enough they can avoid any change.
2. What do we need to keep doing?
We need to continue to strive for excellence for all students. I truly feel that there are some outstanding educators in this state and creating a way for them to collaboratively share what they are doing is a must. I feel that we have several model schools in this state that are doing some great things, lets continue to showcase these schools and encourage/support other schools to evaluate how they can implement similar programs in there school.
3. What do we need to start doing?
We need to develop a consistent funding system for schools, so that we can plan and implement programs based on a reliable funding system. We have been cutting programs and staff and forced to make last minute decisions due to not knowing how much money we are going to receive each year. We also need to create a collective since of urgency among all educators with regards to asking our students to think critically. Technology integration is a must and is something that everyone needs to work on. Students need to be immersed in the usage of technology to solve problems and create new knowledge and products. The use of technology has to be for students to think critically and have access to information all the time, this is the world our students live in and ignoring that fact will not prepare them for the jobs they will have when they graduate high school and college. We need to be creative in how we address the learning needs of our students and think outside of the box.
January 28, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Gary Richardson
What should we stop doing?
Do away with the Carnegie Unit
No unfunded mandates
Infringing on local control i.e, Drop Out prevention allowable growth application, school nurse, librarian
Determining adequate yearly progress through standardized test results
Having legislators reform education and let educators reform education
Competitive grants create equity concerns
2. What should we keep doing?
Providing professional development funding and opportunities
Universal 4-year old preschool
Promoting differentiated instruction system-wide
3. What should we start doing?
Provide training in technology that changes teaching and learning
Streamline special education endorsements and certification
Standards-based grading systems
A focus on Project-based coursework
Develop long-range planning before implementing new initiatives……no more “building planes while they are in the air”
January 31, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Gary Nesteby
Jason, It appears as though you are hearing, and seeing, the passion that Iowa has for education. As passionate educators, parents and citizens of our communities we want the best for our youth. We all have an opinion of how we can reach that goal but it generally comes with a solution to the problem or an individual/organization to blame.
Perhaps if the questions were worded as “Why” statements rather than “What” you would be able to get a better understanding of the needs to transforming the system.
Try the five whys on the questions. Ask “why five times with each why addressing the answer to the previous “Why”:
1. What should we stop doing?
2. What should we keep doing?
3. What should we start doing?
Why do we do what we do?
Because we have always done it that way.
Why have we always done it that way?
Because we have always been successful with the way we have done it.
Why have we always been successful at the way that we have done it.
Because we pay attention to the measures that we are suppose to use to be successful.
Why do we pay attention to the measures?
Because we get money for being successful and accomplishing the guidelines that have been handed to us.
Why do we get money for being successful and following guidelines?
Because we are in conformance to the past and that means success.
Why should we change what we do?
“What” and “Why” will be easy compared to the “How”
Welcome again!