The Iowa House has scheduled a public hearing on the Education Reform Bill HF 2380. We want to hear comments from parents, teachers and students about the proposed bill. After the Governor released a blueprint for education last fall, legislators began reviewing the details of the plan. While there are many areas of agreement with the Governor, many legislators on both sides of the aisle think the Governor’s plan to overhaul the schools system relies too heavily on increased testing and does little to help teachers perform in the classroom.
Monday, March 5, 2012
6:30 p.m.
Iowa House of Representatives Chamber
Persons wishing to speak may sign up at the Legislative Information Office (LIO), Room G16, located in the Iowa State Capitol, or call the LIO at 515-281-5129. Please do not leave a recorded message by telephone. If unable to attend, you may e-mail written testimony to the LIO: lioinfo@legis.state.ia.us . Please type Testimony in the subject line.
Ideally having students attend schools that teach via the virtual world would be ideal in allowing students to advance at their own pace and still provide social interaction to hone social skills. I see students from K thru 12th grade taking classes that have been designed as their home computer games where they are able to pass to higher levels once they have mastered the level they are working on. No more A-F scenarios-just pass or fail the course level being attempted, and it doesn’t matter whether the student is 8 or 18. The local community colleges already have these programs in place for GED testing. Should a student struggle and not master the level they are working on THEN they would work with a “teacher/tutor” who would assist them in mastering the level they are struggling with-be it one on one or in a group setting. Every morning they would log into English, Math, Reading, and History courses. (Languages should be considered as a Core class also in my opinion). The last three hours of the day can be used for tutoring sessions, “Electives” and various sports and social organizations that interests a student. Electives, Sports, and Social Organizations should all be weighted the same in order for the student to focus their attention on what is important and of interest to them. For Physical Fitness it would be mandatory for all students to log off their computers and do a 20 minute walk between each of the four Core courses. Online Core courses would last for 40 minutes each (allowing for logon and logoff time) + the 20 minute walk about =4 hours for the Core classes each morning. Lunch would last 1 hour THEN the last 3 hours of the day would involve tuturoing labs, electives, sports, and social clubs. School would begin at 8 am and end at 4pm daily with tutoring labs available on Saturdays 8am until 12pm. All computer lab results will be uploaded to a statewide data base that will be monitored by the new Iowa virtual Academy and would provide daily reports on each child in order to track students needing assistance and assigning a specific tutor to get them on track. That assigned specific tutor will be held accountable for the student’s success in passing whatever level they are struggling with. School should be attended throughout the year, including the summer months. Yes, it would be possible for a 12 yr. old to graduate from high school and my hope would be that the teachers hired are in the top 10% of their graduating class as they will be directly involved in creating a statewide computer program for their specific expertise that will drive Iowa children to the top of the Science, Math, English, and History fields worldwide.
Students attending schools that teach via the virtual world would be ideal in allowing students to advance at their own pace and still provide social interaction to hone social skills. I see students from K thru 12th grade taking classes that have been designed as their home computer games where they are able to pass to higher levels once they have mastered the level they are working on. No more A-F scenarios-just pass or fail the course level being attempted, and it doesn’t matter whether the student is 8 or 18. The local community colleges already have these programs in place for GED testing. Should a student struggle and not master the level they are working on THEN they would work with a “teacher/tutor” who would assist them in mastering the level they are struggling with-be it one on one or in a group setting. Every morning they would log into English, Math, Reading, and History courses. (Languages should be considered as a Core class also in my opinion). The last three hours of the day can be used for tutoring sessions, “Electives” and various sports and social organizations that interests a student. Electives, Sports, and Social Organizations should all be weighted the same in order for the student to focus their attention on what is important and of interest to them. For Physical Fitness it would be mandatory for all students to log off their computers and do a 20 minute walk between each of the four Core courses. Online Core courses would last for 40 minutes each (allowing for logon and logoff time) + the 20 minute walk about =4 hours for the Core classes each morning. Lunch would last 1 hour THEN the last 3 hours of the day would involve tuturoing labs, electives, sports, and social clubs. School would begin at 8 am and end at 4pm daily with tutoring labs available on Saturdays 8am until 12pm. All computer lab results will be uploaded to a statewide data base that will be monitored by the new Iowa virtual Academy and would provide daily reports on each child in order to track students needing assistance and assigning a specific tutor to get them on track. That assigned specific tutor will be held accountable for the student’s success in passing whatever level they are struggling with. School should be attended throughout the year, including the summer months. Yes, it would be possible for a 12 yr. old to graduate from high school and my hope would be that the teachers hired are in the top 10% of their graduating class as they will be directly involved in creating a statewide computer program for their specific expertise that will drive Iowa children to the top of the Science, Math, English, and History fields worldwide. My email could have been labeled FOOD FOR THOUGHT. It is my opinion this would be a win/win situation for all. It was simply my opinion/suggestion on how virtual schools could be structured to allow social interaction using the buildings in existence which would still house PreK-5th graders, 6th thru 9th graders, and 10th thru 12th graders and the staff currently employed. It is my suggestion that virtual classrooms structured around a “gaming” format would be fun and engage students as do their home computer games (dependent upon the course material needed according to the the top 10 teachers in their respective core courses and the programmer’s expertise in programming of the course material into a gaming format), less intimidating (especially for those with special needs), less costly (need for books,paper, pens, colors, etc. certainly reduced as all log into statewide online data base), immediate feedback vs waiting days/weeks for pinnacle (in our case) to update assignments/efforts. Efficiency should improve as teachers/tutors will see immediately who needs help in what area as the system reports students’ areas of difficulty. It is my opinion social skills are as important as core subjects and being exposed to other human beings on a daily basis helps to hone these skills by giving real world experience. Isolating students in a virtual world daily without social interaction would not be wise BUT it is quite obvious what we are doing is not working as well as we would like and change is needed in the physical classrooms. Sincerely, Mary Crichton