2013 Education Reform Information
NEW! House vs Senate Education Reform Comparison
Read the Bill Summary
Read the Amendment Summary
Education Reform Budget Analysis
To read a summary of the Governor’s Education Reform Plan, click here.
Read the proposed bill to be debated on the House Floor — House File 215
Read the Governor’s press release on education reform here.
Read the Education Reform Task Force recommendations here.
2012 Education Reform Information
To read the Governor’s plan, click here.
If you want to read the proposed bill go to: HSB517.
UPDATE: House Republicans released their budget plans for education this week and provided zero for education reform efforts. The Governor set aside $17 million in his budget released last month. See the budget documents here.
As with all education proposals, education in Iowa will be asked to do more and yet there is no mention of adequate funding to accomplish those goals. It is also very concerning that none of the governor’s forums on this plan is being held at a time or place where any working teachers/educators would be able to attend! As usual, Branstad values input most from those not directly involved in the education of students.
Brandstad’s plan puts more responsibility on the teacher without mentioning more financial support. The new curriculum increases the responsibility of students with no mention of increased support for those students who already struggle. Iowa can control the job of teachers and the curriculum but legislation can’t guarantee that every child has the safe and supportive family that is necessary to carry out these educational goals. In my 23 years in education I saw an increase in poor, hungry children. Educators have a variety of such issues in their classes that they need help with before they can teach upgraded curriculums. And teachers need to have a chance to be part of Branstad’s forum to share the realities in their classes that has impeded progress in past reforms and may again. You can’t ignore the part that children and families play in education.
It’s unfortunate that education gets considered separately from the other things that kids need to thrive. It is part of a package — decent jobs, good health care, safe environment, social services. Schools can’t do everything.
Small class size is very important at every level.
Also good teachers, which is complicated and can’t be legislated. Requiring a 3.0 average and a certain test score doesn’t cut it at all.
If we have healthy, focused kids in small classes, teachers will at least have a shot at doing a good job.
I also think charter schools have an important place, as long as they don’t pull resources away from public schools. There is more than one good way to teach, more than one good way to learn, and private schools have contributed a lot to public education.
Testing is good in its place, but it shouldn’t be used to run the curriculum or freak anyone out.
We can’t do what we need to do on the cheap.
When it comes to schooling, we need to return back to the basics. Too many hidden agendas have come into play. It’s the 4 R’s Religion, reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. We need to at once rid our educational systems of self imposed hedonistic and atheistic religious domination including values clarification which only muddies the water and return to the God-fearing nation we were intended to be with religious freedom for all which means that our students have the option to study Scriptural topics as we did over @ Hoover High in years leading up to June 1971. We prayed during school outside the class and shared Scriptures. Others were free to participate or decline. The atheistic thinking didn’t have a stranglehold on us. It’s time to repent and break off encouraging our youth to experiment with irresponsible sexual activity. Condoms are not the answer. All of what we see today is symptomatic of the moral collapse and rot we are all witnessing. Throwing more money at the problem will not make it go away. We all need to return to Yahweh and His moral principles. He is the greatest educator of all and His ways are pure truth and wisdom.
It is curious to me that the tenets of the Iowa Core Curriculum stress learning in a way that is nearly impossible to measure with a traditional standardized, multiple-choice test, yet standardized tests are the only measurement of schools and teachers that politicians and the media use. Which is it going to be–brainless standardized test preparation or meaningful learning with authentic assessments and demonstrations of learning? You can’t have it both ways. Why are teachers and students not the first source of information used in putting together an education reform package? In my 32 years of teaching in Iowa public schools I believe I may know a bit more than our typical politician about what works and does not work in students’ learning.
Roger,
Hello and thanks for the e mail.
Be aware that several area students and a teacher or two will be at this Sunday’s youth art month ceremony at the Historical Building, my wife Nancy among them from North Winneshiek School.
I hope you might be able to attend.
Ted Sojka
Art Educators of Iowa
The teachers union may ask for ‘more time’ to excel (ostensibly in the pupils’ interests). But the reply to that should be: what did you do with last years’ time? How much time does a trained professional need to get around to excellence? How many private-sector professions would not be laughed out of the conference room upon such a suggestion?
If we truly want better outcomes in our education system, then we have to start with early childhood. Currently, our child care system is under the guidance of the Department of Human Services. Although they do a wonderful job of helping people in need, the department is not equipped to provide what is needed to tap into this educational window of opportunity when a person’s brain is at it’s most important stage of development. Our child care system needs to be part of our Department of Education. DHS can still play a role in providing support to families in poverty who need help paying for child care. The standards, support programs, and professional development requirements should come from the Department of Education.
I developed a process to teach any kid who can add correctly how to do division, multiplication, fractions, decimals, and basic algebra in less than 5 minutes; and all you have to do is to be able to add correctly; and it takes 3 lines of notebook paper. Once the students learn this process for 1 number, they can go home and set it up for all the other numbers if they can add correctly. Imagine how much time that would free up in our elementary and middle schools to teach other things. I taught it to all of my grandchildren before they started kindergarten because they all knew how to add correctly.
I also developed a 12-step, yes-or-no, 135-word process to teach the infinity of English sentence structure. If 3 grader or earlier teachers taught this structure to their students, they would learn those important control words and would be able to read better; and then we wouldn’t have to hold back 3rd grade students because they would all be reading at 3rd grade level or better. I have also used this same process to teach the infinity of English sentence structure to non-English-speaking students. I do this in 2 hours a day, 3 days a week for 3 months. I used this same process to teach my 100 8th grade English-speaking students in five 40-minutes periods for 3 months. They scored at the 12th grade, 6th month level in English on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
I spoke to Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds about this on Friday, March 9, when she and Governor Terry Brandstad spoke in Ames. She said she was going to try to set up an appointment with people in the Department of Education in Des Moines. I hope to hear from her soon. There were several people who heard me tell the Governor about this and asked me to show them these things after he finished his talk. They were all amazed about both the math and the teaching of English, and asked me why they were not being done in our schools. Our Department of Education should set up inservice programs for schools and teachers so they could learn these things. I am sure if they contacted the various college and universities in this state and then informed them about having a conference about the above and asked the Superintendents to have their teachers attend, we could begin the process.
I would be happy to show this to you if you want to see it when you are in Ames. Just email me jpierce95iatoy@aol.com and suggest a time. I have to go to a wedding in Spain at the end of this month and won’t be back until the first Saturday in April.
Jerry Pierce, 1995 Iowa Teacher of the Year and Historian and Co-Chair for International Relations for the National State Teacher of the Year
I taught school in Russian in 1997, the Czech Republic 201, the Ukraine in 2003, and Guam and Taiwan the summer of 2005. There is a lot more you should know about me because I teach 11 different subjects from science, history, brain research, Russian, English, and some Chinese. I have read 4 or 5 books in math and science every month for the past 30 years or so. I even have a self-published book about much of what I said in the first several paragraphs above.
Required reading for all state legislators: this article hits the issue right on the head.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120311/OPINION01/303110029/1036/opinion01/Doak-What-education-reform-misses-big-share-kids-poverty
The governor’s plan does nothing to help educators do their job. In fact, it blames them for some perceived drop in education in Iowa. I could write a long comment, but instead I would direct you to Richard Doak’s editorial in the March 11 Des Moines Sunday Register. He eloquently explains the real “problem” with education in Iowa – and it is not the teachers. He even puts forth some excellent ideas on how to help, yes help, our dedicated teachers do their job. None of those ideas include ramping up testing, by the way. I highly recommend that every member of of the Assembly make sure they read this editorial, it points out the extremely large elephant in the room.
I am disturbed with the zero growth in spite of the 3 million plus in the budget. it seems as if Mr Brainstead wants our students to fail, and our teachers to be punished for it. Now we are trying again to fail children when our educational system is in a race to failure, instead of providing them with the resources, including qualified and well trained teachers who are adequately compensated, that they need to succeed. Are we trying to dumb down the electorate?? Bringing in people to consult who are under investigation for abuses of children is beyond the pale. WHO is paying for this insanity, and why can’t we spend that money providing actual training to teachers?