Will Iowa Public Schools Be Able To Get Their Groove Back?

The Iowa public school system used to be a fine-tuned, well-oiled machine producing top-tier students. Columnist Lee Rood wonders if those days can return?

Writing in The Des Moines Register, Lee Rood asks the question: “Can Iowa School regain their luster?”

The last time Iowa was considered No. 1 overall in education, teachers faced fewer challenges in the classroom, students were more homogenous and school districts required less of them to graduate.

That was 1992.

Iowa’s problems in education are by no means unique in the United States right now.  Many states are scrambling to figure out how to impede the gradual (and in some cases, much more than gradual) decline in scores and achievement.  Iowa’s Gov. Terry Branstad is striving to restore the state’s standing as a national education leader.  But, not surprisingly, teachers, policymakers and politicians fiercely disagree over what it will take to get the state back on top. There are even some disputing that Iowa’s students have slid dramatically in performance at all. What the different factions do agree on is that Iowa is experiencing rapid change in the classroom.  For example, students are significantly poorer, more urban and more diverse than they were in 1992.  Also, the course work students are assigned is more rigorous than it was in the early 1990s.

Many believe state leaders should focus on those challenging issues as Branstad convenes his sold-out education summit July 25-26.

“What the summit should be about is the issues confronting schools over the next couple of decades,” Des Moines school board member Dick Murphy said. “We need to examine what resources are needed to ensure our students are getting the best education they can get.”

The stakes not only for Iowa, but for the country as a whole, are high.  According to a recent analysis from the Asia Society and the Council of Chief State School Officers, at least 70 percent of U.S. jobs in 2009 required specialized knowledge and skill, while only 5 percent did 100 years ago. Demand for an educated work force is only expected to increase.

To read more about Gov. Branstad’s ideas regarding ways to bring education in Iowa back up, click here.