Can Iowa schools regain luster?

Lee Rood:

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.

Today, as Gov. Terry Branstad endeavors to restore the state's standing as a national education leader, teachers, policymakers and politicians fiercely disagree over what it will take to get back on top. Some dispute 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: Students are significantly poorer, more urban and more diverse than they were in 1992. Course work is more rigorous than it was in the early 1990s but, in an increasingly competitive global economy, that course work is still not believed to be enough.

Change is hard for most organizations. It is easy to live on the "fumes" of the past, until it is too late to change.

How does Wisconsin compare to the world? Learn more at www.wisconsin2.org

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 11, 2011 2:13 AM
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