For decades, recommendations have been made, but most failed to gain traction.
Written by SHEENA DOOLEY
Des Moines Register
October 1, 2011
Six times in the past three decades, education reform proposals aimed at ratcheting up teachers’ classroom performance and students’ academic skills have been rolled out in Iowa.
And six times, reports filled with ideas on how to create a world-class education system were shelved because of a lack of money and political bickering.
Monday morning, the newest round of education reforms will be unveiled. And, like previous ideas, these proposals are expected to focus on setting clear and rigorous academic standards for the state’s 468,000 students; improving the effectiveness of 35,000 teachers; and increasing innovation in classrooms.
While the broad ideas are not new, the urgency to implement them is. And this time around, education leaders are counting on the reforms to stick.
“A lot of what has occurred has just been tinkering around the edges,” said Kittie Weston-Knauer, a retired Des Moines principal hired to open the district’s first charter school. “We have these initiatives that come to the forefront and then things just fall to the wayside.”
That’s not to say reform measures haven’t taken hold in Iowa. A few have, including teacher licensure procedures.
Most other reforms, though, failed largely because education leaders and lawmakers adopted initiatives piecemeal.
Some initiatives fell to the wayside after lawmakers cut funding or grant money ran out, said Jason Glass, director of the Iowa Department of Education.
“I understand there is skepticism,” he said. “What has to be different now is we have to build a reform agenda that transcends ideology and traditional party politics. We need this to sustain beyond the next election. We have to pitch it right down the middle.”
Other states and countries have recognized the need to strengthen their education systems in order to compete in