July 25–UPDATE: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan painted a sobering picture Monday of a once-vaunted Iowa school system now in stagnation and needing “transformational reform” if it wants to move from mediocrity back to a world-leading status.|By Rod Boshart
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
July 25–UPDATE: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan painted a sobering picture Monday of a once-vaunted Iowa school system now in stagnation and needing “transformational reform” if it wants to move from mediocrity back to a world-leading status.
In a keynote address to a two-day educational summit called by Gov. Terry Branstad, Duncan said Iowa has to bolster its academic standards and expectations to better prepare students for college and careers, pursue and implement innovations, overhaul the way it prepares, supports, evaluates and rewards classroom teachers, and provide high-quality preschool opportunities to meet the challenges of the “knowledge economy.”
“Today, not enough of Iowa’s children are receiving the world-class education they need to succeed in the global economy. In the knowledge economy, the countries that out-educate us will out-compete us, and the hard truth is that Iowa has started slowly slouching towards educational mediocrity.”
Over the last two decades, Iowa has stagnated educationally,” Duncan told about 1,700 summit attendees.
“Many nations and states are now outperforming Iowa,” the nation’s education chief added. “By fervent hope is that this education summit will serve as urgent wake-up call for all of us.”
Duncan acknowledged that his message probably would not be popular and said the federal government bears some responsibility for the problems and challenges besetting schools around the country, but he stressed the importance of everyone facing the truth and hard work and “tough path” that will be required to return a “stalled” education system to one of international pre-eminence.
“Children cannot learn or live on past glories,” he said.
“I’m absolutely hopeful that Iowa will commit to the hard work of reversing its educational stagnation,” Duncan told the gathering. “Complacency, clinging to the status quo and continued tinkering will simply not solve Iowa’s large educational challenges. We need Iowa to again help lead the entire nation where we need to go.”
Branstad sounded a similar theme when he opened the summit by calling for more support for teachers and raising Iowa’s academic standards, noting that “brain power” has become the currency of the 21st century and urging significant changes to prevent challenges facing Iowa’s educational system from becoming a catastrophe.
The governor said strengthening Iowa voluntary Common Core State Standards in math and literacy was a good step and more refinements are needed for math, science, social studies and literacy standards. He also said the state must become more selective in attracting high-achievers to the teaching profession and paying them adequately, and the governor called for an expansion of high-quality charter schools — citing the potential for increased efficiency.
“Today, all students — not just top students — need to master math, science, English and social studies and learn skills in problem solving, thinking creatively and communicating clearly. Our goal can’t just be for Iowa students to be best in the nation again. We must make sure Iowa students can compete with young people in countries with the highest-performing schools,” Branstad said.
“Some improvements won’t be costly. Others will require significant new dollars spent in smart, strategic ways,” he added. “All will require that we work together.”
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