2205 Forest Drive SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52403 SurveyorWHS@gmail.com Volume 55, Number 2 October 24, 2011
Governor unveils education plan for Iowa Alyssa Christian Editor-in-Chief In an effort to continually improve Iowa education, Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds unveiled an education reform blueprint on Oct. 3, “One Unshakable Vision: World Class Schools for Iowa,” which, although seen as necessary, leaves issues unaddressed. “It’s a comprehensive vision of what [Branstad] would like to see reformed about Iowa education. There are many, many components to it and there’s much that it leaves out, as well,” described Pete Clancy, a Washington High School language arts teacher. The education blueprint looks to tackle several issues, including the creation and attraction of quality educators; the implementation of a four-tier teacher compensation and leadership system; the measuring of student achievement through standardized assessments, including the mandatory testing of all Iowa 11th graders with the ACT or SAT; ensuring third grade literacy; developing parent involvement and encouraging educational innovation. Despite its far-reaching goals, many questions are left unanswered. “It’s a very ambitious plan, but no mention of where the money is coming from,” said Clancy, “Another big issue that is disturbingly unaddressed is the issue of special education. Where does the blueprint mention how special education should be reformed or what should even be done with special education?” Another controversial issue for teachers is the idea of merit-pay, the concept that teachers are paid according to the quality of education they provide.
This would be measured through standardized student testing and peer teacher evaluations. “I am interested in this revised teacher pay, but I think there are some major shortfalls in the revisions Branstad would like to make,” said Clancy. “Nothing in the plan talks about how instruction is different and there has
“Students can do so much in the classroom and teachers can construct brilliant lesson plans that can’t be measured on a Scantron test where you fill in the bubbles.”
Pete Clancy
been research that shows paid-performance or merit-pay actually has no effect on student achievement…. There’s no correlation between merit-pay and student performance,” said Clancy. “I would like to see more time for collaboration. We did a career ladder grant in Cedar Rapids three years ago and how we used the money, we did pay teachers more, but… we paid
our very best teachers to go in and release teachers to have time to collaborate,” said Tammy Wawro, President of the Cedar Rapids Education Association. “I would like to see more time given to all teachers to become highly-qualified, not just singling out who we think are highly-qualified and paying them more. I would like to see that money spent to help our teachers collaborate, that’s my passion.” Improving teaching quality is a central goal of the education reform plan. “One big focus of the blueprint is to attract more people to the [teaching] profession… making it not necessarily more difficult, but certainly more rigorous to become a teacher. I’d be interested to see how that plays out,” said Clancy. Despite the many objections that the blueprint presents, it contains elements found agreeable by educators; especially those concerning parent involvement. “The section on parent involvement is great, talking about how schools need to be working more closely with parents- establishing something that we actually already do in Cedar Rapids, having a parent liaison as a school employee, somebody whose job it is to be a contact person for parents, to help parents with their needs and helping them navigate what can be the very confusing world of a school district,” said Clancy. However, it is agreed that there is a widespread call for change and greater student and educator involvement. “I just think student and teachers who are at the heart of the
discussion need to be at the table while these decisions are being made,” said Wawro. “It seems like the people further away from kids are making decisions and I think the further you get away from kids, you forget,” said Wawro. “I would put more in there about creativity. Students can do so much in the classroom and teachers can construct brilliant lesson plans that can’t be measured on a scantron test where you fill in the bubbles. Such a focus on that type of evaluation and assessment for both students and teachers is going to make education worse,” said Clancy, “so I would add more of the creativity bit to it.” In regards to what effect this plan would have on Cedar Rapids Schools if passed as legislation, opinions are mixed. “I think there are different parts that could be dramatic to us and we don’t even really know [what they are,]” said Wawro. Clancy questions the future of the plan. “I don’t think it will [be passed as legislation.] I think, right now, education reform is a fad. It’s always around and this is unfortunate that we can’t really talk about changes to education; it gets too politicized. And when that happens… even the great parts of the blueprint are going to get lost in the political system,” said Clancy. The blueprint will be considered for legislation when the Iowa House and Senate resume their sessions in January. Graphic by Luke Godlewski
Currently, Gov. Branstad’s education blueprint for Iowa schools is “just a bill.”
Inside this Issue n e w s
o p i n i o n s
f o c u s
p r o f i l e s
a & e
s p o r t s
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