Iowa’s Plan for Education Success–Assess, Assess, Assess | Truth in American Education

Iowa’s Plan for Education Success–Assess, Assess, Assess | Truth in American Education:

Iowa’s Plan for Education Success–Assess, Assess, Assess

by Shane Vander Hart

There is nothing earth shattering in the Iowa Department of Education’s latest report  entitled “Overcoming the Achievement Divide: Key Challenges and Solutions for Iowa Schools.”   It’s main goal is to address the news that Iowa is stagnant in seeing growth in math and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).  They are using the following qualifiers for the selection of programs at the state level: “focused on instruction, proven effective and scalable.”  Based on that they are focusing on three clusters of activities to support improvement.

1. Teacher quality (“the who”): Focuses energy on ensuring that the best and brightest teaching candidates are recruited and supported, and ensuring that those who do enter the profession have the highest-quality learning experiences that result in highly skilled professionals.